Techmeme
September 30, 2021, 10:10 AM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
WSJ publishes six internal Facebook documents it used for its report about Instagram's negative impact on teen girls, after Facebook published two of the docs  —  The Senate holds a hearing Thursday about the social network's impact, prompted by The Wall Street Journal's coverage
The Verge:
Facebook shares two annotated internal research docs about Instagram's impact on teen mental health, after being notified of WSJ's plans to publish the docs  —  The company shared the PDFs Wednesday night  —  Facebook has shared the internal research about the impact of Instagram …
Reuters:
BBC:
Researchers: a flaw in Apple Pay lets attackers make a Visa payment with a locked iPhone in Express Transit mode; Apple calls it “a concern with a Visa system”  —  Large unauthorised contactless payments can be made on locked iPhones by exploiting how an Apple Pay feature designed …
Bloomberg:
Employees at 11 video game companies say their teams have a 4K Switch developer kit, but sources say a 4K Nintendo console won't go on sale until late 2022  —  At least 11 companies, including Zynga, have tools from Nintendo to make 4K Switch games.  —  Many people were surprised to learn …
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Visually impaired users say that iOS 15 appears to have removed call, email, and voicemail Siri features they relied on  —  With the recent release of iOS 15, Apple appears to have made some changes to Siri functionality that have removed features relied on by low vision and blind iPhone users.
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Chinese AR company Nreal unveils Nreal Air, consumer glasses with micro OLED displays and iOS compatibility, shipping in Dec. in Japan, China, and South Korea  —  They'll ship later this year in Asia  —  Augmented reality company Nreal is launching a cheaper, iOS-compatible, more compact version of its smart glasses.
Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:
Google Maps adds a wildfire info layer, rolling out to Android this week and iOS and desktop in October, expands its Tree Canopy tool to 100 cities worldwide  —  “Fire” will be a top-level layer just like traffic, satellite, and transit maps.  —  Google Maps is getting a few new features …
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple has quietly begun allowing users to rate and review its built-in iPhone and iPad apps in the App Store with iOS 15  —  For the longest time, the App Store did not allow users to rate or review Apple's built-in iPhone and iPad apps, like Mail, Music, News, Stocks and Calculator.
Ana Diaz / Polygon:
Twitch rolls out the option for streamers to require phone and email-verified accounts in chat, as part of the company's effort to reduce targeted harassment  —  Curbing harassment continues to be a “top priority” for Twitch  —  After an upswell in targeted harassment on the streaming platform Twitch …
Cheyenne Ligon / CoinDesk:
Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith pleads guilty to violating US sanctions law following a crypto and blockchain presentation at a 2019 North Korean conference  —  Griffith was charged with violating sanctions law by giving a cryptocurrency and blockchain presentation at a North Korean conference in 2019.
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Facebook announces updates to Messenger, including group chats between Instagram and Messenger contacts  —  Facebook Messenger is releasing a bundle of products this morning — most notably, including cross-app group chats.  Last year, the company introduced cross-app messaging between Messenger …
Sam Bourgi / Cointelegraph:
Chainalysis: crypto transaction volume for Central, Northern, and Western Europe reached $1T+ from July 2020-June 2021, comprising 25% of global crypto activity  —  DeFi has become a major catalyst for Europe's crypto economy.  Large institutions have also upped their share of transactions significantly.
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Indian social commerce startup Meesho raises $570M Series F co-led by Fidelity and B Capital Group, more than doubling its valuation in under 6 months to $4.9B  —  Meesho has more than doubled its valuation in less than six months, to $4.9 billion, as a growing number of high-profile investors …
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Modular phone maker Fairphone, which uses ethically sourced materials, announces Fairphone 4 with a 6.3-inch display, 5G, and up to 256GB, starting at €579  —  The Fairphone 4's software support should stretch until 2025  —  Fairphone, the manufacturer focused on making easy …
Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge:
Google announces online shopping tools, including a Lens upgrade coming first to iOS and Chrome desktop that helps users find products seen in images and videos  —  New search tools designed for shopping from home  —  Shopping online isn't always a convenience.
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
London-based Reachdesk, which offers tools for sending and managing B2B gifts, raises $45M Series B led by Highland Europe  —  Gifting has become a major lever in the world of building business relationships in the last 20 months.  With in-person meetings reduced to a trickle …
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Spotify says podcast creators using its Anchor service can add interactive polls and Q&As to their programs  —  But you have to be on Anchor  —  Spotify is making podcasts on its platform more interactive.  The company announced today that podcasters who create their shows in Anchor …
More: TechCrunch and Engadget
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Alloy, which offers an identity verification service for the financial services industry, raises $100M Series C at a $1.35B valuation led by Lightspeed  —  Alloy, which has built an identity operating system for banks and fintechs, announced Thursday that it has raised $100 million at a $1.35 billion valuation.

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