Techmeme
September 22, 2022, 4:10 PM

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 …
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.
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 …
TechCrunch:
Twitter informs some users that due to a bug, the company didn't close all of their active logged-in sessions on Android and iOS after their password was reset  —  Weeks after Twitter's ex-security chief accused the company of cybersecurity mismanagement, Twitter has now informed its users …
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 Principals for our coverage of Donald Trump.
Bloomberg:
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says he's confident regulators will approve the company's $69B Activision Blizzard purchase, citing several recent Sony acquisitions  —  Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said he's confident the company can gain regulatory approval …
Gregory Zuckerman / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: to increase profits, Coinbase hired Wall Street traders and explored using its own money to trade crypto in 2021, including a $100M test trade in 2022  —  The company completed a $100 million transaction before ending the effort.  It says that it hasn't engaged in proprietary trading.
Sam Biddle / The Intercept:
A Meta-commissioned report from BSR details censorship and “unintentional bias” allegations against Palestinians during Israel's Gaza Strip attacks in May 2021  —  Facebook and Instagram's speech policies harmed fundamental human rights of Palestinian users during a conflagration …
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.
Deeksha Bhardwaj / Hindustan Times:
India proposes a legal framework to regulate over-the-top communications services, including encrypted apps like WhatsApp and Signal, and intercept messages  —  The bill, if implemented in its current form, will have reaching ramification for the industry that is based on the premise of privacy and security of encrypted messages
Newley Purnell / Wall Street Journal:
Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
Nielsen says Amazon Prime Video's first Thursday Night Football game averaged 13.03M viewers; Amazon claimed 15.3M viewers after guaranteeing advertisers 12.5M  —  Nielsen says 13 million viewers watched the Sept. 15 contest on Prime Video and local over-the-air affiliates.
Matthew Boyle / Bloomberg:
Disney, P&G, LVMH, and other large companies have hired chief metaverse officers to capitalize on Web3 trends, but it's unclear how long they will be needed  —  Advertising giant Publicis Groupe SA introduced the newest member of its C-suite at a technology conference in Paris this year.
Dave Michaels / Wall Street Journal:
The FTC says Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy cannot avoid testifying in an investigation into Amazon's Prime program after the company pushed back against the request  —  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
Naomi Nix / Washington Post:
Some civil rights groups say they have seen little action from Meta, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube to bolster election policies ahead of the 2022 US midterms  —  For months, civil rights groups have unsuccessfully pleaded with Big Tech companies to bolster their election policies
Moneycontrol:
WhatsApp confirms that Manesh Mahatme, who led its payments business in India, left the company after 17 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

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:
CIO challenge 6: Can we find an effective solution that also minimizes operational costs?  —  Welcome to the next and final installment of our CIO series!  After what feels like a thousand cups of coffee …
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:
(BNS) How To Know When To Kill Your Startup
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 4:10 PM 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

Diane Bartz / Reuters:

Earlier Picks

Ionut Ilascu / BleepingComputer:
Sheena Vasani / The Verge: