Techmeme
December 23, 2020, 2:00 PM

Top News

Reuters:
Documents: Google's AI unit tightened control over its scientists' papers on “sensitive topics” and asked at least three to portray its tech in a positive light  —  OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's Google this year moved to tighten control over its scientists' papers by launching a …
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
SEC sues Ripple Labs, its CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and Chairman Chris Larsen, alleging they violated federal securities laws in selling XRP to retail consumers  —  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) believes Ripple Labs violated federal securities laws in selling the XRP cryptocurrency to retail consumers.
Kevin McLaughlin / The Information:
Sources: Zoom has begun developing a web email service for businesses, and may trial it next year, and is also considering building a calendar app  —  Zoom Video Communications has had an astonishing rise in 2020, emerging as the go-to service for work meetings and family get-togethers during the pandemic.
Logic Magazine:
Q&A with an anonymous AWS cybersecurity engineer on why AWS is easy to migrate to but difficult to leave, how the pandemic compounded AWS' advantages, and more  —  Amazon is on a mission to own the infrastructure of our lives.  The second-largest private employer in the United States after Walmart …
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Telegram debuts group voice chat as CEO Pavel Durov says it is nearing 500M MAUs and will launch an ad platform for public one-to-many channels next year  —  Instant messaging app Telegram is “approaching” 500 million users and plans to start generating revenue starting next year to keep the business afloat …
John Harney / Bloomberg:
DHS has issued an advisory to US businesses, warning of data security risks with using communication equipment and services from China-linked companies  —  - Homeland Security warns of trade secret, competition risks  — Advisory comes after hack that Trump advisers blame on Russia
Leo Kelion / BBC:
DeepMind details MuZero, revealed in 2019 and following AlphaZero, which can master games without knowing the rules and is working on YouTube video compression  —  DeepMind's latest AI program can attain “superhuman performance” in tasks without needing to be given the rules.
Drew FitzGerald / Wall Street Journal:
FCC's ongoing 5G wireless licenses auction has fetched over $66.4B after three weeks, beating the $44.9B sale of 4G licenses in 2015, and will resume January 4  —  FCC sale of wireless licenses has already hit new spending highs and the total could climb after a holiday break
Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:
Certificate authority Let's Encrypt says it has found a workaround that will extend older Android phones' compatibility with its certificates by three years  —  When you haven't been updated since 2016, expiring certificates are a problem.  —  Things were touch-and-go for a while …
Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:
Clubhouse is testing an invite-only Creator Pilot Program, with over 40 members, as the service hits 600,000 registered users  —  Tech investors have warmed to the idea that being a content creator is a legitimate form of business.  —  Nearly every social media platform has turned its top users into stars …
Rachel Sandler / Forbes:
NY Governor signs a bill to suspend the use of facial recognition and other biometric ID tech in schools until July 2022, the first such regulation in the US  —  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill Tuesday temporarily banning the use of facial recognition in schools, making it the first state to take such a step.
Alex Gallagher / NME:
The COVID-19 relief bill passed by Congress includes the Felony Streaming Bill, which makes illegal streaming for profit a felony, with up to 10 years jail time  —  Targeting illegal for-profit streaming providers, not individual users  —  The US Congress has passed a COVID-19 stimulus bill …
Rachel Reichenbach / rainylune:
Small business owner shares conversation with an Instagram media expert, who told her the algorithm favors Reels, consistency, and using all post types  —  Back in November, Instagram reached out to me and asked me to schedule a call with them so a media expert from the Instagram Partnerships team …
Bloomberg:
Xiaomi's market value tops $100B, the valuation that sources said it had originally eyed for its 2018 IPO  —  - Stock surge follows strong sales, Hang Seng Index inclusion  — Shares have nearly tripled in 2020 after post-IPO struggles  —  Xiaomi Corp. founder Lei Jun can finally rejoice …
Tweets: @bsindia
Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:
Hong Kong-based on-demand delivery startup Lalamove raises $515M Series E led by Sequoia Capital China, bringing its total raised to $976.5M  —  Lalamove will extend its network to cover more small Chinese cities after raising $515 million in Series E funding, the on-demand logistics company announced on its site.

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