Techmeme: Ten US states, including NY and NJ, that account for ~21% of the US population have released a COVID-19 contact tracing app based on Apple and Google's API (Kif Leswing/CNBC)

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October 5, 2020, 9:05 AM

Top News

Jeff Horwitz / Wall Street Journal:

A document from Facebook's law firm shows how the company might fight an antitrust lawsuit and any attempts to force a divestiture of WhatsApp or Instagram — Social giant prepares defense against antitrust scrutiny from federal enforcers — A government effort to break up Facebook Inc …

More: Engadget, Protocol, Android Headlines, Competition Policy …, SlashGear, SiliconANGLE, Sputnik News, PYMNTS.com, Seeking Alpha, and Slashdot

Tweets: @rasmus_kleis, @prnews, @blmohr, @carlquintanilla, @jason_kint, @moonalice, @danprimack, @julianklymochko, @hoofnagle, @anthony, @jason, @dcjohnson, and @prasannavishy

Jody Serrano / Gizmodo:

As Twitter announced sweeping action against tweets wishing for Trump's death, many users noted years of light enforcement of its “abusive behavior” policy — Wishing someone else ill will or death is a disgusting act that makes the world worse.

Sriram Krishan / The Observer Effect:

Q&A with Daniel Ek on his pledge to invest €1B in European moonshots, shadowing CEOs like Zuckerberg and Hastings, Spotify's impact on the world, and more — Welcome to the second interview on ‘The Observer Effect’. We are lucky to have one of the most influential founders/CEOs …

More: Music Ally. Tweets: @austin_rief, @eldsjal, @jposhaughnessy, @sachinrekhi, @_fredrik, @ashitaa, @sriramk, @afarha, @rrhoover, @taruna2309, @joetaylorland, @apompliano, and @cam39porter

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Ola fails to get London ride-hailing license renewed over public safety concerns, says it will appeal and keep operating; Uber recently won its appeal in London — Just six days after Uber won its appeal against London transportation regulators to continue operating in London for another 18 months …

More: AppleInsider, CNN, Sky News, BBC, Reuters, Reuters, Intelligent Transport, CNBC, The Register, Financial Times, Neowin, and Tech in Asia

Tweets: @ingridlunden, @markkleinmansky, and @londontrafficw1

Surabhi Agarwal / The Economic Times:

After pushback from Indian developers, Google says it will delay the enforcement of its 30% cut on IAPs from Play Store in India from Sept. 2021 to April 2022 — Bengaluru: Google deferred the enforcement of 30% commission on in-app purchases of digital goods from its Play Store in India …

Jada Nagumo / Nikkei Asian Review:

Japanese electronics company NEC says it has agreed to buy Swiss banking software developer Avaloq for $2.2B — Japanese electronics company will use acquisition to drive growth in sector — TOKYO — Japanese electronics giant NEC will purchase Swiss banking software developer Avaloq …

More: Bloomberg, Financial Times, Coinspeaker, ZDNet, TechRadar, and DealStreetAsia. Tweets: @chr1sa

Dan Seifert / The Verge:

Google Nest Audio review: much improved audio quality, Assistant performs a lot of tasks, and attractive price, but bass and volume are limited — Google's latest smart speaker has good sound and an attractive price — Four years is an eternity in the modern tech product world …

More: Android Police, TechCrunch, TechHive, CNET, Gizmodo, Android Authority, Android Central, Digital Trends, Pocket-lint, Mashable, Engadget, and SlashGear. Tweets: @dcseifert

Karissa Bell / Engadget:

Facebook says it is rolling out shopping tools for IGTV globally and will add them to Reels later this year — Instagram is pushing its in-app shopping into even more parts of its app. The company is adding shopping tools to two new features: IGTV and Reels.

More: The Verge and Adweek

Kif Leswing / CNBC:

Ten US states, including NY and NJ, that account for ~21% of the US population have released a COVID-19 contact tracing app based on Apple and Google's API — - New York and New Jersey both released Covid-19 apps this week, bringing the total to 10 states which have published alert apps using technology …

More: Cult of Mac and Patently Apple

Tweets: @sruhle, @nearform, @cds_gc, @dcasha, @mblumenthal, @theophite, @9to5mac, @kifleswing, @jennydove, and @mattrosoff

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

GrubMarket, an online store that delivers farm produce to consumers and other stores, raises $60M Series D, sources say at a ~$500M valuation — Companies that have leveraged technology to make the procurement and delivery of food more accessible to more people have been seeing a big surge …

Nicole Perlroth / New York Times:

Ransomware attacks on ERT, IQVIA, and others involved in hundreds of clinical trials and work on a COVID-19 vaccine, has slowed some trials according to clients — No patients were affected, but the incident was another reminder of the risks in the increasingly common assaults on computer networks.

More: NBC News, Slashdot, and Engadget

Tweets: @carlquintanilla, @darlin, @sub8u, @billy_penn, and @nicoleperlroth

Benedict Evans:

US no longer sets the agenda for the internet, as 80%+ of users are now outside the US, and China has more smartphone users than US and western Europe combined — When Netscape launched in 1994 and kicked off the consumer internet, there were maybe 100m PCs on earth, and over half of them were in the USA.

More: The Hill, Financial Times, and The Overspill

Tweets: @hindolsengupta, @vijayshekhar, @aweissman, @sub8u, and @j0j0r0

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:05 AM ET, October 5, 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.

From Mediagazer

Associated Press:

President Trump signed an EO on May 1 instructing CPB and other agencies to cut federal funding for NPR and PBS, alleging “bias” in the broadcasters' reporting

Minho Kim / New York Times:

An appeals court allows the Trump admin to continue withholding funds from federally funded newsrooms, temporarily reversing parts of two lower-court rulings

Sean Burch / The Wrap:

The LA Times Guild says 14 of its members have been laid off, or 6% of its newsroom staff, the third round of newsroom layoffs at LAT in as many years

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More News

Ryan McMorrow / Financial Times:

Sources: TikTok's content policy was run until last year by a former Chinese government official who worked in China's Tehran embassy before joining in 2018

More: Reclaim The Net and Bloomberg

New York Times:

Experts say Trump's suspension of H-1B visas could spur US companies to shift even more work abroad, benefiting Indian outsourcing firms

Tweets: @gregorynyc, @karan_singhs, @karan_singhs, and @whenisz

Elisa Anzolin / Reuters:

Italy's biggest payments company Nexi announces a merger with rival SIA to create a group with ~€1.8B in annual revenue and a market value of €15B+

More: CoinDesk, Finextra, Cointelegraph, Financial Times, and Bloomberg

Kentaro Iwamoto / Nikkei Asia:

Profile of Singapore-based Sea Limited, an operator of online gaming, commerce, and financial services, whose market cap has quadrupled in 2020 to over $70B

Tweets: @reshoftc, @slingshotcap, @nikkeiasia, @imaruritokyo, @kentaro_iwamoto, @nikkeiasia, and @nikkeiasia

Pearl Liu / South China Morning Post:

A look at Alibaba's Tmall Haofang, a new sales channel on Tmall for buying homes online; Tmall Haofang says it'll use 3D tech and live streaming to help buyers

Raymond Zhong / New York Times:

How Taiwan's biggest chip maker TSMC is caught in a tough spot, forced to heed the dictates of Trump's tech policy, while trying to keep many customers in China

Tweets: @hkanji, @gavinsbaker, @nytimesbusiness, @wearytolove, @nytimesbusiness, @zhonggg, @chinausfocus, @jaygoldberg, and @jchengwsj

Earlier Picks

Mike Wheatley / SiliconANGLE:

Solo.io, a cloud-based API infrastructure startup, raises $23M Series B led by Redpoint Ventures and True Ventures, bringing its total raised to $37M

More: Solo.io, PitchBook, New.blicio.us, and FinSMEs

Aarian Marshall / Wired:

Library checkouts of ebooks are up 52% YoY since March as libraries pay an average of $40 per copy due to publisher restrictions limiting library lending

Tweets: @kelbyray, @davidpwhelan, @valeriedouglasa, @bergmayer, @schoeyfield, @dwceditor, @shortformernie, @michellemanafy, and @goretsky

Liam Frost / Decrypt:

DappRadar: Ethereum's transaction volume skyrocketed to $119.5B in Q3 2020, growing nearly 1,200% from Q2, while DeFi apps accounted for 99% of that volume

More: The Block, Cryptonews, InsideBitcoins.com, Ethereum World News, DappRadar, and The Block

Tweets: @vitalikbuterin, @vitalikbuterin, @vitalikbuterin, @vitalikbuterin, @collins_belton, @vitalikbuterin, @andoniolta, @neerajka, @mehowbrains, @mdudas, @dappradar, and @dappradar

Rebecca Jennings / Vox:

An inside look at the world of TikTok “collab houses” in Los Angeles, amid allegations of exploitative talent managers withholding money from influencers

Tweets: @ichbingisele, @hautepop, @mbmelodies, @voxdotcom, @rafyevans, @binkleyonstyle, @voxdotcom, @nishachittal, @alanna, @nickcho, @voxdotcom, @alyssabereznak, @peter_atwater, @jentrification, @rebexxxxa, @allisonrockey, @taylorlorenz, and @taylorlorenz

Neil Cybart / Above Avalon:

As the installed base of Apple Watch approaches 100M, with an estimated 35% of US iPhone users wearing one, rivals are yet to make a credible competing device

More: Wccftech. Tweets: @neilcybart, @rachelmercer, @blackbeard, @jhamby, @0zne, @turnernovak, @909kishore, @tidefallcapital, @hrushb, @michaelmiraflor, and @neilcybart

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:

Researcher finds a flaw in Grindr's password reset process that allowed anyone with knowledge of a user's email address to claim the account; issue is now fixed

More: BBC, TechRadar, Boing Boing, infosecurity-magazine.com, Graham Cluley, Troy Hunt, Wired, The Verge, and Engadget

Tweets: @realoldpaul, @zackwhittaker, @kyrah, @kyrah, @shonwashed, @zackwhittaker, @evacide, @seanwrightsec, @scott_helme, @zackwhittaker, and @troyhunt