Techmeme
November 21, 2019, 9:50 PM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is overhauling how it tests software, making daily builds disable unfinished features by default, after a swarm of bugs marred the iOS 13 debut  —  Apple Inc. is overhauling how it tests software after a swarm of bugs marred the latest iPhone and iPad operating systems, according to people familiar with the shift.
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Twitter says users can now enroll in 2FA without a phone number and disable SMS-based 2FA as default, allows other methods such as mobile authenticator apps  —  And it only took Twitter's CEO getting hacked to happen.  —  Twitter announced today that users will finally be able to disable SMS-based …
Amber Neely / AppleInsider:
Apple removed the “Ratings & Reviews” section from all product pages on its website over the weekend  —  On November 17, Apple removed the “Ratings & Reviews” section from all product pages on the Apple website.  It is currently unclear what has prompted this decision …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter rolls out its “Hide Replies” feature to all users globally  —  Twitter's radical “Hide Replies” feature, one of the biggest changes to how Twitter works since the invention of the Retweet, is now available to Twitter's global user base.  The company says the feature …
Jack Nicas / New York Times:
Tim Cook and Apple did not correct Trump after he took credit for opening a Texas manufacturing plant that has been in operation since 2013  —  President Trump said on Wednesday that he opened a facility that makes computers for Apple.  It's been operating since 2013.
Ben Lovejoy / 9to5Mac:
Daniel Rubino / Windows Central:
Microsoft delays the release of Surface Earbuds, which it said earlier were coming in the fall, until Spring 2020  —  Microsoft's October hardware event brought many new devices to market, but it was Surface Earbuds that had an IOU for release.  While the original plan was to have at least …
Mehedi Hassan / Thurrott:
Google brings Smart Compose to Google Docs as a beta, initially available in English for G Suite users on the web  —  Google introduced an interesting new feature called Smart Compose on Gmail last year.  The feature uses artificial intelligence to automatically suggest sentences as you draft your email.
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google Duplex launches on the web as Google Assistant in Chrome, lets users buy movie tickets from 70+ cinemas and ticketing services in the US  —  At I/O 2019, Sundar Pichai announced that Google Duplex was “moving beyond voice” and coming to the web.  After publicly testing in late September …
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
WeWork says it is laying off around 2,400 employees globally  —  - The beleaguered office-sharing start-up is laying off 2,400 employees in an attempt to right-size the business.  — The layoffs come after several tumultuous months for WeWork, which were marred by a botched IPO …
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Google increases rewards for Titan M secure element exploits on Pixels to $1.5M and to $750K for other exploits; Android hack rewards used to top out at $200K  —  Big bump coincides with investments Google has poured into securing its Pixel phone.  —  Google will pay up to $1.5 million …
Julia Alexander / The Verge:
Susan Wojcicki says YouTube is working to bring ads to edgier content and updating its policy to differentiate between real world violence and gaming violence  —  There's a difference between borderline and edgy content  —  YouTube is experimenting with placing advertisements …
Emily Glazer / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Facebook sought feedback from large Republican and Democratic political ad buyers about changing ad targeting audience size from 100 to a few thousand  —  Company is considering boosting the minimum amount of people who can be targeted by specific ads from 100 to a few thousand
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Google reveals new details about Russia-linked “Sandworm” hacking group behind NotPetya, the attacks on Winter Olympics, French election, and more  —  The Kremlin's uniquely dangerous hacker group has been trying new tricks.  —  The Russian state-sponsored hackers known as Sandworm …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Facebook brings Stories to Facebook Dating, letting users add their Facebook or Instagram Stories to dating profiles  —  Facebook Dating, an opt-in feature of the main Facebook app, will begin to tap into the content users are already creating across both Facebook and Instagram to enhance its service.
More: The Verge and CNET
NBC News:
President Donald Trump hosted an undisclosed dinner with Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel at the White House in October, Facebook confirmed on Wednesday  —  The meeting took place during Zuckerberg's most recent visit to Washington, where he testified before Congress about Facebook's new cryptocurrency Libra.
Bloomberg:
A look at Google's work with US military, as senior military officials worry about parts of Google's employee base approaching a state of open rebellion  —  In early November several dozen experts from the American military industrial complex—including senior officers, defense contracting executives …
Duncan Riley / SiliconANGLE:
Banyan Security, which offers a zero-trust remote access client for cloud and hybrid environments, raises $17M Series A led by Shasta Ventures  —  So-called “zero-trust” security platform provider Banyan Security said today it has raised $17 million in new funding to allow it to accelerate product development.
More: FinSMEs

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Amnesty International:
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