Techmeme
June 18, 2021, 5:40 AM

Top News

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE:
Researchers: encryption algorithm GEA-1, used in GPRS data in 2G networks, was deliberately weakened by its designers; ETSI blames export regulations  —  A new paper shows that two old encryption algorithms still used in mobile networks can be exploited to spy on phones' internet traffic.
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Spotify has acquired Podz, a podcast discovery startup whose tech helps podcasters promote their show using ML to select 60-second clips of key moments  —  Podcasts are all the rage, but podcast discovery is a challenge.  Today, Spotify announced its acquisition of Podz …
Bobby Allyn / NPR:
Snap eliminates Snapchat's speed filter, which let users show how fast they were moving, after a US court ruled that Snap could be sued for a fatal car crash  —  The maker of the Snapchat app is eliminating a feature known as the “speed filter” that lets users capture how fast they are moving and share it with friends, NPR has learned.
Sam Byford / The Verge:
OnePlus CEO Pete Lau says OnePlus and Oppo will have more integrations moving forward, further hinting at a possible merger  —  OnePlus says it will ‘further integrate’ its business with Oppo.  But what does that really mean?  —  OnePlus CEO Pete Lau has announced a “new journey” …
Laurel Deppen / GeekWire:
Seattle-based Leafly, which runs an online marketplace for cannabis, raises $23M from existing investors; Leafly has 120M annual visitors  —  Seattle-based online cannabis marketplace Leafly has closed $23 million in new funding, GeekWire confirmed with the company.
Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
Facebook says it will begin testing ads on Oculus headsets, starting with the shooter game Blaston, and won't use data stored on devices to target ads  —  - Facebook on Wednesday announced that it will begin testing advertisements that will appear within the company's Oculus virtual reality headsets.
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Johana Bhuiyan / Los Angeles Times:
Emails from 2016 show Ring provided ~100 LAPD officers with free devices or discount codes and encouraged them to promote its devices to fellow LAPD, the public  —  In a bid to bolster its claims as a crime-fighting tool, Ring deployed a tactic popular in the business world: influencer marketing.
Ryan Barwick / Morning Brew:
Study: 48% of ad traffic on “fake” news publishers and 32% of ad traffic on “low credibility sites” like Breitbart is served by Google  —  It's about a third for"low credibility" sites. … Fake news is a problem.  Yet the sites that publish it keep surviving …
Sanket Jain / The Verge:
Social health activists in India have been tasked with curbing COVID-19 misinformation, with many workers using WhatsApp to stop its spread  —  The backbone of India's rural healthcare system is now tasked with beating back COVID-19 myths, one message at a time
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Transform, which develops tools for businesses to query and build metrics from data troves, comes out of stealth with $20M Series A, after $4.5M seed in 2020  —  The biggest tech companies have put a lot of time and money into building tools and platforms for their data science teams …
More: FinSMEs
John Koblin / New York Times:
Nielsen announces a new metric, The Gauge, to measure streaming viewing in ~14,000 US homes via hardware that watches internet traffic passing through a router  —  The company known for measuring television ratings said Netflix and YouTube are far ahead of their digital competitors in time watched on TVs …
Joe Weisenthal / Bloomberg:
Mark Cuban calls for stablecoin regulation, after trading Iron Finance's algorithmic stablecoin DeFi Titanium, which then crashed from $60 to $0 in a day  —  Here's a chart you never want to see.  It's of the DeFi Titanium token, which in one day went from being valued around $60 to $0.
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
PUBG Mobile returns to Google Play Store in India with new name Battlegrounds Mobile India, after being banned for nine months on national security grounds  —  Krafton, which filed for an IPO earlier this week, has built a gigantic gaming empire.  If the firm is able to raise the target $5 billion …
Stephen Shankland / CNET:
Google says it is funding a project to increase Linux security by writing parts of the operating system's core in Rust  —  Google said Thursday it's funding a project to increase Linux security by writing parts of the operating system's core in the Rust programming language …
More: Phoronix and TechRadar
Tweets: @stshank, @jeskillings, @stshank, and @stshankThanks:@stshank

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Is AI just hype?  —  Find out how top enterprises use Tribe to get real business results.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Zoho:
Authy killed their desktop apps.  Time to switch to a reliable authenticator.  Time to switch to Zoho OneAuth.  —  Twilio's Authy recently announced end of life (EOL) for their desktop apps on March 19, 2024—five months ahead of schedule.
Comprehensive.io:
Browse salary data from 3,000 startups for free  —  Click for FREE, immediate access to real-time compensation benchmarking data.  Paid version helps HR automate comp reviews and communicate total compensation to employees.
The Kevin Rose Show:
Henry Shukman, Lessons from an Authentic Zen Master
Gain unconventional wisdom and insights through conversations with top expert in AI, investing, wellness, technology, and culture.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Mon. 03/18 - Apple To Partner With Google For AI On iOS?
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:40 AM ET, June 18, 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

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Earlier Picks

Jack Nicas / New York Times:
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Bloomberg:
Elias Saba / AFTVnews:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge: