Techmeme
January 5, 2021, 9:30 AM

Top News

Aislinn Keely / The Block:
OCC says banks and savings associations can now run crypto nodes and use associated stablecoins for “permissible payment activities”  —  National banks and federal savings associations can use public blockchains and stablecoins for settlement, The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency …
TechCrunch:
Twitter has acquired social podcasting app Breaker, whose team will join Twitter to help build Twitter Spaces; Breaker app will shut down on January 15  —  Twitter has acquired social broadcasting app Breaker, the companies announced today via a combination of blog posts and tweets.
Saniya More / The Block:
Square says US FinCEN's proposed cryptocurrency regulation will inhibit widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies and hinder current law enforcement efforts  —  Square is the latest company to go public with its opposition to proposed rulemaking from the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Leak shows Microsoft is working on One Outlook, a version of its Outlook app that will merge existing mail and calendar apps for desktops; release goal is 2022  —  Designed to replace the built-in Windows 10 Mail app  —  Microsoft is testing a new Outlook app that will replace its built-in Mail and Calendar apps on Windows 10.
Rebecca Falconer / Axios:
NYSE says it no longer plans to delist China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom, but will continue to evaluate applicability of an US EO to the companies  —  The New York Stock Exchange announced late Monday it no longer plans to delist three Chinese companies.
Eileen Yu / ZDNet:
Singapore now says local law enforcement can access COVID-19 contact tracing data; 78% of its population has adopted the TraceTogether app and wearable token  —  Under the country's Criminal Procedure Code, the Singapore Police Force can obtain any data — including information gathered …
Matt Stoller / BIG:
SolarWinds hack is an example of private equity firms wrecking software companies and degrading their products' security to the detriment of national security  —  Private equity monopolist Orlando Bravo made billions by putting our whole society at risk.  —  1 hr ago
Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:
A group of over 200 Google and Alphabet workers have announced their plan to form a union, open to both employees and contractors  —  A group of more than 200 Google and Alphabet workers have announced the formation of the Alphabet Workers Union, The New York Times first reported.
New York Times:
Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg:
Sources: Indonesia's Gojek is in advanced talks for a merger with local e-commerce giant PT Tokopedia; the combined entity would be valued over $18B  —  - The deal would combine Indonesia's two most valuable startups  — Discussions with Grab hit impasse over question of control
Kim Lyons / The Verge:
Slack confirmed it suffered a widespread outage Monday morning but resolved most problems as of 3pm ET, except for some integrations and email notifications  —  Users began reporting problems around 10AM ET  —  Slack is down on the first full work day of 2021.

Sponsor Posts

Command Line:
We can build it.  Can we judge it?  —  As agentic AI shortens the path from idea to shipped code, journey evaluation becomes a critical design skill.
Will Reed:
The best sales leaders aren't job hunting.  Here's how to reach them without months of cold outreach.  —  Our team came from Box, Square, and Brex, so we already know the GTM leaders worth meeting.
Zoho:
App Spotlight: Map My Client Location for Zoho CRM  —  App Spotlight brings you hand-picked solutions that enhance your Zoho apps and tools.  Visit Zoho Marketplace to explore all of our apps, integrations …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Lenny's Podcast:
An 86-minute guide to finding PMF | Rob Snyder (Author, The Power of Pull)
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:
Google's Potential, AI Money Spigot Shutting?, PHP Bug & Cybersecurity's "Black October"
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.
Machine Gods:
Fired OpenAI Safety Researchers Speak Out + We Look Inside Pandora's Box
The official podcast of the singularity, from Casey Newton and Kevin Roose. Twice-weekly news, analysis, and interviews with the people who are building the future.
Subscribe to Machine Gods.
The Upstarts Podcast:
The Parking Startup That Swallowed A 100-Year-Old Giant | Metropolis CEO Alex Israel
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.
Great Chat:
AI's Spooky Season
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.
Sources:
Sundar Pichai on what's next for Google Gemini, Waymo, and data centers in space
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
Subscribe to Sources.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:30 AM ET, January 5, 2021.

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

Reuters:

Earlier Picks

Hugh Son / CNBC:
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
New York Times: