Techmeme: Microsoft launches Microsoft Start, a personalized news product via MicrosoftStart.com, Windows integrations, new mobile apps, and its Edge browser new tab page (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)

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September 8, 2021, 12:35 AM

Top News

Juli Clover / MacRumors:

Apple announces a “California Streaming” virtual event on September 14 at 10am PT, where new iPhones and Apple Watches are expected — Apple today announced that it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, September 14 at 10:00 a.m. The event will take place at the Steve Jobs Theater …

Ian Carlos Campbell / The Verge:

Twitter says it is testing edge-to-edge pictures and videos in tweets on iOS to better support visual and text-based conversations — An Instagram-like focus on visuals — Twitter has announced that it's testing edge-to-edge media in tweets on iOS, creating a more full-screen …

More: MobileSyrup, Digital Trends, Input, iMore, Engadget, Social Media Today, PetaPixel, TechCrunch, and 9to5Mac

Tweets: @twittersupport, @twitterdesign, @alex193a, @brandonwoelfel, @kayvz, @lindsmccallum, @elanazak, @tomwarren, @gannonburgett, @yeseniaa, @_alastair, and @fergoe

Ian Carlos Campbell / The Verge:

Twitter has begun testing a “remove this follower” tool on the web which will allow users to remove followers without blocking them and without their knowledge — Remove a follower without unfollowing them — Twitter has begun testing the first of its proposed suite of new privacy tools …

More: Engadget, 9to5Mac, Social Media Today, and MSPoweruser

Tweets: @webster, @clarknova1, @rmac18, and @kantrowitz

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Microsoft launches Microsoft Start, a personalized news product via MicrosoftStart.com, Windows integrations, new mobile apps, and its Edge browser new tab page — Microsoft today is introducing its own personalized news reading experience called Microsoft Start, available as both a website and mobile app …

More: Windows Experience Blog, WinCentral, Neowin, Android Police, Android Central, PCMag, Thurrott, Reuters, BetaNews, PCWorld, Engadget, MSPoweruser, and Windows Central

Tweets: @carnage4life, @lanceulanoff, @ricmac, and @windows

See also Mediagazer

Jamie Feltham / UploadVR:

Ray-Ban and Facebook's VP of AR and VR Andrew Bosworth appear to be teasing smartglasses with a point-of-view recording feature that could be announced Thursday — It looks like we'll be getting the first details about Facebook's collaboration with Ray-Ban on a pair of smartglasses later this week.

More: Ray-Ban, The Verge, MobileSyrup, TechRadar, Social Media Today, Android Central, SlashGear, PCMag, Insider, MSPoweruser, Input, and UploadVR

Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg. Tweets: @boztank, @jiteshubrani, @iansherr, @uploadvr, @scobleizer, @diegobez, @davegershgorn, @mkarolian, @anshelsag, @michaelmiraflor, @zinfede, @kerrymflynn, @androidcentral, and @oscarfalmer

Saikat Chatterjee / Reuters:

Bitcoin fell 17%+ to ~$43K before rising to $47K as El Salvador adopts it as legal tender, where high demand led to the Chivo wallet being temporarily unplugged — The price of cryptocurrencies plunged and crypto trading was delayed on Tuesday, a day in which El Salvador ran into snags …

More: The Block, Reuters, Associated Press, CNBC, New York Times, MarketWatch, The Verge, New York Post, The Hill, La Prensa Latina Media, VICE, and Newsweek

Muyao Shen / CoinDesk:

President of El Salvador says the country bought 550+ bitcoins on Monday, as the law making bitcoin legal tender in El Salvador goes into effect

Source: @nayibbukele and @nayibbukele. More: Wall Street Journal, The Verge, CoinDesk, The Block, Benzinga, Bloomberg, Reuters, Forbes, NPR, Mashable, CNBC, New York Times, CNN, Financial Times, PYMNTS.com, Los Angeles Times, and CNET

Tweets: @nayibbukele, @nayibbukele, @binance, @nayibbukele, @davidgerard, @davidgerard, @steve_hanke, @emposts, @wallsteetbets, @michaeljordaan, @balajis, @lsdinmycoffee, @quicktake, @silvermanjacob, @steve_hanke, @ivanthek, @josephmdurso, @ftx_official, and @gladstein

Joanna Ossinger / Bloomberg:

Crypto exchange Bitso says it is the core service provider for El Salvador's Chivo wallet and will work with Silvergate Bank to facilitate USD transactions

More: Cointelegraph and CoinDesk

Tweets: @davidgerard and @bitso

Financial Times:

Crypto adoption is accelerating in the developing world, especially in regions with a history of financial instability, like sub-Saharan Africa and Asia Pacific

More: Bankless Times and KnowTechie

Tweets: @adam_tooze, @mukund, @adam_tooze, @malemayehou, @rhaplord, @documentingbtc, and @reziemba

Michael Wayland / CNBC:

Ford announces it has hired former Tesla and Apple executive Doug Field as its chief advanced technology and embedded systems officer — DETROIT - Ford Motor has hired former Tesla and Apple executive Doug Field to lead its emerging technology efforts, a key focus for the automaker under its new Ford+ turnaround plan.

Jordan Novet / CNBC:

Microsoft says it has acquired in-browser video editing software startup Clipchamp, which had 17M registered users across 390K+ companies as of July — - Microsoft is buying Clipchamp, whose video-editing app has over 17 million registered users. — The deal comes weeks after Adobe …

More: Microsoft 365 Blog, Engadget, Clipchamp, ZDNet, SiliconANGLE, GeekWire, BetaNews, Windows Central, B&TB&T, Startup Daily, and VentureBeat

Tweets: @microsoft365, @bdsams, and @clipchamp

ProPublica:

Investigation finds Facebook has 1K+ contractors moderating private WhatsApp messages and images that were reported by users — When Mark Zuckerburg unveiled a new “privacy-focused vision” for Facebook in March 2019, he cited the company's global messaging service, WhatsApp, as a model.

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Hulu is raising the prices of its two on-demand plans by $1/month October 8; Hulu with ads will now cost $6.99/month and Hulu without ads will cost $12.99 — On Tuesday, Hulu began notifying subscribers that as of Oct. 8, the price of Hulu's two on-demand plans — with ads and without commercials …

More: Deadline, TechCrunch, The Hollywood Reporter, USA Today, The Verge, iDownloadBlog.com, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, Android Central, 9to5Mac, CNBC, Gizmodo, TechHive, Insider, MacRumors, Pocket-lint, and AppleInsider

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From Mediagazer

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Bill Simmons says he has agreed to a new Spotify contract and will continue his show for at least two years; he'll also serve as Spotify's head of talk strategy

Max Tani / Semafor:

NPR says it will now let All Things Considered anchor Ari Shapiro attend a corporate Pride event, after a leaked email showed NPR dissuading him from doing so

Trishla Ostwal / Adweek:

TollBit launches Content Cache, a new tool for its publishing partners that redirects AI crawlers to a TollBit subdomain to license content via micropayments

More News

Nikkei Asia:

PayPal to acquire Japan-based Paidy, a buy now, pay later service, for $2.7B in cash; PayPal expects the deal to be completed by December

More: Reuters, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, and PR Newswire

Tweets: @jonrussell and @jcvpartners

Cristiano Lima / Washington Post:

Nearly eight months into his term, Biden has yet to pick new leaders at the FCC and NTIA, delaying action on key agenda items, like reinstating net neutrality

Tweets: @cendemtech, @viacristiano, @masspirates, @digiphile, @karlbode, and @robpegoraro

DW.COM:

Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office confirms it bought NSO's Pegasus spyware in 2019 and used it in operations on terrorism and organized crime since March

More: RT. Tweets: @akbarth3great, @lipstickkranti, @jsrailton, and @lipstickkranti

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

UK-based car insurance startup Marshmallow, which uses a wide array of algorithms to measure insurance risk, raises $85M Series B at a $1.25B valuation

More: CNBC

Catalin Cimpanu / The Record:

Microsoft warns of an actively abused zero-day that exploits a vulnerability in IE's browser engine to target Office applications; patch slated for next week

More: BleepingComputer, The Hacker News, ZDNet, SecurityWeek, The Register, and iTnews

Wallace Witkowski / MarketWatch:

UiPath reports Q2 revenue of $195.5M, up 40% YoY, ARR of $726.5M, up 60% YoY, and a loss of $100M; stock down 7%+ after hours

More: SiliconANGLE and ZDNet

Andrew Ross Sorkin / New York Times:

Research: only 49 out of ~4,700 board seats at 843 companies backed by top 18 US VC and PE firms that went public since 2000 have been held by Black directors

Tweets: @susanmcp1, @nytimes, @nytimesbusiness, @edmundlee, and @allraise

Karen Webster / PYMNTS.com:

Survey: 93.9% of US consumers with Apple Pay activated on their iPhones do not use it to buy items in stores, seven years after Apple launched the service

More: AppleInsider, Pixel Envy, Ubergizmo, iThinkDifferent, MacDailyNews, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, and iMore

Tweets: @samharrelson, @_alastair, @noyesclt, @bunrxm, @taylor_soper, @imore, @thurrott, and @pymnts

Earlier Picks

Chris Metinko / Crunchbase News:

A look at Microsoft's M12 venture arm: 107 investments in total, focused on financial returns rather than acquisitions, expansion into seed rounds, and more

More: Windows Central. Tweets: @crunchbasenews

Jack Nicas / New York Times:

A look at Freedom Phone, a $500 device aimed at right-wing users and created by a 22-year-old bitcoin millionaire, who admitted it was made by China's Umidigi

More: Insider and Slashdot

Tweets: @snazzyq, @snazzyq, @jim_edwards, @nytimes, @sub8u, @venkatananth, and @karlbode

Brianna Abbott / Wall Street Journal:

Researchers are developing “smart toilets” that can scan urine and feces samples for health data using cameras and machine learning, raising privacy concerns

Tweets: @pmadridshow, @intellihubnews, and @martinsfp

Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:

Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden reveals he left due to burnout, and says the industry has a sustainability problem due to rising game development costs

Tweets: @markkilborn and @jasonschreier

Jaewon Kang / Wall Street Journal:

Instacart CEO Fidji Simo details plans to expand its online ad platform, focusing on consumer products, as its delivery business slows

More: TechRadar. Tweets: @arjunram, @wsj, and @lookinggdlouis

Tage Kene-Okafor / TechCrunch:

US and Senegal-based Wave, which offers mobile money services, raises $200M Series A at a $1.7B valuation, led by Sequoia Heritage, a subsidiary of Sequoia

More: The Valley of Dunning-Kruger, FinLedger, Finextra, and PYMNTS.com

Tweets: @everettrandle and @africatechie

TechCrunch:

ProtonMail is under fire for disclosing a French activist's IP address to Swiss authorities; ProtonMail had claimed to only log IPs in “extreme criminal cases”

More: Ars Technica, ProtonMail Blog, VICE, Reclaim The Net, Michael Tsai, HackRead, Threatpost, iPhone in Canada Blog, and IT PRO

Tweets: @tenacioustek, @filosottile, @openterms, @muarf, @tc_johnson, @protonmail, @reybango, @adam_k_levin, @awinston, @kennwhite, and @evacide