Techmeme
June 17, 2020, 10:50 AM

Top News

David Pierce / Protocol:
Shortly after Basecamp debuted its email service, HEY, it says its next iOS app update was rejected because Apple wasn't getting its cut of subscription revenue  —  Right around the time the team at Basecamp was launching their Hey email service to the public on Monday, Zach Waugh …
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
The distinction of business vs. consumer as a justification for Apple's rejection of HEY from the App Store for not using in-app purchases is flimsy  —  This statement is paraphrased by Pierce, not a direct quote, but on its surface this business/consumer distinction seems untenable.
Mark Zuckerberg / USA Today:
Facebook launches Voting Information Center for accurate election information and tools for voter registration, aiming to help register 4M people via its apps  —  The 2020 election is going to be unlike any other.  It was already going to be a heated campaign, and that was before the pandemic …
Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
Facebook and Instagram will allow some US users to turn off political ads starting Wednesday; the feature will roll out to all US users over the next few weeks  —  - Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday announced the social network will allow its users to turn off seeing political ads.
Aaron Holmes / Business Insider:
Google cracks down on The Federalist and ZeroHedge for violating policies on race-related content and may permanently suspend their access to Google Ads revenue  —  - Google is cracking down on two right-wing outlets, ZeroHedge and The Federalist, for violating its policies on race-related content.
Wall Street Journal:
Trump administration official says DOJ will propose limiting Section 230 legal protections for online platforms like Facebook and Twitter  —  The action follows President Trump's executive order seeking to weaken broad immunity enjoyed by Facebook, Twitter and other platforms
Bloomberg:
Apple says its head of diversity and inclusion Christie Smith, who joined in 2017, is leaving  —  - Apple VP of Diversity and Inclusion Smith had joined in 2017  — Company planning $100 million initiative to promote equality  —  Apple Inc.'s head of diversity and inclusion Christie Smith is leaving the iPhone company.
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Boston Dynamics says Spot, its quadruped robot, is now available to businesses in the US as part of a developer kit for $74,500  —  Boston Dynamics today opened commercial sales of Spot, its quadruped robot that can climb stairs and traverse rough terrain.  Businesses can purchase …
Robert McMillan / Wall Street Journal:
Graphika report details a Russia-based influence campaign, known as Secondary Infektion, that ran over 6 years and 300 sites, but failed to win a large audience  —  Group known as Secondary Infektion used multiple languages, burner accounts to circumvent attempts to detect it
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft details efforts to increase Azure durability amid pandemic by expanding submarine cable bandwidth, server scaling changes, and capacity forecasting  —  Microsoft has been making lots of under-the-covers changes to how it runs its cloud services, including Azure-based Teams, to meet demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Unbounce, which builds optimized landing pages for SMBs using automation, raises ~$38.4M led by Crest Rock Partners  —  Landing page optimization company Unbounce is announcing that it has raised $52 million Canadian (approximately $38.4 million in US dollars).
Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:
Upgrade, a digital bank focusing on personal loans and credit cards, raises $40M Series D led by Santander InnoVentures at a $1B valuation  —  This morning Upgrade, a credit-focused fintech startup, announced that it has raised a $40 million Series D round that the company says gives it a $1 billion valuation.
Janko Roettgers / Protocol:
Bose is shutting down its AR program, saying its technology couldn't be commercialized as planned, with current AR apps ceasing to function within 30 days  —  Bose has become the latest company to throw in the towel on immersive computing, shutting down its ambitious Bose AR program.
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
San Francisco's district attorney sues DoorDash for allegedly misclassifying workers as contractors instead of employees despite California's AB5 law  —  The largest food delivery service in the US is accused of misclassifying workers  —  DoorDash, the high-flying food delivery startup …
Bloomberg:
Being a Black CEO in Silicon Valley can be humiliating, from being advised to have a white wingman in meetings, to being judged on a different rubric by VCs  —  Will Hayes has grown accustomed to an awkward start to business meetings.  On numerous occasions, venture capitalists would confuse Hayes …
Mike Wheatley / SiliconANGLE:
Uptycs, a SQL-based security analytics startup, raises $30M Series B led by Sapphire Ventures, bringing its total raised to $43M  —  Structured Query Language-based security analytics firm Uptycs Inc. said today it has raised a new round of $30 million.  —  The Series B round of funding brings …
More: TechCrunch
Shruti Srivastava / Bloomberg:
Facebook's purchase of a 10% stake in Reliance Jio is being reviewed by the Competition Commission of India, the country's antitrust regulator  —  Follow Bloomberg on LINE messenger for all the business news and analysis you need.  —  India's antitrust watchdog is reviewing Facebook Inc.'s purchase …
More: TechCrunchTweets: @shantanugoel
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Oracle reports Q4 revenue of $10.44B, down 6% YoY, missing expectations of $10.65B, cloud and on-premises license revenue fell 22% to $1.96B  —  - Revenue declined more than the company had predicted in the quarter  — The company won business from video-calling software provider Zoom in the quarter.

Sponsor Posts

Airtable:
Meet Airtable ProductCentral  —  The unified solution for managing your entire product development process in the AI era.
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:
Zoho Forms for successful Black Friday sales  —  Black Friday is a retail frenzy that can significantly impact your bottom line.  To make the most of this shopping bonanza, you need a strategy that not only attracts customers …
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Mon. 11/04 - Apple Buying And Investing In Things
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 10:50 AM ET, June 17, 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

Earlier Picks

Ian Allison / CoinDesk:
Matt Day / Bloomberg:
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: