Techmeme
December 18, 2020, 11:30 AM

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 …
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:
Jack Morse / Mashable:
Karissa Bell / Engadget:
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 …
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
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.
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.
Gilad Edelman / Wired:
A look at allegations in Texas AG's antitrust suit, accusing Google of giving Facebook special privileges in exchange for not supporting a competing ad system  —  A new antitrust case against Google alleges that the two companies made a deal to reduce competition in online advertising.
New York Times:

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:
Celebrate and collaborate this holiday season with Zoho Cliq  —  The holiday season is a time for celebration, relaxation, and reflection.  While some people are busy wrapping presents for their loved ones …
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:
Mon. 12/23 - The Revenge Of Google Glass?
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 11:30 AM ET, December 18, 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

Alex Kantrowitz / Big Technology:

Earlier Picks

Tom Warren / The Verge: