Techmeme
October 15, 2021, 8:15 AM

Top News

Kellen Browning / New York Times:
Security researchers say plans by Apple and EU to monitor phones for illicit material are ineffective and could embolden government surveillance  —  A group of researchers said the “dangerous technology” was invasive and not effective at detecting images of child sexual abuse.
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
WhatsApp starts rolling out e2e encryption for chat history backups in iCloud and Google Drive  —  WhatsApp is beginning to roll out a new feature that will provide its two billion users the option to encrypt their chat history backup in iCloud or Google Drive, patching a major loophole …
Catalin Cimpanu / The Record:
Google Threat Analysis Group says it tracks 270+ state-backed threat actors, and sent 50K+ alerts for email phishing attacks to Gmail users in 2021, up ~33% YoY  —  The Google Threat Analysis Group said today that its security researchers are currently tracking more than 270 different …
Wall Street Journal:
Microsoft is shuttering the Chinese version of LinkedIn and replacing it with a job board; sources say China told LinkedIn in March to better regulate content  —  LinkedIn cites challenging operating environment, as retreat marks the biggest departure from China by a major tech company in years
Ax Sharma / Ars Technica:
A US hacker says he built a network of “news” sites and Facebook Groups in 2015 to push bogus stories after a company hired him to “stop Hillary Clinton”  —  He was hired to build a fake news op but now wants to put things right.  —  This is the story of the mastermind behind …
Reed Albergotti / Washington Post:
Profile of Cher Scarlett, an Apple employee leading the #AppleToo campaign highlighting racism, retaliation, sexual and other forms of workplace harassment  —  Cher Scarlett is willing to risk a dream job at Apple to blow the whistle on alleged labor violations at the iPhone maker.
Wall Street Journal:
Coinbase asks Congress to regulate digital assets outside of the existing financial system and to create a special regulator for digital asset markets  —  Crypto trading platform asks Congress to create an oversight regime separate from existing market regulators
Haje Jan Kamps / TechCrunch:
Reliable Robotics, which wants to retrofit commercial cargo planes with autonomous systems, raises a $100M Series C led by Coatue Management  —  When flying cargo from one part of the world to another, you typically need a pilot for two parts: The take-off and the landing.
More: FinSMEs and ReutersTweets: @chr1sa
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google rolls out continuous scrolling for English-language mobile search results in the US  —  Google announced today it's changing the way search works on mobile devices, initially in the U.S. Now, when you reach the bottom of a set of search results on your phone, you won't have to tap to go to the next page.
Wilson Walker / CBS San Francisco:
Residents of a quiet San Francisco street say Waymo's self-driving cars are flocking to the neighborhood throughout the day, seemingly confused by a dead end  —  SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) — A normally quiet neighborhood in San Francisco is buzzing about a sudden explosion of traffic.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple has hired Afrooz Family, its former employee and a co-founder of speaker startup Syng, to lead HomePod software efforts  —  - Apple's smart-speaker efforts have struggled since 2018 debut  — Afrooz Family takes job after co-founding Syng speaker startup
Miles Kruppa / Financial Times:
PitchBook: tech investors and employees have netted $582.5B from US IPOs and sales in the year to September, with 93 listings between July and September  —  IPO and Spac booms have delivered a record windfall for venture capitalists in 2021  —  A wave of US public listings and sales …
More: PYMNTS.com
Joseph Cox / VICE:
FTC notifies 700+ companies, including Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft, that they could face penalties of up to $43,792 per violation for using deceptive reviews  —  The FTC sent a notice to hundreds of companies, including AT&T, Dunkin' Donuts, Hulu, and Macy's.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Transform ML Experimentation with Tangle  —  Save months of compute time with Tangle, built by Shopify.  Try this open-source platform to simplify ML workflows, ensure reproducibility, and seamlessly share with collaborators.
Zoho:
Contract Signed.  Project Ready.  Tasks Created.  —  Every project begins with a promise; a contract that outlines the deliverables, the timelines, and the terms.  But for most businesses …
Bitrix24:
Bitrix24 powers the next generation of high-performing businesses  —  Chat, projects, CRM, and automation — all in one place.  Replace dozens of tools so your team moves faster, collaborates smarter, and grows effortlessly.
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

Hard Fork:
OpenAI Calls a 'Code Red' + Which Model Should I Use? + The Hard Fork Review of Slop
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:
Is Roblox making the internet better or worse? We asked the CEO
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Lenny's Podcast:
Why LinkedIn is turning PMs into AI-powered "full stack builders" | Tomer Cohen (LinkedIn CPO)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Great Chat:
Code red: our favorite tech rivalries
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.
Big Technology Podcast:
How An AI Model Learned To Be Bad — With Evan Hubinger And Monte MacDiarmid
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:15 AM ET, October 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

Ari Levy / CNBC:

Earlier Picks

Adi Robertson / The Verge:
James Vincent / The Verge:
John D. McKinnon / Wall Street Journal:
Tage Kene-Okafor / TechCrunch:
Jay Peters / The Verge: