Techmeme
December 18, 2020, 12:05 PM

Top News

Brad Smith / Microsoft On the Issues:
Microsoft identified 40+ customers targeted in the SolarWinds hack, 80% in the US, says the attack is “ongoing” and calls for a global cybersecurity response  —  The final weeks of a challenging year have proven even more difficult with the recent exposure of the world's latest serious nation-state cyberattack.
Washington Post:
CISA issues an alert that says evidence suggests attackers used malware to access US systems, beyond SolarWinds vulnerabilities, but offers no other details  —  Federal investigators reported Thursday on evidence of previously unknown tactics for penetrating government computer networks …
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Microsoft says compromised SolarWinds apps were on its networks but that no customer data was stolen; it denies report hackers used its systems to attack others  —  Microsoft denies that hackers pivoted to production systems and abused its software to attack customers.
Politico:
Sources: Energy Dept. and NNSA, which maintains the US nuclear weapons stockpile, have evidence that their networks were accessed as part of the SolarWinds hack  —  The Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile …
Scott Simmie / DroneDJ:
China-based drone maker DJI is among the companies the US Commerce Department has added to its blacklist  —  An updated “Entity List” is bad news for the world's largest drone manufacturer.  DJI has been put in the company of Huawei and others, a move that will have negative consequences for the firm.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Sony is removing Cyberpunk 2077 from PlayStation Store until further notice, and offering full refunds to people who bought it, amid reports of it being buggy  —  You can request a refund now  —  Sony is pulling Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation Store and offering full refunds for anyone …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter launches Spaces, its Clubhouse-like service, in private beta on iOS, limited to select individuals, largely from under-represented backgrounds  —  Last month, Twitter announced it would soon begin testing a new social experience on its platforms involving audio-only chat rooms …
Jack Morse / Mashable:
Twitter:
Patricia Nilsson / Financial Times:
An investigation into who owns MindGeek, the secretive company behind Pornhub, which had $460M in revenue in 2018 and has 115M+ daily visitors to its sites  —  Mario Salieri was shooting a pornographic movie in a lavish Prague villa two decades ago when he first caught sight of the computer geeks who were about to upend his industry.
Patience Haggin / Wall Street Journal:
As its revenue surges, Roku has become increasingly forceful in its negotiations with media companies, as evidenced by its fights with Fox and WarnerMedia  —  The maker of the leading streaming-media player has taken up brash negotiating tactics over its terms to carry services like HBO Max and Peacock
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Indian food delivery giant Zomato has raised a total of $660M in the Series J it kicked off last year, at a $3.9B post-money valuation  —  Zomato has raised $660 million in a financing round — Series J — that it kicked off last year as the Indian food delivery startup prepares to go public next year.
Jeff John Roberts / Fortune:
Coinbase says it has confidentially filed for an IPO  —  Cryptocurrency giant Coinbase announced on Thursday that is has confidentially filed for a public offering, becoming the latest in a parade of high-profile startups to pursue an IPO in 2020.  —  Founded in 2012 as a simple way for consumers …
Russ Frushtick / Polygon:
Q&A with Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser on COVID-19's impact, Animal Crossing, plans for 2021, Switch Online, and more  —  The president of Nintendo of America on the last year and looking ahead to 2021  —  It's hard to imagine a company weathering 2020 much better than Nintendo.
Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:
Apple clarifies power-saving modes of AirPods Max, says they enter low power mode after 5 minutes of non-use and ultralow power state after 18 hours in the case  —  When Apple unveiled AirPods Max last week, it revealed that they don't come with an on/off power button, but instead enter an …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Amazon launches group video and audio calling for up to seven participants on Echo devices  —  It's also coming soon to the Alexa app  —  Amazon is launching a new group video or audio calling feature for Echo devices today, just in time for the holidays.

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Earlier Picks

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