Techmeme
February 19, 2020, 6:00 PM

Top News

Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google launches Android 11 Developer Preview earlier than expected, with new display types, improved messaging, biometrics, and more; final release expected Q3  —  Following an inadvertent tease last week, Google today officially launched the Android 11 Developer Preview.
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
EU issues proposals to drive digitization across industries and sectors, including rules for high risk AI systems and a regulatory framework for data governance  —  European Union lawmakers have set out a first bundle of proposals for a new digital strategy for the bloc …
Alex Kantrowitz / BuzzFeed News:
A closer look at FBI's complaint against two ex-Twitter employees who allegedly spied on accounts for Saudi Arabia, offered $300K+ and a nice watch as bribes  —  Ali Alzabarah was panicked.  His heart raced as he drove home from Twitter's San Francisco headquarters in the early evening on Dec. 2, 2015.
Joseph Menn / Reuters:
Sources: following Brexit, Google plans to move UK user accounts out of EU's jurisdiction and into the US', where privacy protections are weaker  —  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google is planning to move its British users' accounts out of the control of European Union privacy regulators …
Michael del Castillo / Forbes:
Coinbase becomes a Visa Principal Member, allowing it to issue bitcoin debit cards for other crypto companies and traditional firms  —  Credit card giant Visa has granted its principal membership to a cryptocurrency company for the first time.  Officially awarded to cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
TikTok announces new Family Safety Mode parental controls to limit kids' usage with screen time management, DM limits, and more, coming first to the UK  —  TikTok announced today the introduction of a new set of parental controls, called “Family Safety Mode,” designed to let parents set limits …
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple sends a cease and desist letter to the author of “App Store Confidential”, published in Germany by an ex-Apple employee, claiming it reveals trade secrets  —  Apple is aiming to stop the sale of a new insider book called “App Store Confidential,” written …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft launches a unified Office app for iOS and Android, combining Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into a single app; standalone versions will remain available  —  Even more mobile features are on the way soon  —  Microsoft is releasing its new unified Office app for iOS and Android today …
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
An in-depth look at Samsung's Ultra Thin Glass, used on the Galaxy Z Flip: how its thinness allows it to fold but requires a plastic protective layer  —  On February 11th, 2020, Samsung introduced the world's first folding glass phone: the Galaxy Z Flip.  Samsung declared that it had broken …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google begins rolling out two Google Docs features: autocorrect, enabled by default, and Smart Compose, for paying customers  —  Last November, Google Docs started testing autocorrect and Smart Compose as part of leveraging machine learning to improve user productivity.
Dave Gershgorn / OneZero :
Profile of Japan-based NEC, which has been a longtime provider of facial recognition services globally and garners less scrutiny than new entrants in the space  —  July 2018, the mayor of Irving, Texas, signed a contract that would dramatically expand how the city's police department could investigate crimes using facial recognition.
More: Vox and VICE
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook is internally testing a tabbed version of News Feed for mobile that includes the Most Relevant, Most Recent, and Already Seen feeds  —  Facebook may make it easier to escape its ranking algorithm and explore the News Feed in different formats.  Facebook has internally prototyped …
Billy Steele / Engadget:
As Photoshop turns 30, Adobe begins rolling out new desktop and mobile features, including bringing the Object Selection tool to iPad  —  Photoshop turns 30 today, and Adobe is celebrating with some worthwhile updates to the photo-editing app on both the desktop and iPad.
Katie Paul / Reuters:
IRS lawsuit against Facebook, alleging the company owes $9B+ in taxes after shifting profits to Ireland, begins in San Francisco  —  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc is slated to begin a tax trial in a San Francisco court on Tuesday, as the Internal Revenue Service tries to convince …
Richard Cooke / Wired:
A tribute to Wikipedia, which is one of the few remaining places that retains the faintly utopian glow of the early World Wide Web  —  People used to think the crowdsourced encyclopedia represented all that was wrong with the web.  Now it's a beacon of so much that's right.
Joseph Cox / VICE:
Yodlee, America's largest financial data broker, says the data that it sells is anonymous, but a leaked Yodlee doc shows millions of people could be unmasked  —  Yodlee, the largest financial data broker in the U.S., sells data pulled from the bank and credit card transactions of tens …
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Twitter acquires Chroma Labs, which makes tools for video and photo creation, will split team across product, design, and engineering, shut down Chroma Stories  —  - Company builds photo, video-editing features for social media  — Chroma will join Twitter to work on ‘conversations’ products

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