Techmeme
August 15, 2021, 6:00 PM

Top News

Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Apple details its CSAM detection system, says it expects to set a match threshold of 30 known CSAM images before an iCloud account is flagged for manual review  —  Apple today shared a document that provides a more detailed overview of the child safety features that it first announced last week …
Wall Street Journal:
Joseph Cox / VICE:
T-Mobile investigates claims that hackers stole data from its servers, including phone numbers, names, SSNs, and driver's license info, related to 100M+ people  —  Hackers selling the data are claiming it affects 100 million users.  —  Joseph Cox  —  T-Mobile says it is investigating …
Mark Sullivan / Fast Company:
Interview with Niantic CEO John Hanke about the company's vision for the metaverse and how it could become a dystopian nightmare  —  The metaverse, the concept of an alternative, shared digital world that originated in sci-fi, has bubbled up to the surface of tech chatter during the later days of the pandemic.
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Twitter says it is changing the contrast of its new buttons, as users complain about headaches after its redesign that some experts say isn't very accessible  —  After teasing its new font in January, Twitter made some major changes to its website and app design this week.
Wall Street Journal:
In a new lawsuit, a US-based contractor claims Huawei stole its tech and pressured it to build a “back door” into a sensitive surveillance project in Pakistan  —  Small U.S. software maker alleges Chinese telecom giant sought live access to data in Pakistan; Huawei denies claim
Kris Holt / Engadget:
Facebook rolls out end-to-end encrypted voice and video calls on Messenger, and says it will begin testing opt-in e2e encryption for Instagram DMs  —  rolling out a host of features for Messenger users who switch on  —  end-to-end encryption (E2EE).  You can now call Messenger contacts using voice or video
Globes Online:
Cisco confirms it has acquired Epsagon, an Israel-based cloud application monitoring startup; sources say Cisco will be paying $500M  —  Cisco EVP Liz Centoni: When the acquisition closes, the Epsagon team will join our strategy, incubation and applications group.
Bill Hathaway / YaleNews:
Study of 12.7M tweets shows social media amplifies expressions of moral outrage, as users learn that such language gets rewarded with more “likes” and “shares”  —  Social media platforms like Twitter amplify expressions of moral outrage over time because users learn …
Reed Albergotti / Washington Post:
Profile of Philip Agre, a computer scientist turned humanities professor, whose work is considered foundational in studying the effects of technology on society  —  Philip Agre, a computer scientist turned humanities professor, was prescient about many of the ways technology would impact the world

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26  —  Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.
Zoho:
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control  —  Picture this: It's Monday morning.  You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's 2026 Priority, Disney's AI Play, Datacenter Buildout Trouble
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.
Hard Fork:
Australia Kicks Kids Off Social Media + Is the A.I. Water Issue Fake? + Hard Fork Wrapped
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Access:
Why the next AI frontier is phone calls, with Beside CEO Maxime Germain
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Great Chat:
So what happens after AGI?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Lachlan Cartwright Started in Tabloids. Now He's a Must-Read Media Gossip.
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:00 PM ET, August 15, 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

Chet Haase / Ars Technica:

Earlier Picks

Josef Adalian / Vulture:
Daisuke Wakabayashi / New York Times:
Mitchell Clark / The Verge: