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December 11, 2019, 6:15 AM
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Top News

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Google rolls out Chrome 79 adding security features like notifications for data breaches affecting users' passwords, new phishing prevention tools, tab freezing  —  Chrome 79 also ships with support for predictive phishing, for real-time Safe Browsing detections, and a built-in Password Checkup tool.
Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed News:
Facebook has fired a contractor who was bribed to reactivate banned ad accounts; messages show he agreed to a $5K upfront payment and a monthly retainer  —  A Facebook contractor was paid thousands of dollars in bribes by a shady affiliate marketer to reactivate ad accounts that had been banned due …
Kollen Post / Cointelegraph:
DOJ arrests 3 men behind the BitClub Network cryptocurrency mining pool, says it was a Ponzi scheme which defrauded investors of $722M since 2014  —  United States authorities in New Jersey have announced the arrest of three men who are accused of defrauding investors of over $722 million …
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple releases more pricing details for Mac Pro, now available to order: maxed-out 4TB model costs $50K+ and wheels are $400, delivering between December 19-27  —  Apple's new Mac Pro became available for purchase today, giving us our first look at all of the available upgrade options and pricing tiers.
Dr. Ian Cutress / AnandTech:
Intel's partner shares chip giant's manufacturing process technology roadmap: 7nm EUV in 2021, then 5nm in 2023, 3nm in 2025, 2nm in 2027, and 1.4 nm in 2029  —  One of the interesting disclosures here at the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) has been around new and upcoming process node technologies.
Ryan Mac / BuzzFeed News:
Facebook says it will not weaken end-to-end encryption, build backdoors into its messaging apps, in response to a letter from US AG and UK, Australian officials  —  Facebook said it would not weaken end-to-end encryption across its messaging apps, despite pressure from world governments …
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Microsoft is bringing its first Office app to Linux with Microsoft Teams, now in public preview  —  Microsoft today launched Microsoft Teams for Linux in public preview.  No, that's not a typo — Microsoft Teams is indeed the first Office app that the company has ported to Linux.
Reuters:
How White House veterans helped the UAE build a surveillance unit in 9/11's wake that would go on to target activists and journalists as well as terrorists  —  In the years after 9/11, former U.S. counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke warned Congress that the country needed more expansive spying powers to prevent another catastrophe.
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple releases watchOS 6.1.1 and version 13.3 for iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS, with updates to Screen Time, Apple News, support for physical security keys, and more  —  As expected, Apple today has released iOS 13.3, iPadOS 13.3, tvOS 13.3, and watchOS 6.1.1 to the public.
Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post:
Researchers find Facebook's ad targeting tools, which charge less for ads to users already interested in the content, have worsened polarization in US politics  —  For the first time, researchers have demonstrated a skew in the delivery of political ads based on the content of those ads alone.
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Glassdoor: Google and Facebook drop out of top 10 of US “best places to work” list, Google to 11, Facebook to 23; Microsoft only tech giant to jump in rankings  —  - Facebook fell 16 places, Google drops out of the Top 10  — Microsoft one of the only tech giants to jump in the rankings
More: Reuters
Ari Levy / CNBC:
Oracle to move its annual OpenWorld conference from SF to Las Vegas for at least three years, citing SF's high hotel rates; move estimated to cost SF $64M/year  —  - Oracle is moving its annual OpenWorld conference from San Francisco to Las Vegas and it signed a three-year agreement with the Caesars Forum for the move.
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
France's proposed copyright law weakens the already inadequate user protections from abusive infringement claims in EU's Copyright Directive  —  France was the most vocal supporter of the EU Copyright Directive's upload filters provisions (originally known as Article 13, but Article 17 in the final version).
Bloomberg:
Intel releases its US pay disclosure report showing 26% of top tier earners, making at least $208K, are white men while less than 10% are black employees  —  New transparency shows familiar old divisions, with white and Asian men earning the most.  The company says disclosure is a crucial step.
Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch:
Passport, a permitting, parking, ticketing management, and mobile payments platform for cities, office parks, and campuses raises $65M Series D  —  The big new round of funding for Passport's ticketing and parking management tech proves that software can even disrupt something as mundane and seemingly low-tech as the parking lot.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Apple Card's interest-free iPhone installment plan goes live, now with 6% back on Apple purchases through December 31  —  Apple is today launching a new feature for Apple Card which allows cardholders to purchase a new iPhone then pay it back over 24 months with no interest.

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:15 AM ET, December 11, 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.

From Mediagazer

David Folkenflik / NPR:
NPR and three Colorado public radio stations sue Trump, saying his executive order to cut federal funding violated the US Constitution and the First Amendment

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
Docs: The Guardian reports revenue up 6.7% YoY to £275M in the year to March 2025, losses down to <£25M, digital revenue up 20%+ YoY to £100M+, and 1.3M subs

Max Tani / Semafor:
Bloomberg renamed its DEI team as the HR Inclusion team; editor John Micklethwait says its efforts will no longer specifically focus on underrepresented groups

More News

New York Times:
The UK general election provides new insights into how disinformation spreads online, showing many in the ruling Conservative Party have joined in the practice
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Magic Leap is renaming its AR headset from the Magic Leap One Creator Edition to the Magic Leap 1, as it pivots from consumers to business customers

Earlier Picks

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
North stops selling its Focals smart AR glasses 14 months after debuting them, says it plans to launch a sleeker version with 10x higher resolution in 2020
Kate Clark / TechCrunch:
VSCO acquires video editing startup Rylo, which had raised ~$38M, reached a valuation of ~$120.25M, and was backed by Sequoia Capital, among others
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
India proposes new data protection bill requiring companies to garner consent from citizens before collecting and processing users' personal data
Shaun Nichols / The Register:
Apple sues former chief architect of the iPhone and iPad microprocessors, who quit in February to start data center chip startup Nuvia, for breach of contract
Miles Kruppa / Financial Times:
Dog walking startup Wag says SoftBank no longer has board seats; source: SoftBank has sold its stake back to Wag at a loss after investing $300M in January 2018
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Google brings incognito mode for Google Maps, where users' activity is not saved to their Google Account, to iOS
Sam Machkovech / Ars Technica:
Oculus Quest becomes the first VR set with native hand tracking, available to users as an experimental feature this week and with an SDK for devs next week
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