What's Popular on Techmeme
A deep dive into music licensing in games, where the wrong type of licenses or expired ones may force developers to stop sales or game releases on new platforms
Comparing Hong Kong with Kashmir shows that manipulating social media by flooding it with propaganda may better tackle unrest than shutting down the internet
Google says it will update the Pixel 4 "in the coming months" with an option that requires open eyes for the phone's face unlock to be successful
Travel reservations giant Sabre acquires Radixx, which sells passenger service systems to small and budget airlines, in a deal worth ~$110M
Inside "Rebble Alliance", an unofficial group that documented Pebble APIs and created replacement web services that have helped keep ~200K smartwatches running
Amid growing skepticism about Libra, David Marcus says the group may consider stablecoins pegged to national currencies, instead of the coin it has proposed
Google says it's aware iPhones can backup Original Quality HEIC photos to Google Photos for free, says it's a bug, after users wanted Pixel 4 to offer the same
Twitch CEO Emmett Shear talks about company's approach to content moderation and changes announced at TwitchCon, including new tools for moderators, and more
Filing: Flipkart to enter the food retail business in India through a new subsidiary called Flipkart Farmermart, will invest $258M in the new venture
Lively, a Health Savings Account platform for employers and individuals to track healthcare spending, raises $27M Series B, bringing its total raised to $40M
AT&T raises the price of its streaming service AT&T TV Now, with the basic Plus package up $15 to a $65/month; the move follows a similar increase in March
David Sacks' Craft Ventures, which led Bird's Series A round, has closed its second fund with $500M, up from the $350M it had closed for its debut fund
ESET details a hacking campaign, active for the past 6 years, by the Russia-linked group the Dukes or Cozy Bear, which was thought to be dormant since DNC hack
Twitch is testing Watch Parties, a feature that allows streamers to screen Prime Video content that their viewers can watch along if they have Amazon Prime
eMarketer: Google will take 37.2%, or $48.05B, of all US digital ad spend this year, down from 38.2% in 2018, while Amazon will take 8.8%, up from 6.8% in 2018
mediapost.com · 16 hours ago
Comparing Trump and Democratic 2020 presidential campaigns online: it is "like a supercar racing a little Volkswagen Bug", with Democrats being the Volkswagen
Realtime Robotics, which is developing hardware and software to allow robots to move freely in dynamic environments like factory floors, raises $11.7M Series A
Radius Networks, which enables location-based transactions like curbside and in-store pickup, raises $15M Series A
Havenly, which connects interior designers with clients for $99 virtual full-room makeover sessions, raises $32M Series C, bringing its total raised to $57.8M
TikTok launches an education program in India, partners with local edtech startups to create and promote educational content
Y Combinator partners talk about its online Startup School program, which has enlisted 30K+ startups, as the institution tries to overcome its insular image
How TikTok is making inroads into US schools, as students create TikTok clubs to riff on the latest memes, and shoot videos on Newton's Laws for extra credits
A nonprofit is fighting illegal logging via a treetop monitoring unit that uses AI to detect sounds of chainsaws recorded and uploaded by used cellphones
A game made with a real world dataset of defendants shows the shortcomings of COMPAS, an AI-powered risk assessment tool used in the US criminal legal system
Researchers find malware operators are now using steganography techniques to hide malicious code in WAV audio files
A look inside a community of hackers who tinker with Kindle e-readers to disable Amazon's tracking, circumvent file format restrictions, install games, and more
Seven US lawmakers, including Wyden, Cruz, Ocasio-Cortez, and Rubio accuse Apple of "censorship of apps" at the "behest of the Chinese government", in a letter
Paris-based Lemon Way, which offers an API for payment processing, wallet management, and third-party payments, raises €25M, bringing its total raised to €35M
Facebook reaches licensing deal with News Corp to feature headlines from WSJ, NY Post, and others in a coming news tab; sources: WaPo, BuzzFeed News, BI also in
Wing starts first commercial drone delivery service in the US, delivering orders from FedEx Express, Walgreens, and Sugar Magnolia in Christiansburg, Virginia
Samsung says fingerprint bug on Galaxy devices is due to the sensor reading 3D patterns in screen protectors as fingerprints, will patch it as soon as next week
Facebook says it is working on ways to prevent child exploitation on its platforms once it introduces end-to-end encryption across its messaging apps
Quibi partners with T-Mobile, which will make the platform part of its offering, giving Quibi a broad distribution platform ahead of its April launch
G7 report says Facebook's Libra poses competition and antitrust challenges and should not be launched until all legal and regulatory risks are addressed
Paris-based mobile game maker Madbox, which says it has generated 100M game downloads, raises €15M Series A from Alven Capital
Verizon and T-Mobile say Pixel 4 won't support RCS messaging on their networks at launch
Sex workers say Instagram keeps taking down accounts, giving confusing guidelines and explanations; Facebook blames moderators' interpretation of guidelines
buzzfeednews.com · 3 days ago
The second beta of macOS Catalina 10.15.1 contains icons possibly depicting the widely rumored 16-inch MacBook Pro with slightly thinner bezels
After buying Poloniex in 2018 for $400M, Circle spins it out into Polo Digital Assets, backed by an unnamed Asian firm, says it won't serve US customers anymore
Data analytics startup Sisu emerges from stealth with $52.5M Series B led by NEA, with a16z and Green Bay participating, bringing its total raised to $66.7M
Imgur says it will no longer support communities associated with NSFW Reddit subreddits because they've put Imgur's "user growth, mission, and business at risk"
theverge.com · 3 days ago
Cybersecurity startup Corelight, which is building a network traffic analysis platform for enterprises, raises $50M Series C, bringing its total raised to $84M
Massive protests erupt in Lebanon after a now-withdrawn government proposal to levy ~$6/mo tax on calls via WhatsApp and similar apps, amid an economic crisis
MediaLab, a holding company that owns the Whisper app, buys Kik messenger from Kik Interactive, which now focuses on development of Kin cryptocurrency
Nest is becoming less popular among residential builders as Google's software changes impede Nest devices' ability to connect with third-party IoT devices
YubiKeys can now be used to log into PCs running Windows 7, 8.1, and 10, via the Yubico Login app, previously only available to Mac and Linux users
Atlassian acquires Code Barrel, makers of Automation for Jira, a tool used to automate routine processes with Jira that is used by Visa, Cisco, Airbnb, more
Zappos settles 2012 data breach lawsuit, compensating about 24M affected customers with a 10%-off coupon, a paltry deal compared to Equifax's settlement in July
slate.com · 3 days ago