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Antonio Garcia-Martinez / The Pull Request : Q&A with Lambda School's Austen Allred on how the company helps bridge the class divide for students, like setting up bank accounts for those who don't have one   —  Austen Allred and the class escalator  —  Austen Allred is the CEO and founder of Lambda School, a unique coding school … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3q5mCPy

Andy Greenberg / Wired : The Wikileaks-style group DDoSecrets claims that Parler-like site Gab has been breached and is now set to share 70GB of passwords, private posts, and more   —  The transparency group DDoSecrets says it will make the 70GB of passwords, private posts, and more available to researchers, journalists, and social scientists. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2Ob3By8

Jennifer Epstein / Bloomberg : Pres. Biden says there should be “no coercion, no threats, no anti-union propaganda” by Amazon amid its warehouse workers' vote on whether to form a union in AL   —  - ‘The choice to join a union is up to the workers,’ Biden said  — Mail-in voting for 6,000 workers began in mid-February from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3r3QRrH

Bob Davis / Wall Street Journal : A look at Biden's efforts to partner with allies to boost key tech sectors and counter China, going beyond Trump-era measures like restricting sales of SMIC   —  Combined efforts in semiconductors, artificial intelligence seen as way to thwart Beijing's ambitions from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3bQ0lQK

Tom Krazit / Protocol : An oral history of #hugops and the growing community of operations engineers who offer support for their peers before and during major cloud service outages   —  When something breaks on the internet, the people who know how to fix it just want to give their colleagues a hug — even if they're a rival. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/301Jxku

Will Oremus / OneZero  : Twitter Super Follows and Clubhouse portend a shift from algorithmic, scale-focused, low-attention feeds to low-volume, high-attention relationships with users   —  Products like Clubhouse and Twitter's “Super Follows” offer a new kind of engagement  —  Open Facebook, Instagram, TikTok … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/37V3SfF

Ben Smith / New York Times : Profile of Discovery+, which has hit 12M paid subscriptions globally and offers a reality TV-focused catalog with 55K episodes, rivaling Netflix in sheer volume   —  Discovery's new app has taken off largely because viewers love watching people fix houses, tour diners and bicker about their relationships. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3uBoMu1

Ed Siddons / The Guardian : Profile of lawyer and activist Cori Crider who is suing Facebook and outsourcing company CPL in Ireland's High Court on behalf of traumatized content moderators   —  Whether it's the CIA or Facebook, lawyer and activist Cori Crider is never one to shy away from a fight from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3uHGo7u

Mario Gabriele / The Generalist : How Reddit, at ~$6B arguably one of the most undervalued companies in world, can unlock the next step-change in valuation and protect against niche competitors   —  One of social media's oldest companies is also its most undervalued. … ‍  —  “You ever stop to realize how fragile all this is?” from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2PbQY6e

Patrick McGee / Financial Times : Skydio raises $171M led by a16z at a valuation of $1B+, the first significant fundraising by a US-based drone maker after China's DJI was blacklisted by the US   —  Placement of DJI on trade blacklist has opened new opportunities for US manufacturers  —  California-based Skydio has become … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2O7dZXJ

Kim Lyons / The Verge : Verizon support is now advising its users on Twitter to “turn on LTE”, which would turn off 5G, to preserve battery life   —  This, despite the carrier's relentless promotion of its 5G network  —  Despite its relentless promotion of 5G phones and the fact that it spent … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3q7jCSJ

Naomi Klein / The Intercept : Modi's government is abetting a vicious campaign against Indian climate activists simply for using organizing tools like shared Google Docs and WhatsApp groups   —  The bank of cameras that camped outside Delhi's sprawling Tihar jail was the sort of media frenzy you would expect to await … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2ZVc4rI

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet : Report: the number of malware strains written in Go have increased by around 2,000% since 2017, after APTs and cybercrime groups adopted the language   —  There's been a 2,000% increase of new malware written in Go over the past few years.  —  The number of malware strains coded … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3bNEglL

Liat Kaplan / New York Times : The person behind “Your Fave Is Problematic” Tumblr blog, which listed regrettable actions by celebrities, says she looks back on her blog with shame and regret   —  What was I trying to accomplish with my anonymous Tumblr?  —  If you were on Tumblr in the early 2010s … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3ksnpJm

Tatiana Cirisano / Billboard : How platforms like Spotify and tools like Community, Audigent, and Unitea help artists find their superfans and target them for monetization opportunities   —  New tech that allows artists to interact with superfans — and turn their data into dollars — promises to open long-term revenue streams from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3swDGQg

Jason Aten / Inc.com : A look at Clubhouse's privacy flaws: room audio is “temporarily” saved for trust and safety purposes, user accounts or personal data can't be deleted, and more   —  Clubhouse was sort of perfectly made for the pandemic.  People aren't going out, and they're desperately searching for social connections and entertainment. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/37QyjDy

Kashmir Hill / New York Times : How ACLU and activist Kade Crockford convinced Massachusetts lawmakers to pass a police reform bill banning the use of facial recognition tech in criminal cases   —  Massachusetts is one of the first states to put legislative guardrails around the use of facial recognition technology in criminal investigations. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3dTInzm

NBC News : Google, Salesforce, and Microsoft are having mixed results in building statewide vaccination sign-up websites, due to difficulties in integrating county systems   —  As the nation takes on one of the largest logistical challenges in history with the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccination program … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3r0uaEM

Chris Dixon / Andreessen Horowitz : NFTs are great for creators because they remove intermediaries, enable granular price tiering, and eliminate customer acquisition costs by making users owners   —  In his classic 2008 essay “1000 True Fans,” Kevin Kelly predicted that the internet would transform the economics of creative activities: from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3b0c1RT

Arielle Pardes / Wired : An ecosystem of startups, features, and tools has sprung up around Clubhouse, and some, like the Clubhouse analytics tool Direcon, are already monetizing   —  A wave of startups, features, and tools has sprung up around the popular audio app.  And some are looking to cash in. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2ZUnEDl

Andrew Jacobs / New York Times : Critics say the policies of Amazon, Google, and Facebook from the early days of the pandemic to restrict the sale of medical-grade masks are now outdated   —  Scientists are urging Americans to upgrade their face coverings.  But Amazon, Google and Facebook restrict the sale of medical-grade masks. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3qX2G2G

Financial Times : Sources: UK is preparing to announce a new tech visa and a £375M fund, with matching VC funding, to be made available to some promising tech startups   —  Up to £375m of state funds to be matched by venture capital and made available for promising companies from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3r4VO3e

Sarah E. Needleman / Wall Street Journal : Profile of Roblox, which outsources game development to its own players and says more than 300 of such developers earned $100K+ in 2020, ahead of its March IPO   —  The company runs a free social platform with videogames made by its own players.  Its stock-market debut will test investor appetite … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/37PsJkQ

Marguerite Reardon / CNET : Mississippi accelerated its high-speed broadband rollout with part of its $1.2B COVID stimulus; it may be one of the most connected states in five to six years   —  Mississippi could become a broadband giant. … When Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and lawmakers in the Mississippi legislature got $1.2 billion … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3bIGq6q

Meaghan Tobin / Rest of World : Experts say lessons marketed by digital education platforms like Byju's and Yuanfudao are more an innovation in test-prep delivery than in learning outcomes   —  Investors have poured billions of dollars into digital education platforms like Byju's and Yuanfudao.  But are students learning anything? from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3r08kkH