Techmeme
June 15, 2021, 1:55 PM

Top News

New York Times:
Interviews with ~200 people show how Amazon's warehouse employment system, under strain before the pandemic, burned through workers and created huge confusion  —  Each year, hundreds of thousands of workers churn through a vast mechanism that hires and monitors, disciplines and fires.
Jason Del Rey / Vox:
Interviews with 30+ current and former Amazon employees detail allegations of racial bias and discrimination; many say its HR department was part of the problem  —  In interviews with Recode, dozens of Amazon employees detailed allegations of racial bias and discrimination on the job …
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
UK's CMA says it will launch an investigation into Apple and Google's mobile ecosystems over whether their market power is harming users  —  Today, the UK's competition watchdog (the Competition and Markets Authority) announced an official investigation into the mobile device ecosystem, citing Apple and Google's effective duopoly.
Olivia Carville / Bloomberg:
Interviews with 53 people shed light on Airbnb's secretive safety team, made up of ~100 agents, some with military backgrounds, who handle emergency situations  —  The first-floor apartment on West 37th Street, a few blocks south of Times Square, was popular with tourists …
The Verge:
The Senate votes 69-28 to confirm Lina Khan, an antitrust expert who wrote the “Amazon Antitrust Paradox”, to the FTC, giving Democrats a majority  —  Congress is preparing to take drastic action against tech monopolies  —  The Senate confirmed Lina Khan as commissioner …
Fight for the Future:
Investigation finds Apple has removed LGBTQ+ apps in 152 countries, many which have poor human rights records; Saudi Arabia and China are missing the most apps  —  As LGBTQ+ people around the world celebrate Pride Month, new report from Fight for the Future and GreatFire shows …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
IRL, which is building a messaging-based social network, raises $170M Series C led by SoftBank's Vision Fund 2, at a $1.17B valuation  —  Social calendar app IRL has been busy building a messaging-based social network, or what founder and CEO Abraham Shafi calls a “WeChat of the West.”
Stephanie Bodoni / Bloomberg:
EU's top court says Facebook can't avoid potential EU-wide privacy orders from data protection authorities beyond its legal watchdog in Ireland  —  - EU top court rules on scope of so-called one-stop-shop system  — Dispute stems from Belgian data order over Facebook cookies
Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:
Andreessen Horowitz launches Future, a media property that will focus on informational and editorial content created by full-time staff and outside contributors  —  Today, venture firm Andreessen Horowitz is officially launching its media property, called Future.
Tim Bradshaw / Financial Times:
Sir Tim Berners-Lee is auctioning his original source code for the web as an NFT, the first time he would be able to raise money directly from his invention  —  Sotheby's sale will be first time creator has been able to raise money directly from invention  —  Sir Tim Berners-Lee is auctioning …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Automattic acquires Day One, a popular journaling app for Apple devices with 15M+ downloads on the Mac and iOS App Store; terms of the deal were not disclosed  —  Automattic is expanding its lineup of online writing platforms with its acquisition of Day One, a popular journaling app for Mac and Apple mobile devices.
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Iterable, which offers AI-powered cross-channel sales and marketing tools, raises $200M Series E, giving the company a $2B post-money valuation  —  Elevate your enterprise data technology and strategy at Transform 2021.  —  Iterable, a cross-channel platform for customer experiences …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Duda, which helps large businesses to build websites, raises $50M Series D led by Claridge IL, bringing its total raised to $100M  —  Self-expression for many consumers today comes in the form of social media and apps.  But if you're a larger business, even if you can't ignore platforms like Facebook …
More: FinSMEs and Tech.eu
Christine Hall / Crunchbase News:
PayCargo, which develops cloud-based payment and financing services for the cargo industry, raises $125M Series B, following a $35M Series A last September  —  When products exit a cargo carrier and payment isn't immediately available for all of the entities that touched it, those products are generally hauled to a warehouse to sit.

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Is AI just hype?  —  Find out how top enterprises use Tribe to get real business results.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Zoho:
All new Zoho Workerly 2024  —  Staffing businesses around the world face a unique set of challenges when it comes to managing their temporary workforce.  With a constantly shifting job market and changing staffing needs …
Comprehensive.io:
Browse salary data from 3,000 startups for free  —  Click for FREE, immediate access to real-time compensation benchmarking data.  Paid version helps HR automate comp reviews and communicate total compensation to employees.
The Kevin Rose Show:
Henry Shukman, Lessons from an Authentic Zen Master
Gain unconventional wisdom and insights through conversations with top expert in AI, investing, wellness, technology, and culture.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Thu. 03/28 - Claude 3 Opus Surpasses GPT-4 For The First Time
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:55 PM ET, June 15, 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

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

Earlier Picks

Monica Chin / The Verge:
NBC News:
Peter Rudegeair / Wall Street Journal:
Jonathan Ponciano / Forbes:
Andrew Chung / Reuters:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge: