Techmeme
August 2, 2021, 8:00 PM

Top News

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google unveils Pixel 6, with 6.4" 90Hz display, and Pixel 6 Pro, with 6.7" 120Hz display and 4x optical zoom, with a Google-designed Tensor SoC, coming in fall  —  Google's new Tensor SoC is the heart of its next phone  —  Google is announcing the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro today …
Sam Rutherford / Gizmodo:
Google's Rick Osterloh demos Pixel 6's Tensor SoC, which enables real-time object detection and HDR in videos as well as real-time translation and live captions  —  We sat down with Google's phone chief, Rick Osterloh, to see what the Pixel 6 has in store.  —  Alerts
Jon Porter / The Verge:
YouTube trials a Premium Lite tier for €6.99/month in Europe, giving viewers ad-free viewing on the web, iOS, Android, smart TVs, and game consoles  —  Currently being piloted in parts of Europe  —  Google is piloting a more affordable premium subscription tier for YouTube …
Kim Willsher / The Guardian:
The French government found proof of Pegasus malware on three French journalists' phones and has referred its findings to the Paris public prosecutor's office  —  Announcement is first time an independent and official authority has corroborated Pegasus project findings
Olivia Solon / NBC News:
Female journalists and activists share how they were targeted and harassed by authoritarian regimes through hack-and-leak attacks using Pegasus spyware  —  Ghada Oueiss, a Lebanese broadcast journalist at Al-Jazeera, was eating dinner at home with her husband last June when she received …
Politico:
Pro-Trump social network GETTR is awash with Islamic State propaganda, including graphic videos of beheadings and memes of a militant executing Trump  —  GETTR, the new platform started by members of the former president's inner circle, is awash with beheading videos and extremist content.
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft's desktop-as-a-service Windows 365 Cloud PC is generally available and costs between $20 to $162 per user per month, based on cores, RAM, and storage  —  Microsoft's Windows 365 Cloud PC service is now generally available, and pricing is public.  The service will cost users anywhere between $20 …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter partners with Reuters and the AP, who will provide context and highlight links from trusted sources for Trends, Moments, Search, and more  —  Twitter announced today it's partnering with news organizations The Associated Press (AP) and Reuters to expand its efforts focused …
Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:
A look at Fuck You Pay Me, a Glassdoor-like service where creators can review brands they have worked with and share ad rates  —  Fed up with the imbalance between online influencers and brands, Lindsey Lee Lugrin and Isha Mehra created a platform to change that.
Bloomberg:
An in-depth look at the political motivations behind China's tech crackdown, as Xi pursues progressive authoritarianism at the expense of international capital  —  Xi Jinping smiled and hinted at a policy bombshell that would soon roil stock markets from Shanghai to New York.
Aoife White / Bloomberg:
Following the UK's CMA, European Commission is launching an investigation into Facebook's acquisition of Kustomer with a deadline of December 22 for a ruling  —  - EU sets Dec. 22 deadline to examine customer-service software  — EU will also examine Facebook's ad-targeting “data advantage”
Sifted:
Current and former employees at German grocery delivery startup Gorillas describe arbitrary firings and exploitation of riders and warehouse workers  —  “It's like the new WeWork story,” says Ben*, who joined Gorillas' operations team last summer in Berlin.  —  The comparison to coworking company WeWork is a brutal one.
Greg Ahlstrand / CoinDesk:
Square reports Q2 revenue of $4.68B, up 143% YoY; Cash App's bitcoin yearly revenue was $2.72B, up 200%, as Square's bitcoin holdings had a $45M impairment loss  —  Cash App's bitcoin gross profit rose to $55 million, Square said in its Q2 letter to shareholders.
Catalin Cimpanu / The Record:
Researchers say a collection of nine vulnerabilities impact pneumatic tube systems installed in ~80% of all major US hospitals  —  Details have been published today about a collection of nine vulnerabilities known as PwnedPiper that impact a common type of medical equipment that's installed …
New Statesman:
Investigation: in the last five years, six EU academic institutes received tens of millions of pounds in funding from Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft  —  The search giant has provided tens of millions of pounds of funding to academics investigating issues closely related to its business model.
Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
Facebook to require all US on-campus staff to wear masks starting on Aug. 4, regardless of vaccination status, citing rising COVID cases and local regulations  —  - Facebook will begin requiring all of its employees to wear masks when on its campuses in the U.S., regardless of an employee's vaccination status.
Dr. Ian Cutress / AnandTech:
A now-deleted tweet by an Intel executive suggests Thunderbolt 5 could double the bandwidth of existing Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4 connections to 80 Gbps  —  An executive visiting various research divisions across the globe isn't necessarily new, but with a focus on social media driving named individuals …
Carly Page / TechCrunch:
Finite State, a supply chain security startup that helps uncover security flaws in device firmware, lands $30M Series B led by Energize Ventures  —  Columbus, Ohio-based Finite State, a startup that provides supply chain security for connected devices and critical infrastructure, has raised $30M in Series B funding.
More: FinSMEs
Heather Somerville / Wall Street Journal:
Non-VC funds invested in a record 42% of tech startup funding deals in Q2 2021; H1 '21 US startup funding was $150B, with FY 2021 on pace to double 2020's total  —  Hedge, mutual and pension funds are investing heavily, leading to higher valuations and more leverage for company founders

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:
How you can grow your business with Zoho One  —  Zoho One is a comprehensive business suite, giving businesses the scalability, stability, security, and features they need for smooth operations.
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:
Thu. 11/14 - The FBI (!) Investigating Polymarket
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 8:00 PM ET, August 2, 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

Leah Nylen / Politico:
Stephen Jewkes / Reuters:
More: CNN, ZDNet, Gizmodo, and ANSA.it

Earlier Picks

Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Emmanuel Akinwotu / The Guardian:
Zheping Huang / Bloomberg:
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters: