Techmeme
September 6, 2023, 5:20 PM

Top News

Financial Times:
The UK pulls back from including encryption rules in its Online Safety Bill, averting a clash with Big Tech, as the bill enters its final stages in parliament  —  Ministers will not immediately enforce online safety bill powers to scan apps after WhatsApp threatened shutdown
Samuel Stolton / Bloomberg:
The EU lists 22 services falling under the Digital Markets Act, including TikTok and Facebook, and plans to assess if Microsoft's services and iMessage qualify  —  - Tech firms set to challenge EU in digital antitrust clampdown  — Apple's App Store, Google Search, Amazon marketplace on list
New York Times:
A look at US et al v. Google, the federal government's first monopoly trial of the modern internet era, set to last 10 weeks; top executives will likely testify  —  The 10-week trial, set to begin Tuesday, amps up efforts to rein in Big Tech by targeting the core search business that turned Google into a $1.7 trillion behemoth.
Nico Grant / New York Times:
A profile of Kent Walker, Google's top lawyer who negotiated the company's 2013 FTC settlement, as Google prepares to defend against the DOJ's antitrust claims  —  The tech giant is facing the greatest legal threat in its history, and hopes the stolid approach of Kent Walker, its top lawyer, will once again prevail.
Thomas Claburn / The Register:
Google started rolling out Chrome's Enhanced Ad Privacy, part of its Topics API, via a popup; some say the Got It button is misleading for leaving tracking on  —  YMMV, based on where you are  —  Google has been gradually rolling out Chrome's “Enhanced Ad Privacy.”
Thomas Germain / Gizmodo:
Mozilla finds that all 25 major car brands the company examined fail to adhere to the most basic privacy and security standards in new internet-connected models  —  Bad news: your car is a spy.  Every major car brand's new internet-connected models flunked privacy and security tests conducted by Mozilla.
Yoko Kubota / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: China widens its ban on using iPhones and other foreign-branded devices for work, or bringing them to the office, to all central government agencies  —  The directive is the latest step in Beijing's campaign to cut reliance on foreign technology and could hurt Apple's business in the country.
David Pierce / The Verge:
Spotify is testing making song lyrics a Premium-only feature, currently “with a limited number of users in a pair of markets”  —  A number of Spotify users began to notice something strange over the last day or so: the in-app lyrics, which typically pop up under the currently playing song …
Andrew Cunningham / Ars Technica:
AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT and 7800 XT review: great for 1440p gaming and less power hungry but the 7800 XT barely outperforms the 6800 XT and older GPUs may suffice  —  It's hard to get excited about yesterday's performance at yesterday's prices.  —  Nearly a year ago, Nvidia kicked off this GPU generation with its GeForce RTX 4090.
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
The Pixel Pro 8 appeared online on Google's 360-degree device simulator, showing the phone in three colors and a new temperature sensor beside the rear cameras  —  If you had any remaining questions about what the Pixel 8 Pro looks like, Google is here to answer them.
Amanda Hoover / Wired:
NYC's Local Law 18, which mandates registration and other requirements for short-term rental hosts, goes into force, potentially wiping out thousands of Airbnbs  —  Thousands of Airbnbs and other short-term rentals are expected to disappear from rental platforms as New York City begins enforcing tight restrictions.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Roku plans to lay off 300+, or 10% of its staff, close offices, and take an up to $65M impairment charge in Q3 2023 for cutting some content; ROKU jumps 5%+  —  Roku will cut more than 300 staffers — laying off 10% of its workforce — as the streaming-platform company continues its battle to control costs.
Horace Dediu / Asymco:
An analysis of the EU's and other data on iOS and Android usage finds that Apple's App Store generates $10.40 monthly revenue per user vs. $1.40 for Google Play  —  As I remember it, at least 10 years ago, I began to hear anecdotes from developers who built apps for both iOS and Android about their economics.
Reuters:
Filing: Google tentatively settles a US Play Store class action antitrust lawsuit brought by 30+ states and representing 21M+ customers; the court must approve  —  Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google on Tuesday tentatively settled a class action suit alleging that its U.S. Play Store …
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
The Atlantic Council details how a Chinese law from 2021 requiring companies to disclose flaws within two days of discovery helps China's hacking operations  —  Some foreign companies may be complying—potentially offering China's spies hints for hacking their customers.

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Earlier Picks

Anna Nicolaou / Financial Times:
André Beganski / Decrypt:
Stephen Nellis / Reuters:
RT Watson / The Block:
Sundar Pichai / The Keyword:
Allison Johnson / The Verge: