Techmeme
May 16, 2021, 8:20 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Microsoft's board decided in 2020 Gates should leave the board as it probed claims Gates sought to initiate an affair with a Microsoft engineer in 2000  —  Company's board members began investigation in 2019 into woman's allegations of prior sexual relationship with Bill Gates …
New York Times:
Sources: long after his marriage, Bill Gates would pursue women at Microsoft, at times creating an uncomfortable workplace environment  —  Melinda French Gates voiced concerns about her husband's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and a harassment claim against his money manager.
José Adorno / 9to5Mac:
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Clubhouse, which launched its Android app in beta in the US last week, to expand the app to Japan, Brazil, and Russia on Tuesday, and globally by Friday  —  Voice social network Clubhouse said on Sunday it will expand its Android app worldwide in a week, days after launching a beta version …
Joshua Swingle / PhoneArena:
Jon Prosser leaks what he claims are Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro renders, as well as a promo video and images of Android 12, ahead of Google I/O  —  Google is rumored to be revamping Wear OS this year and the update is said to be so substantial that even Samsung is on board with the plans.
Stephanie Chan / Sensor Tower Blog:
After WhatsApp's privacy policy changes, in the first four months of 2021, Telegram's installs rose 98% YoY and Signal's first-time downloads were up 1,192% YoY  —  Popular mobile messenger WhatsApp encountered backlash in January when it was announced that users would need to accept …
Zeke Faux / Bloomberg:
An examination of Chamath Palihapitiya-sponsored SPACs, including Clover Health, which have plunged 50% on average after the SPAC market hit its peak in mid-Feb  —  One morning last October, as wildfires raged across Northern California, President Donald Trump convalesced from Covid‑ …
Clive Thompson / New York Times:
A brief history of NFTs and cryptoart, including interviews with artists who kickstarted the NFT boom, as celebrities and major brands fuel the frenzy  —  Digital creators used the blockchain to create a whole new art scene.  Then their work started selling for thousands — sometimes millions of dollars.
Adriana Hamacher / Decrypt:
Q&A with Dogecoin developer Ross Nicoll about its coming upgrade, and working with Elon Musk, who Nicoll says has been in touch with Doge developers since 2019  —  Dogecoin developers have turned down funding from Elon Musk, choosing instead to tap his brain to make the cryptocurrency a greener …

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More News

Matt Burgess / Wired UK:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Reggie Ugwu / New York Times:

Earlier Picks

Cecilia D'Anastasio / Wired:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Will Oremus / The Atlantic:
@antoniogm: