Techmeme
September 30, 2021, 6:30 PM

Top News

Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Senators grilled Facebook exec Antigone Davis at a hearing about Instagram's impact on teens and were frustrated by her reticence to answer questions directly  —  Last night, Facebook published two annotated slide decks in an attempt to contextualize the documents that the Wall Street Journal published …
Wall Street Journal:
WSJ publishes six internal Facebook documents it used for its report about Instagram's negative impact on teen girls, after Facebook published two of the docs  —  The Senate holds a hearing Thursday about the social network's impact, prompted by The Wall Street Journal's coverage
The Verge:
Facebook shares two annotated internal research docs about Instagram's impact on teen mental health, after being notified of WSJ's plans to publish the docs  —  The company shared the PDFs Wednesday night  —  Facebook has shared the internal research about the impact of Instagram …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Facebook Files don't show that the company's execs are evil or incompetent, but highlight their hubris in believing they can still get things back under control  —  Over the last few weeks, the WSJ has run a series of posts generally called “The Facebook Files,” which have exposed a variety …
BBC:
Researchers: a flaw in Apple Pay lets attackers make a Visa payment with a locked iPhone in Express Transit mode; Apple calls it “a concern with a Visa system”  —  Large unauthorised contactless payments can be made on locked iPhones by exploiting how an Apple Pay feature designed …
Aislinn Keely / The Block:
TikTok launches Top Moments, an NFT collection featuring six “culturally significant TikTok videos” from creators including Lil Nas X  —  TikTok is launching a non-fungible token (NFT) collection that will see its top content creators partner with top NFT creators.
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Visually impaired users say that iOS 15 appears to have removed call, email, and voicemail Siri features they relied on  —  With the recent release of iOS 15, Apple appears to have made some changes to Siri functionality that have removed features relied on by low vision and blind iPhone users.
William Gallagher / AppleInsider:
USB Implementers Forum issues new USB-C certified logos that show if a cable or port supports 60W or 240W, hoping to solve customer confusion  —  The group responsible for the USB-C protocol has issued new certified logos that show if a cable or port supports 60W or 240W, hoping that customers will read the labels.
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Chinese AR company Nreal unveils Nreal Air, consumer glasses with micro OLED displays and iOS compatibility, shipping in Dec. in Japan, China, and South Korea  —  They'll ship later this year in Asia  —  Augmented reality company Nreal is launching a cheaper, iOS-compatible, more compact version of its smart glasses.
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Facebook announces updates to Messenger, including group chats between Instagram and Messenger contacts  —  Facebook Messenger is releasing a bundle of products this morning — most notably, including cross-app group chats.  Last year, the company introduced cross-app messaging between Messenger …
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Intel unveils Loihi 2, a second-generation neuromorphic computing chip, and Lava, an open-source framework for developing “neuro-inspired” applications  —  Intel today announced a major update to its neuromorphic computing program, including a second-generation chip called Loihi 2 and Lava …
Samantha Cole / VICE:
Source: ex-OnlyFans staff had access to highly sensitive user and model data, like bank statements, legal names, and KYC images, long after leaving the company  —  Addresses, full names, passports, bank statements and other sensitive personal data were viewable.  —  Samantha Cole
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Apple, for the first time, shares the top paid podcast subscriptions and free channels globally, counting devices that played at least one second of an episode  —  Happy International Podcast Day!  In today's podcast news roundup, Apple releases the top 10 most-subscribed podcasts and free channels …
Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian / Axios:
LinkedIn blocks the profiles of several US journalists on its Chinese platform, citing “prohibited content” without specifying what it was  —  LinkedIn blocked the profiles of several U.S. journalists from the company's China-based platform this week, citing “prohibited content.”
Karen Weise / New York Times:
Amazon settles with two former employee activists, Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa, over accusations it illegally fired them for organizing  —  Amazon has settled with two of its most prominent internal critics, staving off a public hearing over accusations that the company illegally fired the pair …
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Alloy, which offers an identity verification service for the financial services industry, raises $100M Series C at a $1.35B valuation led by Lightspeed  —  Alloy, which has built an identity operating system for banks and fintechs, announced Thursday that it has raised $100 million at a $1.35 billion valuation.
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple has quietly begun allowing users to rate and review its built-in iPhone and iPad apps in the App Store with iOS 15  —  For the longest time, the App Store did not allow users to rate or review Apple's built-in iPhone and iPad apps, like Mail, Music, News, Stocks and Calculator.
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Mexico City-based Higo, which offers a B2B payments service for SMBs in Latin America, raises $23M Series A led by Accel  —  Just six months after raising $3.3 million in seed funding, Mexico City-based Higo announced today it has raised $23 million in a Series A round led by Accel.
Benjamin Wallace / New York Magazine:
Miami's mayor has helped turn Miami into the most crypto-friendly US city, even as Florida's governor appears to object to the idea of an influx of tech workers  —  Silicon Valley's favorite politician, Miami mayor Francis Suarez, has many lures to dangle when he's wooing techies to relocate to his city.
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Fairphone, which makes ethically sourced modular phones, announces Fairphone 4 with a 6.3-inch display, 5G, and up to 256GB of storage, starting at €579  —  The Fairphone 4's software support should stretch until 2025  —  Fairphone, the manufacturer focused on making easy to repair smartphones …

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