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March 31, 2021, 4:00 PM
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| Nick Clegg: |
Nick Clegg defends Facebook, saying it is not in the company's interest, financially or reputationally, to push users towards ever more extreme content — In a recent article for The Atlantic, Adrienne LaFrance compared Facebook to a Doomsday Machine: “a device built with the sole purpose of destroying all human life.”
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About Facebook, The Verge, Forbes, Social Media Today, USA Today, CityAM, Pocketnow, Reuters, The Hill, BBC, KnowTechie, TechCrunch, Android Central, Silicon Republic, Wccftech, and Mashable
Tweets: @nick_clegg, @nick_clegg, @mikarv, @mathewi, @andymstone, @jesselehrich, @jeffjarvis, @andrewchen, @jjvincent, @caseynewton, @jason_kint, @mattnavarra, @carolecadwalla, @craigsilverman, @janoschdelcker, @craigsilverman, @craigsilverman, @nick_clegg, @nick_clegg, @ceciliakang, @janoschdelcker, @imbadatlife, @shiraovide, @olifranklin, @katiecollins, @adrianweckler, @craigsilverman, @joshsternberg, @mikarv, @silvermanjacob, @etherington, @hypervisible, @jtemperton, @damiancollins, @janoschdelcker, @nick_clegg, @pkafka, @joannastern, @psawers, @zilevandamme, @edbott, @dannypage, @kantrowitz, @craigsilverman, @matt_muir, @janoschdelcker, and @mtrc
| Josh Taylor / The Guardian: |
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Neowin, TechSpot, iPhone Hacks, and 9to5Mac
Tweets: @benv_w, @missrobinson, @adamholmes010, @manjusrii, @flipprior, @quiip, and @earleyedition
| Sami Fathi / MacRumors: |
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Gizmodo, appadvice.com, International Business Times, NBC News, iMore, The Verge, Engadget, The Next Web, and Axios
Tweets: @jason_kint, @abelardinelli, and @aurasalla
| Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch: |
Apple says it is introducing two new Siri voices for English speakers and eliminating the default female voice selection, as part of iOS 14.5 beta 6 — Apple is adding two new voices to Siri's English offerings, and eliminating the default ‘female voice’ selection in the latest beta version of iOS.
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9to5Mac, Apple Support, The Verge, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, Engadget, Laptop Mag, AppleInsider, AppleInsider, CNET, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, 9to5Mac, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, MacRumors, iDownloadBlog.com, Redmond Pie, iPhone Hacks, iPhone in Canada Blog, Cult of Mac, CNBC, Wccftech, SlashGear, BGR, iMore, and Six Colors
Tweets: @reneritchie, @caseynewton, @codycombsnews, and @panzer
| Makena Kelly / The Verge: |
Biden announces $2T American Jobs Plan focused on improving US infrastructure, with $100B allocated for high-speed broadband access over eight years — It sets aside $100 billion for the effort — President Biden plans to announce a sweeping infrastructure plan Wednesday that includes $100 billion …
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The White House, Washington Post, CoinDesk, Ars Technica, VICE, New York Times, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, WRAL TechWire, Politico, SlashGear, Axios, Light Reading, CNBC, 9to5Mac, The White House, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, CNET, and Axios
Tweets: @senschumer, @karavoght, @jrosenworcel, @jake_k, @jstein_wapo, @jstein_wapo, @yamiche, @ceciliakang, and @kellymakena
| Financial Times: |
Deliveroo closed down 26% in its LSE debut, after pricing shares at £3.90, valuing it at £5.2B; the poor debut is likely due to labor practice issues — Fall comes after food delivery company priced its shares at bottom end of range — Deliveroo's shares plunged 26 per cent …
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Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, BBC, Wall Street Journal, London Stock Exchange, CNBC, New York Times, CityAM, TechCrunch, Insider, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, CNN, Reuters, PYMNTS.com, Telegraph, Silicon Republic, The Irish Times, Fast Company, Fortune, coinspeaker.com, Yahoo Finance, The Information, CoinGeek, Sky News, Bloomberg, mirror, Reuters, Insider, New York Times, and CNBC
Tweets: @sam_l_shead, @markdistef, @demarionunn, @jimwaterson, @ingridlunden, @abhinavvr, @daniburgz, @nicholasvinocur, @jimwaterson, @oscarwgrut, @russian_market, @tim, @daveleeft, @mattgarrahan, @atbwebb, @rob2775, @daniburgz, @zarahsultana, @financialtimes, @deliveroo, @sam_l_shead, @duncanweldon, and @oscarwgrut
| Jordan Novet / CNBC: |
The Pentagon says Microsoft will build 120K custom HoloLens headsets for the US Army; Microsoft says the contract could be worth up to $21.88B over 10 years — - Microsoft will deliver to the U.S. Army over 120,000 devices based on its HoloLens augmented-reality headset.
More:
The Official Microsoft Blog, Bloomberg, Reuters, TechCrunch, Engadget, and Washington Post
Tweets: @dinabass, @dinabass, @bdsams, @ryanfduffy, @kylebrussell, @stevekovach, and @jordannovet. Thanks:@fxshaw
| Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch: |
Apple leads $50M Series B in music distributor UnitedMasters, with a16z and Alphabet participating; UnitedMasters enters a strategic partnership with Apple — Independent music distribution platform and tool factory UnitedMasters has raised a $50M series B round led by Apple.
More:
Bloomberg, VentureBeat, CNET, Digital Music News, afrotech.com, Variety, KnowTechie, MacDailyNews, MacRumors, Wall Street Journal, Crunchbase News, and 9to5Mac
Tweets: @navjosh, @adamsingolda, @ingridlunden, and @anthony
| Cade Metz / New York Times: |
Turing Award goes to Jeffrey Ullman and Alfred Aho for their work on compilers, which underpin computer programming languages — Jeffrey Ullman and Alfred Aho developed many of the fundamental concepts that researchers use when they build new software. — When Alfred Aho and Jeffrey Ullman met …
More:
CNET, Stanford News, EurekAlert!, and Axios
Tweets: @gvanrossum, @stevesi, @codeslack, @columbia, and @nytimes
| Ken Klippenstein / The Intercept: |
Leaked doc sheds light on “Veritas”, an Amazon FC Ambassador program conceived in 2018 that sought to train employees to defend Amazon and Bezos on social media — Amazon's small Twitter army of “ambassadors” was quietly conceived in 2018 under the codename “Veritas,” …
More:
Last Week in AWS, Input, Insider, and IGN
Tweets: @kenklippenstein, @kenklippenstein, @webster, @punishedgoon, @slpng_giants, and @bradlander
| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Instagram announces Remix, a way to record Reels alongside other users, similar to TikTok's Duets — Instagram today is officially launching a new feature called Remix, which offers a way to record your Reels video alongside a video from another user. The option is similar …
More:
Social Media Today, 9to5Mac, CNET, The Verge, and Engadget
Tweets: @instagram, @loudmouthjulia, and @taylorlorenz
| Peter Rubin / Wired: |
A reflection on Facebook's VR efforts as the Oculus Rift turns five: an astonishing number of problems have been solved but many big challenges remain — A lot's happened since Facebook's first headset brought virtual reality to the masses. Facebook might have been a first mover, but it also wants to be the last one.
More:
Facebook Technology. Tweets: @techatfacebook, @jonostrower, @tomgara, @wired, @haydencd, @boztank, @arvrgirl, and @gabeaul
| Jay Peters / The Verge: |
Discord debuts Stage Channels, a Clubhouse-like way of broadcasting audio to a room, available on all platforms; only Community servers can make Stage Channels — Another app adding live audio spaces — Discord is the latest company to introduce a Clubhouse-like feature … | Nick Statt / The Verge: |
Sponsor of Arizona's HB2005 bill, which allows alternative payment systems in app stores, says it won't get a hearing this year after being pulled last week — Arizona House Bill 2005, a hotly contested piece of legislation that would have imposed developer-friendly changes to Apple …
More:
iMore, Developer Tech News, MacRumors, Engadget, AppleInsider, iPhone Hacks, GameSpot, and 9to5Mac
Tweets: @nickstatt, @nickstatt, @nickstatt, and @reckless
| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
App Annie: users spent $32B on apps across iOS and Play Store globally in Q1 2021, up 40% YoY and the largest quarter on record; iOS beat Android $21B to $11B — The pandemic's remarkable impact on the app industry has not slowed down in 2021. In fact, consumer spending in apps has hit …
More:
App Annie, AppleInsider, and MacDailyNews
| Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: |
Source: Apple is planning to announce a mixed reality headset “sometime” in the next several months, possibly at an in-person event — Hi everyone—it's Mark. On Tuesday, Apple Inc. announced what will be at least its fifth virtual product launch in a row and one of its most important events …
More:
MacRumors, Laptop Mag, AppleInsider, Redmond Pie, MacDailyNews, Cult of Mac, Mashable, iDownloadBlog.com, Pocketnow, iPhone Hacks, and Wccftech
Tweets: @toddheberlein, @bengeskin, @lanceulanoff, @scobleizer, and @markgurman
| Lawrence Weru / Slate: |
The rise of Clubhouse and other audio-only social networks marginalizes people with speech impediments like stuttering — It's before sunrise and I'm doing some accounting while listening to conversations on Clubhouse. On the app, people can schedule and host audio chat rooms …
Tweets: @nicolasmagand, @futuretensenow, @chengela, @futuretensenow, @yoda, and @nealbaer
| Emily Feng / NPR: |
How Wuhan's HSMC created an unusable chip factory, becoming one of six multibillion-dollar Chinese chip project failures in the last two years — WUHAN, China — In 2019, the U.S. sanctioned two major Chinese telecom firms, temporarily cutting them off from a vital supply of semiconductor chips … | Arjun Kharpal / CNBC: |
Huawei reports 2020 revenue of $136.7B, up 3.8% YoY but slower than the 19%+ growth it saw in 2019, and net profit of $9.9B, up 3.2% YoY — - Huawei's revenue for 2020 totaled 891.4 billion yuan ($136.7 billion), a 3.8% year-on-year rise in yuan terms. That was slower than the more than 19% revenue growth Huawei saw in 2019.| Axios: |
Survey: trust in tech declined globally in 2020 due factors like misinfo and privacy concerns; in the US, tech fell from the “most trusted” in 2019, to ninth — Trust in tech — including companies specializing in AI, VR, 5G and the internet of things — fell all around the world last year … | Ina Fried / Axios: |
Memo: Google tells employees that it expects some US-based workers to return to the office in April, but won't require employees to come in until at least Sept. — Google told workers in an email Wednesday that it expects some U.S. employees to be able to return to the office in the coming month.| Ted Chiang / New Yorker: |
For the foreseeable future, technological innovation will be driven by humans, not self-improving AI systems, so there won't be a “singularity” — We fear and yearn for “the singularity.” But it will probably never come. — In the eleventh century, St. Anselm of Canterbury proposed …
Tweets: @ajitgeorgesb, @cutting, @michaelluo, @jamesgleick, and @chengela
| Josh Eidelson / Bloomberg: |
Google promises not to silence workers discussing pay, as part of a settlement with a new union that represents hundreds of employees and contract workers — - Alphabet Workers Union accused Google and vendor of wrongdoing — Contract worker said pro-union Facebook post got her suspended
More:
The Verge, Insider, and National Labor Relations Board
Tweets: @josheidelson, @josheidelson, and @quinnypig
| Caitlin McCabe / Wall Street Journal: |
Robinhood says it will remove digital confetti, which appears when making a first trade and elsewhere, from its app after criticism that it “gamifies” investing — The confetti, which critics alleged was a gamification strategy, will be replaced with new designs
More:
Under the Hood, CNBC, MUO, Insider, and The Independent
Tweets: @jimprosser, @vladtenev, @robinhoodapp, and @eringriffith
| Saritha Rai / Bloomberg: |
Uniphore, which uses AI to analyze and improve customer support provided over voice and video calls, raises $140M Series D, bringing its total raised to $210M — - Company working on technology that analyzes facial expressions — Startup looking to expand beyond call-center software| Eric Geller / Politico: |
Interviews with 15 people show CISA is underfunded, short on talent, outmatched by adversaries, and overwhelmed by the fallout from two massive cyberattacks — The agency that protects the U.S. from hackers is hobbled by funding woes, a talent shortage and growing pains that are jeopardizing … | Sylvia Varnham O'Regan / The Information: |
Gupta Media: Facebook ad prices, measured in cost per thousand impressions, rebounded from a $1 monthly average last spring to almost $5 in November — With consumers glued to phones and laptops, the year of pandemic shut-ins ended up being great for the biggest digital advertising businesses …
Tweets: @lauramandaro
| Zheping Huang / Bloomberg: |
Chinese cryptocurrency wallet imToken raises $30M Series B led by Qiming and says it has 12M users with over $50B in crypto assets — ImToken, a Chinese startup that built one of the most used cryptocurrency wallet apps, has raised $30 million from investors including Qiming Venture Partners and Breyer Capital.
More:
Business Wire, CoinDesk, Tech in Asia, Coin Journal, and DealStreetAsia
| Alex Konrad / Forbes: |
Common Room, a service to track online interactions with products, used by Figma and others, raises $32.3M Series B led by Greylock — Covering venture capital, software and startups — Linda Lian believes the next generation of software businesses will find customers differently …
Tweets: @alexrkonrad
| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
LinkedIn confirms it's working on a Clubhouse rival and will begin beta testing soon, but doesn't have an exact timeframe for its launch — Clubhouse's list of competitors is growing. LinkedIn has now confirmed it's also testing a social audio experience in its app which would allow creators …
More:
Platformer, OnMSFT.com, and XDA Developers
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