Techmeme
October 1, 2021, 10:45 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
Google scraps plans for its mobile-first banking service Plex; sources say the move follows April departure of a Google Pay exec who championed the project  —  Tech giant had partnered with Citigroup and other banks on ‘Plex’ accounts that would sync with Google Pay
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
Coinbase says a threat actor stole cryptocurrency from 6,000 customers between March and May 20 using a vulnerability in its SMS multi-factor authentication  —  Crypto exchange Coinbase disclosed that a threat actor stole cryptocurrency from 6,000 customers after using a vulnerability to bypass …
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 …
New York Times:
Sources: emergency meetings continue inside Facebook amid WSJ expose, as some research staff decry Facebook's public response in group chats  —  The social network has been all hands on deck as it grapples with revelations that it knew the harmful effects its Instagram photo-sharing app was having on teenagers.
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple rolls out iOS 15.0.1 and iPadOS 15.0.1, with bug fixes for multiple issues, including Unlock with Apple Watch on iPhone 13  —  One week after the release of the iPhone 13 and iOS 15, Apple is rolling out a bug fix update with some notable improvements. iOS 15..1 and iPadOS 15..1 …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft details Office 2021 features and pricing ahead of Oct. 5 release: Office Home and Student will cost $150 and Office Home and Business will cost $250  —  Microsoft is launching Office 2021 on October 5th, and the company is finally detailing the features and pricing today.
Sean Lyngaas / CNN:
President Biden to convene a 30-country meeting this month to try to ramp up global efforts to address the ransomware threat  —  (CNN)The White House will convene a 30-country meeting this month to try to ramp up global efforts to address the threat of ransomware to economic and national security …
MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:
DeFi staking protocol Compound's founder threatens to doxx users to IRS if they don't return $90M worth of tokens mistakenly sent due to a bug  —  - About $90 million has mistakenly gone out to users of popular DeFi staking protocol Compound and the founder is begging users to voluntary return the tokens.
Joyce Lee / Reuters:
South Korean ISP sues Netflix over costs for traffic surge from hit shows, after a court said Netflix should “reasonably” pay ISPs for network usage  —  South Korean Internet service provider SK Broadband has sued Netflix (NFLX.O) to pay for costs from increased network traffic …
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Vareto, which makes software to help companies with financial planning, raises $4.2M seed led by Menlo Ventures and $20M Series A led by GV  —  Vareto, a startup aiming to help companies conduct more forward-looking financial planning and analysis, is coming out of stealth today with $24 million in total funding.
Catalin Cimpanu / The Record:
Google announces a $1M sponsorship for Linux Foundation's Secure Open Source, a new pilot program to enhance the security of critical open source projects  —  Google has announced today a $1 million sponsorship for a new pilot program aimed at enhancing the security of critical open source software projects.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Biden administration is considering ways to impose bank-like regulation on stablecoin issuers, including prodding them to register as banks  —  Move would aim to address concerns that the digital currency could fuel financial panics  —  WASHINGTON—The Biden administration …
The Markup:
A look at the $12B location data industry, including how collectors, aggregators, and marketplaces monetize user data  —  A huge but little-known industry has cropped up around monetizing people's movements  —  Companies that you likely have never heard of are hawking access to the location history on your mobile phone.
Steve Kovach / CNBC:
Amazon's new PC game New World is a hit, with hundreds of thousands on Steam playing it at any given time, representing a leap for Amazon's gaming ambitions  —  - Amazon released a new video game for PCs this week called “New World.”  — The game is already a smash hit …

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