Techmeme
May 20, 2021, 10:40 PM

Top News

The Verge:
Twitter is rolling out its new verification program, with revamped categories that include activists and journalists, and previews upcoming changes to profiles  —  It also previewed potential changes coming to profiles  —  Twitter is relaunching its public verification program, allowing anyone to apply for a coveted blue check mark.
Thomas Franck / CNBC:
US Treasury announces it will require any cryptocurrency transfers worth $10,000+ to be reported to the IRS, saying cryptocurrencies pose a tax evasion risk  —  - The Treasury Department announced that it will require any transfer worth $10,000 or more to be reported to the IRS.
Alex Heath / The Verge:
Snap unveils its first AR glasses, with four built-in microphones, two stereo speakers, and a touchpad, and says it will test them with some AR effects creators  —  The fourth-gen glasses have built-in AR displays  —  Snap's new Spectacles glasses are its most ambitious yet.
Kerry Flynn / CNN:
Snapchat says 5,400+ creators earned $130M in total via its Spotlight incentive program and it will stop giving away $1M per day to creators starting June 1  —  New York (CNN Business)When Snap took on TikTok, it didn't just release a copycat product.  It distributed $1 million every …
Jason Rosenthal / The Keyword:
Google is opening its first ever physical retail store in New York this summer, letting users buy Pixel phones, Nest products, Fitbit devices, more  —  Today, we're announcing our plans to open Google's first ever physical retail store, in one of the greatest cities in the world: New York.
Ian Sherr / CNET:
Reuters:
Federal Reserve Chair Powell discusses the risks of cryptocurrencies and sets a timeline for a Fed discussion paper on a possible central bank digital currency  —  Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell flagged the risks of cryptocurrencies in an unusual video message on Thursday that also laid …
Bloomberg:
Sources: CNA Financial, one of the largest insurance companies in the US, paid $40M in late March to regain control of its network after a ransomware attack  —  CNA Financial Corp., among the largest insurance companies in the U.S., paid $40 million in late March to regain control of its network …
Jacob Krol / CNN:
Apple TV 4K (2021) review: faster than competition and the new Siri Remote is very good with a power button and easy-to-use click wheel, but very expensive  —  Like the refresh of the iPad Pros, the updates to the Apple TV 4K are all internal, namely new hardware that leads to an overall speedier experience.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify partners with Audible rival Storytel, allowing the latter's subscribers to listen to books on Spotify; Storytel has 500K titles and 1.6M subscribers  —  Spotify is further expanding into audiobooks — but not in the way you may think.  The company today announced a new partnership …
S. Shah / Engadget:
Opera is testing its gaming-focused browser Opera GX on iOS and Android; Opera GX had 9M+ monthly active gamers across Windows and Mac as of March, up 190% YoY  —  desktop browser for gamers to further distinguish itself from Google Chrome.  Over the following months and years …
Maggie Fitzgerald / CNBC:
Robinhood announces IPO Access, which will let retail investors buy shares of companies at their IPO price before trading begins on public exchanges  —  - Robinhood said it is giving retail investors access to IPO shares.  — Retail traders typically don't have a vehicle to buy …
Echo Wang / Reuters:
Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:
Democratic Reps. Trahan and Castor introduce the Social Media DATA Act, which would force large platforms to share ad targeting data with researchers and FTC  —  Facebook's ad library allows researchers to see the content of ads that run on the platform and information on who those ads reach.
Kaavya Chandrasekaran / The Economic Times:
Mumbai-based Eruditus Group, which makes top tier university courses accessible globally, acquires SV-based iD Tech, which offers online coding camps, for $200M  —  The acquisition will mark the Mumbai-based entity's expansion beyond higher education into the K-12 STEM space
Financial Times:
Regional government of Inner Mongolia sets up hotline to report suspected crypto mining as China moves to curb energy emissions and fortify its central bank  —  Move comes as Beijing's crackdown prompts volatility in global bitcoin trading  —  A Chinese province has asked residents to blow …
More: MUO
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Jam City, a Harry Potter mobile game publisher, files to go public via SPAC at a $1.2B valuation, buys Ludia, a Canadian mobile game publisher, for $175M  —  Did you miss GamesBeat Summit 2021?  Watch on-demand here!  —  Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery mobile game publisher Jam City has filed …

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:
Introducing AI Forms: Create optimized forms with AI in Zoho Forms  —  The future of form creation isn't coming, it's here.  Forget everything you thought you knew about building online forms.
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:
Mon. 12/23 - The Revenge Of Google Glass?
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 10:40 PM ET, May 20, 2021.

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

Katie Roof / Bloomberg:
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch:

Earlier Picks

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: