Techmeme
May 21, 2021, 1:55 AM

Top News

The Verge:
Twitter is rolling out its new verification program, with revamped categories that include activists and journalists, and previews upcoming changes to profiles  —  It also previewed potential changes coming to profiles  —  Twitter is relaunching its public verification program, allowing anyone to apply for a coveted blue check mark.
Thomas Franck / CNBC:
US Treasury announces it will require any cryptocurrency transfers worth $10,000+ to be reported to the IRS, saying cryptocurrencies pose a tax evasion risk  —  - The Treasury Department announced that it will require any transfer worth $10,000 or more to be reported to the IRS.
Alex Heath / The Verge:
Snap unveils its first AR glasses, with four built-in microphones, two stereo speakers, and a touchpad, and says it will test them with some AR effects creators  —  The fourth-gen glasses have built-in AR displays  —  Snap's new Spectacles glasses are its most ambitious yet.
Kerry Flynn / CNN:
Reuters:
Federal Reserve Chair Powell discusses the risks of cryptocurrencies and sets a timeline for a Fed discussion paper on a possible central bank digital currency  —  Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell flagged the risks of cryptocurrencies in an unusual video message on Thursday that also laid …
Jason Rosenthal / The Keyword:
Google is opening its first ever physical retail store in New York this summer, letting users buy Pixel phones, Nest products, Fitbit devices, more  —  Today, we're announcing our plans to open Google's first ever physical retail store, in one of the greatest cities in the world: New York.
Ian Sherr / CNET:
Bloomberg:
Sources: CNA Financial, one of the largest insurance companies in the US, paid $40M in late March to regain control of its network after a ransomware attack  —  CNA Financial Corp., among the largest insurance companies in the U.S., paid $40 million in late March to regain control of its network …
Jacob Krol / CNN:
Apple TV 4K (2021) review: faster than competition and the new Siri Remote is very good with a power button and easy-to-use click wheel, but very expensive  —  Like the refresh of the iPad Pros, the updates to the Apple TV 4K are all internal, namely new hardware that leads to an overall speedier experience.
Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:
Democratic Reps. Trahan and Castor introduce the Social Media DATA Act, which would force large platforms to share ad targeting data with researchers and FTC  —  Facebook's ad library allows researchers to see the content of ads that run on the platform and information on who those ads reach.
Maggie Fitzgerald / CNBC:
Robinhood announces IPO Access, which will let retail investors buy shares of companies at their IPO price before trading begins on public exchanges  —  - Robinhood said it is giving retail investors access to IPO shares.  — Retail traders typically don't have a vehicle to buy …
Thomas Claburn / The Register:
Volunteer staff of Freenode IRC, a key communication channel for FOSS developers, resign in protest over what they describe as a hostile takeover of the service  —  Crown Prince and network boss Andrew Lee disputes claims made by those leaving the internet chat community
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify partners with Audible rival Storytel, allowing the latter's subscribers to listen to books on Spotify; Storytel has 500K titles and 1.6M subscribers  —  Spotify is further expanding into audiobooks — but not in the way you may think.  The company today announced a new partnership …
Kaavya Chandrasekaran / The Economic Times:
Mumbai-based Eruditus Group, which makes top tier university courses accessible globally, acquires SV-based iD Tech, which offers online coding camps, for $200M  —  The acquisition will mark the Mumbai-based entity's expansion beyond higher education into the K-12 STEM space
Wall Street Journal:
Zhang Yiming follows other Chinese tech CEOs, including Ant's Simon Hu and Pinduoduo's Colin Huang, who quit recently amid increased scrutiny by China  —  Co-founder Liang Rubo to lead ByteDance, inheriting a company that is facing growing government pressure in China to stay in line

Sponsor Posts

Meta:
Open Source AI: Available to all, not just the few  —  Meta's open source AI enables small businesses, start-ups, students, researchers and more to download and build with our models at no cost.
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Zoho:
Dynamic prefilling via webhooks in Zoho Forms  —  Ever wish forms could fill themselves out for you?  You're signing up for an event at your office.  You open the form, expecting the usual hassle of filling in every detail.
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Ride Home:
(BNS) The Answering Machine - With Toni Trucks!
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:55 AM ET, May 21, 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

Katie Roof / Bloomberg:
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:

Earlier Picks

Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch: