Techmeme
May 17, 2021, 8:00 PM

Top News

New York Times:
Sources detail how Apple relented to escalating demands from China, making changes to governance of its Chinese users' data and agreeing to censor its platforms  —  Apple built the world's most valuable business on top of China.  Now it has to answer to the Chinese government.
Matt Levine / Bloomberg:
Elon Musk is either trading on his unique ability to move the price of Bitcoin and Dogecoin, or just trolling, and both scenarios are bizarre and incredible  —  Oh Elon  —  I am sorry to keep talking about it because it is so stupid, but there really is something unprecedented and amazing …
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
FTC says that US consumers have lost $2M+ in cryptocurrency to scammers impersonating Elon Musk over the past six months  —  And more than $80 million in total cryptocurrency scams  —  Consumers lost over $2 million in cryptocurrency to scammers impersonating Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk …
Brian Stelter / CNN:
AT&T to spin off WarnerMedia and combine it with Discovery in a $43B deal; the new company will be run by Discovery CEO David Zaslav  —  New York (CNN Business)The streaming TV race is about to get even more competitive.  —  On Monday morning AT&T (T) and Discovery, Inc. (DISCA) …
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple says the Bluetooth AAC codec used by AirPods Pro and AirPods Max does not support Apple Music's lossless streaming, nor does Lightning on AirPods Max  —  Apple today announced that starting in June, Apple Music songs will be available to stream in Lossless and Hi-Resolution Lossless formats …
Apple:
The Information:
Source: Amazon is in talks to acquire MGM, in what would be its biggest move to expand into entertainment  —  Amazon is in discussions to acquire MGM, said a person familiar with the situation, in what would be the ecommerce giant's biggest move yet to expand in entertainment.
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
After Eufy device owners noticed they could access others' cameras and live feeds, Eufy says it was a bug and all users should log out and reset their cameras  —  As we reported earlier today, a huge Eufy privacy breach allowed users to view the live and recorded camera feeds of strangers.
Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:
Apple is working on wireless earbuds called Beats Studio Buds that will support noise cancellation, according to files in beta versions of iOS 14.6  —  With the release of iOS 14.6 RC today for developers, Apple is preparing to release Apple Music Lossless.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft launches a personal version of Teams, after previewing it nearly a year ago, available for free  —  Microsoft Teams for personal use exits preview  —  Microsoft is launching the personal version of Microsoft Teams today.  After previewing the service nearly a year ago …
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Kevin Randall / Washington Post:
As Parler returns to the App Store, its chief policy officer says posts labeled as “hate” by its AI, hidden on iOS, will be viewable on other devices and web  —  Shut down after the Jan. 6 riot, Parler is using a new artificial intelligence moderation system with more stringent standards …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Twitch says it is switching to localized subscription prices in some non-US markets, which will often be lower, starting with Turkey and Mexico on May 20  —  Localized pricing is meant to increase streamers' earnings, but they'll need more subscribers  —  Twitch is announcing a big change …
Kurt Schlosser / GeekWire:
Twilio announces it is acquiring business texting startup Zipwhip, which is based in Seattle and employs ~275 people, for $850M in a cash and stock deal  —  Twilio, a communications software company with Seattle roots, is acquiring Seattle-based business-texting startup Zipwhip …
More: SiliconANGLE and ZDNet
Kim Lyons / The Verge:
Facebook's VP of AR and VR Hugo Barra says he is leaving the company after a four year tenure and that he plans to “explore the healthcare technology space”  —  He's departing before the company launches the smart glasses he teased last fall  —  Facebook's vice president of AR …
More: Variety
Sarah Krouse / The Information:
Sources: Google's plans to match Apple's ATT changes have been delayed by internal concerns that such moves will diminish mobile ad revenues  —  Pressured by Apple's recent iPhone privacy initiative, Google is accelerating work to limit how app developers can track the 2.5 billion people who use phones powered by its Android software.
Gené Teare / Crunchbase News:
Analysis: 166 new unicorns have already been created in 2021, up from 163 in all of 2020; Tiger Global has invested in twice as many unicorns as Sequoia Capital  —  An unprecedented number of companies have joined Crunchbase's private company unicorn board already this year …

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cape:
Most carriers track everything.  Cape doesn't.  —  Unlimited talk, text & data, 24-hr metadata deletion, network ID rotation, SIM-attack defense, and more.  Switch today and get 29% off for life.
Zoho:
Control before consequence: Governing enterprise email with Zoho Mail rules  —  At 9:17 AM, the CFO receives an email.It looks legitimate.It references an ongoing vendor payment.It uses the correct company logo …
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

Training Data:
Chai Discovery's Bitter Lesson: Drug Design Is Another Scaling Problem
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
Subscribe to Training Data.
Invest Like the Best:
Gavin Baker - AI Market Jitters
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Lenny's Podcast:
This CPO regrets that product management exists | Tom Verrilli (CPO of Whatnot)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'What's in Louie's Wallet', With Louie Mantia
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Big Technology Podcast:
Leopold Blows Up, OpenAI Drastically Cuts Prices, Microsoft's Best Day
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.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
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 8:00 PM ET, May 17, 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

Popular Information:
Sebastian Herrera / Wall Street Journal:

Earlier Picks

Micah Singleton / Billboard:
Manish Singh / TechCrunch: