Techmeme
October 8, 2020, 3:50 PM

Top News

Ina Fried / Axios:
Microsoft adopts 10 “principles” for its app store, including letting developers choose a payment system for IAPs, that it says should be a model for others  —  In a not-so-subtle dig at Apple and Google, Microsoft today announced a series of “principles” for its Windows 10 App Store …
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
ProtonMail CEO says Apple made it add in-app purchases in 2018 even though it had been free for years, compares Apple's tactics to a mafia protection racket  —  Remember Hey and WordPress?  ProtonMail was forced into IAP too.  —  SHARE All sharing options
Yogita Khatri / The Block:
Square purchases $50M worth of bitcoin, becoming the second publicly listed company after MicroStrategy to invest in the cryptocurrency  —  Revolut, the London-based fintech firm, has enlisted crypto security firm Fireblocks to lay the foundations for new crypto products.
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple to extend Apple TV+ free year trials that started between Nov. 1 2019, and Jan. 31 2020, through February 2021  —  If you purchased a new Apple device from September 2019 last year — like an iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple TV — you were automatically eligible for a free year of Apple TV+.
Brian Armstrong / The Coinbase Blog:
Coinbase CEO says 60 employees, or about 5% of its staff, have taken the exit package the company offered for those not comfortable with its apolitical mission  —  A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company  —  Last week, I shared that Coinbase is a mission focused company.
Ira Boudway / Bloomberg:
Waymo says it will open its fully driverless ride-hailing service in suburban Phoenix to the public  —  Waymo said Thursday that it is opening its fully driverless ride-hailing service in suburban Phoenix to the public.  Alphabet Inc.'s self-driving car unit began ferrying a select group …
Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post:
Facebook says it will temporarily suspend political ads after US polls close on Nov. 3 and will remove calls for poll watching that use “militarized” language  —  The move is intended to limit confusion and misinformation on the platform, the social media company says
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
AMD announces Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 CPUs for desktops, the first chips from AMD with its next-gen Zen 3 architecture, available on November 5, starting at $299  —  Available on November 5th, starting at $299  —  AMD just announced its new lineup of Ryzen 5000 series processors for desktops …
Alfred Ng / CNET:
Court documents in a Florida case show Google provided US law enforcement with IP addresses for any user searching for specific key words  —  Court records in an arson case show that Google gave away data on people who searched for a specific address.  —  There are few things as revealing …
David Gilbert / VICE:
An ISP took down the website for the group calling itself The Real Facebook Oversight Board after Facebook complained that the site was involved in “phishing”  —  “Nothing says ‘free speech’ quite as much as a multi-billion dollar corporation with a global monopoly getting its critics shut down."
Cherlynn Low / Engadget:
Google says Assistant can now search and control third-party apps, starting with the top 30 on the Play Store, with support for more coming soon  —  Before today, if you ask Siri or the Google Assistant to “check the news on Twitter,” you'll either be shown the @CHEK_News account …
Sherisse Pham / CNN:
Samsung says it expects to make an operating profit of $10.6B in the July-September quarter, up 58% YoY, and sales of $7B, up 6% in its earnings guidance  —  Hong Kong (CNN Business)Samsung (SSNLF) predicts its profit jumped nearly 60% last quarter, suggesting it could soon retake its position …
Larry Dignan / ZDNet:
IBM announces that it plans to spin off its managed infrastructure services unit, with $19B in sales and 90K staff, to help it focus on hybrid cloud apps  —  IBM will become a company that gets more than half of its sales from recurring revenue instead of services.
Kartikay Mehrotra / Bloomberg:
US seizes 92 websites it said were used by Iran to spread disinformation, including four domains disguised as genuine news outlets based in the US  —  - Four of the domains were fake news sites targeting Americans  —  The U.S. Justice Department seized 92 websites it said were used …
Nikkei Asia:
Inside the US campaign to cut China out of supply chains, which already pressured companies like Apple to look at moving 15% to 30% of output out of the country  —  Apple, Google and others shift production to prepare for ‘decoupled’ global market  —  It was a hot summer morning in Taipei …
TechCrunch:
Instacart raises $200M led by D1 Capital and Valiant Peregrine Fund, at a post-money valuation of $17.7B, following a $100M raise in July and $225M in June 2020  —  Instacart announced today that it has raised $200 million in a new funding round featuring prior investors.
Tom Krazit / Protocol:
Sources: Google to give up control of the open-source project Knative later this year and implement a structure in which no single vendor can have control  —  Under an agreement recently approved by the Knative leadership team, the project will transition to a governance structure …

Sponsor Posts

TELUS Digital:
The brand supporting the biggest brands in tech  —  Deliver memorable experiences throughout the customer journey with customer experience support from TELUS Digital.  Scale quickly, automate efficiently and win decisively.
Intel:
Intel Delivers powerful CPUs for AI and Networking  —  With the onset of AI, businesses demand powerful and efficient CPUs.  Explore new Intel Xeon 6 processors, for the broadest set of workloads with leadership performance and lower TCO.
Zoho:
Gamification: A simple way to enjoy getting more work done  —  Work doesn't have to be boring.  Gamification transforms everyday tasks into exciting challenges, making employees feel more engaged and motivated.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Techmeme Ride Home:
Europe Wants To Ween Itself Off Silicon Valley
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
How Trump's tariff chaos is already changing global trade
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Grit:
From Bootstrapped to $12B: Mailchimp's Ben Chestnut on Life After the Exit
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
The hidden power of introverts: How to thrive without changing who you are | Susan Cain (author of "Quiet")
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
The Logan Bartlett Show:
Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen Breaks Down the Global Impact of Trump's New Tariffs
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
Subscribe to The Logan Bartlett Show.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:50 PM ET, October 8, 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

Brendan Sinclair / GamesIndustry.biz:

Earlier Picks

Ryan Gallagher / Bloomberg:
Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:
Monica Chin / The Verge:
Logan Moore / Wall Street Journal:
Tucker Higgins / CNBC: