Techmeme
May 17, 2021, 8:50 PM

Top News

New York Times:
Sources detail how Apple relented to escalating demands from China, making changes to governance of its Chinese users' data and agreeing to censor its platforms  —  Apple built the world's most valuable business on top of China.  Now it has to answer to the Chinese government.
Matt Levine / Bloomberg:
Elon Musk is either trading on his unique ability to move the price of Bitcoin and Dogecoin, or just trolling, and both scenarios are bizarre and incredible  —  Oh Elon  —  I am sorry to keep talking about it because it is so stupid, but there really is something unprecedented and amazing …
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
FTC says that US consumers have lost $2M+ in cryptocurrency to scammers impersonating Elon Musk over the past six months  —  And more than $80 million in total cryptocurrency scams  —  Consumers lost over $2 million in cryptocurrency to scammers impersonating Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk …
Brian Stelter / CNN:
AT&T to spin off WarnerMedia and combine it with Discovery in a $43B deal; the new company will be run by Discovery CEO David Zaslav  —  New York (CNN Business)The streaming TV race is about to get even more competitive.  —  On Monday morning AT&T (T) and Discovery, Inc. (DISCA) …
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple says the Bluetooth AAC codec used by AirPods Pro and AirPods Max does not support Apple Music's lossless streaming, nor does Lightning on AirPods Max  —  Apple today announced that starting in June, Apple Music songs will be available to stream in Lossless and Hi-Resolution Lossless formats …
Apple:
The Information:
Source: Amazon is in talks to acquire MGM, in what would be its biggest move to expand into entertainment  —  Amazon is in discussions to acquire MGM, said a person familiar with the situation, in what would be the ecommerce giant's biggest move yet to expand in entertainment.
Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:
Apple is working on wireless earbuds called Beats Studio Buds that will support noise cancellation, according to files in beta versions of iOS 14.6  —  With the release of iOS 14.6 RC today for developers, Apple is preparing to release Apple Music Lossless.
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Phil Schiller testifies that the App Store drove $400B in physical sales in 2019, which Apple did not take a cut of, and Apple spends ~$50M per year on WWDC  —  And it spends $50 million on WWDC  —  Apple is trying to convince a judge that it's not milking the App Store for all it's worth …
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
After Eufy device owners noticed they could access others' cameras and live feeds, Eufy says it was a bug and all users should log out and reset their cameras  —  As we reported earlier today, a huge Eufy privacy breach allowed users to view the live and recorded camera feeds of strangers.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft launches a personal version of Teams, after previewing it nearly a year ago, available for free  —  Microsoft Teams for personal use exits preview  —  Microsoft is launching the personal version of Microsoft Teams today.  After previewing the service nearly a year ago …
Kevin Randall / Washington Post:
As Parler returns to the App Store, its chief policy officer says posts labeled as “hate” by its AI, hidden on iOS, will be viewable on other devices and web  —  Shut down after the Jan. 6 riot, Parler is using a new artificial intelligence moderation system with more stringent standards …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Twitch says it is switching to localized subscription prices in some non-US markets, which will often be lower, starting with Turkey and Mexico on May 20  —  Localized pricing is meant to increase streamers' earnings, but they'll need more subscribers  —  Twitch is announcing a big change …
Kurt Schlosser / GeekWire:
Twilio announces it is acquiring business texting startup Zipwhip, which is based in Seattle and employs ~275 people, for $850M in a cash and stock deal  —  Twilio, a communications software company with Seattle roots, is acquiring Seattle-based business-texting startup Zipwhip …
More: SiliconANGLE and ZDNet
Kim Lyons / The Verge:
Facebook's VP of AR and VR Hugo Barra says he is leaving the company after a four year tenure and that he plans to “explore the healthcare technology space”  —  He's departing before the company launches the smart glasses he teased last fall  —  Facebook's vice president of AR …
More: Input, Variety, and equalocean.com
Facebook: Hugo BarraTweets: @id_aa_carmack, @armano, @hbarra, and @hbarra
Sarah Krouse / The Information:
Sources: Google's plans to match Apple's ATT changes have been delayed by internal concerns that such moves will diminish mobile ad revenues  —  Pressured by Apple's recent iPhone privacy initiative, Google is accelerating work to limit how app developers can track the 2.5 billion people who use phones powered by its Android software.
Gené Teare / Crunchbase News:
Analysis: 166 new unicorns have already been created in 2021, up from 163 in all of 2020; Tiger Global has invested in twice as many unicorns as Sequoia Capital  —  An unprecedented number of companies have joined Crunchbase's private company unicorn board already this year …

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