Techmeme
September 9, 2021, 5:20 PM

Top News

Alex Heath / The Verge:
Facebook launches $299 Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses in six countries including the US; users can capture photo and video, listen to music, or take phone calls  —  Hands-on with Facebook and Ray-Ban's first pair of smart glasses  —  Starting Thursday, the first pair of smart glasses …
Source: Facebook TechnologyMore: New York Times, About Facebook, Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed News, The Verge, Wired, Ray-Ban, TechCrunch, Axios, App Store, About Facebook, Barron's Online, CNN, CNET, iThinkDifferent, ZDNet, VICE, XDA Developers, inews.co.uk, MacRumors, Associated Press, The Economic Times, USA Today, Engadget, Livemint, Mashable, Social Media Today, CNBC, Road to VR, TNW, MobileSyrup, TechCrunch, YouTube, NBC News, Sydney Morning Herald, The Mac Observer, Input, 9to5Mac, iPhone Hacks, news.com.au, UploadVR, The Guardian, Washington Post, BBC, Engadget, Silicon Republic, The Information, TalkAndroid.com, TechRadar, Agence France-Presse, VICE, Sky News, Financial Times, Android Central, Pocketables, Liliputing, British GQ, Android Headlines, Vogue Business, Pocket-lint, BGR India, and iDownloadBlog.com
Harry McCracken / Fast Company:
Interview with Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook's plans for smart eyewear, potential privacy issues, lack of AR features, the inadequacies of smartphones, and more  —  Mark Zuckerberg has big plans for smart eyewear.  Facebook's first stab at the idea is not a huge deal—but it avoids privacy pitfalls that could come later.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft indefinitely postpones the return to its offices in the US, saying it has “decided against attempting to forecast a new date for a full reopening”  —  The pandemic keeps pushing back Microsoft's plans  —  Microsoft is shelving its plans to fully reopen its US offices next month.
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:
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple has appointed longtime Apple Watch and Health software chief Kevin Lynch as the new head of its Apple Car project after Doug Field's departure  —  - Kevin Lynch replaces Doug Field as head of Apple's car efforts  — Field left Apple's project after three years to work at Ford
Reed Albergotti / Washington Post:
Security researchers say Apple's bug bounty program is undermined by Apple's insular culture, confusion about payments, and long delays in fixing bugs  —  Lack of communication, confusion about payments and long delays have security researchers fed up with Apple's bug bounty program
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:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter is testing a new “Automated Account” label for profiles to self-identify as bots, intended for “good bots”, and the label will remain opt-in for now  —  Twitter today is introducing a new feature that will allow accounts to self-identify as bots by adding a label to their profile.
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.
More: FortuneTweets: @brendannyhan
Wall Street Journal:
JPMorgan Chase acquires The Infatuation, a restaurant discovery service that bought Zagat from Google in 2018  —  Deal is the bank's latest effort to cater to big spenders who like to travel and dine out  —  America's biggest bank is buying the company behind the Zagat brand.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon says it will offer to cover 100% of college tuition for its 750,000 hourly employees in the US after 90 days of employment, starting in January 2022  —  - Amazon is offering to pay the full cost of college tuition, including books and fees, for its 750,000 hourly U.S. employees.
Christine Hall / TechCrunch:
Fin, which provides productivity insights for companies by capturing employee workflow data from across apps, raises $20M Series A led by Coatue  —  Work insights platform Fin raised $20 million in Series A funding and brought in Evan Cummack, a former Twilio executive, as its new chief executive officer.
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 …
Greg Kumparak / TechCrunch:
Supabase, an open source alternative to Google's Firebase that automates parts of developers' backend work, raises $30M Series A  —  Supabase, the backend-as-a-service startup, announced this week that it raised a $30 million Series A.  —  Supabase is often described as an open source alternative …
Bloomberg:
Resecurity: hackers gained access to UN's proprietary project management tool Umoja from April 5 to August 7, stealing an unknown amount of data  —  - Attackers gained access to UN network using stolen credentials  — The identity of the hackers, or their motive, isn't yet clear

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Ali Watkins / New York Times:
Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch: