Techmeme
August 26, 2020, 11:15 AM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple plans to add AR content to Apple TV+ next year, as a form of bonus content akin to director commentaries, ahead of an AR headset in 2022  —  - Company plans to add AR-based bonus content to original video  — Apple seeks to make AR more mainstream ahead of headset launch
Ari Levy / CNBC:
In a letter from Palantir's S-1, CEO Alex Karp says Silicon Valley's “engineering elite” don't know “how society should be organized or what justice requires”  —  KEY POINTS  — In Palantir's filing to go public on Tuesday, CEO Alex Karp said Silicon Valley engineers …
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Palantir files S-1 for its public market listing, confirming a net loss of $580M in 2019 on $742.6M in revenue; intends to debut with a direct listing  —  - The data analytics company co-founded by Peter Thiel is going public after 16 years.  —  Data analytics company Palantir Technologies …
New York Times:
How Microsoft's talks with TikTok ballooned from a small investment into a big, messy, closely watched political soap opera after Trump's intervention  —  Neither side wanted a big deal.  But what began as talks about a small investment ballooned with interventions from President Trump.
Kate Cox / Ars Technica:
Unsealed court docs: Google engineers admitted knowing and discussing that the company's location privacy app settings were confusing and could be misleading  —  Users could make change, but it was “difficult enough that people won't,” one employee wrote.  —  Newly unsealed and partially …
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
White House announces $1B+ investment to create 12 research institutes focused on AI and quantum computing  —  The White House today detailed the establishment of 12 new research institutes focused on AI and quantum information science.  Agencies including the National Science Foundation …
Richard Lai / Engadget:
Hands-on with the ~$950 ASUS ZenFone 7 Pro, which has a flippable camera, Snapdragon 865 Plus, 6.67" 90Hz AMOLED display, and a 5,000mAh battery  —  ASUS has been taking a cautious approach to its new phones, at a time when rivals continue to churn out a mix of flagship and midrange devices.
Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:
Facebook says it will unify its AR/VR teams into a group called Facebook Reality Labs, renames Oculus Connect event to Facebook Connect, to be held on Sept. 16  —  Facebook is moving further away from the Oculus brand.  —  The company says it is changing the name of their augmented reality …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google rolls out Chrome 85 with 10% faster page load times, collapsible tab groups, a PDF editor, and more  —  Following version 84's release on Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS, the next release of Google's browser is rolling out today.  Chrome 85 sees faster page loads …
Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:
As content moderators started working from home, YouTube's reliance on automation resulted in double the video removals; Facebook saw removals steeply decline  —  When YouTube sent content moderators home in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it dramatically expanded its use of automated filters …
Frank Chaparro / The Block:
Crypto derivatives exchange FTX has acquired crypto price tracking app Blockfolio for $150M, in the form of equity, FTX's native token, and cash  —  Crypto derivatives exchange FTX has acquired popular crypto price tracking app Blockfolio for $150 million in one of the largest acquisition deals in the digital asset space this year.
Patrick O'Neill / MIT Technology Review:
Human rights advocates file a court petition against Israeli phone hacking firm Cellebrite to stop exports to Hong Kong, say tools are used against dissidents  —  Human rights advocates filed a new court petition against the Israeli phone hacking company Cellebrite, urging Israel's ministry …
Katie Abel / Footwear News:
Tony Hsieh is stepping down as Zappos CEO after 21 years at the helm; COO Kedar Deshpande will succeed him at the Amazon-owned company  —  Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is stepping down after 21 years at the helm.  —  Kedar Deshpande, COO at the company, has assumed the role of CEO, according to an internal email obtained by FN.
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Gartner: global smartphone sales in Q2 dropped 20.4% YoY, similar to Q1's 20% drop; Samsung and Huawei virtually tie for top spot, after Samsung drops 27% YoY  —  The last couple of years have been tough on the smartphone industry, as sales plateaued and eventually eroded.
Olaf Storbeck / Financial Times:
Interviews and documents reveal Wirecard's desperate effort to cover up fraud, hoodwink its auditors, and a plan to take over Deutsche Bank in its final months  —  Executives at the German payments group hatched a plan to buy Deutsche Bank while desperately trying to cover their tracks

Sponsor Posts

Meta:
Open Source AI: Available to all, not just the few  —  Meta's open source AI enables small businesses, start-ups, students, researchers and more to download and build with our models at no cost.
Zoho:
The crossroads of AI and SaaS  —  Enabling businesses of all sizes to build products in-house and disqualifying SaaS tools that are not AI-powered.  In a span of just two years, AI has made a name for itself as the key driver for innovation.
Genesys:
Executive Insights: The Era of Contact Center AI Copilots  —  How AI copilots are transforming customer experience and agent performance.
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Fri. 12/20 - Gemini Flash Thinking
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:15 AM ET, August 26, 2020.

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

Earlier Picks

Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Ian Allison / CoinDesk:
Ian Sherr / CNET:
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
The Verge: