Techmeme
April 20, 2021, 7:20 AM

Top News

About Facebook:
Facebook says it will start testing Live Audio Rooms in Groups and expects to roll out the feature to everyone on the Facebook app by the summer  —  Storytelling helps people build meaningful bonds: we all have stories to share with our friends, our communities, and the world at large.
Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
Zuckerberg says Facebook is working with Spotify on a music integration project codenamed Project Boombox  —  - Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday announced that the company is building audio features where users can engage in real-time conversations with others.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Sean Burch / The Wrap:
Sensor Tower: Clubhouse was downloaded 2.7M times in March, a 72% decline from February's 9.5M+  —  After pulling in 9.5 million downloads in February, Clubhouse only had 2.7 million downloads in March, according to new data from Sensor Tower  —  Is the party on Clubhouse already dying out?
Elizabeth Culliford / Reuters:
Brian Fung / CNN:
In a letter to Congress, Apple says it has approved Parler's return to the App Store, following moderation improvements by Parler  —  Washington (CNN Business)Apple has approved Parler's return to the iOS app store following improvements the social media company made to better detect …
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Sony backtracks on removing PS3 and Vita digital stores, saying it was “the wrong decision”; PSP store will still shut down on July 2  —  The PSP store is still shutting down on July 2nd  —  Sony has announced that it'll be keeping its PS3 and PlayStation Vita digital storefront open “for the foreseeable future.”
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Geico, the 2nd-largest US auto insurer, says hackers could steal customer driver's license numbers from its site from Jan. 21 through March 1; bug now patched  —  Geico, the second-largest auto insurer in the U.S., has fixed a security bug that let fraudsters steal customers' driver's license numbers from its website.
Kat Tenbarge / Insider:
YouTube says it has temporarily demonetized James Charles' channel, which has 25.5M+ subscribers, after 15+ sexual misconduct accusations from men and boys  —  - James Charles' channel has been demonetized, YouTube confirmed.  — YouTube told Insider Charles had been “temporarily removed” from the Partner Program.
Cameron Faulkner / The Verge:
Fitbit unveils Luxe, a $150 fashion-focused fitness tracker coming this spring with a wide range of bands, up to 5 days of battery life, and an OLED touchscreen  —  It features up to five days of battery life per charge  —  Fitbit has announced its new Luxe fitness tracker that looks like a more fashion-focused take on the Inspire 2.
Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:
PayPal to launch a local wallet in China focused on cross-border payments; PayPal is the first foreign firm with 100% ownership of a payments platform in China  —  - PayPal plans to set up a local wallet in China focused on cross-border payments.  — In January, the U.S. fintech became …
More: PYMNTS.com
Rachel Levin / Outside Online:
As a disproportionate number of people who purchased homes in Tahoe in 2020 were tech employees from the Bay Area, locals worry about “Aspenification of Tahoe”  —  Rachel Levin is a San Francisco-based journalist who has written for The New York Times, The New Yorker …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Reddit shares a preview of Reddit Talk, a Clubhouse-like social audio feature for subreddits coming to iOS and Android; moderators can join a waitlist to try it  —  Sign up now to get on the waitlist  —  Reddit unveiled its take on a Clubhouse-like social audio product on Monday, called Reddit Talk.

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