Techmeme
June 3, 2021, 11:00 AM

Top News

Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
Twitter launches its subscription service Twitter Blue in Canada and Australia for CAD $3.49 and AU $4.49/month, with features like Undo Tweet, Bookmark Folders  —  - Twitter Blue is designed for power users who are willing to pay a monthly fee for exclusive features.
WABetaInfo:
Zuckerberg says WhatsApp is working on a Disappearing Mode for messages in all threads, View Once for photos and videos, and multi device support  —  Like Love Haha Wow Sad Angry  —  WhatsApp has unexpectedly reached out to me to confirm that some important features are coming on WhatsApp!
Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:
In an email, Tim Cook says Apple employees will be asked to return to offices on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, starting in early September  —  Employees can work remotely for up to two weeks a year  —  Apple employees are being asked to return to the office three days a week starting in early September.
Paul R. La Monica / CNN:
NortonLifeLock says it's adding an Ethereum mining function to Norton 360, its paid antivirus software, initially to a small group of customers  —  New York (CNN Business)Mining for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is typically done by companies that own massive server farms operating outside of the United States.
Patrick McGee / Financial Times:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft will detail its “next generation of Windows” at an event on June 24, with significant changes, including visual enhancements, expected  —  A special Windows event is coming later this month  —  Microsoft is planning to detail its “next generation of Windows” at an event later this month.
Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:
Twitter starts rolling out Birdwatch fact checking notes on iOS, Android, and desktop, visible only to participants in its pilot program  —  Twitter is looking to crowdsource its way out of misinformation woes with its new product Birdwatch which taps a network of engaged tweeters to add notes to misleading tweets.
Shirin Ghaffary / Vox:
Some current members of Google's ethical AI team say they have been in limbo for months and have serious doubts about whether Google can rebuild credibility  —  Six months after Timnit Gebru left, Google's ethical artificial intelligence team is still in a state of upheaval.
Coco Feng / South China Morning Post:
Chinese researchers unveil WuDao 2.0, an AI model they say was trained using 1.75T parameters, 10x more than GPT-3, to simulate conversational speech and more  —  The WuDao 2. natural language processing model had 1.75 trillion parameters, topping the 1.6 trillion that Google unveiled …
Yaron Steinbuch / New York Post:
In an email to Jewish employees, Google diversity strategy lead Kamau Bobb apologizes for a 2007 post in which he said Jews have “insatiable appetite for war”  —  Google's head of diversity strategy is under fire over a 2007 blog post in which he wrote that Jews have …
Michael McSweeney / The Block:
Google says it will allow ads for cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets in the US that meet certain requirements and are certified by Google starting August 3  —  Google is expanding the scope of its crypto-related advertisement policy, the latest development in a years-long back and forth from the tech giant.
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
FireEye says it is selling its products business to PE firm Symphony Technology Group for $1.2B in cash; deal splits FireEye from digital forensics arm Mandiant  —  Cybersecurity giant FireEye has agreed to sell its products business to a consortium led by private equity firm Symphony Technology Group for $1.2 billion.
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Realtime Robotics, which develops tech to let industrial robots autonomously move in dynamic, fast-moving environments, raises $31.4M Series A  —  Realtime Robotics, a company developing technology that enables robots to alter their motions in dynamic, fast-moving environments, has raised $31.4 million in a series A round of funding.
Adam Janofsky / The Record:
The FBI says ransomware group REvil is behind the ongoing attack targeting meatpacking company JBS  —  The US Federal Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday confirmed reports that the well-known cybercriminal group REvil (also known as Sodinokibi) is behind the ongoing ransomware attack targeting JBS …
Dan Taylor / Tech.eu:
UK-based Babylon Health to public through a SPAC merger at a valuation of $4.2B  —  Just when you thought the SPAC had been played out, London-based healthtech Babylon confirms the rumours and announces its plan to go public via a $4.2 billion merger with Alkuri Global Acquisition Corp, formerly known as Ark Global Acquisition Corp.
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
An Apple-commissioned study says the App Store ecosystem facilitated ~$643B in billings and sales globally in 2020, up 24% YoY  —  The App Store ecosystem facilitated an estimated $643 billion in billings and sales in 2020, an increase of 24 percent year-over-year, according …
Katie Roof / Bloomberg:
Alation, which offers data intelligence services including search, discovery, governance, and analytics, raises $110M at a $1.2B valuation  —  - Co. raised $110 million in new round led by Riverwood Capital  — Alation organizes data for clients including Cisco, DocuSign
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Facebook says it will open the Messenger API for Instagram to all businesses, after announcing a closed beta in October 2020  —  F8 Refresh, Facebook's annual developer conference with a new twist — it's more pared down than in years past, and virtual — is going to be kicking off later today …

Sponsor Posts

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:
CIO challenge 6: Can we find an effective solution that also minimizes operational costs?  —  Welcome to the next and final installment of our CIO series!  After what feels like a thousand cups of coffee …
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Fri. 11/15 - Crypto Ascendant
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 11:00 AM ET, June 3, 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

Li Yuan / New York Times:

Earlier Picks

Casey Newton / Platformer:
Ben Dummett / Wall Street Journal:
Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:
Kevin Breuninger / CNBC: