Techmeme
September 22, 2022, 11:55 AM

Top News

Chris Welch / The Verge:
Apple AirPods Pro (second-gen) review: improved ANC, sound quality, and clarity, but same old design, a Lightning connector, and no major new software features  —  Redesigned inside but not out, the new AirPods Pro are destined to be another hit — even if the magic is waning
Max Chafkin / Bloomberg:
A look at the quiet success of AirPods, of which Apple sold an estimated ~120M pairs in 2021, showing how big a business its upcoming niche VR headset could be  —  Sometime next year, Tim Cook will appear before the Apple Inc. faithful and unveil the company's next major computing platform …
Gina Chon / Semafor Media:
Nick Clegg says Meta could lift its ban on Donald Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts in January 2023, when his suspension expires, after consulting experts  —  Semafor launches this fall, but we wanted to get this news right out to you.  Sign up for Semafor Technology for regular coverage …
New York Times:
An investigation based on nearly 160K Roskomnadzor documents details Russia's expansive surveillance and censorship apparatus, which helps Putin maintain power  —  Four days into the war in Ukraine, Russia's expansive surveillance and censorship apparatus was already hard at work.
Steve Dent / Engadget:
Google unveils Chromecast with Google TV (HD), featuring a remote control and supporting only 1080p content with HDR, for $30; the 4K version costs $50  —  Confirming rumors, Google has unveiled the Chromecast with Google TV (HD) device that offers features from the $50 4K model at a significantly cheaper $30 price.
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
UK media regulator Ofcom plans to investigate the cloud computing, personal messaging, and smart device markets over the next year due to competition concerns  —  - Ofcom, the U.K. media watchdog, is set to launch a study examining the role of Amazon, Microsoft and Google in the cloud services market.
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Instagram, and now TikTok, have fallen afoul of the “Bootleg Ratio”, as clout-chasing accounts overtake content created by users specifically for each platform  —  TikTok is changing. … That stuff is still on the platform, but it's largely fallen off my For You page …
Matthew Boyle / Bloomberg:
Disney, P&G, LVMH, and other large companies have hired chief metaverse officers, seeking to capitalize on Web3, but questions remain about their usefulness  —  Advertising giant Publicis Groupe SA introduced the newest member of its C-suite at a technology conference in Paris this year.
Newley Purnell / Wall Street Journal:
Swiss company Proton VPN becomes the latest to leave India over invasive new rules requiring customer data collection, following Surfshark, Nord, and others  —  Swiss service is latest to pull servers over requirement that companies must save user data and disclose to authorities on demand
Sheena Vasani / The Verge:
Instagram is working on a feature to protect users from receiving unsolicited nude photos in their DMs; Meta says the tech won't let the company view the photos  —  Instagram is working on a way to protect users from receiving unsolicited nude photos in their DMs.
Dave Michaels / Wall Street Journal:
The FTC says Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy cannot avoid testifying in an ongoing investigation into Prime membership, after Amazon pushed back against the probe  —  Commissioners deny company's request to quash subpoenas and pare back investigation  —  Amazon vs. Walmart: How the Giants Look to Each Other to Best Each Other
Melissa Heikkilä / MIT Technology Review:
Alphabet's DeepMind unveils Sparrow, an AI chatbot that learns from human feedback and searches Google for information to support its claims  —  The lab trained a chatbot to learn from human feedback and search the internet for information to support its claims.
Gregory Zuckerman / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: seeking to increase profits, Coinbase hired Wall Street traders and explored using its own cash to trade crypto in 2021, including a $100M transaction  —  The company completed a $100 million transaction before ending the effort.  It says that it hasn't engaged in proprietary trading.
Yogita Khatri / The Block:
Immunefi, which helps crypto services create bug bounty programs, raised a $24M Series A led by Framework Ventures  —  - Immunefi has raised $24 million in Series A funding led by Framework Ventures.  — The startup hosts bug bounty programs by crypto projects and earns a 10% commission on bounty payouts.
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Take-Two Interactive's 2K, the publisher of Bioshock, Xcom, and popular sports games, says a hacker accessed its help desk and sent customers links to malware  —  American video game publisher 2K has confirmed that its help desk platform was hacked and used to target customers …
Bloomberg:
Satya Nadella says he's confident that Microsoft can gain approval for its $69B Activision Blizzard purchase, citing several recent acquisitions by Sony  —  Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said he's confident the company can gain regulatory approval for its $69 billion purchase …
Sam Biddle / The Intercept:
Meta-commissioned report from BSR details censorship and allegations of “unintentional bias” against Palestinians during violence by Israeli forces in May 2021  —  Facebook and Instagram's speech policies harmed fundamental human rights of Palestinian users during a conflagration …
Ionut Ilascu / BleepingComputer:
A Python directory traversal vulnerability disclosed in August 2007, but never patched, likely affects 350K+ open-source projects and can lead to code execution  —  A vulnerability in the Python programming language that has been overlooked for 15 years is now back in the spotlight …
Moneycontrol:
WhatsApp confirms Manesh Mahatme, who led its Indian payments business, has stepped down after 18 months; a source says Mahatme plans to rejoin Amazon  —  Mahatme's resignation comes at a time when WhatsApp's mobile payments business has failed to take off in a significant fashion in India
More: Inc42 Media and ReutersThanks:@tsuvik
Jef Feeley / Bloomberg:
Delaware Chancery judge rules that Elon Musk can amend his counterclaims and use Twitter's $7.8M severance payment to Peiter Zatko to justify ending the deal  —  Elon Musk can use a $7.8 million severance payment to a Twitter Inc. whistle-blower to argue he was justified in walking away …

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Zoho:
Zoho Sign is a “high growth performer” in the Frost & Sullivan's Frost Radar™ for electronic signature software, 2024  —  We are happy to announce that Zoho Sign has clinched a position as a high growth performer …
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Thu. 11/07 - More Election Stuff
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:55 AM ET, September 22, 2022.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks

Esteban L. Hernandez / Axios:
Margi Murphy / Bloomberg:
Ashley Capoot / CNBC:
Jeff John Roberts / Fortune:
NetBlocks: