Techmeme
March 2, 2021, 7:05 PM

Top News

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils Microsoft Mesh, a mixed-reality platform on Azure, and demos a meeting service to let users join virtual rooms using devices like HoloLens 2  —  Mesh is Microsoft's vision for the future of mixed reality  —  Last week, Microsoft's Alex Kipman, the inventor of Kinect and HoloLens …
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft to add end-to-end encryption for one-to-one calls, channel sharing, and webinar and presentation features to Teams  —  Microsoft has a bunch of new Teams features coming and is introducing a new category of Teams Intelligent Speaker devices at Ignite this week.
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Microsoft warns users that a new state-sponsored threat actor is exploiting four previously undisclosed security flaws in Exchange Server; patches are available  —  Microsoft is warning customers that a new China state-sponsored threat actor is exploiting four previously undisclosed security flaws …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Sony says the PlayStation Store will stop offering movie and TV show purchases and rentals on Aug. 31, citing users' preference for video streaming services  —  As of Aug. 31, 2021, the PlayStation Store will stop offering movie and TV show purchases and rentals.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
eMarketer: Spotify is on track to reach US monthly podcast listenership of 28.2M by the end of this year and surpass Apple's Podcasts for the first time  —  Investors have been waiting for Spotify's multimillion-dollar bet on podcasting to pay off, in terms of increased paid subscriptions or improved revenues.
Bloomberg:
Intel ordered to pay $2.18B after a federal court jury in TX found it infringed two patents once owned by NXP Semiconductors and now owned by VLSI Technology  —  - Intel had claimed royalty demands of VLSI were ‘outrageous’  — NXP would get a share of any damage award, Intel lawyer said
CNBC:
Instacart raises $265M in a round valuing the company at $39B, after raising $200M at a $17.7B valuation in October  —  - Instacart is valued at $39 billion in a new funding round.  — It's the second time the company's valuation has doubled since the start of the Covid pandemic.
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Amazon quietly updated its app icon, changing the appearance of the ripped packaging tape after some drew comparisons of it to Adolf Hitler's mustache  —  The company's icon gets a less problematic new look  —  Amazon has quietly rolled out a slight update to its new app icon that it debuted …
Patrick Howell O'Neill / MIT Technology Review:
Researchers point out that Apple's walled garden approach on iOS makes it virtually impossible to detect the presence of malware on iPhones, which still exists  —  The iPhone's locked-down approach to security is spreading, but advanced hackers have found that higher barriers are great for avoiding capture.
Bloomberg:
Interviews with 16 Amazon workers offer an inside look at the unionization vote in Bessemer, AL, where $15/hour is double the minimum wage for entry-level jobs  —  On a rainy Saturday afternoon in early February, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union held a rally in a grassy lot …
Vjeran Pavic / The Verge:
DJI launches a $1,299 first person view drone bundle, which includes FPV Goggles V2 with crisp 810p resolution, controller, and a drone with ~20-min flight time  —  Cinematic first-person view or FPV drones have been a growing trend in the drone industry for a few years.
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
TikTok launches a Safety Advisory Council for Europe to help it with content moderation, bringing external experts in fields like child safety and extremism  —  TikTok is bringing in external experts in Europe in fields such as child safety, young people's mental health and extremism to form …
Mila Jasper / Nextgov:
A report from the National Security Commission on AI, which is chaired by Eric Schmidt, finds that the US is not fully prepared for AI competition with China  —  Retaining any edge will take White House leadership and a substantial investment, according to the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence.
Kim Lyons / The Verge:
Twitter users on Android can now join and talk in its Clubhouse-like live audio Spaces and will be able to create their own Spaces in an upcoming update  —  The platform introduced its audio chat rooms for iOS in December  —  Twitter has opened its audio chat room, Spaces, to Android users, the company tweeted Tuesday.
Ashley Gold / Axios:
Twitter to label tweets with misleading information about COVID vaccines and debut a strike system that can lead to permanent account suspension after 5 strikes  —  Twitter announced Monday that it will label tweets with potentially misleading information about COVID-19 vaccines …

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.
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.
Zoho:
CIO challenge 5: Can we find an effective solution that also minimizes operational costs?  —  Welcome to the next and final installment of our CIO series!  After what feels like a thousand cups of coffee …
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Thu. 11/21 - What The DOJ Wants Google To Do
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 7:05 PM ET, March 2, 2021.

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 Konrad / Forbes:
Hannah Beech / New York Times:

Earlier Picks

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: