Techmeme
March 17, 2021, 1:00 PM

Top News

Sohee Kim / Bloomberg:
Samsung says it is considering skipping launch of a new Note this year to streamline its lineup and warns of a “serious imbalance” in semiconductors globally  —  - It's seeing a ‘serious imbalance’ in global semiconductors  — The warning suggests shortages may spread beyond autos
Allison Johnson / The Verge:
Samsung updates its mid-range Galaxy lineup: 6.5" A52 and A52 5G, from ~$415, and 6.7" A72, from ~$535, with 90Hz or 120Hz displays, better cameras, and more  —  The A-series phones will also include IP67 ratings, brighter screens, and expandable microSD storage
Bloomberg:
A profile of Clubhouse co-founder Paul Davison, who previously had built social apps like Highlight and Shorts that nudged people to share more by default  —  “He's got more momentum than force,” says a former colleague.  “Paul is just always moving forward.”
Shaan Puri / @shaanvp:
[Thread] Why Clubhouse will fail: most of the content is “meh” and users will struggle to find interesting live content, leading to low user retention  —  So... everyone seems to think clubhouse is the “next big thing” - but I think it's going to fail. Here's how I think it all goes down..
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Sensor Tower: if a 15% commission was in place in 2020, Apple would have missed out on an estimated $595M, or 2.7%, and Google $587M, or 5%, in app store fees  —  - Apple and Google have announced changes to app store fees that impact app makers making less than $1 million per year.
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Facebook outlines multiple changes for Groups: probation for rule-breaking users, limiting civic and political groups' reach, and requiring more moderation  —  Ultimately culminating in a ban  —  Facebook is trying to clean up its Groups experience and limit the reach of potentially problematic users and communities.
CNBC:
SEC filing: Uber will reclassify its UK drivers as “workers”, granting them vacation pay, minimum wage, and pension plan access, but not full employee benefits  —  - Uber will reclassify all U.K.-based drivers as workers.  — Under the new designation, more than 70,000 drivers …
Dara Khosrowshahi / London Evening Standard:
Sam Schechner / Wall Street Journal:
France says Apple's upcoming IDFA ad privacy changes are not abusive but will investigate if Apple has stricter rules for third-party apps than for its own apps  —  French competition authority says Apple's changes 'don't appear to be abusive'  —  France's competition regulator rejected …
Sami Fathi / MacRumors:
Apple says it has generated 1.2 GW of clean energy and removed an average of 921K metric tons of carbon emissions annually, as part of its $4.7B Green Bond  —  In a press release today, Apple touted the significant progress it has made as part of its $4.7 billion Green Bond.
Will Bedingfield / WIRED UK:
For the first time, Netflix details its carbon footprint using DIMPACT tool, claiming one hour of streaming equates to a 75W ceiling fan running for four hours  —  Streaming platforms finally have a tool to evaluate the size of their carbon footprint.  Now they need to take action and go green
More: Green Matters and Wired
Financial Times:
How Stripe became Silicon Valley's most valuable private company by being capital efficient at scale and having a self-sustaining core payments business  —  Underpinning $95bn valuation is investors' belief that payments digitisation still has some way to run
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Stripe's Patrick Collison, Microsoft's Brad Smith, Google's Thomas Kurian, and Cloudflare's Matthew Prince discuss moderation in internet infrastructure  —  Manage your Stratechery subscription.  —  It was Patrick Collison, Stripe's CEO, who pointed out to me that one of the animating principles …
Danny Palmer / ZDNet:
McAfee researchers detail a Chinese cyberespionage campaign targeting at least 23 telcos in the US, Europe, and SE Asia to steal data, including for 5G tech  —  Cybersecurity researchers at McAfee detail an ongoing cyber espionage campaign which is targeting telecoms companies around the world.
Dan Sullivan / Tampa Bay Times:
A Florida teen who hacked well-known Twitter accounts last summer and used them to ask for BTC, netting $100K+, was sentenced to three years in a plea deal  —  Graham Ivan Clark, 18, agreed to plea guilty to fraud charges for a hack of several Twitter accounts last summer.
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Facebook says it will publish an annual report detailing its impact on human rights, and will establish a fund to support human rights activists and journalists  —  - Social media giant to give board formal updates on the issue  — Company has been criticized for role in Myanmar, Sri Lanka
Bloomberg:
FCC votes 4-0 to set rules for the sale of more 5G spectrum tracts, covering millions of people, in October; most recent 5G auction raised $81B  —  - Vote at FCC establishes conditions for October airwaves sale  — FCC votes on rules as carriers race to accumulate frequencies
Stephanie Bodoni / Bloomberg:
France's data protection watchdog says it has opened a probe into Clubhouse to assess whether EU's GDPR applies to the app  —  - Probe aims to confirm whether GDPR applies to Clubhouse  — German regulator also looking at how app protects user privacy
More: France 24
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Facebook's interest in newsletters stems from its shift in product development to focus on private messaging and Groups, not the News Feed  —  Hint: it's all about Groups.  PLUS: Substack fumbles  —  Today let's talk about platforms' growing interest in building newsletter tools …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify's new AI commerce stack  —  Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Zoho:
Why eIDAS 2.0 might be the EU's boldest digital move yet  —  eIDAS: The first building block of digital trust More than a decade ago, the EU introduced the eIDAS regulation (Regulation [EU] No 910/2014) …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box 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:
CNBC's Jim Cramer: Big Tech Hot Takes, NVIDIA $10 Trillion?, Building Wealth In Any Market
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
"Neither Side Is Used to Losing." Lucas Shaw on What's Next for Netflix and Paramount in the Battle for Warner Bros.
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Saam Motamedi from Greylock Partners
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Invest Like the Best:
Henry Ellenbogen - Man Versus Machine
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Grit:
How Snap Plans to Win the AR Race | Evan Spiegel on Spectacles
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:00 PM ET, March 17, 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

Earlier Picks

Ari Levy / CNBC:
Billy Tallis / AnandTech:
The Verge: