Techmeme: AirPods Max sound great and are very well made, but they're expensive, heavy, and make Apple TV's lack of support for spatial audio that much more glaring (John Gruber/Daring Fireball)

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December 11, 2020, 9:45 PM

Top News

Gizmodo:

Public records show school districts across the US are purchasing phone hacking tools from companies like Cellebrite to search students' personal devices — In May 2016, a student enrolled in a high-school in Shelbyville, Texas, consented to having his phone searched by one of the district's school resource officers.

More: Android Authority, The Verge, and AppleInsider

Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:

Oracle says it is moving its corporate headquarters from Redwood City, CA to Austin, TX and will implement “a more flexible employee work location policy” — - Oracle is the latest tech company to relocate from California to Austin, Texas. — HPE announced its move to Houston earlier this month.

BuzzFeed News:

Four key Facebook staffers who dealt with hateful or violent speech have left in recent weeks, calling out leadership for lack of action in their farewell posts — On Wednesday, a Facebook data scientist departed the social networking company after a two-year stint, leaving a farewell note for their colleagues to ponder.

Tweets: @rmac18, @kevinroose, @kevinroose, @_cingraham, @pkedrosky, @rmac18, @guyro, @guyro, @rmac18, @caseynewton, @katestarbird, @twadhwa, @ekp, @jason_kint, @brooklynmarie, @andreabellemare, @pkedrosky, @slpng_giants, @rmac18, @rmac18, @jeffbercovici, @mat, @lschmeiser, @mikeisaac, and @maxberger

Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:

Twitter says it has acquired screen-sharing social app Squad whose team will join Twitter, and it will shut down the app tomorrow — Today, Twitter announced that it is acquiring Squad and that the team from the screen-sharing social app will be joining Twitter's ranks.

More: Medium, Social Media Today, The Hill, Engadget, CNET, Neowin, and PYMNTS.com

Tweets: @esthercrawford, @sarahfrier, @january_vc, @chriscantino, @post_market, @jochendo, @lanceulanoff, @robhayes, @lolitataub, @joshk, and @joshconstine

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Some iPhone users say iOS 14 is not showing notifications when receiving SMS texts and iMessages — An iOS 14 bug doesn't show notifications when some new messages arrive — If you've noticed that you're receiving SMS texts and iMessages from people but aren't getting any notifications about them, you're not alone.

More: MacRumors, 9to5Mac, phonearena.com, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, 9to5Mac, iPhone in Canada Blog, iMore, iPhone Hacks, and Apple Terminal

Tweets: @maxwinebach, @rsgnl, @chriswelch, @stanhoraczek, @xor, @tonyromm, and @kateconger

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:

Microsoft: “Adrozek” malware campaign is distributing an ad-injecting browser modifier which changes security settings; Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Yandex at risk — Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Yandex are all affected in widespread ad-injection campaign.

More: Microsoft Security, ZDNet, Dark Reading, Neowin, HotHardware.com News, Forbes, Tom's Guide, TechSpot, MSPoweruser, HackRead, BleepingComputer, WinBuzzer, The Hacker News, and TechRadar

Tweets: @sonicwall, @stshank, @z3r0trust, @sbrc_scotland, @katebevan, @msftsecintel, and @gossithedog

Kyunghee Park / Bloomberg:

Hyundai buys an 80% stake in Boston Dynamics in a deal that values the robot company at $1.1B — - SoftBank, affiliates to retain 20% interest in U.S. company — South Korean group develops robots for practical use — Hyundai Motor Group agreed to buy a controlling stake …

More: PR Newswire, Reuters, Engadget, The Verge, TechCrunch, ZDNet, CNET, Ars Technica, Washington Post, TechSpot, SlashGear, Fast Company, Financial Times, New York Post, and TechCrunch

Tweets: @scottlincicome and @lanceulanoff

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Text inside Twitter's app code suggests that live broadcasting app Periscope may get shut down — Twitter has been doubling down on video services within its app, building out Twitter Live and recently launching Fleets so that users can share more moving media alongside their pithy 180-word observations, links and still photos.

More: The Verge, XDA Developers, Android Headlines, Android Central, Social Media Today, iPhone in Canada Blog, Input, 9to5Mac, and Mashable

Tweets: @wongmjane, @quinnypig, @iansherr, @lanceulanoff, and @mattnavarra

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:

Filing: California is seeking to join the DOJ's antitrust lawsuit against Google, making it the first Democratic state to request to join 11 GOP AGs in the suit — - California is seeking to join the Justice Department in its antitrust lawsuit against Google, according to a court filing the state submitted on Friday.

More: Wall Street Journal, The Hill, Associated Press, CNET, Politico, CBS San Francisco, PYMNTS.com, and Bloomberg

Tweets: @agbecerra, @vmsalama, @wsj, @lauren_feiner, and @jamesvgrimaldi

Edward Ongweso Jr / VICE:

Some restaurants listed as Black-owned on Uber Eats appear to not be owned by Black people, as Uber lets restaurants self-identify through a form — Several restaurants listed as being Black-owned on Uber Eats appear to not be owned by Black people. — Uber and other delivery apps …

More: Gizmodo. Tweets: @jason_koebler, @jonkay, and @khaliabraswell

John Gruber / Daring Fireball:

AirPods Max sound great and are very well made, but they're expensive, heavy, and make Apple TV's lack of support for spatial audio that much more glaring — What a fascinating product Apple's new AirPods Max are. At $550, they are indisputably expensive, and at 385 grams, they are undeniably heavy.

Geoffrey Fowler / Washington Post:

Senator Klobuchar, alarmed by the “intrusive” nature of Amazon's Halo health tracker, writes letter to HHS asking it to safeguard users' private health data — The $65 wearable contains an always-on microphone and asks users to strip down for 3-D body scans

More: klobuchar.senate.gov. Tweets: @ekp, @adam_k_levin, and @apokerplayer

Edward Ongweso Jr / VICE:

Members of Spotify unions at Gimlet, The Ringer, and Parcast stopped working for two hours on Friday, demanding fairer contracts and better working conditions — Spotify has only recognized one union, but they've all been fighting for a better contract this past year. — EO

More: Deadline and Input

Tweets: @bigblackjacobin, @kerrymflynn, and @noiseymusic

Thomas Brewster / Forbes:

Sources: Israeli surveillance vendors like Bsightful, backed by the US public company Verint, hook into ad exchange systems to siphon app location data — This year has seen a rush amongst government snoops for a new and sometimes contentious data set: location data grabbed by smartphone popular apps.

More: Android Authority and Android Police

FinSMEs:

Graphiant, a stealth startup working on next generation computer networking tech, raises $33.5M Series A co-led by Sequoia Capital and Two Bear Capital — Graphiant Inc., a Palo Alto, CA-based computer networking company, raised $33.5m in Series A funding.

More: PR Newswire

New York Times:

Legal experts say FTC and state AGs will find it challenging to prove their allegations against Facebook because the standards of proof are formidable — The U.S. and states cases against the social network are far from a slam dunk because the standards of proof are formidable.

More: Washington Post, Medium, The.Ink, PYMNTS.com, Michael Tsai, Fast Company, NPR, VentureBeat, Forbes, Financial Times, and New York Times

Tweets: @fbnewsroom, @tomtugendhat, @anandwrites, @anandwrites, @moonalice, @superwuster, @yaeloss, @sandeepvaheesan, and @shawndubravac

Washington Post:

FTC and state AG antitrust complaints use dramatic language, bolstered by emails, to portray Zuckerberg as a villain who vowed to “crush” the competition

More: Washington Post, TIME, Truth on the Market, Wired, and InsideBitcoins.com

Tweets: @linamkhan, @alecstapp, @doctorow, @moveon, @reedalbergotti, @benedictevans, @mattyglesias, @newyorkstateag, and @sarthakgh

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From Mediagazer

Dominick Mastrangelo / The Hill:

The AP says its journalists were barred from an Oval Office event featuring Trump and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele in defiance of a court injunction

New York Times:

Sources: the White House plans to ask Congress to rescind $1.1B in federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR, PBS, and others

Financial Times:

CNN CEO Mark Thompson says the company plans to roll out a “suite” of digital subscription services, including at least one in 2025, to combat TV's decline

More News

Steve Lohr / New York Times:

Norman Abramson, the wireless network pioneer known for leading the development of Hawaii's ALOHAnet, died last week at 88

More: The Verge and San Francisco Chronicle

Ursula Perano / Axios:

House and Senate pass the annual defense bill without any provisions to repeal Section 230, defying Trump's veto threat with a veto-proof two-thirds majority

More: The Hill, Wall Street Journal, CNN, and PYMNTS.com

Tweets: @lanceulanoff and @jstrauss

Juli Clover / MacRumors:

Apple says it is retiring Music Memos, an app released in 2016 to let musicians record song ideas, on March 1, 2021, directs users to export to Voice Memos app

More: Gizmodo, Engadget, Trusted Reviews, iPhone in Canada Blog, The Mac Observer, and MakeUseOf

Tweets: @quinnypig, @brianroemmele, and @cory_foy

Steve O'Hear / TechCrunch:

Gorillas, a Germany-based grocery delivery startup that claims average delivery time of 10 minutes, raises $44M Series A led by Coatue

Tweets: @kirstinestewart

Kayleigh Barber / Digiday:

Axios plans to launch Axios HQ in Feb. to help companies write internal memos styled like Axios newsletters, with real-time feedback and “Smart Brevity” score

Tweets: @bmorrissey, @overlayered, @thekendallbaker, @noahchestnut, @ldrogen, @knizbet, @imkialikethecar, and @glennf

Earlier Picks

Chip Cutter / Wall Street Journal:

Amazon says it aims to provide free training to 29M people worldwide, who are not already employed by the company, in cloud computing skills by 2025

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:

Brave introduces Brave Today, a news reader designed around privacy, powered by Brave's new CDN which delivers feeds anonymously to users

More: Brave Browser, Input, Gizmodo, InsideBitcoins.com, iMore, and Crypto Briefing

Tweets: @brave, @michellemanafy, @brave, @bat_community, @chrismlacy, @timsweeneyepic, and @chrismessina

Mitchell Clark / The Verge:

Microsoft releases a preview of x64 emulation on Windows for ARM, available to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel

More: Windows Insider Blog, HotHardware.com News, Thurrott, Gizmodo, Laptop Mag, MacRumors, Pocketnow, PCWorld, TechSpot, Softpedia News, BetaNews, and Android Authority

Tweets: @maryjofoley, @chungf, @backlon, @ow, @corbindavenport, @baxiabhishek, @iansherr, @windowsinsider, and @zacbowden

Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:

Uber's CEO sent a letter to all 50 US governors asking them to prioritize giving drivers and delivery workers the vaccine as essential workers

More: GeekWire. Tweets: @dkhos, @lorenzofb, @jakewharton, @bcappelbaum, and @christineemba

The Daily Beast:

Source: at an all-hands meeting, Mark Zuckerberg told Facebook employees they will not be required to get vaccinated before returning to work in their offices

More: The Independent and Business Insider

Tweets: @rmac18, @kathrynw5, @meredithshiner, @noahshachtman, @walthickey, @banditelli, @keithkurson, @jgownder, and @mcbyrne

Jennifer Surane / Bloomberg:

Mastercard won't allow its cards to be used on Pornhub after its review of the site uncovered unlawful content; Visa suspends its card usage pending a probe

More: New York Times, VICE, KnowTechie, Decrypt, PaymentsSource, Newser, BBC, InsideBitcoins.com, ZDNet, PYMNTS.com, Business Insider, and news.com.au

Tweets: @cagoldberglaw, @nickkristof, @asaakira, @melissagira, @paulitapappel, @fark, @wagatwe, @iriskeenkade, @pupamp, @jilliancyork, @allieawesome415, @jackposobiec, @oliviasolon, @slpng_giants, @dhh, @chrismessina, and @ldrogen

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:

Airbnb closes at $144, up from its $68 IPO price, on its first day of trading, giving it a market cap of about $86.5B and more than doubling its IPO valuation

Mitchell Clark / The Verge:

Twitter says iOS users can now add tweets to Snapchat Snaps as stickers, and it will soon test sharing tweets to Instagram Stories

More: iPhone in Canada Blog, KnowTechie, Android Headlines, coinspeaker.com, Twitter, and TechRadar

Tweets: @twitter, @twittersupport, @wongmjane, @wongmjane, @kayvz, @ohmdee, @snapchat, @chriscantino, @jasonyuandesign, and @mastertes