Techmeme
September 9, 2021, 3:20 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, BuzzFeed News, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, The Verge, Wired, Axios, App Store, VICE, CNN, XDA Developers, MacRumors, inews.co.uk, Associated Press, Livemint, USA Today, Road to VR, About Facebook, MobileSyrup, NBC News, Sydney Morning Herald, 9to5Mac, Bloomberg, BBC, Washington Post, Engadget, UploadVR, Silicon Republic, Engadget, news.com.au, The Information, TechCrunch, The Guardian, The Mac Observer, CNBC, Input, iPhone Hacks, TNW, Pocketnow, BGR India, TalkAndroid.com, Liliputing, YouTube, Pocketables, iPhone in Canada Blog, iDownloadBlog.com, TechRadar, Android Headlines, Agence France-Presse, VICE, PetaPixel, Sky News, Financial Times, Vogue Business, British GQ, Mashable, Android Central, and Pocket-lint
Harry McCracken / Fast Company:
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.
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
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.
Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch:
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.
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:
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.
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.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Epic to shut down Houseparty, the video chat app it acquired in 2019, in October along with Fortnite Mode, which uses Houseparty for video chats  —  Houseparty, the social video chat app acquired by Fortnite maker Epic Games for a reported $35 million back in 2019, is shutting down.
More: The Verge
Stephen Graves / Decrypt:
Mastercard acquires CipherTrace, which offers a crypto-focused analytics service that specializes in anti-money laundering and forensics  —  Mastercard has announced that it has acquired cryptocurrency tracking firm CipherTrace with a view to providing “additional transparency and support” for the emerging ecosystem of digital assets.
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 …
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.
More: FinSMEsTweets: @lessin
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 …
Dan Taylor / Tech.eu:
Milan-based buy now, pay later service Scalapay raises $155M Series A led by Tiger Global  —  Milan-based buy now pay later player Scalapay has raised $155 million in equity funding in a Series A round.  In line with many other BNPL providers, Scalapay offers consumers the ability to spread …

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Ali Watkins / New York Times:
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