Techmeme
May 11, 2020, 10:15 AM

Top News

Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Researcher: PCs with Thunderbolt ports have an unpatchable flaw letting hackers with physical access circumvent data safeguards; some new PCs are not affected  —  The so-called Thunderspy attack takes less than five minutes to pull off with physical access to a device, and affects any PC manufactured before 2019.
Travis M. Andrews / Washington Post:
Facebook, YouTube, and Vimeo say they are removing a viral 26-minute trailer for “Plandemic”, a conspiracy film that features well-known anti-vaxxers  —  Social media companies including YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook are removing a viral conspiracy theory video because of its claims regarding the coronavirus pandemic.
Jon Fingas / Engadget:
Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon 768G processor with faster graphics performance and global 5G support  —  Qualcomm isn't wasting any time following up last year's Snapdragon 765G gaming chip with a more powerful model.  It's unveiling the Snapdragon 768G, a follow-up that appears to address what many gamers want the most: raw performance.
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Premium email app Newton Mail says it has been bought by new owners and will still charge $50 per year  —  The $50-per-year email service has been bought again by new owners  —  Newton Mail is returning to life once again under new ownership, marking the unexpected third life for the premium email app.
Benedict Evans:
A look at what could be holding back VR, as a breakthrough moment seems unlikely to materialize despite ripe conditions and nearly a decade of big bets on VR  —  We tried VR in the 1980s, and it didn't work.  The idea may have been great, but the technology of the day was nowhere close to delivering it …
Jon Fingas / Engadget:
Report: the White House is in talks with Intel and TSMC about building chip factories in the US to strengthen domestic supply chains  —  The Trump administration hasn't been shy about wanting to reduce its dependence on Asia for technology, and that might soon include the processors inside PCs and phones.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: online used-car seller Vroom files confidentially for IPO, setting sights on a June offering after its December 2019 funding round valued it at $1.5B  —  Firm sets sights on a June offering after rich funding round  —  Online used-car seller Vroom Inc. has filed confidentially …
Ben Smith / New York Times:
As Australian and French regulators plan to make tech companies pay publishers for news content, leaders from Ireland to Malaysia say they are paying attention  —  News organizations have long hoped that tech platforms would pay them for news.  Now regulators abroad are moving to make that happen.
Siva Vaidhyanathan / Wired:
In its quasi-judiciary role, Facebook Oversight Board is neutered from the start since it can not mandate codes of conduct or effectively help minimize harm  —  The company's new review board is designed to move slowly and keep things intact.  —  My late colleague, Neil Postman …
Tae Kim / Bloomberg:
The pandemic is creating opportunities for Amazon rivals, from upstart Shopify to retailers such as Target and Costco  —  Business turmoil sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic is creating opportunities for rivals from upstart Shopify to retailers such as Target and Costco.  —  The e-commerce rebels are making their advance.
Max Willens / Digiday:
Six months after the glitzy launch of Facebook News, sources at seven publishers say they have seen little impact as the company focuses on other things  —  Publishers who are used to seeing Facebook launch a new product with much fanfare, then have momentum fizzle, are starting to get a familiar feeling.
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Microsoft and Intel have developed an approach to detect malware by first converting its binary form into a grayscale image then applying deep learning methods  —  Microsoft and Intel Labs work on STAMINA, a new deep learning approach for detecting and classifying malware.

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Earlier Picks

Jeremy White / WIRED UK: