Techmeme: Pandemic-induced rise in app ordering has given birth to the “appuccino”, a phenomenon driven by TikTok, where customized Starbucks drink suggestions go viral (Katie Notopoulos/BuzzFeed News)

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May 17, 2021, 3:10 AM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Microsoft's board decided in 2020 Gates should leave the board as it probed claims Gates sought to initiate an affair with a Microsoft engineer in 2000 — Company's board members began investigation in 2019 into woman's allegations of prior sexual relationship with Bill Gates …

More: The Economic Times, GeekWire, Washington Post, South China Morning Post, HowStuffWorks, NPR, Insider, CNN, Associated Press, CNET, New York Post, AppleInsider, and The Hill

Tweets: @dnvolz, @kimcrayton1, @emilyglazer, @jeffhauser, @yashar, @newley, @cindygallop, @kimmasters, and @jasonzweigwsj

New York Times:

Sources: long after his marriage, Bill Gates would pursue women at Microsoft, at times creating an uncomfortable workplace environment — Melinda French Gates voiced concerns about her husband's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and a harassment claim against his money manager.

More: The Verge, Insider, The Daily Beast, Associated Press, and New York Post

Tweets: @davidenrich, @wsj, @rabiasquared, @carolynryan, @gzuckerman, @razibkhan, @johncusack, @kofinas, @noahshachtman, @xeni, @yashar, @lindseyboylan, @rmac18, @flitteronfraud, @jenkirkman, @mattzeitlin, @kate_kelly_esq, @daryrezvani, and @phylogenomics

Biz Carson / Protocol:

Q&A with Rick Klau, an ex-Google product manager and California's new CTIO responsible for building apps and services for various departments across the state — When Rick Klau joined the California government, he expected a culture shock after 13 years at Google.

Tweets: @bizcarson, @protocol, @protocol, @rsquared, @rklau, and @bwjones

Jonathan Greig / ZDNet:

Survey: over 60% of 1,400 CISOs in 14 countries expect a damaging cyberattack in the next 12 months, due to massive shift to remote work since the pandemic — Proofpoint surveyed 1,400 CISOs across the globe about the current cybersecurity landscape. — More than 1,000 CISOs around …

More: Proofpoint, Washington Post, The Hill, The Hill, and Dark Reading

Joshua Swingle / PhoneArena:

Jon Prosser leaks what he claims are Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro renders, as well as a promo video and images of Android 12, ahead of Google I/O — Google is rumored to be revamping Wear OS this year and the update is said to be so substantial that even Samsung is on board with the plans.

More: Ars Technica, The Verge, t3.com, Android Police, Engadget, Android Police, Neowin, Android Central, Android Police, Phandroid, and phonearena.com

Tweets: @stevemoser, @yash_developer, @jon_prosser, @parkerortolani, and @suka_hiroaki

Katie Notopoulos / BuzzFeed News:

Pandemic-induced rise in app ordering has given birth to the “appuccino”, a phenomenon driven by TikTok, where customized Starbucks drink suggestions go viral — Stomachs churned and food service workers broke out in a cold sweat when a photo of a long, complicated custom Starbucks order went viral on Twitter.

More: The Verge. Tweets: @verge, @shortformernie, @liahaberman, @buzzfeednews, @katienotopoulos, @charlottealter, @hari, and @tomgara

Parmy Olson / Wall Street Journal:

Profile of Foxglove, a tech-activism group famous for pushing UK into reassessing its use of algorithms, that's challenging Facebook and Uber on worker rights — Foxglove successfully pushed back on government tech tools and now is looking into bigger corporate targets

Tweets: @catkins989, @foxglovelegal, @leonieclaude, @avilarenata, @seyiakiwowo, and @timcohn

Matthew Gault / VICE:

Study: being corrected by another user for posting false political news increases subsequent sharing of low quality, partisan, and toxic content — Twitter is a hellscape and it only gets worse when you point out some is sharing bad information. — Matthew Gault

Tweets: @iansherr, @katie_roof, and @adrienneroyer

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Clubhouse, which launched its Android app in beta in the US last week, to expand the app to Japan, Brazil, and Russia on Tuesday, and globally by Friday — Voice social network Clubhouse said on Sunday it will expand its Android app worldwide in a week, days after launching a beta version …

More: The Verge, TNW, SlashGear, Phandroid, Engadget, phonearena.com, BGR India, MUO, Android Police, Gizmodo, and Social Media Today

Tweets: @clubhouse, @techcrunch, and @verge

Zeke Faux / Bloomberg:

An examination of Chamath Palihapitiya-sponsored SPACs, including Clover Health, which have plunged 50% on average after the SPAC market hit its peak in mid-Feb — One morning last October, as wildfires raged across Northern California, President Donald Trump convalesced from Covid‑ …

Tweets: @followtheh, @pkedrosky, @eliotwb, @bw, @lopezlinette, @business, @bw, @venkatananth, @pitdesi, @wadhwa, and @hkanji

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Ride-hailing giant Grab and e-commerce marketplace Tokopedia say they have merged to form GoTo Group, the largest tech group in Indonesia — Ride-hailing giant Gojek and marketplace Tokopedia said on Monday they have combined their businesses to form GoTo Group, the largest technology group in Indonesia.

More: Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, and Tech in Asia

José Adorno / 9to5Mac:

Researcher: Twitter is working on Twitter Blue, a $2.99/month subscription offering with “Collections” to organize favorite tweets and an “undo tweet” function — Twitter has been working on its subscription service for a while now.

More: MacRumors, PhoneArena, CNET, Pocketnow, The Overspill, Digital Trends, Engadget, TechRadar, iPhone in Canada Blog, iThinkDifferent, Ubergizmo, Android Central, SiliconANGLE, Gizchina, BGR India, Neowin, Social Media Today, SlashGear, iPhone Hacks, phonearena.com, iMore, and MSPoweruser

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:10 AM ET, May 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.

From Mediagazer

Associated Press:

President Trump signed an EO on May 1 instructing CPB and other agencies to cut federal funding for NPR and PBS, alleging “bias” in the broadcasters' reporting

Washington Post:

After VOA director said staff can begin a “phased return”, an appeals court stays the preliminary injunction that allowed VOA and USAGM staffers to go back

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:

Hands-on with Meta's Movie Mate, a chatbot that provides users trivia and other content during a movie, rolled out for one night for Blumhouse's M3GAN rerelease

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More News

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Pine Labs, which makes POS software for payments terminals as well as invoicing tools, raises $285M at a $3B valuation, up from $2B in a round last December

More: The Economic Times, Entrackr, MediaNama, BW Disrupt, and Tech in Asia. Tweets: @ganraja

Politico:

US lawmakers say they are crafting bipartisan legislation to mandate cyberattack reporting by key infrastructure operators, following the Colonial pipeline hack

More: Slashdot

Ax Sharma / BleepingComputer:

Insurer AXA is suffering ransomware and DDoS attacks on its Asia-based branches, a week after saying it would no longer reimburse ransoms paid by French clients

More: HackRead, SiliconANGLE, and Financial Times

Matt Burgess / Wired UK:

A look at WhatsApp's approach to detecting child porn, as police worry that wider use of end-to-end encryption online will make it harder to catch predators

Tweets: @seansli, @mattburgess1, @joannashields, @wired, @gilanghamidy, @safepress, @imincorrigible, @theophite, @cyberpeacecorps, @johnc1912, @paulbernaluk, @bpreneel1, @carmelatroncoso, @malwarejake, @matthew_d_green, @matthew_d_green, @matthew_d_green, @matthew_d_green, and @matthew_d_green

Clive Thompson / New York Times:

A brief history of NFTs and cryptoart, including interviews with artists who kickstarted the NFT boom, as celebrities and major brands fuel the frenzy

More: Gizmodo. Tweets: @venkatananth, @coldie, @chriswallace, @pamthur, @wasthatawolf, @farahlearned, @etyoung, @thesarahshow, @emilynussbaum, @pomeranian99, and @tezos

Ryan Browne / CNBC:

A look at apps promising 10-minute grocery delivery in Europe, where VC-backed grocery delivery firms have raised $1.56B in 2021 so far, according to PitchBook

Tweets: @gavinsbaker, @hkanji, @geoffcutmore, and @ryan_browne_

Earlier Picks

Todd Spangler / Variety:

NBCU-owned Rotten Tomatoes launches a streaming channel, currently available on The Roku Channel and which will later expand to Peacock and Comcast's Xumo

Source: Rotten Tomatoes and PR Newswire. More: Bloomberg, Adweek, and Fast Company

Tweets: @eileentv, @scott_tobias, @loudmouthjulia, @tzm_tmt, and @markellislive

AJ Dome / Manhattan Mercury:

PE firm Insight Partners invests $290M for a majority stake in CivicPlus, which provides software and other technology to more than 4,000 municipal governments

More: PR Newswire, Wall Street Journal, and govtech.com

Coco Feng / South China Morning Post:

China ordered domestic app stores to remove 90 apps, including Maimai, a LinkedIn rival, following a new regulation on what types of user data apps can collect

More: Yicai Global, Global Times, and Caixin Global

Stephanie Chan / Sensor Tower Blog:

After WhatsApp's privacy policy changes, in the first four months of 2021, Telegram's installs rose 98% YoY and Signal's first-time downloads were up 1,192% YoY

More: Zee News, India Today, Enter21st, Daily Sabah, iPhone Hacks, Forbes, BGR, BGR, and Fast Company

Tweets: @whatsapp, @kavyapearlman, @gonsalves_r, @jess, @wabetainfo, @rmac18, @csuwildcat, @mattnavarra, @investmenttalkk, @kaepora, @brokep, @yestinj, and @sensortower

Adriana Hamacher / Decrypt:

Q&A with Dogecoin developer Ross Nicoll about its coming upgrade, and working with Elon Musk, who Nicoll says has been in touch with Doge developers since 2019

More: TechCrunch, Bloomberg, CryptoGlobe, Bitcoin News, Socialnomics, Wccftech, BGR, TechRadar, Finbold, and The Capital

@antoniogm:

[Thread] Antonio García Martínez says he did not “part ways” with Apple, was fired in a snap decision, and Apple's statement on his exit is defamatory and false

More: Los Angeles Times, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, Wall Street Journal, iThinkDifferent, MacDailyNews, iPhone in Canada Blog, Patently Apple, and Gizmodo

Tweets: @williampietri, @micsolana, @antoniogm, @benedictevans, @jason_pontin, @benedictevans, @jason_pontin, @cherthedev, @karaswisher, @ellenhuet, @edzitron, @alex, @antoniogm, @katrosenfield, @cathyyoung63, @ktmboyle, @gvwilson, @mattyglesias, @ktmboyle, @antoniogm, @docmjp, @roybahat, @pkafka, @antoniogm, @docmjp, @michael_a_thomp, @notbrodyjenner, @havocp, @erinbury, @famedcelebrity, @albertomiguelf5, @xamat, @jodiecongirl, @inattani, @wsj, @joshtpm, @mathewi, @rising_serpent, @hedgedirty, @pegobry, @nateliason, @antoniogm, @lexinterior, @antoniogm, @antoniogm, @nikitabier, @jhweissmann, @cherthedev, @antoniogm, @davidsacks, @nateliason, @bdowney, @moorehn, @jason, @nikitabier, @eric_seufert, @davidsacks, @mtaibbi, @antoniogm, @ricburton, @aghamilton29, @curiouswavefn, @spakhm, @pkafka, @pnjaban, @mtaibbi, @wolfejosh, @ggreenwald, @dwr, @epro, @eric_seufert, @edbott, @kfury, @markgurman, @patrickmoorhead, @razibkhan, @thatchrisryan, @lukejohnsonrcp, @joehewitt, @davidsacks, and @sarthakgh