Techmeme
August 31, 2021, 9:35 AM

Top News

Jiyoung Sohn / Wall Street Journal:
South Korea's National Assembly passes a bill that forces Apple and Google to allow alternative payment systems in their app stores  —  Seoul requires the companies to allow competing payment systems, threatening their 30% cut of most in-app digital sales  —  SEOUL—Google and Apple Inc …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Source: Apple's planned satellite capabilities for the iPhone are focused on emergencies, enabling texts and crisis reports in areas without cellular coverage  —  - Apple plans an emergency-reporting tool for future iPhones  —  Apple Inc.'s push to bring satellite capabilities to the iPhone …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says Windows 11 will not support Android apps at launch on October 5; support for Android apps will likely arrive in 2022  —  Microsoft will start testing Android apps on Windows 11 in the coming months  —  Microsoft won't ship support for Android apps on Windows 11 in time for the operating system's launch on October 5th.
Micah Singleton / Billboard:
Apple acquires classical music streaming service Primephonic, giving users six free months of Apple Music, and will launch its own classical music app in 2022  —  Apple has acquired Primephonic, the classical music streaming service, for an undisclosed amount, the company tells Billboard.
Dave Nyczepir / FedScoop:
White House announces the US Digital Corps, a two-year fellowship aiming to recruit early-career software engineers and other technologists to federal agencies  —  The White House launched a two-year fellowship Monday designed to place early-career software engineers, data scientists and other technologists at federal agencies.
Danny Nelson / CoinDesk:
The Central Bank of Nigeria says it will work with blockchain and payments startup Bitt Inc. to launch Nigeria's eNaira digital currency later this year  —  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said Monday it will work with Bitt Inc., a blockchain and payments startup, to launch …
MIT Technology Review:
Sources and experts say US-funded Afghan government databases containing sensitive personal data could be used by the Taliban to identify millions of Afghans  —  By capturing 40 pieces of data per person—from iris scans and family links to their favorite fruit—a system meant to cut fraud …
Zheping Huang / Bloomberg:
State media says China is restricting online gaming for minors to three hours most weeks of the year, from 8pm to 9pm on Fridays, weekends, and public holidays  —  - The country is imposing its strictest limits yet on play time  — Beijing is waging a campaign to groom productive youths
Joanna Stern / Wall Street Journal:
Getting a water-damaged MacBook Pro fixed shows how independent repair shops can make repairs more affordable to consumers if Apple allows them access to parts  —  New legislation aims to provide more options for fixing our broken gadgets.  A journey to fix two MacBooks illustrates …
Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:
Some Apple employees say their privacy is not well protected by Apple, as they decry norms and rules that encourage personal iCloud accounts be used at work  —  Jacob Preston was sitting down with his manager during his first week at Apple when he was told, with little fanfare …
IDC:
Global smartphone shipments are expected to grow by 7.4% in 2021, reaching 1.37B units, with iPhone shipments growing 13.8% and Android shipments growing 6.2%  —  While the supply chain situation hasn't drastically improved, the smartphone market has shown positive results in recent quarters.
Sebastian Sinclair / CoinDesk:
Singapore-based digital asset exchange Zipmex raises $41M Series B with participation from Krungsri Finnovate, the VC arm of one of Thailand's largest banks  —  Singapore-headquartered digital asset exchange Zipmex has completed its $41 million Series B funding round with participation coming from one of Thailand's largest banks.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Manchester-based Peak AI, which helps non-tech companies build AI apps, raises $75M Series C led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, bringing total funding to $118M  —  As artificial intelligence continues to weave its way into more enterprise applications, a startup that has built a platform to help businesses …
Ryan Vlastelica / Bloomberg:
As ad revenue surges, Alphabet shares are up 65% over 2021, and up more than 7% in August to reach a record high of $2,891.81, the longest rally since 2009  —  - Shares are poised for their eighth straight month of gains  — Yearly rise nearly twice as much as Facebook, Microsoft
Suvashree Ghosh / Bloomberg:
Facebook, Google, and Xiaomi are eyeing India's digital loan market, which Boston Consulting Group estimates to triple to $350B by 2023 and reach $1T by 2025  —  India's digital loan market is becoming a battleground for companies from Facebook Inc. to Xiaomi Corp., seeking a foothold in what's set to be a $1 trillion industry.

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.
Zoho:
Celebrate and collaborate this holiday season with Zoho Cliq  —  The holiday season is a time for celebration, relaxation, and reflection.  While some people are busy wrapping presents for their loved ones …
Genesys:
Executive Insights: The Era of Contact Center AI Copilots  —  How AI copilots are transforming customer experience and agent performance.
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.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Mon. 12/23 - The Revenge Of Google Glass?
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 9:35 AM ET, August 31, 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

Toby Sterling / Reuters:

Earlier Picks

Daniel Howley / Yahoo Finance:
Andrew Ackerman / Wall Street Journal:
Kate Rooney / CNBC: