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Techmeme
August 3, 2021, 1:40 PM
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Top News

Richard Lawler / The Verge:
Activision Blizzard says president J. Allen Brack is leaving the company, replaced by Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra, as the fallout from CA lawsuit continues  —  Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra will take over as co-leaders  —  In the last week or so, we've learned about the state of California filing …
Chong Koh Ping / Wall Street Journal:
After Chinese state media criticized online gaming as “opium for the mind” in a now-deleted article, Tencent announces stricter rules for young users  —  Shares of NetEase and Bilibili also suffer steep falls  —  Shares of Tencent Holdings Ltd. and rivals plummeted Tuesday …
Bloomberg:
Q&A with SEC chair Gary Gensler on protecting cryptocurrency investors from fraud, regulating the industry, Bitcoin ETFs, and other SEC priorities like GameStop  —  It's become a parlor game in Washington, on Wall Street, and in Silicon Valley to figure out where U.S. Securities …
The Information:
Facebook confirms it is building a team of AI researchers to study ways of analyzing encrypted data without decrypting it, potentially helping better target ads  —  Facebook is bulking up a team of artificial intelligence researchers, including a key hire from Microsoft …
Andrew Kersley / Wired UK:
Sources: well over 100 UK-based employees at Amazon's Prime Air drone delivery unit have lost their jobs since 2019, as the company scales back its ambitions  —  Amazon has triggered mass redundancies and transfers as it winds down a huge part of its UK drone delivery business
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Spotify is testing Spotify Plus, a low-cost tier that includes ads but doesn't impose limits on track skipping and lets users pick specific songs to play  —  Spotify Plus is being piloted with a ‘limited number’ of users  —  Spotify Plus is a new $.99 subscription tier being piloted …
Rainey Reitman / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
The confusing language in the infrastructure bill's crypto provision suggests that nearly any entity in crypto is a broker and must collect their users' data  —  The forthcoming Senate draft of Biden's infrastructure bill—a 2,000+ page bill designed to update the United States' roads …
Antoine Gara / Forbes:
How Michael Dell oversaw Dell's expansion after taking it private, growing the company to $75B, by focusing on providing infrastructure to businesses and others  —  After years battling Silicon Valley skeptics and Wall Street adversaries, Michael Dell has pulled off the deal of the century …
Boris Metodiev / Strategy Analytics:
Xiaomi became Europe's top smartphone vendor in Q2 with 12.7M units shipped, up 67.1% YoY, followed by Samsung with 12M, down 7% YoY, and Apple with 9.6M  —  According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, Europe smartphone shipments grew a strong +14% YoY to 50.1 million units in Q2 2021 …
Lulu Yilun Chen / Bloomberg:
After Chinese regulators halted its IPO, Alibaba's Ant Group reports Q1 profit fell to $2.1B, down 37% from the previous quarter  —  Ant Group Co.'s profit fell to $2.1 billion in the March quarter after Chinese regulators thwarted its record initial public offering and told it to overhaul its sprawling operation.
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Citizen launches Protect, a $20/month service that offers access to a Citizen operator and other features, after a 100,000-user beta test  —  After months of testing with upwards of 100,000 beta testers, Citizen today is launching its premium Protect offering for all users.
Martin Matishak / The Record:
A bipartisan Senate investigation finds that, despite years of warnings, many US government agencies have not established effective cybersecurity programs  —  Several major federal agencies continue to fail to address recurring cybersecurity vulnerabilities or implement basic standards …
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Researchers were able to quickly circumvent security protections of a laptop that followed virtually all NIST recommendations, including TPM and UEFI SecureBoot  —  Sometimes, locking down a laptop with the latest defenses isn't enough.  —  Let's say you're a large company that has just shipped …
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google unveils Pixel 6, with 6.4" 90Hz display, and Pixel 6 Pro, with 6.7" 120Hz display and 4x optical zoom, with a Google-designed Tensor SoC, coming in fall  —  Google's new Tensor SoC is the heart of its next phone  —  Google is announcing the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro today …
Sam Rutherford / Gizmodo:
Google's Rick Osterloh demos Pixel 6's Tensor SoC, which enables real-time object detection and HDR in videos as well as real-time translation and live captions
Dmitry Smilyanets / The Record:
Interview with BlackMatter, a new ransomware group that only targets companies with $100M+ revenue and says it will avoid certain industries like healthcare  —  Editor's Note: In July, a new ransomware gang started posting advertisements on various cybercrime forums announcing that it was seeking …
Sami Fathi / MacRumors:
Apple makes Magic Keyboard with Touch ID available as a standalone product for $149; the keyboard is only compatible with Apple silicon Macs  —  Apple has made the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, which previously was only available with the purchase of the new 24-inch iMac, available for purchase individually for $179.
Yael Eisenstat / Washington Post:
A former Facebook elections integrity head criticizes it for using preemptive non-disparagement clauses to silence employees, shutting avenues for transparency  —  Non-disparagement clauses can keep former employees from discussing the company  —  Since the Jan. 6 insurrection …

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:40 PM ET, August 3, 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.

From Mediagazer

Reuters:
Independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta plans to shut down after 30+ years, following pressure from Russian authorities and the persecution of its reporters

Gavin Blair / The Hollywood Reporter:
The Association of Japanese Animations: Japan's anime industry revenue grew 15.8% YoY to a record ~$28.5B in 2025, with overseas revenue reaching ~$16B

Amy Chozick / New York Times:
Amy Chozick, who wrote a profile of Elizabeth Holmes, talks about ghosting Nathan Fielder after tentatively agreeing to be filmed for You Can See Everything

More News

Earlier Picks

Simon Sharwood / The Register:
Australian court rules AI can be considered an inventor on patent filings, days after South Africa granted a patent in which AI was designated as the inventor
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter partners with Reuters and the AP, who will provide context and highlight links from trusted sources for Trends, Moments, Search, and more
Kim Willsher / The Guardian:
The French government found proof of Pegasus malware on three French journalists' phones and has referred its findings to the Paris public prosecutor's office
Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:
A look at Fuck You Pay Me, a Glassdoor-like service where creators can review brands they have worked with and share ad rates
Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
Facebook to require all US on-campus staff to wear masks starting on Aug. 4, regardless of vaccination status, citing rising COVID cases and local regulations
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft's desktop-as-a-service Windows 365 Cloud PC is generally available and costs between $20 to $162 per user per month, based on cores, RAM, and storage
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