Techmeme
March 16, 2021, 3:30 PM

Top News

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Starting July 1, Google will drop its cut of revenue devs generate from Play Store from 30% to 15% on the first $1M earned per year, after Apple's similar move  —  - Google announced on Tuesday that it will cut Google Play app store fees to 15% on the first million dollars a developer makes …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google announces second-generation Nest Hub with sleep tracking, powered by a Soli radar chip, for $100, shipping from March 30  —  In deciding to not put a camera on what was initially called the Home Hub, Google made its first Assistant Smart Display ideal for nightstands.
James Vincent / The Verge:
Instagram says it's introducing new policies to limit interactions between teenagers and adults, including banning adults from DMing teens who don't follow them  —  Teen users will also be shown safety prompts when messaging ‘suspicious’ adults  —  Instagram is introducing …
Rita Liao / TechCrunch:
Signal website and app communications are blocked in China, but the app is still available in the App Store; Greatfire: Signal's website was banned on March 15  —  Chinese users of the instant messenger Signal knew that the good times wouldn't last long.  The app, which is used …
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Report: Apple will let the Russian government pre-install iOS apps in accordance with a new law; users can deselect the apps during setup and delete them after  —  Starting next month, Apple will allow the Russian government to pre-install apps on iPhones, iPads and other devices starting next month.
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Intel's 11th Gen desktop chips launch, with the flagship Core i9-11900K sporting eight cores, two less than last gen, and boosted clock speeds of up to 5.3GHz  —  Rocket Lake-S looks to combine the best parts of Intel's 14nm process with its 10nm designs  —  Intel's next-generation desktop chips …
Financial Times:
Sources: Tencent and ByteDance are testing a new tool called CAID, developed by the China Advertising Association, to bypass Apple's IDFA ad privacy changes  —  ByteDance and Tencent see if they can keep tracking iPhone users with solution created by state-backed group
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Sources: Facebook will begin testing its publishing platform, including website and newsletter tools, with a small group of writers, some of whom will be paid  —  Facebook will soon begin testing partnerships with a small group of independent writers for its new publishing platform, sources tell Axios.
Leah Nylen / Politico:
Internal FTC docs: 2013 decision not to pursue a Google antitrust investigation was based on faulty logic and a misunderstanding of the internet's potential  —  Few moments in the power struggle between Washington and Silicon Valley have inspired more anger and bafflement than one in January 2013 …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Nvidia confirms that a now-removed driver for developers to test the Windows Subsystem for Linux could unlock RTX 3060's Ethereum cryptomining performance  —  Nvidia probably didn't mean to do this  —  Nvidia implemented a special system to reduce the hash rate of Ethereum mining on its new RTX 3060 graphics card last month.
Ian Carlos Campbell / The Verge:
Dropbox says Dropbox Passwords, a management tool introduced in 2020 for businesses, will be free for Basic accounts starting in April, with a 50 password limit  —  Maybe an upsell, maybe a introduction to password security  —  Dropbox is adding a new feature on top of its usual offerings …
Bloomberg:
Huawei says it will start charging Apple, Samsung, and other manufacturers royalties for 5G patents, a potentially lucrative scheme as US sanctions bite  —  - Executives pledge to charge rates below its competitors  — Company is keen to expand its clout in global 5G networking
Ryan Weeks / The Block:
eToro, which lets users trade cryptocurrencies, commodities, stocks, and more, says it will go public via SPAC, valuing the company at $10.4B and raising $650M  —  Quick Take  — The investment platform is merging with FinTech Acquisition Corp. V  — The SPAC merger follows years …
Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:
iOS 14.5 beta code suggests Apple is working on a method for delivering standalone iOS security updates  —  Among all the new features introduced with iOS 14.5, which had its fourth beta released today to developers, there are also some changes hidden in the operating system's internal codes.
Brianna Provenzano / Gizmodo:
California approves new regulations under CCPA to prohibit the use of “dark patterns”, tricks deployed by websites and apps to frustrate or mislead users  —  New regulations were approved under California's Consumer Privacy Act on Monday that will prohibit the use of so-called dark patterns …
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Machine learning data management startup SafeGraph raises $45M Series B led by Sapphire Ventures and says it is used by over 7,000 data scientists  —  While there are plenty of companies selling data about physical locations, SafeGraph CEO Auren Hoffman said his startup is …
More: FinSMEs and VentureBeat
Rachel Lerman / Washington Post:
Despite progress in making social media accessible to deaf users, some creators say captioning can often be lackluster, leaving services inaccessible to many  —  Captioning on social media can be hit or miss, making the experience sometimes alienating for deaf users
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Boston-based Appfire, which develops apps to enhance collaboration tools like Atlassian's Jira and Confluence, raises $100M, following $49M in June 2020  —  Appfire, a Boston-based provider of software development apps, announced Tuesday that it has received a $100 million investment from growth private equity firm TA Associates.
More: FinSMEs and Appfire
Zheping Huang / Bloomberg:
ByteDance has posted at least 12 job listings related to semiconductors, including hardware and software engineers in Shanghai and Beijing  —  The standout Chinese startup ByteDance Ltd. has begun hiring employees for a possible push into semiconductors, exploring an expansion well beyond …
More: Reuters and TechRadar

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