Techmeme
August 6, 2021, 6:15 PM

Top News

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
In an internal memo, Apple acknowledges concerns and “misunderstandings” about its new photo scanning feature but says it is necessary to “protect children”  —  Apple yesterday officially announced a range of new features coming later this year, dubbed Expanded Protections for Children.
Financial Times:
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Will Cathcart / @wcathcart:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
SEC charges Blockchain Credit Partners for alleged illegal sales of $30M in unregistered securities, first SEC charges related to decentralized finance industry  —  The SEC says the company falsely raised $30 million  —  The Securities and Exchange Commission issued its first charges …
James Rubin / CoinDesk:
Senators Warner and Portman propose an amendment to infrastructure bill that only excludes crypto miners from broker definition; White House shows support  —  The bill excludes only proof-of-work mining, or the selling of hardware or software that gives individuals control of private keys to access digital assets.
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Court filings: Epic says Google called plans to distribute Fortnite via sideloading a threatening “contagion”, and contemplated buying some or all of Epic  —  It also apparently called sideloading ‘an awful experience’  —  Google considered buying Epic Games as the companies sparred …
Kareem Anderson / OnMSFT.com:
Microsoft's Panos Panay teases Spotify integration with Windows 11 through a Focus Sessions feature “coming soon”  —  Microsoft's chief product officer, Panos Panay has been on a bit of leak streak as of late, teasing new Spotify integration coming to Windows 11 among other new application focuses.
Nathalie Maréchal / Tech Policy Press:
Facebook's decision to disable researcher's ability to run the NYU's Ad Observatory Project should be a call to regulate the ad tech industry as a whole  —  Another day, another Facebook accountability scandal.  —  On Wednesday, Facebook shut down the accounts of NYU researchers Laura Edelson …
Cristiano Lima / Washington Post:
In a letter to Zuckerberg, the FTC called Facebook's initial claim it cut off NYU researchers' access to comply with an FTC privacy agreement “inaccurate”  —  The Federal Trade Commission has dismissed as “inaccurate” Facebook's claim that it cut off a group of researchers' access …
Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
Interviews with 50 current and former Blizzard employees detail a toxic workplace, where sexual harassment and discrimination against women were common  —  One summer day in 2018, employees of the video game maker Blizzard Entertainment opened their email to find a brusque message from the chief executive officer, Mike Morhaime.
Jon Prosser / FrontPageTech.com:
Sources: Google's Pixel 5A will debut by the end of Aug. for $450, with a 6.4" display with a hole-punch camera, Snapdragon 765G, 4650mAh battery, 6GB RAM, more  —  Just a few days after Google confirmed our Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro exclusives — today we have some exclusive information regarding the Pixel 5A and its release.
Dan Strumpf / Wall Street Journal:
Huawei reports Q2 revenue fell 38% YoY to ~$26B, greater than the 16.5% drop in Q1 and 11.2% drop in Q4, as US sanctions continue to hurt sales  —  Revenue declines deepen amid U.S. restrictions on chip supply, pressure on buyers  —  HONG KONG—China's Huawei Technologies Co. reported …
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Valve Steam Deck hands-on: handles resource-intensive games better than other handheld PC gaming devices, great ergonomics, gyroscopic aiming feature works well  —  Reservations are already sold out through mid-2022  —  I have held the Steam Deck, and I'm nearly a believer.  —  Not quite, but I like what I see.
Jane Zhang / South China Morning Post:
Apple suppliers Foxconn, Lens Technology, and Luxshare Precision roll out hiring incentives as they scramble for workers ahead of iPhone 13 launch  —  Foxconn is not the only Apple supplier scrambling for new workers - Lens Technology and Luxshare Precision have rolled out similar hiring incentives Apple …
Ari Levy / CNBC:
Users of Doximity, which has long described itself as a LinkedIn for doctors, find their news feed inundated with anti-vaccine comments from fellow physicians  —  - Doctors on the industry networking site Doximity are finding their news feed inundated with anti-vaccine comments from fellow physicians.
Keith Zhai / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: China plans to levy a roughly $1B fine on Meituan in the coming weeks for abusing its market position  —  The penalty for allegedly abusing its dominant market position could be announced within weeks, people familiar with the matter say  —  SINGAPORE—China's antitrust regulator …

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Brian Heater / TechCrunch: