Techmeme
September 21, 2021, 6:10 PM

Top News

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
iPhone 13 review: excellent cameras and battery life, more base storage, but front camera is unchanged, refresh rate is standard, and iPhone 12 cases don't fit  —  So are bigger cameras  —  What, really, do you want out of a new phone?  —  Assuming you're starting with a good foundation …
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Apple iPhone 13 Pro review: incredible cameras, improved battery, and high refresh display, but front camera is average, no USB-C, and Cinematic Mode is limited  —  The iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max are phones designed for people who care about the details.  The improvements over last year's iPhones …
Konrad Putzier / Wall Street Journal:
Google says it will buy St. John's Terminal, a 1.3M square foot office building it is leasing on Manhattan's West Side, for $2.1B in Q1 2022  —  Manhattan deal is priciest sale of a U.S. office building since pandemic began  —  Google said it is buying a Manhattan office building for $2.1 billion …
Rolfe Winkler / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Apple is working with UCLA and Biogen to identify depression, cognitive decline, and other issues using sensor data, such as typing behavior and sleep  —  Company is working with UCLA, Biogen to see if sensitive data like facial expressions, typing metrics could signal mental-health concerns
New York Times:
Sources: last month Zuckerberg signed off on an effort to use the News Feed to show people positive stories about Facebook, as part of wider Facebook PR shift  —  Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive, has signed off on an effort to show users pro-Facebook stories and to distance himself from scandals.
Washington Post:
Sources: FBI refrained from sharing a ransomware decryptor with businesses for almost three weeks, as it carried out an operation to disrupt the REvil gang  —  The FBI refrained for almost three weeks from helping to unlock the computers of hundreds of businesses and institutions hobbled …
Corin Faife / The Markup:
Analysis: Facebook appears to be adding code to interfere with automated data collection of News Feed posts by researchers, such as NYU's Ad Observatory  —  The tweak, which targets the code in accessibility features for visually impaired users, drew ire from researchers and those who monitor the platform
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
iOS 15.1 beta lets users store their verifiable health records, including COVID-19 vaccination cards and test results, in the Health app  —  The iOS 15.1 beta that was introduced today allows iPhone users to upload their COVID-19 vaccination status to the Health app and then generate a vaccination card in Apple Wallet.
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Following WSJ's investigation series, Facebook says it has spent over $13B on safety and security since the 2016 election and 40K employees work on these issues  —  - Company now has more than 40,000 safety and security employees  — Facebook responds after critical series of newspaper stories
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Treasury Department sanctions cryptocurrency exchange Suex for helping facilitate and launder transactions from at least eight ransomware variants  —  - The U.S. Treasury Department announced Tuesday it will sanction a cryptocurrency exchange for its alleged role in laundering ransoms for cyberattacks.
Karissa Bell / Engadget:
Facebook's Oversight Board wants the company to explain its “cross-check” system, which reportedly lets celebrities, politicians, and others break its rules  —  pushing Facebook to provide more information on its controversial “cross-check” system, following a report that the company …
Nicole Lee / Engadget:
Facebook announces the Portal Go, a $199 10" portable device, and a new $349 Portal+ device with a 14" tilting display and stereo speakers, shipping October 19  —  Facebook's Portal devices have proven surprisingly popular over the past year, largely due to the pandemic and our dependence on video calls.
Todd Haselton / CNBC:
Amazon introduces three new Kindle Paperwhites: $140 Paperwhite with 6.8" display and USB-C, $190 Signature Edition with 32GB of storage, and $160 Kids Edition  —  - Amazon on Tuesday announced three new versions of its Kindle Paperwhite e-reader, including the Paperwhite, Paperwhite Kids Edition and Paperwhite Signature Edition.
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
macOS is susceptible to running arbitrary code when a user opens a malicious .inetloc file, and Apple's first attempt to silently fix the issue failed  —  Security researchers disclosed today a new vulnerability in Apple's macOS Finder, which makes it possible for attackers to run arbitrary commands …
Ryan Weeks / The Block:
Paris-based Sorare, a soccer-focused NFT trading platform, raises $680M Series B led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 at a $4.3B valuation  —  Quick Take  — The fundraise values the Paris-based NFT startup at $4.3 billion.  — It comes off a period of rapid growth for Sorare, which now boasts 600,000 registered users.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Slack announces Clips, short video voicemail messages for channels, rolling out today for paid accounts, changes to Connect, GovSlack, and more  —  Slack is getting video voicemails  —  Slack is launching its new clips feature today, allowing coworkers to record video messages that exist in Slack channels.
Yogita Khatri / The Block:
BitClout creator raises $200M for “Decentralized Social”, a blockchain project with social tools such as profiles, from a16z, Sequoia, Coinbase, and others  —  Quick Take  — BitClout's creator has revealed his identity today.  He is Nader Al-Naji, the founder of the stablecoin startup Basis that shut down in 2018.
Freedom House:
Report finds global internet freedom has declined for the 11th consecutive year including in the US, tech giants clashed with governments over data, and more  —  In the high-stakes battle between states and technology companies, the rights of internet users have become the main casualties.

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:
The crossroads of AI and SaaS  —  Enabling businesses of all sizes to build products in-house and disqualifying SaaS tools that are not AI-powered.  In a span of just two years, AI has made a name for itself as the key driver for innovation.
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:
Fri. 12/20 - Gemini Flash Thinking
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 6:10 PM ET, September 21, 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

Hugh Son / CNBC:

Earlier Picks

Larry Dignan / ZDNet:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Pew Research Center:
Federico Viticci / MacStories: