Techmeme
August 5, 2020, 5:25 PM

Top News

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Facebook launches Instagram Reels, its TikTok competitor that lets users create and publish 15-second videos, in 50+ countries, including the US, UK, and Japan  —  Instagram Reels, the company's significant effort in challenging TikTok on short-form creative content, is launching globally, starting today.
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Samsung announces 6.7" Galaxy Note20 and 6.9" Note20 Ultra with Android 10, Snapdragon 865+, and more, starting at $999 and $1,299  —  Samsung's Galaxy Note lineup has evolved over the years, but always remained a series for power users.  Today, Samsung is launching the Galaxy Note 20 series …
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Samsung and Microsoft extend their partnership to add deeper integration with Office on Galaxy Note20 devices and let users stream Android apps to Windows 10  —  The new Samsung Galaxy Note 20 devices will support Office app synchronization, new Your Phone features and Microsoft's cloud gaming functionality.
Ryan Mac / BuzzFeed News:
Instagram says a “bug” caused its hashtag recommendations to favor Trump-related content when searching for hashtags related to Joe Biden and Trump  —  “A technical error caused a number of hashtags to not show related hashtags.  We've disabled this feature while we investigate."
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Samsung announces the Galaxy Z Fold 2 with an upgraded camera system, larger 7.6-inch main display, and hole-punch cameras; release date and price TBA  —  The Fold is back  —  Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy Z Fold 2 at its Unpacked event, the successor to last year's Galaxy Fold …
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Twitter fixes a bug in its Android app that could let hackers access private data like DMs; 96% of the apps' users currently use a patched version of Android  —  Twitter today announced that it fixed a security vulnerability in the Twitter for Android app that could have allowed attackers …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
TikTok tightens policies against manipulated content, expands fact-checking partnerships, and is working with DHS's Countering Foreign Influence Task Force  —  TikTok announced new rules for its users on Wednesday to curb misinformation and manipulation ahead of the 2020 election.
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Virginia becomes the first US state to use Apple and Google's COVID-19 Exposure Notification API  —  The Exposure Notification API developed by Apple and Google is officially being put to use in the United States.  Virginia has become the first U.S. state to offer a COVID-19 contact tracing application using …
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Researchers find a cluster of 295 Chrome extensions, with more than 80M users, that inserted ads into Google and Bing results; Google is now removing some  —  The malicious Chrome extensions have been installed by more than 80 million users.  —  More than 80 million Chrome users have installed …
Geoffrey Fowler / Washington Post:
Review of Amazon's Echo Frames, $180 Alexa-enabled glasses that debuted last year: their internet connectivity is flaky and Alexa is too chatty and disruptive  —  You have to really love Amazon's Alexa to let the Echo Frames whisper in your ear all day.  —  What do you call it when there's …
Daniel Bader / Android Central:
Samsung launches Galaxy Watch 3 in 41mm and 45mm variants with a thinner, lighter design on Samsung's Tizen platform, arriving on August 6 for $400+  —  Our favorite smartwatch-meets-fidget-spinner is back.  —  It's no surprise that Samsung's Galaxy Watch is still incredibly popular despite being almost two years old.
Bloomberg:
Interviews show Google automating mental health ads has boosted big firms and sidelined independent therapists, forcing them to spend more or face irrelevancy  —  The company's push into health care is a case study in how tech giants dominate small businesses.  And the U.S. government may have something to say about that.
Tom Krazit / Protocol:
Microsoft releases Open Service Mesh, an open source tool to help companies build complex modular apps more easily  —  More than a year after declaring itself a neutral party in the emerging service-mesh arena, Microsoft will release its own open-source take on the technology Wednesday …
More: TechCrunch
Stephen Schenck / Android Police:
Samsung unveils 11" Galaxy Tab S7 and 12.5" S7+ with Snapdragon 865+, Android 10, 5G, 13MP and 5MP rear cameras, from $650, coming this fall  —  In a world where tablet-sized phones fold up to fit in our pockets, it's fascinating to see companies like Samsung not just continue to stand …

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Earlier Picks

Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica: