Techmeme
March 9, 2021, 7:45 PM

Top News

William Turton / Bloomberg:
Hackers say they breached Verkada, accessing feeds and archives of 150K surveillance cameras inside clinics, police precincts, jails, schools, Tesla facilities  —  - Hacker group says it wanted to show prevalence of surveillance  — Video footage was captured from Sequoia-backed startup Verkada
Drew FitzGerald / Wall Street Journal:
In a privacy policy update, T-Mobile says it will automatically enroll all subscribers in an ad program informed by their online activity, starting on April 26  —  Wireless carrier tells subscribers it could share their browsing, app data and other online activity with advertisers unless they opt out
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Google adds features to Chrome OS including Phone Hub, which lets Android users control aspects of their phones, like replying to texts, from their Chromebooks  —  Chrome OS is getting a bunch of new features to celebrate 10 years  —  Google is marking 10 years of Chromebooks by unveiling new features for Chrome OS today.
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter's head of consumer product, on focusing on growth, deciding what to prioritize, paying for tweets, Clubhouse, and more  —  Twitter recently announced that it's going to be building a lot of new things into its product: there's Twitter Spaces …
Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
Dropbox announces plans to acquire secure document sharing startup DocSend for $165M; DocSend had raised $15.3M and has 17K customers  —  Dropbox announced today that it plans to acquire DocSend for $165 million The company helps customers share and track documents by sending a secure link instead of an attachment.
Scott Stein / CNET:
Facebook details a 10-year vision for its AR glasses, imagining they will work alongside a wristband to measure hand and figure gestures, with haptic feedback  —  Facebook is working on a neural wristband for AR glasses, with haptic gloves in the works  —  Facebook's first pair of smart glasses is arriving this year.
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
In an interview, Mark Zuckerberg discusses AR/VR and says that by 2030, he expects people with smart glasses to “teleport” to locations for in-person meetings  —  - Mark Zuckerberg said on Monday that by 2030, people could use advanced smart glasses to “teleport” to other people's homes …
Noah Smith / Noahpinion:
Q&A with Stripe's Patrick Collison on the future of technology, speeding up innovation, how research funding can be reformed, US-China competition, and more  —  In addition to being a friend and a Noahpinion subscriber, Patrick Collison is one of the world's most successful founder-CEOs.
Sidney Fussell / Wired:
Current and former tech workers of color say companies' “diversity theater” and pledges of support provide cover for hypocritical actions by their superiors  —  Companies pledged money and support for people of color.  But some say they still face a hostile work environment for speaking out or simply doing their jobs.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google will make it free for hotels and travel companies to appear in hotel booking links on google.com/travel, after doing the same for Shopping and Flights  —  Last year, Google made a significant change to its Google Shopping destination by making it free for e-commerce retailers to sell on Google …
James Cridland / Podnews podcasting news:
Chris O'Brien / Sifted:
Leading French startup association files a privacy complaint against Apple alleging that the latest iOS is collecting users' data without their permission  —  The allegations would seem to contradict not just Apple's image as a privacy-friendly company, but also the widespread praise iOS 14 has received
Politico:
Sources: Biden plans to nominate Lina Khan, a legal scholar championed by anti-Big Tech activists who wrote “Amazon's Antitrust Paradox”, as an FTC commissioner  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — President JOE BIDEN has decided to nominate LINA KHAN …
Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:
Google TV adds support for kids profiles with kid-friendly recommendations, screen-time limits, and parental controls, starting in the US this month  —  You get fun designs, kid-friendly recommendations, and screen-time limits.  —  It sure sounds like Google is recommitting to the TV space with Google TV …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sonos introduces Roam, a $169 portable speaker, now available for preorder; Sonos also sets a goal of $2.25B in annual revenue by FY 2024  —  - CEO sees potential for company in car, headphone markets  — Company introduces new Roam portable speaker at $169
Tom Warren / The Verge:
EU approves Microsoft's $7.5B deal to acquire ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, without conditions  —  Microsoft will have 23 first-party game studios  —  The European Commission has approved Microsoft's $7.5 billion deal to acquire ZeniMax Media …
Chris Stokel-Walker / Insider:
Source: TikTok has 3000+ staff in Europe, up from 1600 since September, with plans for 3 London offices, despite calling off London as its global HQ last July  —  - Tiktok has more than 3,000 staff across Europe, up from 1,600 since it last reported its headcount in September.
Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:
How Facebook, Twitter, Google, and other tech giants let their work on domestic terrorism threats, like QAnon, lag behind foreign threats, like ISIS  —  On a Friday in August 2017 — years before a mob of armed and very-online extremists took over the U.S. Capitol — a young Black woman …

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