Techmeme
October 19, 2021, 10:30 PM

Top News

Dan Seifert / The Verge:
Google launches $599 Pixel 6, with 90Hz 6.4" display, and $899 Pixel 6 Pro, with 120Hz 6.7" display, both featuring an upgraded 50MP rear camera, coming Oct. 28  —  Google claims to finally be ready to take on Apple and Samsung  —  After many leaks, official teases, and months of waiting …
Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge:
A look at Pixel 6 and 6 Pro's cameras: main sensor takes in 150% more light, Real Tone can more accurately capture skin tones, Face Unblur, Magic Eraser, more  —  New cameras and sensors aim to put the Pixels back on top of mobile photography  —  Today at its Pixel Fall Launch event …
Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:
Q&A with Google executives on the Pixel 6's new Tensor SoC, which has two big ARM Cortex-X1 cores, 2 medium cores, and 4 efficiency cores  —  Learn more about the Google Tensor from the people that designed it.  —  The Pixel 6 is official, with a wild new camera design, incredible pricing, and the new Android 12 OS.
Jon Fingas / Engadget:
Google debuts a Pixel Pass plan starting at $45/month for a Pixel 6 plus an upgrade in two years, 200GB of Google One, Play Pass, YouTube Premium, and more  —  The rumors were true: Google has an answer to the Apple One bundle.  The company has introduced a Pixel Pass subscription that includes …
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Apple botched the notch on the MacBook Pros by leaving out Face ID; the bezels are smaller but not ultrathin like on Dell and HP rivals  —  All the downsides of the notch, without the Face ID benefits  —  The day that many have been dreading has finally arrived.  Apple has added a notch to its new MacBook Pros.
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Steven Sinofsky / @stevesi:
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
Facebook starts testing its Novi wallet in the US and Guatemala, letting users trade the Paxos Dollar; Coinbase will provide custody services  —  Facebook's Novi wallet is ready to launch - but it won't be launching with the Diem (formerly Libra) stablecoin.
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Facebook settles with DOJ over claims it discriminated by favoring temporary visa holders over US workers; Facebook will pay $4.75M and up to $9.5M for victims  —  - Facebook settled claims that it refused to recruit or hire U.S. workers for positions it set aside for temporary visa holders with the Department of Justice.
Michael Wursthorn / Wall Street Journal:
ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF gained nearly 5% in its NYSE debut, with ~$981M in trading volume, making it the second most traded ETF debut ever per FactSet  —  ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF advances nearly 5% following its closely watched launch  —  The first bitcoin-focused exchange-traded fund rose …
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Instagram says this week it will add a “Collabs” feature to let users co-author Reels and posts, the ability to post from desktop browsers, and more  —  Desktop posting, new video effects, and fundraiser tweaks are also on the way  —  Instagram is kicking off a week of product reveals …
Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:
Netflix reports Q3 revenue of $7.48B, up 16% YoY, operating income of $1.76B, up 33% YoY, and 214M paid subs, adding 4.4M YoY and beating estimates of 3.84M  —  - Netflix is set to report earnings after the bell Tuesday.  —  Netflix shares were up more than 2% after-the-bell Tuesday after the company posted third quarter results.
AJ Vicens / CyberScoop:
CrowdStrike details China-linked LightBasin, which has compromised 13 telecom companies since 2019, gaining access to subscriber info, call metadata, and more  —  An advanced network of digital spies with a nexus to Chinese interests has successfully compromised parts of the global telecommunications network …
Kellen Browning / New York Times:
Roblox's efforts to engage an older audience while maintaining a safe environment for its youngest users offer a roadmap for other internet platforms  —  The company, which went public earlier this year, has lessons for other internet outfits aiming to attract younger users even as its own audience gets older.
Nico Grant / Bloomberg:
Google says it updated its image search algorithms to show more racially diverse results, with the aim of promoting greater skin tone diversity  —  - Queries for beauty, family show greater skin-tone variety  — Effort is meant to avoid incidents that show algorithmic bias
Wall Street Journal:
Internal documents: Facebook's AI has minimal success enforcing its rules against problematic content, including removing an estimated 3%-5% of hate speech  —  AI has only minimal success in removing hate speech, violent images and other problem content, according to internal company reports

Sponsor Posts

Soxton:
Fast, affordable law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
F5:
Accelerate AI Adoption at F5's AI Virtual Summit  —  Learn how to architect, secure, and scale AI for production with real-world insights from industry leaders on June 23.  Register now to save your spot.
Zoho:
Say hello to Zia Answer Bot: Your organization's knowledge, on-demand in every Zoho Lens session.  —  Imagine your technician is halfway through a live remote assistance session.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

The Upstarts Podcast:
Mutiny's Jaleh Rezaei: Walking Away From Millions In Software To Grow Even Faster With Sales AI
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Hard Fork:
'Hard Fork' Live, Part 3: Differing Visions of an A.I. Future
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:
The billionaire paying AI researchers to stay out of Big Tech
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
The Race to the Middle
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
Subscribe to The Nick, Dick and Paul Show.
Great Chat:
After you ring the bell
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.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
AI's Mythos Moment: Rishi Sunak on preparing governments for AI
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 10:30 PM ET, October 19, 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

Earlier Picks

Financial Times:
Mark Bergen / Bloomberg: