Techmeme: Instead of convincing people merely to buy things that they don't need, NFTs are convincing them to buy imaginary optimism based on a mass enchantment and FOMO (Andy Day/Fstoppers)

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Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Sources: Apple's HomePod mini has a sensor, currently disabled, that measures temperature and humidity; Apple is working on speakers with screens and cameras — Apple Inc.'s HomePod mini speaker launched last November with new features such as a home intercom system.

More: MacRumors, Macworld, MacRumors, The Verge, 9to5Mac, Engadget, TechHive, Redmond Pie, Forbes, Wccftech, Gizmodo, Voicebot.ai, iMore, TidBITS, Pocketnow, iPhone in Canada Blog, Pocket-lint, iDownloadBlog.com, TechRadar, Six Colors, Tom's Guide, Apple Terminal, MacDailyNews, Patently Apple, iPhone Hacks, KnowTechie, SlashGear, Neowin, PCMag, Ubergizmo, AppleInsider, iClarified, MACお宝 …, and Pixel Envy

Tweets: @markgurman, @martinsfp, and @jamespmcleod

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft says it will begin a limited reopening of its Redmond HQ on March 29 and plans a future focus on hybrid workplaces — Microsoft is letting some employees back into the office — Microsoft is planning to start reopening its Redmond, Seattle headquarters later this month.

More: The Official Microsoft Blog, CNET, microsoft.com, Insider, The Register, Reuters, TechRadar, OnMSFT.com, Tech Xplore, Bloomberg, GameSpot, and Microsoft

Tweets: @satyanadella, @microsoft, @tomwarren, and @martinsfp

Adi Robertson / The Verge:

Judge certifies a class action suit against Apple that claims it knew for years that MacBooks' butterfly keyboards were flawed and small fixes were insufficient — The suit says Apple knew its thinner keyboard was rotten — A judge has certified a class action suit against Apple for its fragile butterfly keyboard design.

More: United States District Court Northern District of California San Jose Division, HotHardware.com News, MacRumors, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, iMore, iPhone in Canada Blog, MacDailyNews, iDownloadBlog.com, TidBITS, The Mac Observer, and Cult of Mac

Tweets: @rsingel, @joannastern, @reckless, @quinnypig, and @dhh

Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch:

Spark Capital decides to “sever all ties” with Dispo after claims of sexual assault against a former Vlog Squad member; David Dobrik departs from Dispo — Dobrik departs from Dispo board and leaves company — Venture capital firm Spark Capital has decided to ‘sever all ties’ with Dispo …

More: The Information, CNN, Gizmodo, BBC, Axios, Insider, The Verge, dot.LA, Variety, Tubefilter, PetaPixel, and Mashable

Tweets: @sparkcapital, @sevensevensix, @nmasc_, @panzer, @nytimes, @dunkhippo33, @kimmaicutler, @triketora, @amlewis4, @imcatnoone, @taylorlorenz, @taylorlorenz, and @kattenbarge

See also Mediagazer

Abner Li / 9to5Google:

Long time Google VP Caesar Sengupta, who was in charge of Next Billion Users, Google Pay, and oversaw Chrome OS, is leaving the company after 15 years — One big focus for Google today is making products for what it dubs the Next Billion Users in countries just coming online.

More: LinkedIn, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, CNBC, MediaNama, and Android Central

Tweets: @caesars, @mittermaniac, and @rajananandan

Andrew Chung / Reuters:

SCOTUS declined to hear Facebook's appeal to stop a proposed $15B class action lawsuit that accused Facebook of secretly tracking users via the “like” buttons — (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away Facebook Inc's bid to pare back a $15 billion class action lawsuit accusing …

More: The Hill and Bloomberg

Tweets: @riptari and @counternotions

Andy Day / Fstoppers:

Instead of convincing people merely to buy things that they don't need, NFTs are convincing them to buy imaginary optimism based on a mass enchantment and FOMO — Photographers, filmmakers, and digital artists are falling over themselves to mint NFTs in a get-rich-quick scheme …

More: NFT Nick. Tweets: @johnkoetsier, @cnyari, @reckless, @counternotions, @miloneuman, @iansherr, @askslim, @jherskowitz, and @gullevek

Nikkei Asia:

Sources: Samsung plans to release new Galaxy Z Flip and Fold phones this year and is working on a double-folding phone to be unveiled as early as this year — South Korean tech titan is working on new double-hinged model — TAIPEI/SEOUL — Samsung Electronics is betting heavily on foldable smartphones …

More: Android Police, XDA Developers, 9to5Google, SlashGear, Android Central, Wccftech, phonearena.com, SamMobile, Mashable, MUO, and Patently Apple

Tweets: @adammiarka, @davezatz, and @nikkeiasia

Miriam Gottfried / Wall Street Journal:

Blackstone, with a goal of managing $1T in assets by 2026, is increasingly investing in fast-growing tech companies and has opened a San Francisco office — Jonathan Gray is guiding shift at investment firm that made its name buying into undervalued companies

Tweets: @cliffordasness

Reuters:

Sources: Box is exploring a sale, discussing a potential deal with other companies and PE firms, amid pressure from hedge fund Starboard over stock performance — (Reuters) - U.S. cloud services provide Box Inc is exploring a sale amid pressure from hedge fund Starboard Value LP over its stock performance …

Tweets: @yoda

Yang Jie / Wall Street Journal:

Japanese chip maker Renesas says a fire at one its plants has halted production for at least a month, impacting automakers, and estimates losses at $160M/month — Shares of Toyota, Nissan and Honda fell Monday — TOKYO—A fire at a factory of one of the world's leading auto chip makers …

More: Financial Times, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, and AppleInsider

Tweets: @ryanfduffy, @chadbown, and @wsj

Ryan Browne / CNBC:

Deliveroo prices shares at £3.90 to £4.60 ahead of its London IPO, implying a market cap of £7.6B to £8.8B — - Deliveroo set a price range of between £3.90 and £4.60 per share for its upcoming IPO. — That implies an estimated market cap …

More: Sky News, Reuters, Bloomberg, BBC, coinspeaker.com, Tech Xplore, The Irish Times, Financial Times, PYMNTS.com, and Fast Company

Larry Dignan / ZDNet:

Synnex and privately-held Tech Data, both of which help implement solutions for IoT, cloud computing, and more, say they are merging in a deal valued at ~$7.2B — The combination of two companies will expand the geographic and product reach into cybersecurity, cloud, data and Internet of things.

More: SiliconANGLE, PR Newswire, CRN, Channel Futures, and Silicon Valley Business …

Mark Kleinman / Sky News:

Source: Epic Games is finalizing a $1B round at a ~$28B valuation, following a $1.78B round at a $17.3B valuation in July 2020 — Epic Games, which also owns the video chat app Houseparty, is close to concluding another $1bn fundraising, Sky News can reveal. — City editor @MarkKleinmanSky

More: Bloomberg and WRAL TechWire

Tweets: @alex, @andykleinman, @pkafka, and @markkleinmansky

Ron Miller / TechCrunch:

Zoom announces an SDK to help developers build Zoom video services into other apps, a central developer portal, analytics, and other tools — One clear sign of a maturing platform is when the company exposes the services it uses for its own tools to other developers.

More: PCMag, Zoom Blog, cloudpro.co.uk, and ZDNet. Tweets: @jessedamiani

Chavi Mehta / Reuters:

Facebook says it took down 1.3B fake accounts from October-December and 12M pieces of COVID-19 misinformation; Facebook has 35,000 staff tackling misinformation — (Reuters) - Facebook Inc said on Monday it took down 1.3 billion fake accounts between October and December …

More: Agence France-Presse, Morning Consult, The Hill, CNET, The Economic Times, New York Post, and 9to5Mac

Ron Miller / TechCrunch:

Berlin-based Camunda, which makes open source process automation tools, raises €82M Series B led by Insight Partners and says it has 400 enterprise customers — It's clear that automated workflow tooling has become increasingly important for companies.

More: FinSMEs, SiliconANGLE, Camunda, Tech.eu, Business Wire, and VentureBeat

Reuters:

ByteDance says its Nuverse video game unit has acquired Shanghai-based gaming studio Moonton Technology, sources say for around $4B — (Reuters) - ByteDance said on Monday its video games unit Nuverse has agreed to acquire Shanghai-based gaming studio Moonton Technology, as it seeks to further expand into the video games business.

More: AdExchanger, Gamasutra, caixinglobal.com, dexerto.com, coinspeaker.com, GamesIndustry.biz, Finbold, Tech in Asia, and Pocket Gamer.biz

Tweets: @jonrussell and @yingzhi_yang

Lauren Kaori Gurley / VICE:

NLRB docs show it filed a federal complaint against Amazon after a probe found Amazon illegally questioned and threatened a leader of Amazon walkouts in Queens — The state of New York is also suing Amazon for alleged health and safety violations at the same Queens warehouse where workers led the first COVID-19-related walkouts.

More: Insider

Cathy Reisenwitz / OneZero :

By eroding Section 230, Democratic senators' SAFE TECH Act risks silencing marginalized communities and will make the internet less safe for sex workers — Lawmakers should listen to the communities most affected before rushing to change Section 230 again — This op-ed was written …

Tweets: @cathyreisenwitz and @ozm

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