Techmeme
May 13, 2021, 3:40 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Sources: Colonial paid ~$5M ransom in cryptocurrency within hours of the attack, but the hackers' decrypting tool was so slow that it had to use its own backups  —  - Payment came shortly after attack got underway last week  — FBI discourages organizations from paying ransom to hackers
Kevin Collier / NBC News:
Colonial Pipeline says it has restarted operations, after being shut down for five days due to DarkSide's ransomware attack  —  Colonial Pipeline, operator of the largest U.S. fuel pipeline, said Wednesday it is restarting operations after being shut down for five days due to a cyberattack.
Sean O'Kane / The Verge:
Elon Musk says Tesla no longer accepts bitcoin for vehicle purchases, due to its environmental cost, will look at more environmentally friendly cryptocurrencies  —  Tesla has stopped accepting bitcoin as payment for its cars out of concern that it will contribute to greater consumption of fossil fuels …
Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:
Cryptocurrency markets lost around $365B in value after Musk tweeted Tesla will suspend car purchases with bitcoin; bitcoin, ether, and XRP all fell sharply  —  - Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the electric vehicle maker would suspend car purchases using bitcoin, citing environmental concerns.
Ina Fried / Axios:
Apple says it parted ways with recent hire Antonio García Martínez, an ex-Facebook staffer and author, after employee petition citing “misogynistic statements”  —  Apple has severed ties with recent hire Antonio Garcia-Martinez, a former Facebook employee and author …
Tom Schoenberg / Bloomberg:
Sources: Binance is under investigation by DOJ and IRS; officials involved include those who probe money laundering and tax offenses  —  - Justice Department, IRS seek information about crypto exchange  — The federal agencies haven't accused Binance of wrongdoing
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
Biden signs EO to strengthen US cyber defenses, including the development of cybersecurity standards for software companies that sell to the government  —  President Biden signed an executive order Wednesday aimed at shoring up the federal government's digital defenses as his administration grapples …
Joey Roulette / The Verge:
SpaceX signs a satellite connectivity deal with Google Cloud, as part of which SpaceX will install Starlink terminals at Google's data centers around the world  —  Under a new agreement, SpaceX will plant Starlink terminals at Google Cloud's data centers  —  Google said on Thursday …
The Block:
Vitalik Buterin sells large amounts of SHIB, AKITA, and ELON tokens, sent to him by coin creators, for ~$60M worth of ETH, and donates the proceeds to charities  —  Quick Take  — Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin has offloaded a range of dog-themed meme tokens.
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Google has been fined €100M+ by Italy's antitrust watchdog for abusing its dominant market position by restricting third party access to the Android Auto app  —  Google has been fined just over €100 million (~$123M) by Italy's antitrust watchdog for abuse of a dominant market position.
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft is shutting down its Azure Blockchain Service on September 10, six years after initial launch, and is not supporting any new deployments as of May 10  —  Six years after its initial launch, Microsoft's Azure Blockhain as a Service is going to be shut down this September.
Benjamin Wallace / New York Magazine:
Behind the online battle between notable tech figures including a16z partners and Balaji Srinivasan, and the journalists who report, and tweet, on the industry  —  Late last fall, the New York Times was preparing a bombshell article about Coinbase, a financial exchange that had become …
Richard Nieva / CNET:
YouTube has banned almost 40 QAnon channels that are deleting their own videos after a few days in order to evade YouTube's policies and escape violations  —  YouTube banned almost 40 channels that used the tactic.  Disinformation experts say they haven't seen the ploy used before.
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Ford says it will start rolling out OTA updates to its vehicles at scale, including adding Alexa later this year to 700K eligible vehicles  —  The automaker aims to have 33 million OTA-capable vehicles by 2028  —  Ford is finally ready to start rolling out over-the-air (OTA) software updates to its vehicles at scale.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Roku announces launch of its original programming, including the Quibi content it acquired, on the Roku Channel, starting May 20  —  Roku today announced the launch of its own original programming, which will initially become available to viewers in the U.S., U.K., and Canada through …
Detroit News:
Michigan GOP lawmaker introduces a bill that requires fact checkers to register with the state using a $1M fidelity bond, and levies $1K/day fine for violations  —  Lansing — A Michigan lawmaker who's been at the center of efforts to question the 2020 election introduced a bill Tuesday that would require …
Bloomberg:
South Korea plans to spend around $450B to build the world's biggest chipmaking base over the next decade; Samsung to boost spending by 30% to $151B by 2030  —  - Samsung and SK Hynix leading investment to rev up capacity  — Severe chip shortages prompt global race to shore up supply

Sponsor Posts

Airtable:
Deep analysis for deep questions  —  Introducing Superagent.  A new research product from Airtable: Subagents deeply interrogate your topic and turn it into boardroom-ready reports, slides, docs, or websites.
Clay:
Turn any GTM idea into reality  —  Clay helps GTM teams combine AI agents, enrichment, and intent data to move faster and turn insights into action.
Zoho:
How enterprises can ensure data privacy in the age of AI  —  Data privacy is a non-negotiable right.  Customers and enterprises rely on such confidentiality to ensure smooth operations, preserve trust …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Great Chat:
Venture is in its growthmaxxing era
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Big Technology Podcast:
How Google DeepMind Operates & Experiments — With Lila Ibrahim and James Manyika
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Invest Like the Best:
Josh Kushner - Concentration and Conviction
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Janice Min on Hollywood's Crisis; Reed Duchscher on the Creator Boom
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
The Social Radars:
Tom Blomfield, Partner, Y Combinator; Co-Founder, Monzo
Come be a fly on the wall as Y Combinator's Jessica Livingston and Carolynn Levy talk to some of the most successful founders in Silicon Valley about how they did it.
Subscribe to The Social Radars.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
His Excellency Khaldoon Al Mubarak: Investing in an AI-Driven World
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:40 PM ET, May 13, 2021.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks

Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Adi Robertson / The Verge: