Techmeme
February 1, 2021, 3:50 PM

Top News

Stephen Totilo / Kotaku:
Google says it will close its two Stadia game studios, in LA and Montreal, and Jade Raymond is leaving the company; source: the move affects ~150 developers  —  Google Stadia, the late 2019 streaming platform that promised to revolutionize gaming by letting users stream games without needing …
Chris Velazco / Engadget:
Apple releases the first iOS 14.5 beta with the ability to unlock their iPhone with Face ID while wearing a mask if they are also wearing their Apple Watch  —  The feature debuts in a new developer beta, available now  —  While the full release won't arrive for some time …
Peter Rudegeair / Wall Street Journal:
Robinhood says it has raised $2.4B from shareholders, just days after raising ~$1B  —  The $3.4 billion raised since last Thursday is more than the company has raised in its entire prior existence  —  Robinhood Markets Inc. raised another $2.4 billion from shareholders …
Yueqi Yang / Bloomberg:
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Ford says “millions” of its vehicles will run on Android starting in 2023, as it signs a six-year deal for Google Cloud to provide connected vehicle services  —  Google bags its latest automotive partner  —  Ford is the latest automaker to turn its vehicle operating systems over to Google.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Facebook is testing a notification for Facebook and Instagram iOS app users globally that encourages opting in to tracking for a “better ads experience”  —  Facebook is testing a notification that notifies Apple iOS users about ways the tech giant uses their data to target personalized ads to them.
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch:
A recap of Elon Musk's Clubhouse appearance, which broke the 5,000 participant limit, pushing some to YouTube, and included an interview with Robinhood's CEO  —  Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, SpaceX, and many other companies, has mastered the art of using Twitter to harness fans …
Kellen Browning / New York Times:
Microsoft's head of IR says Xbox will be in short supply through at least June, after it sold every unit it had last quarter and topped $5B in gaming revenue  —  A month after the holiday season, gamers are still contending with scalpers, bots and immense demand as they hunt for elusive devices.
Byron Kaye / Reuters:
Australian PM Scott Morrison says Microsoft is confident Bing can fill the gap created by Google if it pulls its search services over news payment disputes  —  SYDNEY (Reuters) -Software giant Microsoft Corp is confident its search product Bing can fill the gap in Australia if Google pulls …
Bloomberg:
EU is seeking to overturn Apple's victory in $15.8B tax dispute saying the judges used “contradictory reasoning” when deciding the Irish tax case  —  - Regulators are challenging court view of Apple's Irish units  — Vestager has warned case has larger consequences for tax fight
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Twitter restricts a number of high-profile accounts in India, citing a “legal demand”, including investigative news outlet Caravan and two politicians  —  Twitter blocked access to dozens of accounts in India, including some that belonged to high-profile individuals in the country …
Jeff Horwitz / Wall Street Journal:
In August, internal research at Facebook showed that ~70% of the platform's most active civic Groups were considered too toxic to recommend to users  —  The giant struggled to balance Mark Zuckerberg's free-expression mantra against findings that rabid partisanship had overrun a feature central to its future
Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
Cybersecurity company Rapid7 acquires Kubernetes security startup Alcide for $50M; Alcide had raised ~$12M to date according to Crunchbase data  —  Rapid7, the Boston-based security operations company, has been making moves into the cloud recently and this morning it announced …
Alex Heath / The Information:
Source: Sriram Krishnan, known for holding product leadership roles at Facebook, Twitter, and Snap, has joined Andreessen Horowitz as a general partner  —  Sriram Krishnan, a well-known tech investor and former product leader at Twitter, has joined the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz …
Katie Roof / Bloomberg:
Automation software maker UiPath raises $750M led by Alkeon Capital and Coatue, valuing the company at $35B  —  UiPath Inc.has raised $750 million in a fundraising round that values the automation software maker at $35 billion.  —  The round was led by Alkeon Capital and Coatue …
Maryclaire Dale / Associated Press:
SolarWinds hackers who breached US federal court system likely gained access to sealed documents containing trade secrets, espionage targets, and more  —  PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Trial lawyer Robert Fisher is handling one of America's most prominent counterintelligence cases, defending an MIT scientist charged with secretly helping China.
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Apple releases an iCloud Passwords browser extension for Chrome on Windows  —  Besides iTunes, Apple's biggest offering on Microsoft's operating system is the iCloud sync client for files, photos, and mail.  Apple is now extending its presence on Windows with an iCloud Passwords Chrome extension.

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