Techmeme
May 13, 2021, 4:45 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
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.
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 …
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.
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 …
Strategy Analytics:
Global notebook PC shipments grew 81% YoY in Q1; both Apple, with 5.7M shipments, and Acer, with 4.9M shipments, grew 94% as HP grew 91% with 15.4M shipments  —  Gaming, Chromebooks, commercial and consumer demand stay hot as the return to work and school is slow and pointing to a hybrid approach long-term
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.
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.
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 …
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:
Pinterest says it will test livestreaming events this month through a three-day virtual event featuring sessions with around 21 top creators  —  Pinterest is expanding into live events.  The company is planning to host a three-day virtual event that will feature live-streamed sessions from top creators …
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
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 …
Yogita Khatri / The Block:
Tether, which claimed at launch that each tether was backed 1:1 with USD, releases a breakdown of its reserves, revealing that only 3.87% are in actual cash  —  Quick Take  — Stablecoin issuer Tether has revealed a breakdown of its reserves.  — As of March 31, 2021 …

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