Techmeme
September 30, 2021, 9:48 PM

Top News

Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Senators grilled Facebook exec Antigone Davis at a hearing about Instagram's impact on teens and were frustrated by her reticence to answer questions directly  —  Last night, Facebook published two annotated slide decks in an attempt to contextualize the documents that the Wall Street Journal published …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Facebook Files don't show that the company's execs are evil or incompetent, but highlight their hubris in believing they can still get things back under control  —  Over the last few weeks, the WSJ has run a series of posts generally called “The Facebook Files,” which have exposed a variety …
Wall Street Journal:
The Verge:
Aislinn Keely / The Block:
TikTok launches Top Moments, an NFT collection featuring six “culturally significant TikTok videos” from creators including Lil Nas X  —  TikTok is launching a non-fungible token (NFT) collection that will see its top content creators partner with top NFT creators.
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 …
William Gallagher / AppleInsider:
USB Implementers Forum issues new USB-C certified logos that show if a cable or port supports 60W or 240W, hoping to solve customer confusion  —  The group responsible for the USB-C protocol has issued new certified logos that show if a cable or port supports 60W or 240W, hoping that customers will read the labels.
Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:
A look at the rise of employee dissent at Apple, including pushback against returning to the office, fighting for pay equity, and increasing leaks  —  On June 14th, 2021, Apple's remote work advocacy group sent an anonymous email to Tim Cook.  —  “We all agree that we are here at Apple …
Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian / Axios:
LinkedIn blocks the profiles of several US journalists on its Chinese platform, citing “prohibited content” without specifying what it was  —  LinkedIn blocked the profiles of several U.S. journalists from the company's China-based platform this week, citing “prohibited content.”
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.
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Zoom says it no longer plans to acquire cloud-based call center software maker Five9, following the FCC's review of the $14.7B deal on national security grounds  —  - Zoom's attempted acquisition of cloud contact center software maker failed to win sufficient approval from Five9 shareholders.
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Intel unveils Loihi 2, a second-generation neuromorphic computing chip, and Lava, an open-source framework for developing “neuro-inspired” applications  —  Intel today announced a major update to its neuromorphic computing program, including a second-generation chip called Loihi 2 and Lava …
Samantha Cole / VICE:
Source: ex-OnlyFans staff had access to highly sensitive user and model data, like bank statements, legal names, and KYC images, long after leaving the company  —  Addresses, full names, passports, bank statements and other sensitive personal data were viewable.  —  Samantha Cole
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Apple, for the first time, shares the top paid podcast subscriptions and free channels globally, counting devices that played at least one second of an episode  —  Happy International Podcast Day!  In today's podcast news roundup, Apple releases the top 10 most-subscribed podcasts and free channels …
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.
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.
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Mexico City-based Higo, which offers a B2B payments service for SMBs in Latin America, raises $23M Series A led by Accel  —  Just six months after raising $3.3 million in seed funding, Mexico City-based Higo announced today it has raised $23 million in a Series A round led by Accel.
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Materialize, which is developing an SQL database service for streaming data, raises $60M Series C, bringing its total raised to $100M+  —  Materialize, a company developing a streaming structured query language (SQL) database platform, today announced that it raised $60 million in series C funding …
More: FinSMEs and Materialize

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Karen Weise / New York Times: