Techmeme
October 22, 2020, 8:45 AM

Top News

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Quibi decided to shut down and return $350M in capital to investors rather than trying to prolong the life of the company via another big investment  —  Quibi Holdings LLC is shutting itself down, according to people familiar with the matter, a crash landing for a once-highflying …
Medium:
Meg Whitman and Jeffrey Katzenberg confirm Quibi is shutting down: “Our failure was not for lack of trying; we've considered and exhausted every option”  —  We started with the idea to create the next generation of storytelling and because of you, we were able to create and deliver …
Kevin Collier / NBC News:
US intelligence director says Iran was behind threatening emails to FL Democratic voters demanding they vote for Trump; voter info was likely publicly available  —  Iranian intelligence was responsible for a recent campaign of emails sent to intimidate Florida voters, the FBI announced Wednesday night …
Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
Activists around the world are building facial recognition tools to identify police officers using off-the-shelf image recognition software  —  “We're now approaching the technological threshold where the little guys can do it to the big guys,” one researcher said.
Nathan Grayson / Kotaku:
Twitch sent DMCA notices to streamers on Tuesday, deleting content without allowing counterclaims; Twitch says “thousands” of music rights holders complained  —  It's finally happening: Twitch is taking action against copyrighted music—long a norm among streamers—in response to music industry pressure.
New York Times:
A look at the well-funded Big Tech opponents, from lawyers to academics, that have helped guide potential government regulation like Google's antitrust suit  —  An unlikely collection of lawyers, activists, economists and academics are fueling the tech backlash, armed with funding from billionaire sponsors.
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
DOJ's lawsuit against Google is appropriately narrow, focusing on search and providing a template for congressional action against Big Tech even if it fails  —  So it finally happened: the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Google, alleging anticompetitive behavior under Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says Jony Ive will collaborate with Airbnb as a design consultant, as part of a multi-year partnership with Ive's firm LoveFrom  —  Jony Ive retired from Apple about a year ago, following an almost 25 year tenure as head of Apple product design.
Mother Jones:
Former Facebook employees describe tests of News Feed algorithm changes and their impact on left- and right-leaning news sites, with tweaks to favor the right  —  For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.
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 …
The Intercept:
Documents show Google Cloud will be used for its AI capabilities by the CBP in conjunction with Anduril Industries' surveillance tech on the US-Mexico border  —  After years of backlash over controversial government work, Google technology will be used to aid the Trump administration's efforts …
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
FCC's top lawyer defends its authority to interpret Section 230, saying 1996 legislation that included Section 230 amended a 1934 act that created the FCC  —  FCC lawyer claims authority to interpret any part of the Communications Act.  —  The Federal Communications Commission's top lawyer today explained …
Hugh Son / CNBC:
JPMorgan launches QuickAccept, a smartphone card reader and payments service for SMBs providing instant deposits of POS transactions for free, unlike Square  —  - JPMorgan's new QuickAccept service lets businesses take card payments within minutes, either through a mobile app or a contactless card reader …
Ina Fried / Axios:
Over 430,000 viewers tuned in simultaneously to watch Rep. 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) play a hit video game as part of an effort to promote voting.

Sponsor Posts

Termina:
AI Powered Diligence at Scale  —  VCs and founders deploy Termina AI Scans on >12% of all known series A+ deals to uncover hidden risks and opportunities.  Explore how you too can invest and build better companies with AI.
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:
E2EE For All!
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:
Why Trump can't be trusted with Congress' new anti-deepfake bill
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Lenny's Podcast:
Inside Bolt: From near-death to ~$40m ARR in 5 months--one of the fastest-growing products in history | Eric Simons (founder & CEO of StackBlitz)
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.
Generative Now:
Dan Shipper: The First MultiModal Media Company
A podcast from Lightspeed dedicated to highlighting the stories, strategies and insights behind today's most exciting AI companies.
Subscribe to Generative Now.
Spotlight On:
Nebius's Arkady Volozh on What it Takes to Build Infrastructure Needed for the AI Era
A podcast from Accel about how companies are built, from the people doing the building.
Subscribe to Spotlight On.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:45 AM ET, October 22, 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

Faiz Siddiqui / Washington Post:

Earlier Picks

Jack Nicas / New York Times:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg: