Techmeme
March 8, 2022, 4:45 AM

Top News

Sam Byford / The Verge:
Samsung, Lenovo, and Microsoft commit to shipping Android 12L, featuring optimizations for tablets and foldables, for some of their devices later this year  —  The update is coming later this year  —  Samsung, Lenovo, and Microsoft are the first device manufacturers to commit to shipping Android 12L …
Corbin Davenport / XDA Developers:
Google releases Android 12L and a feature update for Pixel phones, including Live Caption reading typed responses aloud to callers, Duo screen sharing, and more  —  Google released the long-awaited Android 12L update on Monday, with many improvements to foldable phones, tablets, and other large-screen devices.
The Information:
Source: Google is in talks to acquire cybersecurity company Mandiant, after a February report indicated Microsoft acquisition talks; Mandiant's stock is up 15%+  —  Google is in talks to buy cybersecurity consultancy Mandiant, which two years ago discovered the infamous SolarWinds hack …
Joseph Menn / Washington Post:
Google: Russia's Fancy Bear launched phishing campaigns against Ukrainians before the invasion and Belarus' Ghostwriter targeted Ukrainian and Polish militaries  —  Belarus conducted widespread phishing attacks against members of the Polish military as well as Ukrainian officials …
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Linux developers fix Dirty Pipe, a high-severity vulnerability in the kernel that let hackers carry out a host of malicious actions, like installing backdoors  —  Dirty Pipe has the potential to smudge people using Linux and Linux derivitives.  —  Linux has yet another high-severity vulnerability …
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Tech Transparency Project: Amazon employs five Chinese suppliers with ties to Uyghur labor camps; Amazon: “we take allegations of human rights abuses seriously”  —  Five suppliers ‘directly or indirectly’ involve forced labor  —  Amazon is allegedly employing suppliers in China …
Duncan Riley / SiliconANGLE:
Cloudflare, CrowdStrike, and Ping Identity form the Critical Infrastructure Defense Project, offering their services to US hospitals and utilities for free  —  Cloudflare Inc., CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. and Ping Identity Corp. today are teaming up to form the Critical Infrastructure Defense Project …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Apple suspends Search Ads in Russia, putting current and future App Store advertising campaigns on hold in the country “until further notice”  —  Apple Inc. has suspended advertising on its App Store in Russia, a move that bars developers from placing ads in search results …
Scott Chipolina / Decrypt:
Coinbase blocks 25K+ addresses related to Russian individuals or entities believed to be engaged in illicit activity and shares them with the US government  —  Crypto exchange Coinbase has said it has blocked over 25,000 Russia-linked addresses it believes were associated with illicit activity.
Bloomberg:
Samsung confirms a breach that exposed internal company data, including source code related to its Galaxy phones, but says users' personal data was not affected  —  Samsung Electronics Co. suffered a cybersecurity breach that exposed internal company data, including source code for the operation …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Instagram removes Boomerang and Hyperlapse from the App Store and Google Play, a week after Meta announced the company would shut down its IGTV app  —  A week after Instagram confirmed its plan to shut down its standalone IGTV app in order to better focus on initiatives, like Reels …
Aditya Hadi Pratama / Tech in Asia:
Singapore-based AI Rudder, which offers AI-powered B2C voice assistants in 15+ languages, raises a $50M Series B led by Tiger Global and Coatue  —  AI Rudder, a Singapore-based AI startup, has raised US$50 million in series B funding from Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital India, and Huashan Capital.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Apple begins rolling out Apple TV+ to Comcast's US video platforms and offers three months free to customers who sign up via their Xfinity device by April 25  —  The Apple TV Plus app will begin rolling out on Xfinity X1, Xfinity Flex and XClass TVs on March 7 and will be available across …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google says Chrome 99 on macOS outperforms Safari on WebKit's Speedometer 2.0 benchmark by 15%, scoring 300 points, the fastest performance of any browser yet  —  Version 100 of Google Chrome will launch within the next few weeks, but even after all of this time, there's still some room for speeding up the browser.
Krystal Hu / Reuters:
Axonius, which provides a cybersecurity asset management service that helps companies analyze IT resources, raises $200M at a $2.6B valuation led by Accel  —  Axonius has raised $200 million from investors led by venture capital firm Accel at a valuation of $2.6 billion …
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Sanctions by US tech companies on Russia may have unintended consequences in India; the West could use chips as leverage to compel China to not sell to Russia  —  While it has been only 11 days since Russia invaded Ukraine, it is already clear that the long-term impact on the tech industry is going to be substantial.

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