Techmeme
May 13, 2021, 8:50 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Sources: Colonial paid ~$5M ransom in cryptocurrency within hours of the attack, but the hackers' decrypting tool was so slow that it had to use its own backups  —  - Payment came shortly after attack got underway last week  — FBI discourages organizations from paying ransom to hackers
Tom Schoenberg / Bloomberg:
Sources: Binance is under investigation by DOJ and IRS; officials involved include those who probe money laundering and tax offenses  —  - Justice Department, IRS seek information about crypto exchange  — The federal agencies haven't accused Binance of wrongdoing
Sean O'Kane / The Verge:
Elon Musk says Tesla no longer accepts bitcoin for vehicle purchases due to its environmental cost, will look at more environmentally friendly cryptocurrencies  —  Tesla has stopped accepting bitcoin as payment for its cars out of concern that it will contribute to greater consumption of fossil fuels …
Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:
The Block:
Vitalik Buterin sells large amounts of SHIB, AKITA, and ELON tokens, sent to him by coin creators, for ~$60M worth of ETH, and donates the proceeds to charities  —  Quick Take  — Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin has offloaded a range of dog-themed meme tokens.
Joey Roulette / The Verge:
SpaceX signs a satellite connectivity deal with Google Cloud, as part of which SpaceX will install Starlink terminals at Google's data centers around the world  —  Under a new agreement, SpaceX will plant Starlink terminals at Google Cloud's data centers  —  Google said on Thursday …
Yogita Khatri / The Block:
Tether, which claimed at launch that each tether was backed 1:1 with USD, releases a breakdown of its reserves, revealing that only 3.87% are in actual cash  —  Quick Take  — Stablecoin issuer Tether has revealed a breakdown of its reserves.  — As of March 31, 2021 …
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Google has been fined €100M+ by Italy's antitrust watchdog for abusing its dominant market position by restricting third party access to the Android Auto app  —  Google has been fined just over €100 million (~$123M) by Italy's antitrust watchdog for abuse of a dominant market position.
Richard Nieva / CNET:
YouTube has banned almost 40 QAnon channels that were evading YouTube's policies and escaping violations by self-deleting their own videos after a few days  —  YouTube banned almost 40 channels that used the tactic.  Disinformation experts say they haven't seen the ploy used before.
Strategy Analytics:
Global notebook PC shipments grew 81% YoY in Q1; both Apple, with 5.7M shipments, and Acer, with 4.9M shipments, grew 94% as HP grew 91% with 15.4M shipments  —  Gaming, Chromebooks, commercial and consumer demand stay hot as the return to work and school is slow and pointing to a hybrid approach long-term
Sebastian Herrera / Wall Street Journal:
Amazon says it is hiring 75,000 workers, representing 8% of its US workforce, and offering an average of $17/hour, above its typical $15/hour starting wage  —  The retail and tech giant said the new roles—representing nearly 8% of its U.S. workforce—are offering average pay of $17 an hour
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Airbnb reports Q1 revenue of $886.9M, up 5% YoY, gross booking value of $10.3B, up 52% YoY, but net loss tripled to $1.1B, largely due to debt repayments  —  - While Airbnb's revenue grew 5% in the first quarter, gross booking value rose some 52% as users opted for full homes and destinations outside cities.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Roku announces launch of its original programming, including the Quibi content it acquired, on the Roku Channel, starting May 20  —  Roku today announced the launch of its own original programming, which will initially become available to viewers in the U.S., U.K., and Canada through …
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Actor claiming to be voice behind TikTok's text-to-speech feature sues TikTok for “irreparable harm”; says recordings she made were never authorized for TikTok  —  The voice actor filed a lawsuit last week  —  TikTok is being sued by a voice actor who claims to be behind …
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More News

Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch:
Bloomberg:

Earlier Picks

Benjamin Wallace / New York Magazine:
Ina Fried / Axios:
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post: