Techmeme
September 9, 2021, 7:20 PM

Top News

Alex Heath / The Verge:
Facebook launches $299 Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses in six countries including the US; users can capture photo and video, listen to music, or take phone calls  —  Hands-on with Facebook and Ray-Ban's first pair of smart glasses  —  Starting Thursday, the first pair of smart glasses …
Source: Facebook TechnologyMore: BuzzFeed News, Wired, The Verge, Axios, App Store, TechCrunch, About Facebook, Ray-Ban, Big Technology, CNN, Insider, TechCrunch, Mashable, International Business Times, Gizmodo, iTnews, CNET, Barron's Online, VICE, Washington Post, San Francisco Business Journal, iThinkDifferent, ZDNet, XDA Developers, Pixel Envy, EssilorLuxottica, Associated Press, CNBC, Cult of Mac, Engadget, TNW, YouTube, USA Today, TechCrunch, MacRumors, inews.co.uk, Social Media Today, Android Central, Pocketables, LarrysWorld.com, Sydney Morning Herald, Liliputing, BBC, 9to5Mac, Engadget, British GQ, UploadVR, Vogue Business, Road to VR, Pocket-lint, Silicon Republic, Livemint, TalkAndroid.com, BGR India, MobileSyrup, iDownloadBlog.com, TechRadar, news.com.au, The Information, and PetaPixel
Harry McCracken / Fast Company:
Interview with Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook's plans for smart eyewear, potential privacy issues, lack of AR features, the inadequacies of smartphones, and more  —  Mark Zuckerberg has big plans for smart eyewear.  Facebook's first stab at the idea is not a huge deal—but it avoids privacy pitfalls that could come later.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft indefinitely postpones the return to its offices in the US, saying it has “decided against attempting to forecast a new date for a full reopening”  —  The pandemic keeps pushing back Microsoft's plans  —  Microsoft is shelving its plans to fully reopen its US offices next month.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Amazon launches the Fire TV Omni Series, its first smart TVs, starting at $410 and shipping in October  —  Amazon is officially in the TV set business.  —  After years of selling Fire TV devices that plug into third-party HDTVs and teaming with TV makers for Fire TV-based products …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple has appointed longtime Apple Watch and Health software chief Kevin Lynch as the new head of its Apple Car project after Doug Field's departure  —  - Kevin Lynch replaces Doug Field as head of Apple's car efforts  — Field left Apple's project after three years to work at Ford
Reed Albergotti / Washington Post:
Security researchers say Apple's bug bounty program is undermined by Apple's insular culture, confusion about payments, and long delays in fixing bugs  —  Lack of communication, confusion about payments and long delays have security researchers fed up with Apple's bug bounty program
Frank Chaparro / The Block:
Wall Street Journal:
JPMorgan Chase acquires The Infatuation, a restaurant discovery service that bought Zagat from Google in 2018  —  Deal is the bank's latest effort to cater to big spenders who like to travel and dine out  —  America's biggest bank is buying the company behind the Zagat brand.
Jack Nicas / New York Times:
Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro temporarily bans social media companies from removing accounts and content that violate their rules, ahead of a presidential election  —  The new rules in Brazil appear to be the first national policy that restricts how tech companies can control their sites, analysts say.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon says it will offer to cover 100% of college tuition for its 750,000 hourly employees in the US after 90 days of employment, starting in January 2022  —  - Amazon is offering to pay the full cost of college tuition, including books and fees, for its 750,000 hourly U.S. employees.
Stephen Graves / Decrypt:
Mastercard acquires CipherTrace, which offers a crypto-focused analytics service that specializes in anti-money laundering and forensics  —  Mastercard has announced that it has acquired cryptocurrency tracking firm CipherTrace with a view to providing “additional transparency and support” for the emerging ecosystem of digital assets.
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Jio and Google delay the JioPhone Next, which was planned to launch on Friday, blaming chip shortages and says the launch is now scheduled for early November  —  The JioPhone Next, the much-awaited smartphone designed by Google and India's Jio Platforms to tap hundreds of millions of users …
More: Livemint
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Affirm beats in Q4 with $261.8M, up 71% YoY, vs. estimates of $225M, with 7.1M active customers, up from 5.4M in the previous quarter; stock up more than 20%  —  - Affirm reported better-than-expected revenue for the fourth quarter after the bell on Thursday and gave strong guidance for the current quarter.
Edward Ongweso Jr / VICE:
Report: since 2004, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Facebook and Twitter have earned $43.8B in contracts with the Pentagon, mostly in relation to the War on Terror  —  A team of researchers have published a new report detailing how Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Twitter have profited from the global campaign of violence.

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