Techmeme
November 6, 2019, 11:25 AM

Top News

Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Facebook says ~100 app developers might have had improper access to Groups member data even after the company announced restrictions to Groups API last year  —  At least 11 accessed data in the last two months  —  Facebook says that even after it locked down its Groups system last year …
Pavel Alpeyev / Bloomberg:
SoftBank reports a loss of $6.5B, its first quarterly operating loss in 14 years, and a loss of $8.9B in the Vision Fund, including a charge of $4.6B for WeWork  —  SoftBank Group Corp. reported its first quarterly operating loss in 14 years after writing down the value of some of its marquee investments …
Cara Lombardo / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Xerox is considering making a cash-and-stock offer for HP, which has a market value of ~$27B and is more than three times the size of Xerox  —  Bid for HP would be at a premium to company's market value of $27 billion  —  Xerox Holdings Corp. XRX 2.05% has set its sights on a takeover …
Reuters:
Court docs: Facebook execs discussed a plan in 2012 to cut off access to user data for developers seen as future rivals while pushing a user privacy narrative  —  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc (FB.O) began cutting off access to user data for app developers from 2012 to squash potential rivals …
Bloomberg:
NTSB: the Uber self-driving test car that killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona last year wasn't programmed to recognize and react to jaywalkers  —  - U.S. safety board releases documents on fatal 2018 accident  — Pedestrian hit, killed by experimental self-driving Uber car
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
FTC says AT&T has agreed to pay $60M to settle the agency's 2014 lawsuit that alleged it lied to customers about “unlimited” data plans that it throttled  —  Unlimited should mean unlimited!  —  On Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission announced that AT&T will pay $60 million to settle a case with the agency.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
How Arweave, which has raised $5M led by a16z, uses blockchain to host sites and apps perpetually, hedging upfront user payments with declining storage costs  —  Andreessen Horowitz + USV invest  —  What if you could pay now to store something online permanently?
Mark Seal / Vanity Fair:
Inside the Big Bitcoin Heist, in which thieves stole 550 Bitcoin mining computers, worth $500K for hardware alone, from a cryptocurrency data center in Iceland  —  With its cheap geothermal energy and low crime rate, Iceland has become the world's leading miner of digital currency.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Google promises one more update coming in December for the original Google Pixel, which will then be past its three-year security update support window  —  Pour one out for Pixel  —  The Google Pixel and Pixel XL will get “one final software update” in December, the company confirms to The Verge.
Nicholas Quah / Hot Pod News:
Members of the podcasting industry anonymously discuss common issues in the field: inexperienced leadership, poorly managed ad sales, accessibility, more  —  Over the past month, we've been running a call for opinions built around a fairly straightforward question: “What are you most frustrated by?”
Aaron Wood / Cointelegraph:
Stellar Development Foundation has burned 55B XLM tokens, worth ~$4.7B, shrinking the supply from 105B to 50B; XLM's price jumped as much as ~25% on news  —  The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) announced a new mandate today for its network's development, stating that it has burned over 55 billion Stellar Lumens (XLM) tokens.
New York Times:
A warrant granted in Florida this July let a detective override GEDmatch's privacy rules to search a database of 1.2M users; experts say it may set a precedent  —  Privacy experts say it could set a precedent, opening up all consumer DNA sites to law enforcement agencies across the country.
Washington Post:
Apple and TikTok drew criticism from lawmakers, especially Sen. Josh Hawley, for skipping a congressional hearing meant to explore tech industry's ties to China  —  Apple and TikTok took a lashing Tuesday for skipping a congressional hearing meant to explore the tech industry and its ties to China …

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Earlier Picks

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Patrick Howell O'Neill / MIT Technology Review:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post: