Techmeme
August 5, 2022, 5:45 PM

Top News

Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Amazon plans to acquire Roomba maker iRobot in a $1.7B all-cash deal; Colin Angle will remain as iRobot's CEO  —  Amazon this morning announced plans to acquire Roomba maker iRobot for an all-cash deal valued at $1.7 billion.  —  “Since we started iRobot, our team has been on a mission …
Nikkei Asia:
Nikkei Asia:
After Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, sources say shipments to Pegatron's factory, used by Microsoft, Tesla, and others, were being held by Chinese customs  —  Suppliers spooked as Beijing wields rule against ‘Taiwan’ label on goods  —  TAIPEI — Shipments to iPhone assembler Pegatron's factory …
The Verge:
After criticism, DuckDuckGo says its browser will now block Microsoft tracking scripts on third-party websites, formerly exempt due to a search syndication deal  —  After an uproar over an exception, DuckDuckGo is promising transparency.  —  After a revelation in May that DuckDuckGo's …
James Vincent / The Verge:
Meta's AI research lab releases its BlenderBot 3 chatbot, which searches the internet to answer questions, available to US users on the web, to collect feedback  —  What could possibly go wrong?  —  Meta's AI research labs have created a new state-of-the-art chatbot and are letting members …
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
Twitter confirms that a now-patched bug was used to link phone numbers and emails to user accounts; a threat actor offered to sell 5.4M records in December 2021  —  Twitter has confirmed a recent data breach was caused by a now-patched zero-day vulnerability used to link email addresses …
Omer Benjakob / Haaretz:
A prototype of NSO's Pegasus for Israeli police in 2014 reveals the UI and features, including real-time wiretapping, reading texts, and remote camera control  —  Israel Police planned to present cabinet with the system eight years ago.  It was intended to be capable of turning the infected phone …
Nicola Kelly / The Guardian:
The UK government plans to require migrants convicted of a crime to scan their faces up to five times per day using smartwatches; locations will be tracked 24/7  —  Home Office and MoJ plans will require migrants convicted of crimes to take photos up to five times a day
Nupur Anand / Reuters:
India's Enforcement Directorate freezes the assets, worth ~$8.16M, of Binance-owned crypto exchange WazirX, citing suspected foreign exchange rule violations  —  India's financial crime-fighting agency said on Friday that it has frozen the assets of WazirX, owned by the world's largest digital …
Elena Schneider / Politico:
A look at FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's range of US political contributions, including $10M+ to back Biden in 2020, and uncertainty about his goals and leanings  —  NASSAU, Bahamas — One of the biggest donors in Democratic politics this year isn't sure if he really wants to be a Democratic megadonor — at least not on the party's terms.
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:
CoinDesk:
How crypto developer Ian Macalinao posed as 11 independent developers and faked a web of DeFi protocols to temporarily inflate the total value locked on Solana  —  The Macalinao brothers used a web of bogus identities to create the illusion of a dev community, juicing value on the Saber protocol and Solana blockchain.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro (experimental) is now available, with thinking capabilities, enhanced performance, and improved accuracy.  Try it at no cost in the Gemini app.
UiPath:
Introducing the UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation  —  UiPath's new platform empowers enterprises to experience the full power of AI to transform industries
Zoho:
App Spotlight: Savoir for Zoho Books  —  App Spotlight brings you hand-picked solutions that enhance your Zoho apps and tools.  Visit Zoho Marketplace to explore all of our apps, integrations …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Techmeme Ride Home:
Apple's Coming For The Meta Ray-Bans
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Hard Fork:
Bad Apple + The Rise of the AI Empire + Italian Brain Rot
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
The Logan Bartlett Show:
Yotam Segev (CEO, Cyera) on Growing One of the Fastest Security Startups on the Planet
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
Subscribe to The Logan Bartlett Show.
Great Chat:
Great managers, and what makes them great
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
Reuters is ready to stand up for the press -- and embrace AI
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Lenny's Podcast:
How have I been complicit in creating the conditions I say I don't want? | Jerry Colonna (CEO of Reboot, executive coach, former VC)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:45 PM ET, August 5, 2022.

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

Joanna Ossinger / Bloomberg:
Andrew Romero / 9to5Google:

Earlier Picks

Soma Biswas / Wall Street Journal:
Michelle Price / Reuters:
Michael del Castillo / Forbes:
Nelson Wang / CoinDesk:
Dan Primack / Axios:
Oliver Knight / CoinDesk:
Bloomberg: