Techmeme: With macOS 11 Big Sur, Apple seems to have lifted a ban on fun, allowing for an expressiveness in visual design that we haven't seen from it in almost a decade (Michael Flarup/Apply Pixels)

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July 5, 2020, 5:25 PM

Top News

Will Oremus / OneZero :

A look at some radical proposals for creating better social networks, from establishing sites as nonprofits to restrictions on data collection — An offhand tweet sparked an outpouring of ideas to fix what's broken about Facebook and Twitter — Welcome back to Pattern Matching …

More: The Guardian, CCN.com, New York Times, and CNBC

Tweets: @schemaly, @willoremus, @jilliancyork, @willoremus, @medium, @willoremus, @mattnavarra, @jayrosen_nyu, @slpng_giants, @paulstewartii, @willoremus, @willoremus, @willoremus, @jason_kint, @lebassett, @caseynewton, @profcarroll, and @cwarzel

Michael Flarup / Apply Pixels:

With macOS 11 Big Sur, Apple seems to have lifted a ban on fun, allowing for an expressiveness in visual design that we haven't seen from it in almost a decade — It's finally here. The thing I have been advocating for through my work, writing, videos and talks for years. A swing of the pendulum.

Tweets: @sachinrekhi, @natisho, @flarup, @gavmn, @lkanies, @flarup, @maxrudberg, and @samhenrigold

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Google VP in charge of Android Security withdraws from Black Hat conference and asks the infosec community to stop using terms like “black hat” and “white hat” — A Google security researcher withdrew from the Black Hat security conference and asked the community to stop using the ‘black hat’ term.

More: CNET, Digital Trends, and cloudpro.co.uk

Tweets: @alecmuffett, @semibogan, @fox0x01, @viking_sec, @ourielohayon, @somospostpc, @chrismessina, @carnage4life, @quinnypig, @splcenter, and @daveksecure

Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:

iCloud Keychain in iOS 14 alerts users about passwords that are easy to guess and those that may have leaked on the web — In addition to the redesigned Home screen with widgets, App Library, and features like Car Key, iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 brings important enhancements to iCloud Keychain.

Tweets: @detroitborg

Pei Li / Reuters:

Tencent launches US game studio LightSpeed LA, to create AAA titles and increase overseas share of its total games revenue, which accounted for 23% in Q4 2019 — HONG KONG (Reuters) - Tencent Holdings, China's biggest social media and video game company, launched a new California-based studio this week …

More: GamesIndustry.biz, Engadget, Eurogamer.net, Game Rant, GameSpot, VG247, and Blue's News

Tweets: @zhugeex, @therealjoshye, @gibiz, and @domsplaying

Nate Lanxon / Bloomberg:

UK tech companies say operating with remote workers has changed their approach to post-Brexit hiring: executives will be local to HQs, most other roles won't — - Shift to remote working suggests many visas may not be needed — The pandemic taught Britain's technology executives …

Financial Times:

Sources: amid India-China tensions, Zomato is unable to access $100M of the $150M it secured from Ant Financial in January as the government reviews the funding — Indian food delivery start-up unable to access $100m of investment from Ant Financial — The $3bn Indian food delivery start …

Tweets: @jkynge and @sarthakgh

Greg Thomson / Decrypt:

Voice, a blockchain-based social media site on EOS that rewards users with tokens for posting “quality content”, is now open for the public to browse — The EOS-based crypto-based social media platform first conjured up by Block.one, Voice, today opened its doors to the public.

More: coinspeaker.com, BitcoinExchangeGuide, and Cointelegraph

Dave Lee / Financial Times:

eMarketer: US consumers to spend $710B online in 2020, up 18% YoY, with ecommerce's share of the retail market growing to a record 14.5% — Amazon and Shopify reap rewards as consumers and stores take their trading online — When coronavirus forced Heidi Sabelhaus Myers to shutter …

Tweets: @_mrherbert, @neilretail, and @sub8u

Bloomberg:

Colin Huang, the CEO of Chinese e-commerce company Pinduoduo, steps down; the company says he will remain chairman and work on long-term strategy — - PDD shares have more than quadrupled in less than two years — Huang gives away $14 billion stake after stepping down as CEO

More: Financial Times, KrASIA, Caixin Global, The Straits Times, MarketWatch, Pinduoduo Inc., Business Insider, TechNode, The Star Online, and Nikkei Asian Review

Tweets: @johnhuber72, @malcolmmoore, @ruima, @docolumide, and @pingroma

Manuel Vonau / Android Police:

Indian ISPs start restoring access to DuckDuckGo after blocking the service via their DNS servers starting July 1; it is unclear why the service was blocked — Following the Indian ban of almost 60 Chinese apps including TikTok and Weibo, many people living in the country now report …

More: The Verge, TechWorm, and Neowin. Tweets: @duckduckgo

Sankalp Phartiyal / Reuters:

India's TikTok ban resulted in a surge in popularity for Indian apps like Roposo, Mitron, and Chingari; Roposo says it has added 22M users in 48 hours — NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian tech and entertainment firms are looking to capitalise on sudden opportunities arising from a government ban …

More: The Indian Express and Micky

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From Mediagazer

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

The BBC plans to expand its Local Democracy Reporting Service beyond local authorities and “dramatically” increase BBC's presence on YouTube and TikTok

Richard Headland / Press Gazette:

DMG's Eliza, a fashion brand for millennial women launched in 2022, shut down its site to focus on social media; an analyst says sites are “becoming redundant”

Paul Farhi / Vanity Fair:

C-SPAN, with revenue down 35% since 2018 and an $8M budget shortfall in 2025, looks to multichannel streamers; YouTube TV cites a lack of subscriber interest

More News

Nitasha Tiku / Washington Post:

Ifeoma Ozoma, Aerica Shimizu Banks, and five other former Pinterest employees share examples of Pinterest's failure in addressing racial discrimination and bias

More: VentureBeat. Tweets: @kschwabable, @nitashatiku, @raisingself, @nikitatmitchell, @erikashimizu, @evany, @ifeomaozoma, @carnage4life, @heatherkelly, @nitashatiku, @nitashatiku, @ericajoy, and @adriennelaw

Saritha Rai / Bloomberg:

India's e-commerce policy draft seeks creation of an e-commerce regulator, mandates government access to online companies' source codes and algorithms, more

More: The Economic Times, MediaNama, and The New Indian Express

Tweets: @shshk, @shukla, and @sushubh

Wall Street Journal:

Hong Kong's new national security law could force platforms like Facebook and Twitter to relinquish some of the freedom their operations have had in the city

More: Reclaim The Net, Seeking Alpha, and South China Morning Post

Tweets: @martinapennisi, @prasannavishy, @digitallybones, @jchengwsj, @netblocks, and @albertfong98

Lauren Kaori Gurley / VICE:

Some Amazon contracted delivery drivers in the US say they are feeling overwhelmed and overworked by dramatic increases in workloads during the pandemic

Tweets: @vice, @laurenkgurley, and @motherboard

Kevin Roose / New York Times:

The Wild Wild Web, a shoot-first, aim-later era of tech strategy, is coming to an end, and a less willfully naïve, self-policing ethos is taking its place

Tweets: @nytimesbusiness, @sachinrekhi, @rajumudhar, @steve_e, @alex, @carnage4life, @shiraovide, @marilink, @livingstone_s, @nathanjurgenson, @evelyndouek, @kmmunger, @hackylawyer, @nytimes, @p2son, @puiwingtam, @orensegal, and @hoofnagle

Neil Greenberg / Washington Post:

Evo, a renowned esports tournament that moved online in 2020 due to the pandemic, is canceled after parting ways with co-founder for alleged sexual misconduct

More: Digital Trends, Micky, Gamasutra, Ars Technica, GameSpot, PC Gamer, Windows Central, GamingBolt, The Verge, VG247, USgamer.net, USgamer.net, GamesIndustry.biz, Destructoid, Engadget, Dexerto, Pocket Gamer.biz, Polygon, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, and IGN

Tweets: @netherrealm, @evo, @mrwiz, @imad, @aliciaxlife_, @mikehaimoto, @theycallmedsp, @markman23, and @gsmvoid

Earlier Picks

Alex Konrad / Forbes:

Profile of investor Lee Fixel, the partner behind Tiger Global's investments in Flipkart and Peloton, who says he raised $1.3B for his VC firm Addition

More: Business Insider and PitchBook

Tweets: @zachweinberg, @alexrkonrad, @wolfejosh, @gavinsbaker, @alexrkonrad, @vjsesh, @gavinsbaker, @alexrkonrad, @antoinegara, @wustl, @alexrkonrad, @fauna, @natsturner, @zlurie, @hkanji, and @mdudas. Thanks:@alexrkonrad

Washington Post:

Some advertisers participating in the ad boycott remain unimpressed with Facebook's promises to better police hate speech, as negotiations continue

More: Wall Street Journal. Tweets: @businessposthq, @martinapennisi, @mims, @kylegriffin1, @karaswisher, @wsjbusiness, @stevedaniels27, @deborahblum, @moonalice, @newday, @atharproject, @slpng_giants, @mims, @stopfundinghate, @matthewkeyslive, @iainlevine, and @dylanbyers

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:

Interview with Troy Hunt, founder and sole employee of Have I Been Pwned, on his reluctance to retain breached data, future revenue streams, being pwned himself

Tweets: @swiftonsecurity, @troyhunt, and @zackwhittaker

Brian Merchant / OneZero :

A conversation between Wendy Liu and Alex Kantrowitz on the ills and promises of Silicon Valley, following publication of their contrasting books on the subject

Tweets: @bcmerchant, @dellsystem, @libshipwreck, and @kantrowitz

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

LinkedIn says its iOS app is copying the contents of users' clipboards after every key press due to a bug and promises a fix, after iOS 14 reveals the snooping

Jason Koebler / VICE:

Angry over critical coverage, tech figures discuss hitting back against journalists, on Twitter and invite-only Clubhouse, leading to harassment of NYT's Lorenz

Tweets: @balajis, @ahmed, @taylorlorenz, @briannawu, @vladsavov, @rationalwiki, @triketora, @jason_kint, @zooko, @visakanv, @billt, @jgulden, @helenbrosnan, @mmasnick, @davekarpf, @dhh, @kylebrussell, @anandwrites, @monteiro, @hshaban, @jason, @harper, @taylorlorenz, @dhh, @carnage4life, @carnage4life, @dhh, @dhh, @dhh, @blader, @balajis, @suhail, @blader, @ruskin147, @danprimack, @evanchill, @balajis, @robinwauters, @rmac18, @edbott, @jason_koebler, @jbouie, @revrrlewis, @cityofthetown, @karaswisher, @nicoleperlroth, @emilybell, @maxwelltani, @wongmjane, @jbarro, @sandofsky, @anthony, @campuscodi, @blakersdozen, @espiers, @jamesrbuk, @karagoldin, @realsexycyborg, @katiebowill, @sm, @nycsouthpaw, @seldo, @jdegoes, @juiceboxca, @hshaban, @chillmage, @rationalwiki, @fmanjoo, @taylorlorenz, @mat, @harrymccracken, @mgsiegler, and @sallyshin