Techmeme
April 17, 2021, 10:20 AM

Top News

Cristiano Lima / Politico:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Firefox and major Chromium browsers like Edge, Opera, Brave, and Vivaldi are not joining FLoC, Google's proposed ad technology to replace third-party cookies  —  Brave, Vivaldi, Edge, and Mozilla are all out  —  Google is going it alone with its proposed advertising technology to replace third-party cookies.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Sources detail Amazon's tactics during the Alabama union campaign, including “captive audience meetings”, as workers explain why the union was unconvincing  —  - Last week, workers at one of Amazon's Alabama warehouses overwhelmingly voted against joining the Retail …
Spencer Soper / Bloomberg:
Sources: Amazon is planning a furniture service that would require drivers to assemble items and take them back on the spot if the customer isn't satisfied  —  - Service expansion to appliances could target Home Depot, Lowes  — Online furniture sales grew 41% in pandemic to $36.1 billion
Alex Konrad / Forbes:
Interview with Initialized Capital's Garry Tan on the firm's seed investment in Coinbase, Ohanian's departure, building a presence on social media, and more  —  Covering venture capital, software and startups  —  In March 2012, Garry Tan received an email from the founder of a new startup called Bitbank, Brian Armstrong.
Rest of World:
Internet blackouts following a military coup have shut down swathes of the online economy in Myanmar, where internet penetration had surged to around 43%  —  Amid internet blackouts, economic isolation, and massive strikes, a decade of development is unwinding.
James Vincent / The Verge:
As the EU considers new regulations for AI, 60+ NGOs ask the EC to ban automatic gender recognition systems, which rely on outmoded understandings of gender  —  Dangers posed by facial recognition like mass surveillance and mistaken identity have been widely discussed in recent years.
The Information:
Source: Dapper Labs, maker of NFT-focused NBA Top Shot, is raising a new round at a $7.5B+ valuation, just a few weeks after raising $305M at a $2.6B valuation  —  The rush of enthusiasm for blockchain-based collectives is driving an extraordinary surge of investor interest in Dapper Labs …
Naaman Zhou / The Guardian:
Australian Federal Court rules Google misled Android users into thinking it would not collect their location data when they turned location history off  —  Google collected data on some Android and Pixel phones even when customers ticked ‘No’ or ‘Do not collect’
Shen Lu / Protocol:
How Weibo helps Chinese authorities quash the feminist movement by deleting activist accounts, while also profiting from their nationalist harassers  —  Prominent feminist activist Xiao Meili had never expected to find herself in the center of a nationalist storm.
Kristin Robinson / Variety:
As Spotify turns 15, a look at the ways in which it changed how people listen to music, like breaking down boundaries between genres through “mood playlists”  —  Ask any executive what the music business was like in the '00s and their face may take on an expression more commonly associated …
Jem Aswad / Variety:
Looking at payment per stream metrics for music streaming services can be misleading when considering artist pay, as many factors determine streaming royalties  —  Early Friday, Apple Music sent a carefully worded letter to artists, music labels and publishers that briefly explained …
Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:
Patrick Howell O'Neill / MIT Technology Review:
A look at Positive Technologies, a Russian cybersecurity firm sanctioned by the US, which sources say provides hacking tools and ops support for Russian spies  —  Washington has sanctioned Russian cybersecurity firm Positive Technologies.  US intelligence reports claim it provides hacking tools and runs operations for the Kremlin.
Associated Press:

Sponsor Posts

TELUS Digital:
Are you ready for the era of agentic AI?  —  Tech leaders are always talking about what's next, and right now, agentic AI is dominating the discourse.  Equip yourself with the info you need in this recorded webinar.
Tribe AI:
State of AI: Adoption, Challenges and Recommendations  —  Examining the current state of AI, the key challenges organizations face, and practical recommendations for utilizing AI integration alongside other best practices.
Zoho:
Everything new in the Zoho Sign iOS mobile app  —  Ranked highly in the iOS App Store (4.9 stars), Zoho Sign's mobile app for iPhone is a user favorite.  We're thrilled to share that the app has been enhanced …
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

Techmeme Ride Home:
Tariff Groundhog Day
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Grit:
Flexport's Third Act: Winning in a Broken Global Trade System
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
Everyone's an engineer now: Inside v0's mission to create a hundred million builders | Guillermo Rauch (founder & CEO of Vercel, creators of v0 and Next.js)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
The Logan Bartlett Show:
Derek Thompson (Writer, The Atlantic) and Zach Weinberg (Co-founder & CEO, Curie.Bio) Discuss the Tariff Withdrawal and America's Future
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
Subscribe to The Logan Bartlett Show.
Hard Fork:
Big Tech's Tariff Chaos + A.I. 2027 + Llama Drama
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 10:20 AM ET, April 17, 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

Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch:
Ece Toksabay / Reuters:

Earlier Picks

Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Reuters: