Techmeme
September 23, 2021, 8:05 PM

Top News

Associated Press:
European Commission proposes legislation mandating USB-C charging for mobile devices, citing electronic waste; Apple is the main USB-C holdout  —  LONDON (AP) — The European Union unveiled plans Thursday that would require smartphone makers to adopt a single charging method for mobile devices.
Florence Ion / Gizmodo:
Google announces a range of features for Android, Google TV, Assistant, and Gboard, including some that were previously Pixel exclusives  —  The company just pushed out over a dozen new Android features, including some we thought would be limited to Android 12.  —  Alerts
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Google details several accessibility features coming to Android 12, including facial gesture controls, handwriting recognition, and an app for low-vision users  —  Alongside new Assistant and Gboard additions  —  Google's raft of new features coming to Android this fall includes some interesting new accessibility features.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter integrates Strike's wallet to let users receive tips in bitcoin, rolls out Tips globally on iOS, and will explore support for NFT authentication  —  Twitter's slate of new product announcements is not slowing down.  The company today introduced a number of new initiatives aimed …
Cristiano Lima / Washington Post:
Sen. Marsha Blackburn says WSJ's Facebook Files whistleblower has turned over documents and plans to reveal their identity “at some point down the line”  —  Happy Thursday and welcome to The Technology 202!  Below: Meet “Help Desk,” a new initiative our colleagues are launching …
Casey Newton / Platformer:
WSJ's Facebook Files, which uses Facebook's own data and research to highlight its impact on users, is Facebook's biggest crisis since Cambridge Analytica  —  How the company found itself in its biggest crisis since Cambridge Analytica  —  A week ago, the Wall Street Journal began to publish …
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Facebook says its global head of safety, Antigone Davis, will testify before the Senate Commerce subcommittee on consumer protection on September 30  —  - Facebook agreed to send Antigone Davis, global head of safety, to testify before the Senate Commerce subcommittee on consumer protection on Sept. 30.
Washington Post:
Researchers: despite Apple's ATT changes, at least three popular iOS apps are sending identifying info to third-parties even when users opt-out of tracking  —  On your iPhone, you can now tap a button that says, “Ask app not to track.”  But behind the scenes, some apps keep snooping anyway.
Bloomberg:
New York City passes bills establishing minimum pay and worker protections for app-based couriers, including those working for Grubhub, Uber, and DoorDash  —  - Legislation includes setting a minimum per-trip payment  — Couriers and customers will be granted more tip transparency
The Verge:
Tim Sweeney says Apple told Epic that it will not consider reinstating Epic's developer account until all legal appeals have concluded, likely years from now  —  Epic CEO Tim Sweeney revealed the conversation in a series of tweets  —  Fortnite will not be returning to the iOS App Store any time soon …
Jay Greene / Washington Post:
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill requiring Amazon and other employers to disclose the use of productivity quotas and more, starting January 1  —  Gov. Gavin Newsom says the new law, which targeted Amazon, will protect workers and give them “the dignity, respect and safety they deserve.”
Alex Heath / The Verge:
Facebook details the types of posts that get demoted in News Feed, such as clickbait and spam, but stops short of saying exactly how a demotion works  —  A high-level look at what gets suppressed by Facebook's algorithm  —  The way that Facebook controls its News Feed is often controversial and largely opaque to the outside world.
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
New York-based Ocrolus, which offers automated tools for businesses to process documents, raises $80M Series C at a $500M+ valuation led by Fin VC  —  If you've ever had to take out a loan, you know just how many documents are involved in the approval process.  —  It's a lot.
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Apple releases iOS 12.5.5 and a macOS Catalina security update to fix zero-day vulnerabilities in CoreGraphics, WebKit, and XNU  —  Apple has released security updates to fix three zero-day vulnerabilities exploited in the wild by attackers to hack into iPhones and Macs running older iOS and macOS versions.
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
In a memo, Lina Khan encourages FTC staff to prioritize addressing “dominant intermediaries”, unfair contracts, and mergers that are “illegal on their face”  —  - Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan encouraged her staff to prioritize addressing “dominant intermediaries” …
Aruna Viswanatha / Wall Street Journal:
US federal judge orders Facebook to hand over records on posts removed for promoting violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar  —  Federal judge rules social-media company must hand over information about posts removed for promoting violence against Rohingya Muslims
Yong Jun Yuan / The Business Times:
Advance Intelligence, the Singapore-based owner of buy now, pay later service Atome, raises $400M Series D led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 at a $2B valuation  —  ADVANCE Intelligence Group, a Singapore-headquartered artificial intelligence (AI) tech startup announced on Wednesday that it had closed …
More: Bloomberg

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 8:05 PM ET, September 23, 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

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Martha Muir / Financial Times:

Earlier Picks

Igor Bonifacic / Engadget:
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg: