Techmeme
July 16, 2021, 4:30 AM

Top News

Dave Gershgorn / The Verge:
The maker of a new documentary about Anthony Bourdain says he used AI to re-create Bourdain's voice and synthesized the audio of three quotes from the TV host  —  ‘We can have a documentary-ethics panel about it later’  —  In a new documentary, Roadrunner, about the life and tragic death …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Intel is exploring a deal to buy GlobalFoundries, valuing the company at about $30B; GlobalFoundries itself says it isn't aware of any talks  —  GlobalFoundries, owned by an investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government, has been planning an IPO  —  Intel Corp. is exploring a deal …
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Dorsey says Square is creating a new business line with the aim of helping devs build decentralized financial services products, primarily focused on Bitcoin  —  Square Inc. is creating a new business line to help developers build financial services products focused on Bitcoin …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Valve announces Steam Deck, its long-rumored Switch-like handheld gaming device with a 7" touchscreen display, available in December from $399  —  It starts at $399  —  Valve just announced the Steam Deck, its long-rumored Switch-like handheld gaming device.  It will begin shipping in December.
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
White House says it is alerting Facebook about posts that spread COVID-19 misinfo; US surgeon general calls on social media companies to tackle health misinfo  —  As the rate of Covid-19 vaccination slows and cases rise again, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called on tech platforms …
Canalys:
Global smartphone shipments grew 12% YoY in Q2, with Xiaomi up 83% to take a 17% share and pushing past Apple to reach the second place for the first time ever  —  In Q2 2021, global smartphone shipments increased 12%, as vaccines rolled out around the world, and the new normal for economies and citizens started to take shape.
David Priest / CNET:
Facebook Messenger adds Soundmojis, which add audible expressions to emoji, accessible through a loudspeaker icon  —  Messenger chats are about to get louder. … Facebook on Thursday launched “Soundmojis” for its Messenger app.  The new feature adds the audible expressions to emoji …
Karissa Bell / Engadget:
Facebook says it is running a test to assess the impact of letting users know when their post was removed as a result of automation  —  Facebook is testing a change that will let users know when their post was removed as a result of automation.  The new experiment comes in response to the Oversight Board …
Jennifer Broxmeyer / About Facebook:
Kellen Browning / New York Times:
Some tech workers who quit the Bay Area during the pandemic are trickling back, as Twitter reopens its SF HQ and, along with Google, plans to expand in the area  —  Critics said the pandemic would make the industry flee San Francisco and its southern neighbor, Silicon Valley.
Frank Bajak / Associated Press:
US announces anti-ransomware measures, including rewards of up to $10M for information about foreign state-sanctioned hackers targeting critical infrastructure  —  BOSTON (AP) — The State Department will offer rewards up to $10 million for information leading to the identification …
Hannah Murphy / Financial Times:
Facebook says it stopped a campaign by Iranian hackers, targeting about 200 defense and aerospace personnel, primarily from the US, using fake online personas  —  Social media group says fake online personas were created to trick victims into clicking malicious links
Stephanie Condon / ZDNet:
AWS announces general availability of Amazon HealthLake, a HIPAA-eligible service that allows health organizations to store and work with health data in cloud  —  The service is part of the cloud giant's AWS for Health initiative, which provides specialized cloud services for healthcare, biopharma and genomics customers.
More: Business Wire and CRN
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE:
Microsoft and Citizen Lab say government hackers from several countries have used spyware from Israeli vendor Candiru that uses two 0-day exploits in Windows  —  Microsoft and Citizen Lab found a new kind of spyware made by the mysterious Israeli vendor Candiru, and targeting someone in Europe based on their political beliefs.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Scribd is in talks to go public as soon as this year, via an IPO in Q4 or through a merger with a SPAC, and could be valued at about $1B  —  Scribd Inc., an online platform for e-books, podcasts and audio books, is in discussions to go public as soon as this year, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
More: SiliconANGLETweets: @katie_roof

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Earlier Picks

Antonio Regalado / MIT Technology Review:
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Bloomberg: