Techmeme
February 21, 2020, 5:05 PM

Top News

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Shopify says it will join the Libra Association, contributing financially and operating a node that processes transactions of Facebook's stablecoin  —  After eBay, Visa, Stripe, and other high-profile departures, the Libra Association scored a win today with the addition of Shopify.
Joseph Cox / VICE:
WhatsApp lets some invite links for group chats, that the members may want to keep private, to be indexed by search engines like Google, allowing anyone to join  —  Google is indexing invite links to WhatsApp group chats whose administrators may want to be private.
Julia Boorstin / CNBC:
Source: Facebook considers transparency measures around posts from political campaign staffers, due to concerns around Bloomberg campaign's use of its platform  —  - Facebook is considering ways to show when a paid campaign staffer shares a political post on the site.
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Google says that from August 3 all new Google Play apps that access background location will need to pass review, expanding to all existing apps on November 3  —  Apps will face a new review process to enable the feature  —  Google is placing new restrictions on which Android apps can track …
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip review: the best hinge on a folding phone so far but the screen's plastic covering scratches easily and the cameras are disappointing  —  Even with a glass screen, it's just a curiosity  —  Samsung's brand-new Galaxy Z Flip is the third folding screen phone that I've reviewed.
Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:
MIT researchers say they used AI to discover new potent antibiotics that treat drug-resistant diseases  —  Machine learning uncovers potent new drug able to kill 35 powerful bacteria  —  Artificial intelligence has been used to discover new antibiotics effective against untreatable diseases …
John D. McKinnon / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Google is resisting efforts to surrender emails, texts, and other documents sought by state investigators probing anticompetitive digital-ad practices  —  Company is reluctant to surrender some documents in investigation of possible anticompetitive practices
Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:
A history of EU's efforts to create a standard for device chargers, and how Apple used a loophole to keep using Lightning, but may have to move to USB-C soon  —  Despite pushback from Apple, the European Parliament in January voted overwhelmingly for new rules to establish a common charging standard …
Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios:
Lyft has acquired Halo Cars, a small startup that lets ride-hailing drivers earn money via ad displays mounted atop their cars  —  Lyft has acquired Halo Cars, a small startup that lets ride-hailing drivers earn money via ad displays mounted atop their cars.  Lyft confirmed the deal but declined to share any details.
FinSMEs:
Feather, an NY-based furniture subscription service, raises $30M Series B led by Cobalt Capital with Kleiner Perkins, YC, SV Angel, and others participating  —  Feather, a New York, NY - based next-generation furniture rental service, closed a $30M Series B funding.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Comcast's NBCUniversal is in advanced talks to acquire streaming-video service Vudu from Walmart  —  The acquisition talks come a few months before NBCUniversal launches a news streaming service, Peacock  —  Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal is in advanced talks to acquire streaming-video service Vudu …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft announces Defender ATP for Linux, will offer the antivirus software for Android and iOS later this year as part of its enterprise security platform  —  New Defender mobile apps will be available later this year  —  Microsoft is planning to bring its Defender antivirus software to Android and iOS later this year.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Facebook will pay users up to $5 for voice recordings via its Viewpoints app to improve its speech recognition tech; recordings won't be tied to user profiles  —  But it won't pay much  —  Facebook will offer to pay some users for voice recordings that will be used to help improve …
Steve O'Hear / TechCrunch:
Tier Mobility, an e-scooter rental service operating in 55 cities across 11 countries, extends its Series B to $100M+, up from $60M disclosed in October  —  Tier, the European e-scooter rentals startup that operates in 55 cities across 11 countries, has topped up its funding for the second time in four months.

Sponsor Posts

Meta:
Open Source AI: Available to all, not just the few  —  Meta's open source AI enables small businesses, start-ups, students, researchers and more to download and build with our models at no cost.
Zoho:
Introducing AI Forms: Create optimized forms with AI in Zoho Forms  —  The future of form creation isn't coming, it's here.  Forget everything you thought you knew about building online forms.
Genesys:
Executive Insights: The Era of Contact Center AI Copilots  —  How AI copilots are transforming customer experience and agent performance.
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.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Mon. 12/23 - The Revenge Of Google Glass?
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 5:05 PM ET, February 21, 2020.

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

Joseph Cox / VICE:
Nico Grant / Bloomberg:
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Alex Sherman / CNBC:

Earlier Picks

Christopher Dring / GamesIndustry.biz:
Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed News:
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
New York Times:
Jezebel: