Techmeme
December 24, 2020, 4:05 PM

Top News

Financial Times:
China's market regulator announces an antitrust investigation into Alibaba for alleged monopolistic practices, the first investigation of its kind in China  —  Probe into China's biggest tech group is one of the first of its kind for country's internet sector
Bloomberg:
China's regulatory crackdown to limit the influence of Jack Ma, who has long cultivated the image of a rebel fighting the system, has been years in the making  —  When Jack Ma took to a Shanghai conference stage in October, China's most famous entrepreneur was on the brink of pulling off …
Tim Bradshaw / Financial Times:
Seven startups, including Thrasio and Heyday, hoping to become conglomerates like P&G, have raised a combined $950M to acquire small Amazon Marketplace sellers  —  Start-ups including Thrasio, SellerX and Heroes are rolling up small brands, hoping to become the new P&G or Unilever
Bloomberg:
Source: Square has held talks to acquire music streaming service Tidal, which Jay-Z acquired for $56M in early 2015  —  - Streaming music platform has struggled to keep up with Spotify  — Dorsey has met with Jay-Z multiple times during the pandemic  —  Square Inc., the digital-payment …
Eric Newcomer / Newcomer:
An interview with Keith Rabois, who has championed Miami as a tech destination after moving there, and whose investment portfolio has seen major exits this year  —  Keith Rabois just moved to South Florida.  Now he wants Silicon Valley to join him.  —  15 hr ago  —  Keith Rabois is ubiquitous these days.
Sam Biddle / The Intercept:
In unsealed court docs, Facebook managers appeared to admit to major flaws in ad targeting capabilities in 2016 and wondered if they were misleading advertisers  —  Facebook is currently waging a PR campaign purporting to show that Apple is seriously injuring American small businesses through its iOS privacy features.
Giles Turner / Bloomberg:
Filing: ByteDance says TikTok UK had sales of $20M in 2019, with a loss of $119.5M, driven by advertising and marketing expenses of $109M  —  - Chinese owner ByteDance has not disclosed global figures  — Video-sharing app has been rapidly expanding in U.K.
Kate Duffy / Business Insider:
April Christina Curley, a Google recruiter focused on Black colleges, says she was fired in September and alleges a hostile work environment for Black people  —  - A Google employee, who said she was fired by the tech giant in September, claimed Monday that her manager told her that her way of speaking …
John Harney / Bloomberg:
DHS has issued an advisory to US businesses, warning of data security risks with using communication equipment and services from China-linked companies  —  - Homeland Security warns of trade secret, competition risks  — Advisory comes after hack that Trump advisers blame on Russia
Zach Dorfman / Foreign Policy:
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Nuro says it has been granted a permit to test and charge for its commercial autonomous delivery service by California's DMV, the first company to do so  —  Hours after announcing that it acquired self-driving truck startup Ike, Nuro revealed it's the first company to receive permission …

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Featured Podcasts

The Upstarts Podcast:
Runway's Cris Valenzuela: Building The Hollywood-Friendly Video AI That OpenAI Couldn't
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Hard Fork:
OpenAI's Big Reset + A.I. in the Doctor's Office + Talkie, a pre-1930s LLM
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.
The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'Food and Beverage Director', With MG Siegler
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
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Access:
What happens when AI runs a store
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
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The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
Why Blockbuster Failed
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
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Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ryan Roslansky: Turning AI Anxiety into Skills for the Future of Work
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.
 

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More News

Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:

Earlier Picks

Leo Kelion / BBC:
Drew FitzGerald / Wall Street Journal:
Kevin McLaughlin / The Information:
Manish Singh / TechCrunch: