Open Links In New Tab
Mobile Archives Advertise Site News
Techmeme
December 8, 2020, 5:10 AM
Mediagazer memeorandum WeSmirch
Home River Leaderboards About Events Newsletter

Top News

Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:
Uber's self-driving unit, Advanced Technologies Group, to be acquired by rival Aurora Innovation in a deal valuing ATG at $4B; source: Aurora now valued at $10B  —  - Self-driving vehicle start-up Aurora is acquiring Uber's Advanced Technologies Group, which works on self-driving technology.
Alan Boyle / GeekWire:
SpaceX's Starlink satellite network wins $885M in federal aid for rural broadband, as part of a $9.2B allocation by FCC to be paid across 180 auction bidders  —  SpaceX's Starlink satellite network — which relies on hundreds of spacecraft built in Redmond, Wash. — has been awarded $885.5 million …
Connie Chan / Andreessen Horowitz:
In a new era of video ushered in by TikTok, real-time interactivity is baked into viewing experiences, which may lead to shifts in education, shopping, and more  —  Social Strikes Back is a series exploring the next generation of social networks and how they're shaping the future of consumer tech.
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Google says Stadia users will be able to live stream directly to YouTube starting December 8  —  Finally fulfilling its biggest original promise  —  From the very beginning, Google Stadia and YouTube were supposed to work together — thanks to the magic of cloud computing …
More: 9to5Google, Engadget, and SlashGear.  Tweets: @jaycuthrell
Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
A look at Waymo's driverless taxi service, in Phoenix suburb Chandler, which seems to work well but still only offers ~100 rides/week and limits cars to 45 mph  —  Human drivers are pretty safe, making it hard to prove driverless tech is safer.  —  Waymo has long kept details …
Kristine Owram / Bloomberg:
MicroStrategy, which was the first publicly traded company to invest in bitcoin and, as of Dec. 4, held 40,824 BTC, is raising up to $400M in debt to buy more  —  MicroStrategy Inc. is doubling down on its Bitcoin bet, saying Monday that it plans to offer $400 million of convertible bonds in order to buy more of the cryptocurrency.
Lizette Chapman / Bloomberg:
Palantir wins a three-year deal worth $44.4M with the FDA to use Palantir software to power drug reviews and inspections, including possible COVID-19 treatments  —  Palantir Technologies Inc. won a deal with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to help power drug reviews and inspections …
More: Reuters and CNBC
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Sydney-based shipping logistics service Shippit says it has raised ~$22M Series B to help fuel its expansion in Southeast Asia  —  Sydney-based shipping logistics platform Shippit today nabbed AU$30 million (approximately $22 million), bringing its total raised to date to over $31 million.
Dan Seifert / The Verge:
Google starts rolling out Apple Music support to Assistant smart speakers and displays, including its Nest products, in the US, UK, France, Germany, and Japan  —  Stream Apple Music on a Nest Audio  —  Google has announced that Apple Music is now available on smart speakers and displays …
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
Sources: a Foxconn facility in Mexico was hit by ransomware in Nov., resulting in website outage and business docs leaked, as the attackers demand a $34M ransom  —  Foxconn electronics giant suffered a ransomware attack at a Mexican facility over the Thanksgiving weekend …
More: Decrypt
Joyce Lee / Reuters:
LG says it has reorganized its mobile phone division, which has reported a loss for 22 consecutive quarters, to outsource low- and mid-range smartphones  —  SEOUL (Reuters) - LG Electronics said on Monday it had reorganised its mobile phone division to increase outsourcing of its low to mid-end smartphones …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify's new AI commerce stack  —  Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Zoho:
Connecting, collaborating, and growing: Zoho Mail 2025 wrap-up  —  Your inbox has been home to a lot this year—quick updates, long threads, approvals, reminders, and the occasional late-night draft you weren't sure about.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
Sponsor Techmeme

Featured Podcasts

Great Chat:
 The stories we told ourselves in 2025
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Grit:
 How Brands Stay Visible When AI Decides | Profound CEO James Cadwallader
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
 The coming AI security crisis (and what to do about it) | Sander Schulhoff
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
 OpenAI's Potential, Google's Speedy Model, Copilot Hits Turbulence
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
 Why Roomba Died + Tech Predictions for 2026 + A Hard Forkin' Xmas Song
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
 Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
Add your podcast here
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:10 AM ET, December 8, 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.

From Mediagazer

Sara Fischer / Axios:
60 Minutes' CECOT segment, pulled by Bari Weiss, was mistakenly aired in Canada via an app owned by Global Television, which airs 60 Minutes in the country

Dave Michaels / Wall Street Journal:
How Makan Delrahim, a top antitrust enforcer in Trump's first term, is helping Paramount buy WBD; sources say he told WBD investors the DOJ may reject Netflix

Blake Brittain / Reuters:
NYT reporter John Carreyrou and five other writers sue xAI, Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, Meta, and Perplexity, accusing them of pirating their books to train AI

More News

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
French court sentences BTC-e founder Alexander Vinnik to five years in prison for laundering ransomware funds, following the Russian national's arrest in 2017
Wall Street Journal:
By July, Chinese banks and trust companies had ~$230B in outstanding loans to users who borrowed via Alipay, a factor in new regulatory scrutiny of Ant Group
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
NortonLifeLock says it has acquired Germany-based antivirus vendor Avira for $360M in cash, eight months after Avira was acquired for $180M by a PE firm

Earlier Picks

Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is preparing new Apple Silicon-powered MacBook Pros, iMacs, and Mac Pros for as early as spring 2021; full Mac transition will finish in 2022
Maureen Farrell / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Airbnb plans to boost the proposed price range of its IPO to between $56 and $60 a share, which equates to a valuation of $39B to $42B, fully diluted
Mediagazer memeorandum WeSmirch
Home River Leaderboards About Events Newsletter