Techmeme
May 17, 2023, 1:30 PM

Top News

Yogita Khatri / The Block:
Tether plans to invest up to 15% of its profits in bitcoin, as the stablecoin developer shifts its reserves towards crypto and away from US government debt  —  - Tether is set to purchase bitcoin on a regular basis from its profits.  — It held $1.5 billion in bitcoin as of the end of the first quarter …
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
Cybersecurity researchers and IT admins raise concerns over Google's new .zip and .mov TLDs, warning that threat actors could use them for phishing and malware  —  Cybersecurity researchers and IT admins have raised concerns over Google's new ZIP and MOV Internet domains …
Ryan Weeks / The Block:
Ripple acquires Switzerland-based digital asset custody startup Metaco for $250M in cash and stock and plans to keep the brand and founder Adrien Treccani  —  David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images  — Crypto payments firm Ripple shelled out $250 million for Swiss custody startup Metaco.
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
A federal judge in the Ripple lawsuit rules the US SEC cannot seal docs tied to former official William Hinman, who said ether isn't a security in a 2018 speech  —  The order deals a blow to the SEC in its longstanding procedural fight against Ripple.  —  A federal judge ruled …
CNBC:
In an interview, Elon Musk discussed acquiring Twitter, defended his inflammatory tweets, called tech workers the “laptop class living in la-la-land”, and more  —  Tesla CEO Elon Musk sat down for a sprawling interview with CNBC anchor David Faber on Tuesday following .
Jonathan Greig / The Record:
Symantec says the advanced persistent threat Lancefly used custom malware to attack Asian governments, telcos, and other organizations from mid-2022 to Q1 2023  —  A government-backed hacking group known as “Lancefly” has been seen using custom-made malware to attack governments, telecoms and other organizations across Asia.
Kevin Purdy / Ars Technica:
Belkin says the company won't patch a buffer overflow vulnerability in the Wemo Mini Smart Plug V2 disclosed on March 14 as the device is at the end of its life  —  Tricking a plug with a too-long name could lead to buffer overflows, injections.  —  I once co-owned a coworking space.
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Beats Studio Buds+ review: better sound, ANC, battery, and calls, but ANC lags AirPods Pro 2, no wireless charging, and lacks some of Apple's ecosystem tricks  —  With better sound, improved noise cancellation, and a standout translucent design, these are everything the original Beats Studio Buds should've been.
Tech Transparency Project:
Researchers find that YouTube recommends videos on guns and school shootings to young gamers, despite the platform's policies against “violent or gory content”  —  YouTube says it delivers ‘responsible’ video recommendations.  But its algorithms steered accounts …
Peter Landers / Wall Street Journal:
IBM plans to give $100M and Google plans to give $50M for quantum computing research to the University of Chicago and the University of Tokyo  —  Deal to be announced at Hiroshima G-7 summit seeks to preserve American lead in critical technology  —  TOKYO—IBM and Google are giving $150 million …
Financial Times:
Sources: Volkswagen held talks to use Huawei software in its cars in China, after its software unit Cariad missed its development goals and exceeded its budget  —  Turmoil at German carmaker's in-house software arm threatens to affect market share  —  Volkswagen has held talks …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google updates its inactivity policy: accounts inactive for at least two years will be deleted, except for those with YouTube videos, starting in December 2023  —  In 2020, Google said it would remove content stored in an inactive account (but not the account itself) to preserve storage space.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Amazon announces the new $40 semi-circle design Echo Pop, updates the $90 Echo Show 5, $100 Echo Show 5 Kids Edition, $50 Echo Buds, expands Echo Auto, and more  —  After last fall's Amazon hardware event which brought us a handful of new Echo devices, like the Dot with the clock and other minor updates …
Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
Researchers bought 228 phones from PropertyRoom.com, a top auction house for US police departments, and found many had not been wiped and had no PIN or passcode  —  Countless smartphones seized in arrests and searches by police forces across the United States are being auctioned online without …
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Instagram adds support for GIFs in comments on posts and Reels, plans to launch a lyrics feature for Reels, and will roll out Instagram Gifts in India  —  On Tuesday, Mark Zuckerberg held a chat with Instagram head Adam Mosseri as part of the company launching collaboration feature on broadcast channels.
Heather Kelly / Washington Post:
Uber plans to let minors aged 13 to 17 ride solo for the first time in select US and Canadian cities starting on May 22, via the use of a special family account  —  Kids between 13 and 17 years old will soon be able to hail a ride in an Uber  —  Until now, teenagers weren't supposed to ride alone in an Uber.
Louise Matsakis / Semafor:
After FiscalNote, which provides data to lobbyists, said it would use ChatGPT, OpenAI told the company that ChatGPT could be used only for grassroots campaigns  —  OpenAI told a leading company that provides data to Washington lobbyists and policy advocates that it can't advertise using ChatGPT for politics.
Judith Bannermanquist / Cointelegraph:
Crypto wallet startup Ledger faces criticism after unveiling an optional seed phrase recovery subscription service that some security experts say is insecure  —  Many members of the crypto community believe Ledger's latest seed phrase recovery feature is a bad idea.  —  362 Total views
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple touts $2B+ in App Store fraud stopped in 2022, nearly 3.9M stolen credit cards blocked, 147M+ ratings/reviews removed, and 428K developer accounts closed  —  Apple is out with a new press release today touting the success of the App Store's ability to prevent fraud.

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Bloomberg:
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Washington Post:
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