Techmeme
July 14, 2021, 5:00 PM

Top News

Kevin Roose / New York Times:
Facebook staff detail the fight over CrowdTangle, which notes top-engaging posts, often showing right-wing sources dominating; in April, its team was reassigned  —  Executives at the social network have clashed over CrowdTangle, a Facebook-owned data tool that revealed users' high engagement levels with right-wing media sources.
Alex Heath / The Verge:
Twitter says it will retire Fleets, its stories-like service, on August 3 after low adoption  —  A fleeting moment for Fleets  —  Say goodbye to Fleets, the row of fullscreen tweets at the top of the Twitter timeline that expire after 24 hours.  The ephemeral tweet format is shutting …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft announces Windows 365, letting businesses stream a version of Windows 10 or 11 in a web browser or through its Remote Desktop app, launching August 2  —  Windows 365 is a new service that creates Cloud PCs  —  Microsoft is putting Windows in the cloud.
Brent Kendall / Wall Street Journal:
Facebook says it is seeking the recusal of FTC chair Lina Khan in the agency's deliberations over a new antitrust case, following a similar move by Amazon  —  Social-media giant follows Amazon in citing Lina Khan's tech criticisms, congressional work to question her impartiality
Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:
Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook will pay $1B to creators by the end of 2022; creators can earn money using Instagram or Facebook tools or by hitting milestones  —  Facebook is setting up a program to pay $1 billion to creators through the end of 2022, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive …
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
As very few iOS users opt into tracking, Facebook's many advertisers are noticing a negative impact on tracking campaigns, targeting new customers, and more  —  People give iOS apps permission to track their behavior just 25% of the time  —  When users get asked on iPhone devices …
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
WhatsApp begins a limited beta for multi-device support, letting users access WhatsApp on up to four non-phone devices without an active smartphone connection  —  WhatsApp is finally pushing an improvement to a key feature that even the Facebook-owned instant messaging service acknowledges has been a top request from users for years.
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
In macOS Monterey's new developer beta, Apple appears to walk back on its revamp of Safari's tabs, which were set to become more efficient with vertical space  —  In the third developer beta of macOS Monterey, which came out this morning, Apple has overhauled the design of Safari …
Bloomberg:
European Central Bank says it will begin a 24-month “investigation phase” that could lead to the creation of a digital euro by around 2025  —  - Process will take 24 months before decision on adoption taken  — ECB says infrastructure would use far less energy than Bitcoin
Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple has asked suppliers to build up to 90M next-generation iPhones this year, up 20% YoY; this year's update will be more incremental than iPhone 12  —  - Company targets 90 million shipments of this year's new models  — Iterative iPhone upgrade to boost chips, cameras and displays
Maddie Stone / The Keyword:
Google's Threat Analysis Group breaks down three recent malware campaigns, likely state-backed, and notes a large uptick of in-the-wild 0-day attacks this year  —  Zero-day vulnerabilities are unknown software flaws.  Until they're identified and fixed, they can be exploited by attackers.
Reuters:
Twitter says governments made 361 demands to remove content from 199 verified accounts of journalists and news outlets in H2 2020, up 26% from H1  —  Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) saw a surge in demands over the course of last year from governments around the world to take down content posted …
Priya Anand / Bloomberg:
Internal documents: Amazon considered building an Alexa-powered, GPS-enabled wearable device for kids aged 4-12 as part of its 2020 product roadmap  —  - Gadget would give kids aged 4 to 12 access to movies, games  — Company is also exploring a ‘Magic Band’ wearable with Disney
Casey Newton / Platformer:
An Ugly Truth attributes many of Facebook's scandals to its capitalist origins, while arguably the biggest scandals extend from it impacting human psychology  —  Three ways of looking at a Facebook scandal  —  I. The CSO and The Wire  —  As the second season of the great 2000s crime drama …
Dave Gershgorn / The Verge:
A coalition of 35 organizations demand that top US retailers, including Macy's and Lowe's, stop using facial recognition to identify customers  —  Lowe's, Albertsons, Macy's are already using the tech  —  More than 35 organizations are demanding top US retailers cease using facial recognition …
Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:
FlyMachine, which is building a virtual concerts service that lets users chat with friends during the show, raises $21M led by Greycroft Partners and SignalFire  —  As concerts and live events return to the physical world stateside, many in the tech industry have wondered whether …
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
An Amazon Canada search page details the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 series, available in 40mm, 42mm, 44mm, and 46mm with Wear OS, shipping August 27 from CAD $309  —  We're just short of a month away from Samsung's next big product launch, but there's not much left to be surprised by.
Nate DiCamillo / CoinDesk:
Jerome Powell tells Congress a Fed report, due in Sept., will address cryptocurrencies, CBDCs, and stablecoins, “which need an appropriate regulatory framework”  —  The report will address cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and CBDCs.  —  U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell …
More: Decrypt
Chris Metinko / Crunchbase News:
Virsec, which claims to offer companies real-time threat detection of “zero day” exploits without relying on AI, raises $100M Series C led by BlueIO  —  San Jose, California-based Virsec closed a $100 million Series C as companies continue to look for ways to secure their software amidst an increasing amount of cyber hacks.

Sponsor Posts

Airtable:
Meet Airtable ProductCentral  —  The unified solution for managing your entire product development process in the AI era.
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.
Zoho:
Zoho Forms for successful Black Friday sales  —  Black Friday is a retail frenzy that can significantly impact your bottom line.  To make the most of this shopping bonanza, you need a strategy that not only attracts customers …
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Mon. 11/04 - Apple Buying And Investing In Things
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 5:00 PM ET, July 14, 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

Earlier Picks