Techmeme
June 23, 2021, 9:25 PM

Top News

Reuters:
John McAfee has died in a Spanish jail cell by suicide according to his lawyer, hours after news that he would be extradited to face federal charges in the US  —  Antivirus creator John McAfee, 75, was found dead in his prison cell in Barcelona after the Spanish high court had authorised …
Tim Higgins / Wall Street Journal:
In a new report, Apple says letting iOS users sideload apps would undermine privacy protections, complicate parental controls, and potentially expose user data  —  Company says allowing users to download software onto their iPhones without using the App Store jeopardizes protections
Bloomberg:
Two South African brothers who founded crypto investment firm Africrypt vanished with ~69,000 bitcoins, worth $3.6B+, after informing clients of an alleged hack  —  - Lawyers hired by investors piece together funds' disappearance  — Africrypt loss would rank among biggest-ever crypto heists
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Instagram says it will test mixing suggested posts throughout primary feeds, even above posts from people users follow, and adds new controls  —  A priority on algorithm-chosen content  —  Instagram says reception to its “suggested posts” feature has been so positive that it's launching a new test …
Lillian Rizzo / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Peacock had fewer than 10M paid subs as of May; Comcast is considering a deal with ViacomCBS or acquiring Roku as it seeks to become a streaming giant  —  CEO Brian Roberts is out to prove that having content and distribution under one roof can make his cable colossus a winner
Anna Kramer / Protocol:
Profile of Twitter's Machine Learning, Ethics, Transparency, and Accountability team, as Responsible ML becomes one of the company's top priorities in 2021  —  Machine learning engineer Ari Font was worried about the future of Twitter's algorithms.  It was mid-2020, and the leader …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
What to expect from Microsoft's “next generation” Windows event on Thursday: new Windows 11 UI, updated Windows Store, and a focus on productivity and gaming  —  Microsoft's “next generation” of Windows event is taking place later this week, on June 24th at 11AM ET.
Nathaniel Meyersohn / CNN:
Adobe: total US e-commerce sales during Prime Day exceeded $11B; Amazon says Prime Day was the biggest two-day sales period for 3rd party sellers in its history  —  New York (CNN Business)Shoppers aren't showing any signs of getting tired of Amazon Prime Day, even though some sellers …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Snackpass raises $70M Series B led by Craft Ventures at a $400M+ valuation as its social food ordering service surpasses 500k users across 13 college towns  —  While every food delivery company is trying to get an edge on its rivals with discount codes, faster service, and a turn into the realm …
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
International coalition of consumer groups, digital and civil rights organizations, and data protection experts call for ban on “surveillance-based advertising”  —  An international coalition of consumer protection, digital and civil rights organizations and data protection experts …
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Alex Hern / The Guardian:
Tim Berners-Lee defends his decision to auction an NFT representing the web's source code, comparing it to the sale of an autographed book or a speaking tour  —  Creator of the world wide web says digital asset is ‘totally aligned with the values of the web’
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Morning Consult poll of 2,000 US voters: 53% at least somewhat support Congress' Big Tech antitrust bills; 44% rank tech regulation as their lowest priority  —  - A new poll commissioned by tech industry-funded group shows 53% of voters favor at least some tech regulation.
Politico:
Tracy Qu / South China Morning Post:
Kuaishou now has 1B monthly active users globally, including users of its Kwai and Snack Video apps, joining rivals ByteDance and Tencent  —  China's No 2 short video-sharing app operator joins rival ByteDance and Tencent as internet platforms with 1 billion monthly active users Kuaishou's tally covers …
More: TechCrunch
Aaron Schaffer / Washington Post:
Breakdown of officials in Biden's administration who have worked at tech giants: Facebook leads with 11 officials, followed by Alphabet at 10 and Microsoft at 8  —  Technology and cybersecurity policy researcher  —  Dozens of top Biden administration officials have professional ties …
David McLaughlin / Bloomberg:
Antitrust experts say the biggest obstacle to Lina Khan's agenda will be a conservative judiciary, which has made it difficult for regulators to win big cases  —  The fiercest foes of America's technology giants cheered when Lina Khan, a professor at Columbia Law School …
Duncan Riley / SiliconANGLE:
Anjuna Security, whose Confidential Cloud isolates and encrypts workloads and data to protect against bad actors, raises $30M Series B led by Insight Partners  —  Enterprise enclaves startup Anjuna Security Inc. announced today it has raised $30 million to bring its Confidential Cloud Software Platform …
More: FinSMEs
Margherita Beale / Forbes:
Habi, a Colombia-based residential real estate marketplace with automated pricing tech, raises $100M Series B led by SoftBank Latin America Fund  —  Habi, a real estate startup digitizing home buying and selling for Colombia's middle class, announced Wednesday that it has raised $100 million …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro (experimental) is now available, with thinking capabilities, enhanced performance, and improved accuracy.  Try it at no cost in the Gemini app.
UiPath:
Introducing the UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation  —  UiPath's new platform empowers enterprises to experience the full power of AI to transform industries
Zoho:
App Spotlight: Savoir for Zoho Books  —  App Spotlight brings you hand-picked solutions that enhance your Zoho apps and tools.  Visit Zoho Marketplace to explore all of our apps, integrations …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Lenny's Podcast:
How Palantir built the ultimate founder factory | Nabeel S. Qureshi (founder, writer, ex-Palantir)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Apple's Coming For The Meta Ray-Bans
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Hard Fork:
Bad Apple + The Rise of the AI Empire + Italian Brain Rot
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
The Logan Bartlett Show:
Yotam Segev (CEO, Cyera) on Growing One of the Fastest Security Startups on the Planet
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
Subscribe to The Logan Bartlett Show.
Great Chat:
Great managers, and what makes them great
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
Reuters is ready to stand up for the press -- and embrace AI
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:25 PM ET, June 23, 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

Earlier Picks

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Cam Wilson / Crikey:
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch: