Techmeme
February 13, 2021, 7:55 AM

Top News

The Information:
Sources: Facebook is building an Android-based smartwatch with health and fitness capabilities, which it aims to launch in 2022  —  Facebook is building a smartwatch it hopes to start selling next year, according to people with direct knowledge of the device.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources shed light on the increasingly personal battle between Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg, who in private reportedly said “we need to inflict pain” on Apple  —  Animosity between CEOs Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook erupts over privacy and dueling visions of internet
Stanford Internet Observatory:
After researchers raised data privacy concerns, Clubhouse says it is taking steps “to prevent Clubhouse clients from ever transmitting pings to Chinese servers”  —  The audio chat app “Clubhouse” went viral among Chinese-speaking audiences.  Stanford Internet Observatory examines …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Google, Microsoft, and Qualcomm are among companies asking US to intervene in Nvidia's Arm acquisition, and at least one company wants the deal killed  —  Some of the world's largest technology companies are complaining to U.S. antitrust regulators about Nvidia Corp.'s acquisition …
Sam Shead / CNBC:
TechCrunch:
Jack Dorsey and Jay-Z create ₿trust endowment with 500 bitcoin, worth $23M+, to fund teams working on Bitcoin development, initially in Africa and India  —  Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey and rapper Jay Z have created an endowment to fund bitcoin development initially in Africa and India, Dorsey said Friday.
David McCabe / New York Times:
Maryland approves the Digital Advertising Gross Revenues Tax, the first tax in US on digital ads revenue, creating a 10% tax on firms with $15B+ global revenues  —  Analysts estimate that the tax will generate up to $250 million for schools in the state in the first year.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
LinkedIn announces the formation of a global creator management team, led by its EIC Dan Roth, aiming to support and grow content creators on the platform  —  LinkedIn is building a creator management team to help grow its community of content creators on the platform, according to an announcement from the company's editor in chief.
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
AT&T installs fiber for a 90-year-old after his WSJ print ad complaining of slow AT&T Internet service speeds goes viral  —  From 3Mbps DSL to 300Mbps fiber: Aaron Epstein's newspaper ad gets amazing result.  —  When 90-year-old Aaron Epstein bought a Wall Street Journal print ad …
Michelai Graham / Technical.ly DC:
Data privacy management company WireWheel raises $20M Series B led by ForgePoint Capital, bringing its total raised to $45M  —  Led by ForgePoint Capital, this new financing will go toward expanding the data protection company's SaaS platform and adding to its product engineering, sales and marketing teams.
Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:
Spotify says it is adapting a Work From Anywhere model and will provide co-working space memberships for employees who choose to work remotely  —  - Spotify is adapting a “Work from Anywhere” model, which will allow employees to choose whether they want to be in the office full time, be at home full time or a combination of the two.

Sponsor Posts

Airtable:
Deep analysis for deep questions  —  Introducing Superagent.  A new research product from Airtable: Subagents deeply interrogate your topic and turn it into boardroom-ready reports, slides, docs, or websites.
Clay:
Turn any GTM idea into reality  —  Clay helps GTM teams combine AI agents, enrichment, and intent data to move faster and turn insights into action.
Zoho:
App Spotlight: Plug&Play AI Email Assistant for Zoho CRM  —  Our App Spotlight brings you hand-picked apps to enhance the power of your Zoho apps and tools.  Visit Zoho Marketplace to explore all of our apps …
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

Big Technology Podcast:
Is Something Big Happening?, AI Safety Apocalypse, Anthropic Raises $30 Billion
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.
Hard Fork:
'Something Big Is Happening' + A.I. Rocks the Romance Novel Industry + One Good Thing
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.
Lenny's Podcast:
"Engineers are becoming sorcerers" | The future of software development with OpenAI's Sherwin Wu
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.
Cheeky Pint:
Ben Thompson from Stratechery on AI ads, the end of SaaS, and the future of media
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
Subscribe to Cheeky Pint.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
His Excellency Khaldoon Al Mubarak: Investing in an AI-Driven World
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.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
The Billionaire Button w/ Tim Wu
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.
Subscribe to The Nick, Dick and Paul Show.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 7:55 AM ET, February 13, 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

Annie Palmer / CNBC:

Earlier Picks

Matt Day / Bloomberg:
Kate Klonick / New Yorker:
Mariella Moon / Engadget:
Bloomberg:
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:
Sara Fischer / Axios: