Techmeme
May 18, 2021, 7:15 AM

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:
The Information:
Source: Amazon is in talks to acquire MGM for between $7B and $10B, 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.
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Court doc: Twitter fought a subpoena from DOJ under Trump to identify the person behind an account mocking Rep. Devin Nunes; source: DOJ under Biden withdrew  —  An unsealed court filing shows that the social media company fought the subpoena, which the Biden administration is said to have withdrawn.
Cameron Faulkner / The Verge:
Oculus' latest update for its Quest headsets adds a Live Overlay casting feature that allows mixed reality capture with just an iPhone model XS or newer  —  v29 is packed with features  —  Oculus will soon roll out its v29 software for Quest and Quest 2 headsets, and this one adds more features and functionality to the lineup.
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.
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.
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Phil Schiller testifies that the App Store drove $400B in physical sales in 2019, which Apple did not take a cut of, and Apple spends ~$50M per year on WWDC  —  And it spends $50 million on WWDC  —  Apple is trying to convince a judge that it's not milking the App Store for all it's worth …
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:
Howard Oakley / The Eclectic Light Company:
Apple's M1 Macs feel faster than Intel models due to M1's optimization of QoS, which puts background tasks on “efficiency” cores even when the system is idle  —  Last week I showed fascinating screenshots of how M1 Macs can run background processes exclusively on their four ‘efficiency’ cores.
Kim Lyons / The Verge:
Facebook's VP of Reality Labs Partnerships Hugo Barra says he is leaving the company after four years and that he plans to explore the healthcare tech space  —  He's departing before the company launches the smart glasses he teased last fall  —  Facebook's vice president of AR and VR Hugo Barra …
Micah Singleton / Billboard:
Amazon Music HD is now available to Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers for free, effectively cutting the Hi-Fi service's price from $14.99 to $9.99 per month  —  The price change undercuts competing high-fidelity offerings and possibly upcoming plans by Spotify and Apple Music.
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 …
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.

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