Techmeme
February 2, 2021, 11:50 AM

Top News

Stephen Totilo / Kotaku:
Google says it will close its two Stadia game studios, in LA and Montreal, and Stadia head Jade Raymond is leaving; the closure will affect ~150 developers  —  Google Stadia, the late 2019 streaming platform that promised to revolutionize gaming by letting users stream games without needing …
Dan Primack / Axios:
Uber says it is buying alcohol delivery startup Drizly for $1.1B in cash and stock; Drizly co-founder and CEO Cory Rellas is expected to remain with Uber  —  Uber on Tuesday announced an agreement to buy Drizly, a Boston-based alcohol delivery startup, for $1.1 billion in cash and stock.
Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post:
In a report, NYU researchers call conservative claims of social media censorship “a form of disinformation” and warn against completely repealing Section 230  —  A new report concludes that social networks aren't systematically biased against conservatives, directly contradicting Republican claims …
Konrad Putzier / Wall Street Journal:
Amazon unveils plans for part of its HQ2 in VA, including three 22-story office buildings and the Helix, a 350-foot building with spiraling outdoor walkways  —  Centerpiece of design is a 350-foot building dubbed the Helix, which features two spiraling outdoor walkways
Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider:
Kuo: Apple Car will use Hyundai's E-GMP battery electric vehicle platform; new models could be built in association with GM and European manufacturer PSA  —  Noted TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo weighed in on “Apple Car” on Monday, saying Apple will work in close cooperation with Hyundai …
Casey Newton / Platformer:
The unedited nature and serendipity of conversations makes Clubhouse a compelling platform for productive discussions on otherwise fraught topics  —  Elon Musk disrupts podcasting.  PLUS: Robinhood's big mistake  —  I. Andreessen Horowitz and the backdoor pilot  —  Hey, did you hear Elon Musk went on Clubhouse?
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch:
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google launches “about this result” menu item to its search results to give users more information about the sites they are about to visit  —  Google regularly tweaks its search results pages and tries out new designs.  It's not that often, though, that it adds new features to those results …
Federal Trade Commission:
FTC says Amazon will pay $61.7M to settle charges that it withheld some customer tips from Flex drivers over 2.5 years; FTC will use the sum to pay the drivers  —  Settlement prohibits Amazon from misrepresenting driver earnings, pay or percent of tips paid to drivers, changing its handling of tips without drivers' consent
Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:
Google to pay $2.5M to 5,500+ female engineers as well as female and Asian job applicants to settle pay and hiring discrimination allegations  —  The US Department of Labor alleges systemic pay and hiring discrimination  —  Google has agreed to pay $2.5 million to more than 5,500 employees …
Chris Velazco / Engadget:
Apple releases the first iOS 14.5 beta, which lets users unlock their iPhones with Face ID while wearing a mask if they are also wearing an Apple Watch  —  The feature debuts in a new developer beta, available now  —  While the full release won't arrive for some time …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Any US legislation to ban anonymity online will be unconstitutional, will not work, and most importantly will put many marginalized/vulnerable people at risk  —  There's an idea that pops up every so often among people who are upset about misinformation online but don't actually understand …
Peter Rudegeair / Wall Street Journal:
Swetha Gopinath / Bloomberg:
UK-based online greeting cards service Moonpig surges as much as 29% on its London debut, after raising £491M during its IPO  —  - Company prices IPO at 350 pence each, top end end of range  — Company, shareholders sell 140.3 million shares in offering
More: CNBC
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Oyster, which develops HR software for a distributed workforce, raises $20M Series A, bringing its total raised to about $24M  —  The growth of remote working and managing workforces that are distributed well beyond the confines of a centralized physical office — or even a single country …
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Chainalysis: ransomware gangs made at least $350M in 2020, up 311% YoY, with the Ryuk strain as the year's top earner, followed by the now-defunct Maze  —  The figure represents a 311% increase over ransomware payments recorded the previous your, in 2019.  —  Ransomware gangs …

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