Techmeme
December 2, 2020, 7:30 PM

Top News

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Apple announces Best of 2020 apps and most downloaded apps: home workout app Wakeout! won App of the Year for iPhone, Zoom for iPad, Disney+ for Apple TV  —  Apple today released its highly anticipated annual list of the best apps and games of 2020.  As in previous years …
Michael del Castillo / Forbes:
Visa says it's connecting its global network of 60M merchants to the US Dollar Coin, a stablecoin created by Circle Internet Financial on ethereum's blockchain  —  Credit card giant Visa today announced it is connecting its global payments network of 60 million merchants to the U.S. Dollar Coin …
Wall Street Journal:
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Researcher details a zero-click iOS device exploit using Apple's AWDL protocol, now patched, which could have granted access to device hardware and data  —  A Google Project Zero researcher found a stunning vulnerability  —  Ever watch that movie, or play that video game …
Mike Wuerthele / AppleInsider:
Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple to release two new MacBook Pros with an all-new design in 2021 and a more affordable MacBook Air in 2022, all with mini LED panels  —  Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that as part of Apple's mini LED push, the company will release a pair of new MacBook Pro models …
Chris Velazco / Engadget:
TikTok appears to be experimenting with allowing three-minute videos, up from its current 60-second limit  —  The beauty of TikToks is that they're (usually) never long enough to overstay their welcome, but a new report suggests the company behind the app is mulling a big change.
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Amazon adds webcam support to the 2nd-gen Fire TV Cube, enabling video calls with Alexa-enabled devices, rolling out in the coming weeks in US, UK, elsewhere  —  Call any Alexa-enabled device with a screen, including smartphones, Fire tablets, and the Echo Show
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Google says News Showcase will soon add free access to select paywalled articles, and it has doubled publisher partners to ~400 since its launch in October  —  Google News Showcase visitors will soon be able to read select paywalled articles at no extra charge.
Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:
NLRB says in a complaint that Google violated US labor laws by spying on workers who organized staff protests before firing two of them in late 2019  —  Company policies violated labor law, according to the complaint  —  Google violated US labor laws by spying on workers …
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Spotify says Anchor powered 80% of its new podcasts, or 1M+ shows, in 2020; overall, Anchor powers 70% of Spotify's total podcast catalog of over 1.9M shows  —  Anchor powered more than 1 million show launches in 2020  —  Spotify's $100 million-plus Anchor acquisition is seemingly paying off.
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Trump threatened in a tweet on Tuesday to veto the annual defense bill, which authorizes nearly $1T in military spending, unless Congress repeals Section 230  —  President Trump on Tuesday threatened to veto an annual defense bill authorizing nearly $1 trillion in military spending unless Congress opens …
Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:
GroupM expects marketers to spend $110.1B on digital ads in the US this year, accounting for more than half of the year's total ad spend for the first time  —  Digital ads to account for more than half of year's U.S. advertising expenditures for first time  —  For the first time …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Step, a mobile banking service aimed at teens, raises a $50M Series B led by Coatue after growing to 500,000+ users only two months after its official launch  —  Step, a mobile banking service aimed at teens, announced this morning it has raised $50 million in Series B funding after growing …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Google announces it is acquiring Actifio, a data management and continuity company that was valued at over $1B in 2014 and has raised over $460M  —  In the same week that Amazon is holding its big AWS confab, Google is also announcing a move to raise its own enterprise game with Google Cloud.
Michelle Gao / CNBC:
Discovery to launch its streaming service, Discovery+, in Jan. 2021, with a $4.99 per month ad-supported tier and a $6.99 per month ad-free tier  —  - Discovery will launch its streaming service, Discovery+, in Jan. 2021.  — The service will include a $4.99 per month ad-supported tier and a $6.99 per month ad-free tier.
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Varjo unveils new VR/XR headsets promising 115° field of view; VR-3 costs $3,195 with $795/year subscription and XR-3 costs $5,495 with $1,495/year subscription  —  The VR-3 and XR-3 will ship in early 2021  —  Virtual reality company Varjo, known for its unusual dual-resolution displays …

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Is AI just hype?  —  Find out how top enterprises use Tribe to get real business results.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Zoho:
All new Zoho Workerly 2024  —  Staffing businesses around the world face a unique set of challenges when it comes to managing their temporary workforce.  With a constantly shifting job market and changing staffing needs …
Comprehensive.io:
Browse salary data from 3,000 startups for free  —  Click for FREE, immediate access to real-time compensation benchmarking data.  Paid version helps HR automate comp reviews and communicate total compensation to employees.
The Kevin Rose Show:
Henry Shukman, Lessons from an Authentic Zen Master
Gain unconventional wisdom and insights through conversations with top expert in AI, investing, wellness, technology, and culture.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Thu. 03/28 - Claude 3 Opus Surpasses GPT-4 For The First Time
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 7:30 PM ET, December 2, 2020.

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

João Carrasqueira / Neowin:
Gene Park / Washington Post:

Earlier Picks

PYMNTS.com:
Sam Byford / The Verge:
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget:
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Natalie Gagliordi / ZDNet:
BBC: