Note: Techmeme is hiring part-time editors. Go here to apply, or tell a friend!
Techmeme
October 20, 2019, 12:35 AM

Top News

Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:
How TikTok is making inroads into US schools, as students create TikTok clubs to riff on the latest memes, and shoot videos on Newton's Laws for extra credit  —  Teens love the app, and now it's getting the stamp of approval with teacher-approved clubs.  Did school just get ... fun?
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Researchers find malware operators are now using steganography techniques to hide malicious code in WAV audio files  —  Steganography malware trend moving from PNG and JPG to WAV files.  —  Two reports published in the last few months show that malware operators are experimenting with using WAV audio files to hide malicious code.
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
A behind-the-scenes account of a cyberattack that disrupted the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics, which was tied to a specific unit of Russia's GRU  —  How digital detectives unraveled the mystery of Olympic Destroyer—and why the next big attack will be even harder to crack.
Bloomberg:
Seven US lawmakers, including Wyden, Cruz, Ocasio-Cortez, and Rubio accuse Apple of “censorship of apps” at the “behest of the Chinese government”, in a letter  —  - Cruz, AOC, others ask Apple to reinstate HK map app it pulled  — Apple CEO discussed consumer rights with Chinese regulator
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
MediaLab, a holding company that owns the Whisper app, buys Kik messenger from Kik Interactive, which now focuses on development of Kin cryptocurrency  —  The Kik messaging platform has been bought by MediaLab, a holding company which operates Whisper and a number of other apps, the company announced Friday.
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Samsung says fingerprint bug on Galaxy devices is due to the sensor reading 3D patterns in screen protectors as fingerprints, will patch it as soon as next week  —  And advises removing silicone screen protecting cases for now  —  Samsung says that it plans to release a patch for its phones …
MIT Technology Review:
A game made with a real world dataset of defendants shows the shortcomings of COMPAS, an AI-powered risk assessment tool used in the US criminal legal system  —  The US criminal legal system uses predictive algorithms to try to make the judicial process less biased.  But there's a deeper problem.
FinSMEs:
Radius Networks, which enables location-based transactions like curbside and in-store pickup, raises $15M Series A  —  Radius Networks, a Washington, DC-based technology company that uses its machine learning location platform to allow businesses to conduct location-based transactions with their customers …
ProPublica:
Inside Intuit's 20-year fight to make it harder to file taxes for free, including a pact with the IRS that kept a US-run service from competing with TurboTax  —  ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.  Sign up for ProPublica's Big Story newsletter to receive stories …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Generate videos with Veo 3 in Google Gemini  —  Create high-quality, 8-second videos with Veo 3, our state-of-the-art AI video generator.  Try it with a Google AI Pro plan or get the highest access with the Ultra plan.
Tribe AI:
State of AI: Adoption, Challenges and Recommendations  —  Examining the current state of AI, the key challenges organizations face, and practical recommendations for utilizing AI integration alongside other best practices.
Zoho:
Template champs unite!  Build, share, and win.  —  Are you the planner of your group?  The one who loves organising every little detail?  Then this is your moment!  Here's an opportunity to showcase your creativity …
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

Techmeme Ride Home:
Framing The AI Debate
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Invest Like the Best:
John Zito - Inside Apollo
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Spotlight On:
Vercel's Guillermo Rauch on bold visions for the future delivered incrementally
A podcast from Accel about how companies are built, from the people doing the building.
Subscribe to Spotlight On.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky wants to build the everything app
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Grit:
Bret Taylor's Journey Leading Salesforce, Sierra & OpenAI
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Acquired:
The Steve Ballmer Interview
Learn the playbooks that built the world's greatest companies - and how you can apply them as a founder, operator, or investor.
Subscribe to Acquired.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 12:35 AM ET, October 20, 2019.

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

Mike Ives / New York Times:

Earlier Picks

An-Nahar:
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
Jordan Novet / CNBC: