Techmeme
October 21, 2020, 10:35 AM

Top News

Anna Irrera / Reuters:
PayPal will let users buy and sell cryptocurrency using its online wallets in the coming weeks and shop at merchants on its network starting in early 2021  —  LONDON (Reuters) - PayPal Holdings Inc joined the cryptocurrency market on Wednesday, allowing customers to buy …
Kent Walker / The Keyword:
Karl Bode / Techdirt:
DOJ's antitrust suit against Google is being driven by cronyism and election season politics, not by a serious concern about monopoly power  —  Last month we noted how Bill Barr was rushing DOJ staffers (much to their chagrin) to launch his “antitrust inquiry” into Google.  Why?  Three reasons.
Wall Street Journal:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
The Information:
Sources: Jeffrey Katzenberg tried to sell Quibi's catalog to NBCUniversal and Facebook, but both passed; Katzenberg told others he may shut down the company  —  Jeffrey Katzenberg may be nearing the end of the road with his mobile video streaming service Quibi.
Janko Roettgers / Protocol:
Netflix plans to test a 48-hour free weekend in India, dubbed StreamFest and scheduled for Dec. 4, and may bring the promotion to other countries later  —  Netflix is looking to promote its service with a 48-hour free streaming event, confirmed COO Greg Peters during the company's Q3 2020 earnings call Tuesday afternoon.
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Netflix reports Q3 revenue of $6.44B, up 22.7% YoY, vs $6.38B est., and 2.2M paid net adds in Q3 vs 6.8M in Q3 2019 and 10.1M in Q2 2020  —  - It's the first report since longtime Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos was promoted to co-CEO.  — Netflix told shareholders last quarter …
Ina Fried / Axios:
Over 430,000 viewers tuned in simultaneously to watch Rep. Alexia Ocasio-Cortez play Among Us on Twitch, the third highest ever for an individual Twitch stream  —  More than 430,000 people tuned in simultaneously to Twitch on Tuesday night to watch Rep. Alexia Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) …
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
iPad Air (2020) review: has an excellent screen, very fast processor, and is compatible with iPad Pro accessories, but it's expensive and has no 128GB option  —  Despite the higher cost, this iPad is the one to get  —  If you're looking to get an iPad right now and can afford it …
Jake Tapper / CNN:
Sources: WH is seeking to fast-track a no-bid contract to lease DOD mid-band 5G spectrum to Rivada Networks, which has Peter Thiel and Karl Rove as investors  —  Washington (CNN)Senior officials throughout various departments and agencies of the Trump administration tell CNN they are alarmed …
Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
Snap reports Q3 revenue of $679M, up 52% YoY, vs $555.9M est., DAUs were up ~18% YoY to 249M, average number of daily Snaps up 25% YoY; stock up 25%+  —  - Snap's stock price soared more than 15% after hours on Tuesday as the company posted an unexpected, adjusted profit along with positive user …
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Facebook confirms it is testing a feature for users to connect with their neighbors, as rival Nextdoor considers options for going public  —  - Product for local connections is being tested in Canada now  — Nextdoor is considering options, including a public offering
Bloomberg:
Sources: Chinese tech companies including Huawei have expressed strong concerns to local regulators about Nvidia's proposed acquisition of Arm  —  - China is unlikely to grant its unconditional blessing  — Arm may become another flashpoint in the U.S.-China tech war
Jack Nicas / New York Times:
Report: at least 2,000 US law enforcement agencies, including 49 of the 50 largest police departments, have the tools to access locked, encrypted phones  —  At least 2,000 law enforcement agencies have tools to get into encrypted smartphones, according to new research, and they are using them far more than previously known.
More: Upturn and Forbes
Jay Peters / The Verge:
From today until “at least” the end of election week, Twitter will show the Quote Tweet composer when you click or tap the retweet icon, discouraging basic RTs  —  The changes will be in place until ‘at least’ the end of election week  —  Twitter is temporarily changing …

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:
The crossroads of AI and SaaS  —  Enabling businesses of all sizes to build products in-house and disqualifying SaaS tools that are not AI-powered.  In a span of just two years, AI has made a name for itself as the key driver for innovation.
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:
Fri. 12/20 - Gemini Flash Thinking
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 10:35 AM ET, October 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

Anna Wiener / New Yorker:
Rest of World:

Earlier Picks

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
James Vincent / The Verge:
Adi Robertson / The Verge: