Techmeme
September 9, 2021, 10:45 AM

Top News

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Amazon launches the Fire TV Omni Series, its first smart TVs, starting at $410 and shipping in October  —  Amazon is officially in the TV set business.  —  After years of selling Fire TV devices that plug into third-party HDTVs and teaming with TV makers for Fire TV-based products …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Amazon introduces the Fire TV Stick 4K Max, its new flagship streaming device, with WiFi 6 and faster performance, for $55, shipping October 7  —  And it still comes in at an appealing $54.99 price  —  Amazon is today introducing a new flagship streaming stick that joins the Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Stick, and Fire TV Stick Lite.
Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch:
Twitter says it is testing Communities, invite-only topic-based public feeds curated by moderators, initially limited to a few topics, such as dogs and skincare  —  Twitter is a useful place for following breaking news and keeping up with what the people you're already interested in are doing …
Ian Carlos Campbell / The Verge:
Matt Levine / Bloomberg:
While SEC rules are hazy, Coinbase's Lend product likely does constitute a security; to avoid SEC oversight, Coinbase would need to be regulated like a bank  —  Is lending your Bitcoins a security?  —  Oh, sure, yes, absolutely.  The rule in the U.S. is that an “investment contract,” …
Frank Chaparro / The Block:
Coinbase says SEC threatened to sue over its yet-to-be-launched Lend program, following discussions with the regulator that have lasted almost six months  —  Crypto exchange Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong responded Tuesday evening to planned enforcement by the U.S. Securities …
Jack Nicas / New York Times:
Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro temporarily bans social media companies from removing accounts and content that violate their rules, ahead of a presidential election  —  The new rules in Brazil appear to be the first national policy that restricts how tech companies can control their sites, analysts say.
Josh Ye / South China Morning Post:
Sources: Chinese regulators are slowing approvals for all new online games, revealing the move in a meeting with Tencent and NetEase  —  Sources said the move to slow down new video game approvals is in line with Beijing's initiative to reduce gaming addiction in minors It is unclear …
Joseph Menn / Reuters:
Microsoft says it has fixed a flaw that could have let hackers access the data of some Azure customers; Palo Alto Networks reported the flaw in July  —  Microsoft (MSFT.O) warned some of its Azure cloud computing customers that a flaw discovered by security researchers could have allowed hackers access to their data.
Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:
UK network Three joins EE and Vodafone in adding a £2/day charge for EU roaming starting May 2022; O2 will offer free EU roaming as an add-on for some plans  —  Three has become the latest UK mobile network to reintroduce EU roaming fees, in another post-Brexit setback for customers traveling abroad.
Odanga Madung / Wired:
Investigation reveals how social media influencers in Kenya are hired to spread disinformation on Twitter against Kenyan journalists, judges, and activists  —  It's a lucrative gig for content creators, who can make $10 to $15 a day by smearing journalists and activists on social media.
Jamie Crawley / CoinDesk:
Spain's La Liga soccer league partners with French platform Sorare to offer NFTs of all its players, the first major European soccer league to do so  —  Spain's La Liga has become the first of Europe's top soccer leagues to offer non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for all its players.
Damien Wilde / 9to5Google:
Xiaomi says its upcoming 11T flagship series will get three years of OS updates and four years of security updates, matching Samsung and Google  —  Ahead of the release of the Xiaomi 11T Pro and 11T, the Chinese firm is promising extended support for the upcoming duo with three years …
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Mobile banking startup Varo Money raises $510M Series E at a $2.5B valuation, which it says is up ~5x since May 2020, bringing total raised to $992.4M  —  Varo Bank, which last year became the first U.S. neobank to be granted a national bank charter, announced this morning it has raised …
More: Forbes and Finextra
Dave Nyczepir / FedScoop:
US Commerce Dept. says it is forming the National AI Advisory Committee, which will advise POTUS and federal agencies on AI research, competitiveness, and more  —  The Department of Commerce has set up a committee to advise the president and other federal agencies on artificial intelligence issues …
Cade Metz / New York Times:
A look at Sila Nanotechnologies' new battery model, which ships in the new Whoop wearable and may fuel a change in energy storage for electric cars and more  —  This week, a more efficient type of battery arrives in a wristband fitness tracker.  It could soon reach smart glasses, cars and even aircraft.

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