Techmeme
March 10, 2021, 4:07 PM

Top News

Nikkei Asia:
Sources: Apple is cutting orders for all iPhones by ~20% compared to its plans in December for H1 2021, with iPhone 12 mini production cut by 70%  —  Total iPhone target for 2021 still at 230m units despite global parts shortage  —  TAIPEI — Apple is slashing its planned production …
CNBC:
Roblox began trading under RBLX at $64.50, up 43% from its Jan. funding round, giving the company a $33.5B valuation; NYSE set Roblox's reference price at $45  —  - Roblox held its stock market debut on Wednesday through a direct listing, and is now trading under ticker symbol RBLX.
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
By bringing disparate parts of gaming into one place, Roblox has created the conditions for interlocking feedback loops that typify transformational products  —  Manage your Stratechery subscription.  —  The degree to which Stratechery Weekly Articles are pre-planned varies; Eddy on Twitter, though, had this article pegged:
Ax Sharma / BleepingComputer:
Data center operator OVH says a fire destroyed some of its sites in France, affecting cyber threat intelligence company Bad Packets, game maker Rust, and others  —  In a major unprecedented incident, data centers of OVH located in Strasbourg, France have been destroyed by fire.
Stephen Warwick / iMore:
Twitter says it is testing displaying large images, instead of cropped previews, on iOS and Android and will add support for 4K photo uploads  —  “Sometimes it's better said with a picture or a video.”  —  What you need to know  — Twitter is testing new features that will let you see a single image in full on your timeline.
Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:
Creators are monetizing through hyper-specific revenue streams like NewNew, which lets fans pay to vote to control a creator's day-to-day decisions  —  Digital stars are coming up with new ways to make money.  Yet fans still hold the power.  —  A rash of new start-ups are making it easier …
Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:
Apple says it will invest €1B in Germany over the next three years and will make Munich its European Silicon Design Center  —  Apple will make Munich its European Silicon Design Center, the company announced today.  Work already being undertaken by Apple in Bavaria's capital is contributing …
Reuters:
Russia says it is slowing down Twitter for not removing 3K+ posts containing “illegal content” and threatens a total block if Twitter ignores deletion demands  —  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday it was slowing down the speed of Twitter in retaliation for its alleged failure …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Facebook launches Instagram Lite, an Android app that takes up just 2MB of storage space, in 170 countries, and says Facebook Lite has 200M+ MAUs  —  Growth for Facebook is coming from the developing world, and so the social network today made another key move to cater better to consumers in those countries.
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Twitter says it aims to let anyone start hosting Spaces in April, after testing with a select few  —  If you're wondering where those promised Spaces are  —  If you opened your phone this morning to see a Twitter app update, you might have been excited — and then confused …
Brent Kendall / Wall Street Journal:
Facebook says it has filed motions to dismiss antitrust lawsuits brought by the FTC and state AGs, arguing its conduct did not harm competition or consumers  —  Action marks its first legal salvo since the FTC and 46 states sued the company in December  —  WASHINGTON— Facebook Inc …
New York Times:
To ease its dependence on US, China's new five-year plan calls tech development a matter of national security and pledges to raise R&D spending by 7% annually  —  Beijing's leaders plot a path to go it alone, vowing to spend big to fill gaps in innovation and avoid dependence on the United States and others.
Tim Ferriss / The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss:
Interview with Vitalik Buterin on ETH2, scaling plans and timelines, NFTs, the Ethereum Name Service, quadratic funding, more  —  Join 1.5M+ subscribers and receive exclusive tools, tips, and resources sent directly by Tim:  —  Type your email address  —  Yes, sign me up for Tim's free email newsletter.
Karissa Bell / Engadget:
TikTok gives users the ability to approve all new comments before they appear and adds in-app prompts to discourage nasty comments  —  TikTok is introducing new features meant to  —  reduce bullying and harassment on its platform: new comment controls and in-app prompts to discourage nasty comments.
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Dependency confusion attacks, where package managers override local packages with global ones, are flourishing, impacting Microsoft, Zillow, Lyft, and others  —  New dependency confusion attacks take aim at Microsoft, Amazon, Slack, Lyft, and Zillow.  —  A new type of supply chain attack unveiled …
Shiyin Chen / Bloomberg:
Epic Games sues Google in Australia, arguing Google forces developers to use its payments system, expanding on lawsuits in US and UK against Google and Apple  —  - Fortnite maker has already sued Google in the U.S. and U.K.  — Dispute centers around fees charged by app store operators
Alex Konrad / Forbes:
Q&A with Chris Sacca on his brief retirement, Trump and Biden, investing in climate startups, how investing has changed, NFTs, and more  —  In 2015, venture capitalist Chris Sacca was one of Silicon Valley's most influential investors, No. 3 on the Midas List with more than one million Twitter followers …
Amos Barshad / Rest of World:
A look at Unit 8200, an elite intelligence unit within the Israeli Defense Forces and a pipeline for the country's sprawling network of cybersecurity startups  —  The country's hacking software is recognized the world over.  Not everyone thinks it's a good thing.
Bloomberg:
Bipartisan group of US lawmakers re-introduce a bill that will let news organizations negotiate collectively with Google, Facebook, and others  —  - News media could band together under bill to bargain with tech  — Australia law marked a major victory for news publishers
Rosalie Chan / Insider:
Flatfile, which helps businesses with onboarding customer data, raises $35M Series A led by Scale Venture Partners at a $185M valuation  —  - Flatfile announced Wednesday that it raised $35 million in funding led by Scale Venture Partners.  — Flatfile's founders worked together at Envoy and started the software as a side project.

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Featured Podcasts

The Upstarts Podcast:
Runway's Cris Valenzuela: Building The Hollywood-Friendly Video AI That OpenAI Couldn't
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What happens when AI runs a store
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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.
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Cameron Faulkner / The Verge:
James Cridland / Podnews: