Techmeme
October 15, 2021, 4:20 AM

Top News

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
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 …
Ax Sharma / Ars Technica:
How a US hacker built a secret network of “news” sites and Facebook Groups to push bogus stories after an undisclosed company hired him to sway 2016's election  —  He was hired to build a fake news op but now wants to put things right.  —  This is the story of the mastermind behind …
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 …
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
John D. McKinnon / Wall Street Journal:
Bipartisan Senate legislation announced Thursday would ban tech companies from self-preferencing and anti-competitively discriminating against businesses  —  Bipartisan legislation set to be unveiled in the Senate Thursday aims to stop tech companies from favoring their own products
The Markup:
Haje Jan Kamps / TechCrunch:
Reliable Robotics, which aims to replace pilots with robots on commercial cargo planes, 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: pitchbook.com and ReutersTweets: @chr1sa
Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch:
Roblox outlines plans to add more realism to player avatars, introduce new in-game monetization streams, add NFT-like limited edition items, and more  —  At its annual developer conference Thursday, Roblox painted a picture of what's next for the fast-growing online multiplayer portal that's like catnip for kids and teens.
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
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
HTC announces $499 Vive Flow, a VR headset that requires an external battery and uses an Android phone as a wireless controller, available in November  —  After years of focusing on business-oriented virtual reality, HTC is launching a $499 entertainment-focused headset called the Vive Flow in November …
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.
Ari Levy / CNBC:
GitLab closed up 35% in its Nasdaq debut, giving it a $14.9 billion market cap, after raising $801M in its IPO at an $11B valuation  —  - GitLab started trading on the Nasdaq on Thursday under ticker symbol “GTLB.”  — The company, whose code-sharing software competes with Microsoft's GitHub …

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Thomas Brewster / Forbes:
James Vincent / The Verge:
Tage Kene-Okafor / TechCrunch:
Jay Peters / The Verge: