Techmeme
January 27, 2021, 3:20 PM

Top News

Ryan Browne / CNBC:
As r/WallStreetBets causes GameStop, BlackBerry, and others to surge, online trading platforms like Robinhood and WeBull have rapidly climbed US app store ranks  —  - The flurry of Redditors taking on Wall Street appears to have resulted in a usage boom for share trading apps.
More: Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, CNBC, The Verge, Forbes, Vox, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, BuzzFeed News, The Verge, USA Today, Bloomberg, The Verge, Financial Times, CoinDesk, Barron's Online, New York Times, Business Insider, Hollywood Reporter, Forbes, New York Post, CNBC, VICE, Mashable, GameSpot, TheStreet, Bloomberg, iPhone in Canada Blog, Kotaku, New York Post, Variety, Los Angeles Times, Fortune, The Wrap, Slashdot, Wall Street Journal, Bitcoinist.com, Cointelegraph, BGR, Crowdfund Insider, Axios, Bloomberg, Forbes, coinspeaker.com, Decrypt, and Fors
Pippa Stevens / CNBC:
As Reddit's r/WallStreetBets pushes GameStop's stock to record levels, other stocks mentioned in the subreddit surge, like AMC, which is up 200%+  —  - Shares of AMC Entertainment jumped more than 300% at the opening bell on Wednesday.  — In addition to GameStop, individual investors …
Bloomberg:
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Google details the impact of Apple's upcoming IDFA ad privacy changes, including reducing visibility into app install metrics and affecting bidding on some ads  —  Apple has prioritized user privacy over targeted advertising, and Google is spelling out today what that means for itself as well as game and app developers.
Nikkei Asia:
Source: Apple is expanding production of iPhones, iPads, Macs, and other products in Vietnam and India, as the company increasingly shifts away from China  —  Move is part of wider shift from China that includes Macs, AirPods and more  —  TAIPEI — Apple is ramping up the production of iPhones …
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Amazon's Ring announces $60 Video Doorbell Wired, its cheapest and smallest doorbell, arriving on February 24  —  Available on February 24th, with preorders starting today  —  Amazon's Ring has debuted its latest video doorbell, the (blandly named) Ring Video Doorbell Wired which, at $59.99 …
Will Oremus / OneZero :
How the social network Nextdoor is replacing local newspapers as a news and opinion hub, letting governments bypass the media and present a one-sided picture  —  While Facebook and Twitter get the scrutiny, Nextdoor is reshaping politics one neighborhood at a time
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
In today's iOS 14.4 update, Apple fixes three 0-days, tipped by an anonymous researcher, and acknowledges a report that they may have been exploited in the wild  —  Fixes come after Apple patched another set of three zero-days last November.  —  Apple has released today security updates …
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Instagram updates its interface for Stories on desktop, adding a carousel that shows upcoming previews and what just played  —  See what stories are up next  —  Instagram is making its Stories feature more complete on the desktop.  In a small interface refresh today …
More: 9to5Mac, Engadget, and Adweek
Cory Weinberg / The Information:
Sources: Bird is finalizing a deal to raise $100M in convertible debt, led by Sequoia Capital and Valor Equity, amid discussions about going public via SPAC  —  The scooter operators already were struggling when Covid-19 hit, robbing them of customers.  As the companies position themselves …
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
New docs from Epic vs. Apple lawsuit reveal internal Apple discussions on fees to charge paid TV and streaming channels and how that may affect the App Store  —  In Apple and Epic's ongoing court battle over App Store fees, one of the key sticking points has been Apple's insistence on maintaining …
Jai Vardhan / Entrackr:
Sources: ByteDance has decided to wrap up its India operations and is laying off 90%, or over 1,800 employees, following India's permanent ban on TikTok  —  Bytedance has decided to wrap up its India operations and is cutting a large chunk of its employee base citing an absence of a clear direction …
Ryan Gallagher / Bloomberg:
Profile of PE firm Francisco Partners, whose portfolio includes companies like Sandvine and NSO Group, which have both pursued deals with authoritarian regimes  —  Don Bowman, co-founder of Sandvine Inc., was always aware of the risks his company's products posed.
Anna Kramer / Protocol:
Profile of Tracy Chou, diversity activist and founder of Block Party, which lets users filter out trolling and harassing Tweets so they can be reviewed later  —  When Tracy Chou decided to host a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” about online harassment over the summer, she knew it probably …
Jay Bonggolto / Neowin:
Sony announces Xperia Pro 5G, which has an HDMI input that lets content creators turn the smartphone into an external monitor, shipping now for $2,500  —  Sony announced today its newest 5G smartphone with an HDMI input, the first of its kind to include that feature.
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch:
Booksy, a salon appointment app that also runs a marketplace for beauty products, raises $70M Series C led by Cat Rock, bringing its total raised to $119M  —  Beauty and wellness appointment booking apps have proliferated of the last few years, but it appears the race is still on as today one of the leaders …
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Splashtop, a remote access and support service for businesses, raises $50M led by Sapphire Ventures at a $1B valuation  —  Splashtop, a remote access and support platform for businesses, has raised $50 million in a round of funding led by Sapphire Ventures, valuing the company at $1 billion.
Swetha Gopinath / Bloomberg:
Polish postal locker service InPost raised €2.8B in its IPO, Europe's biggest since 2018, selling shares at €16 and valuing the company at over €8B  —  - IPO prices at 16 euros a share, top end of the initial range  — Sale of 35% stake values Polish company at 8 billion euros
More: Reuters
Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
Pinecone, which is developing a vector database to help build machine learning apps faster, raises $10M seed led by Wing Venture Capital  —  Pinecone, a new startup from the folks who helped launch Amazon SageMaker, has built a vector database that generates data in a specialized format …
More: ZDNet and SiliconANGLE

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