Instagram adds a new muting feature, Comcast screws up security and ZTE may not live again. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for May 22, 2018.

1. Instagram now lets you mute accounts

This allows users to continue following accounts without seeing their photos. Muted accounts won't know that they've been muted, and users can unmute them at any time. You can still view photos when you visit the mute account's profile page, and you can see comments and photos you're tagged in, whether they're posted by a muted user or not

This could be another tool Instagram is giving users to deal with harassment or bullying on the platform — or, less dramatically, to deal with the Instagram fallout after a breakup.

2. Comcast was leaking the names and passwords of customers' wireless routers

Before the service got taken down, anyone with a subscriber's account number and street address number would be served up the Wi-Fi name and password via the company's Xfinity internet activation service.

3. Researchers disclose new Spectre exploit variant, but Intel and AMD leave mitigation off by default

A new variant of that most dire of chip flaws was disclosed yesterday, and Intel has a patch ready to go. But it also says the mitigation may come with a serious performance hit, which is why it's off by default.

4. U.S. and China reportedly working on a deal to save ZTE

According to the Wall Street Journal, the two countries have agreed on a "broad outline" of a deal to settle a trade dispute sparked when the Commerce Department banned American companies from selling to ZTE for seven years after it violated sanctions against Iran and North Korea.

5. Adobe to acquire Magento for $1.68B

The purchase gives Adobe a missing e-commerce platform piece that should fit nicely in the company's Experience Cloud.

6. Barack and Michelle Obama sign production deal with Netflix

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Netflix has deep pockets and has shown a willingness to write very large checks. It says the Obamas might produce "scripted series, unscripted series, docu-series, documentaries and features" — so basically any kind of audiovisual content.

7. Google Photos adds likes and favorites with hearts and stars

The Favorite (star) button will only appear on photos in your own library, allowing you to mark an individual item as a favorite which, in turn, will automatically populate a new photo album with just your favorite photos. Meanwhile, the heart icon is Google Photos' version of the "like."