Techmeme
April 7, 2021, 12:10 PM

Top News

Lily Hay Newman / Wired:
Facebook says the leaked 533M records are a different data set that attackers created by abusing a flaw in a Facebook contacts import feature, not by hacking  —  The company's explanations have been confusing and inconsistent, but there are finally some answers.
Politico:
Data of EU privacy chief Didier Reynders, Luxembourg PM Xavier Bettel, and dozens of EU officials found among Facebook's leaked data set of 533M records  —  Didier Reynders, Luxembourg PM Xavier Bettel among European leaders whose data was leaked online.  —  EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders …
Lauren Goode / Wired:
A first person narrative on the persistence of digital memories and how social media and photo apps that surface old photos make painful memories hard to forget  —  In 2019, I made a painful decision.  But to the algorithms that drive Facebook, Pinterest, and a million other apps, I'm forever getting married.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Jeff Bezos says Amazon supports a rise in the corporate tax rate and making bold investments in US infrastructure, but stops short of supporting Biden's plan  —  - Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Tuesday voiced support for raising the corporate tax rate but stopped short of saying he supports President Joe Biden's plan for the increase.
Maria Armental / Wall Street Journal:
Patreon raises $155M Series F led by Tiger Global Management at a $4B valuation, up from $1.2B in September, bringing its total raised to $411M  —  Online company raises $155 million in latest round, led by new investor Tiger Global Management  —  Patreon Inc., an online platform …
David Meyer / Fortune:
Max Schrems' non-profit Noyb files a complaint with the French privacy watchdog, claims Google's Android Advertising Identifier violates EU's ePrivacy Directive  —  Our mission to make business better is fueled by readers like you.  To enjoy unlimited access to our journalism, subscribe today.
Jeff John Roberts / Decrypt:
Ahead of its April 14 direct listing, Coinbase reports a record quarter, with estimated profits of $730M-$800M in Q1 on revenue of ~$1.8B and 56M verified users  —  Coinbase announced its 2021 first quarter earnings on Tuesday, revealing that the crypto giant made a profit of between $730 million …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Sonos Roam review: portable and rugged design, sound quality is good but bass is limited by form factor, charges wirelessly but battery life is not great  —  The tiny, lightweight speaker has a ton of functionality, but don't expect sound quality miracles  —  The Sonos Roam is the most focused, calculated product from Sonos yet.
Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:
Plaid, which helps connect users' bank accounts with fintech apps, raises $425M Series D led by Altimeter Capital, sources say at a valuation of ~$13.4B  —  Plaid, a unicorn that helps connect consumers' bank accounts to financial applications, has raised a $425 million Series D, it announced this morning.
Cameron Faulkner / The Verge:
Alienware announces M15 R5, starting at $2,230, with AMD Ryzen 5000 H-series CPUs, the first Alienware laptop since 2007 to use AMD processors  —  Expect big performance boosts  —  Alienware has announced the latest revision to its flagship gaming laptop lineup, the 15-inch Alienware M15 R5.
Megan Graham / CNBC:
Report: digital ad spending grew 12.2% YoY in 2020 to $139.8B, as H2 political ad spending offset the H1 falloff; top 10 companies held 78.1% share of revenues  —  - Despite an initial falloff due to the Covid pandemic, digital advertising spending grew 12.2% year over year in 2020 …
Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
Lily Hay Newman / Wired:
Interviews with three women working at NSA and Cyber Command highlight the progress made in gender equality in recent years and the work that still remains  —  WIRED spoke with three women working in cybersecurity in the US intelligence committee about the progress of recent years and the work that remains.
Ellery Roberts Biddle / Tech Policy Press:
Facebook and Google's commitment to protecting human rights and the public interest is hamstrung by their ad-based profit models and absolute focus on growth  —  Facebook and Google have made broad-based commitments to protect human rights and the public interest, but only to the extent …
Amplifi Media:
Apple podcast data indicates that there are 2M podcasts, but of those, 26% only have one episode, 44% have three or fewer, and only 36% have 10+ episodes  —  Today's post breaks down the numbers of how many podcasts you're actually up against.  —  It seems everyone has a podcast.  Or do they?
Nikkei Asia:
Internal memo: Huawei is closing its core cloud and AI business after only 14 months, splitting the group into two  —  Change mirrors struggle to transition from hardware maker to service provider  —  Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies is closing its core cloud and artificial …
Parmy Olson / Wall Street Journal:
UK launches the Digital Markets Unit, a watchdog with limited powers, initially tasked with stopping big tech companies from exploiting market dominance  —  Digital Markets Unit to police how largest global technology firms wield their market power  —  LONDON—The U.K. launched …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Pathlight, which provides a range of tools to visualize team and individual performance, raises $25M led by Insight Partners, bringing its total raised to $35M  —  The longer we continue to work with either all or part of our teams in remote, out-of-physical-office environments …

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:
UiPath Unveils 10 Innovations that Will Shape the Agentic Future  —  Orchestration engine, API workflows and agentic testing among key features of new UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation, launched at UiPath DevCon 2025
Zoho:
How EQ plays a defining role in workplace communication  —  What if everyone you worked with had a psychic ability to understand how you're feeling and respond accordingly?  Wouldn't that be great?
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

Azeem Azhar's Exponential View:
China's catching up to US AI... Here's why it won't matter
Azeem Azhar explores how AI and exponential technologies are shaping our future.
Subscribe to Azeem Azhar's Exponential View.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
How Apple trapped itself in China
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.
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The Logan Bartlett Show:
Debunking Healthcare's Biggest Myths with Zach Weinberg and Derek Thompson
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
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Techmeme Ride Home:
The Thin-Phone Era Is Here
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
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Spotlight On:
Supabase's Paul Copplestone on the difference between "playing startup" and strategy
A podcast from Accel about how companies are built, from the people doing the building.
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Invest Like the Best:
Royce Yudkoff & Rick Ruback - Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
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Earlier Picks

Brody Ford / Bloomberg:
Alnoor Peermohamed / The Economic Times:
Katie Roof / Bloomberg:
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Pranob Mehrotra / XDA Developers: