Techmeme
December 11, 2019, 1:40 PM

Top News

@jack:
Twitter is funding bluesky, an independent effort to develop an open and decentralized standard for social media, with the goal of Twitter being a client of it  —  Twitter is funding a small independent team of up to five open source architects, engineers, and designers to develop an open and decentralized standard for social media. The goal is for Twitter to ultimately be a client of this standard. 🧵
Mark Di Stefano / BuzzFeed:
YouTube bans videos that “maliciously insult” people based on their race, gender, or sex, and will remove some of Steven Crowder's videos targeting Carlos Maza  —  The change comes after controversy around a right-wing comedian's homophobic slurs aimed at a gay Latino journalist.
Bloomberg:
Investigation finds how Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook handle voice assistant transcriptions relies heavily on contractors and downplays user privacy  —  Ruthy Hope Slatis couldn't believe what she was hearing.  She'd been hired by a temp agency outside Boston for a vague job …
Hadas Gold / CNN:
Facebook confirms that a bug caused tens of thousands of now restored ads to disappear from its political ad library, days before UK's general election  —  London (CNN Business)Tens of thousands of political ads went missing from Facebook's archive this week, according to researchers …
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.
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's support document says the Pro Display XDR with the optional nano-texture glass can only be cleaned with a special Apple-provided cloth  —  Apple's new Pro Display XDR comes with an optional nano-texture glass, which is etched at the nanometer level to cut down on reflectivity and glare for a matte look.
Bloomberg:
ByteDance has been testing Resso, a new music app, in India and Indonesia, but is yet to close on rights deals with the world's three largest music companies  —  - India and Indonesia are first to sample ByteDance's latest  — Company looking to become less dependent on advertising income
Steve O'Hear / TechCrunch:
Berlin-based insurance tech startup Wefox Group adds $110M to the $125M Series B it raised in March; sources say its pre-money valuation is now $1.65B  —  Wefox Group, the Berlin-based insurtech startup behind the consumer-facing insurance app and carrier One and the insurance platform Wefox …
More: TelegraphThanks:@sohear

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro (experimental) is now available, with thinking capabilities, enhanced performance, and improved accuracy.  Try it at no cost in the Gemini app.
UiPath:
Introducing the UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation  —  UiPath's new platform empowers enterprises to experience the full power of AI to transform industries
Zoho:
2025: World Password Day is now also World Passkey Day  —  Since 2013, the first Thursday of May has been recognized as World Password Day to spread awareness about good password practices and protecting our online accounts.
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

Great Chat:
What's the deal with Deel?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Lenny's Podcast:
The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can't stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Josh Kopelman from First Round Capital
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'The Ratchet of Flippancy', With Craig Mod
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Techmeme Ride Home:
ChatGPT Just Wants To Please
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Azeem Azhar's Exponential View:
The difference between early and late AI adopters
Azeem Azhar explores how AI and exponential technologies are shaping our future.
Subscribe to Azeem Azhar's Exponential View.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:40 PM 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.

More News

Bloomberg:
Ari Levy / CNBC:
Dr. Ian Cutress / AnandTech:

Earlier Picks

Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed News:
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Ryan Mac / BuzzFeed News:
Manish Singh / TechCrunch: