Techmeme
March 28, 2021, 5:10 PM

Top News

USA Today:
NY State launches first US “vaccine passport” app, Excelsior Pass, built on IBM's blockchain-based health pass platform, to be used initially at large venues  —  Starting Friday, New Yorkers will be able to pull up a code on their cell phone or a printout to prove they've …
Jeff John Roberts / Decrypt:
Inside BitClout, the controversial service that tokenizes Twitter personalities, mostly without permission, and has $170M worth of BTC raised from a16z, others  —  Diamondhands greets me on the encrypted messaging app Signal.  He can see me over video, but his own video is turned off …
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple releases iOS 14.4.2 and iOS 12.5.2 to fix a critical cross-site scripting vulnerability in WebKit that “may have been actively exploited”  —  Apple today released iOS 14.4.2 for iPhone and iPad, and watchOS 7.3.3 for Apple Watch.  The updates includes an important security fix for WebKit …
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Amazon is pursuing an increasingly aggressive PR strategy, picking fights with Democratic politicians such as Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders on Twitter  —  Who is Amazon trying to convince?  —  Amazon is intensifying its bizarre online public relations strategy of picking increasingly petty …
Daisuke Wakabayashi / New York Times:
A look at Google's two-decade quest to compete with Amazon, as it now tries to present itself as a cheaper and less restrictive option for independent sellers  —  Google presents itself to independent sellers as cheaper and less restrictive.  But it is not clear whether it can change people's habits of going straight to Amazon.
Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:
As Moore's Law slows down, a look at 2D materials like graphene, which is already being used to create flexible electronics and could replace silicon in chips  —  After more than a half-century of making microchips in more or less the same way, profound changes are coming  —  Silicon is pretty great.
Wall Street Journal:
Interviews and documents reveal that in the year before his death, Tony Hsieh was surrounded by people who lived off his fortune and enabled his risky lifestyle  —  The group that surrounded the late Zappos boss helped sustain his drug habit, protected him from outsiders and lived off his largess
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with NYT's Kevin Roose on his new book Futureproof, how robotic process automation might replace some white-collar jobs, Microsoft Excel TikTok, and more  —  As the editor-in-chief of The Verge, I can theoretically assign whatever I want.  However, there is one topic I have failed …
Reggie Ugwu / New York Times:
A look at Google's hands-off content moderation approach for Google Podcasts, where hate speech from white supremacists and pro-Nazi groups is easy to find  —  The platform's tolerance of white supremacist, pro-Nazi and conspiracy theory content pushes the boundaries of the medium.
Liam Tung / ZDNet:
Microsoft says 92% of vulnerable Exchange servers have been patched/mitigated, and reiterates that patches do not necessarily remove the access of the attacker  —  If you're cleaning up a infected Exchange server, you need to look for traces of multiple threats, warns Microsoft.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro (experimental) is now available, with thinking capabilities, enhanced performance, and improved accuracy.  Try it at no cost in the Gemini app.
UiPath:
Introducing the UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation  —  UiPath's new platform empowers enterprises to experience the full power of AI to transform industries
Zoho:
In-depth bounce reports now in ZeptoMail  —  The ultimate aim of any email sender is to deliver emails to the right recipient's inbox—but even when taking measures to ensure successful delivery, bounces still occur.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'The Ratchet of Flippancy', With Craig Mod
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Techmeme Ride Home:
ChatGPT Just Wants To Please
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Azeem Azhar's Exponential View:
The difference between early and late AI adopters
Azeem Azhar explores how AI and exponential technologies are shaping our future.
Subscribe to Azeem Azhar's Exponential View.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Tariffs, Trump, TikTok: What's going to happen to ads in 2025?
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Spotlight On:
*S3 Feature* Transcend's Kate Parker on putting data back into the hands of users in an AI-driven world
A podcast from Accel about how companies are built, from the people doing the building.
Subscribe to Spotlight On.
Invest Like the Best:
Cliff Sosin - Investing in Carvana
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:10 PM ET, March 28, 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

Earlier Picks

Abby Ohlheiser / MIT Technology Review:
Roland Li / San Francisco Chronicle:
Wayne Ma / The Information: