Techmeme
July 14, 2021, 5:30 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
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.
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
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 …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Alibaba and Tencent are separately working on plans to open their services to each other, as China's crackdown makes keeping barriers more difficult  —  Mounting regulatory pressure could bring about a major shift in how China's tech giants operate
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
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.
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.

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