Techmeme: Germany's Federal Cartel Office announces an antitrust investigation into Apple's App Store, pre-installed apps, and more (Sami Fathi/MacRumors)

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June 21, 2021, 12:40 PM

Top News

Global Times:

China's Sichuan Province closes crypto mines, following Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Yunnan; an estimated 90% of China's mining capacity has now been shut down — Many Bitcoin mines in Southwest China's Sichuan Province - one of China's largest cryptocurrency mining bases - were closed as of Sunday …

More: Tom's Hardware, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, CoinDesk, Decrypt, The Block, NBC News, TNW, PingWest, Insider, Reuters, Gizmodo, France 24, Bitcoin Magazine, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, CNBC, SlashGear, Financial Times, Forbes, Cointelegraph, New York Post, The Daily Hodl, Forkast, blockchain.news, Cryptonews, BitcoinExchangeGuide, Blockonomi, Finbold, CNBC, Pandaily, and CoinDesk

Tweets: @davidmarcus, @rizzn, and @onlyyoontv

Coco Feng / South China Morning Post:

As China expands its crackdown on cryptocurrency mining farms, analysis shows the price of GPUs has fallen on many e-commerce platforms in the country — Graphics cards from companies including Nvidia and Asus saw prices fall by as much as two-thirds on e-commerce platforms amid China's …

More: Gizmodo, TechRadar, CoinDesk, Cointelegraph, Finbold, cryptodaily.co.uk, Coinspeaker, Cryptonews, and blockchain.news. Tweets: @jollyroger

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Facebook rolls out Live Audio Rooms, available to verified public figures and select Groups, and its podcast service, available to select partners, in the US — In April, Facebook announced a series of planned investments in new audio products, including a Clubhouse live audio competitor as well as new support for podcasts.

Richard Pallot / ITV:

Investigation finds Amazon has been destroying thousands of unsold goods at its UK-based Dunfermline warehouse; source says 130K items are destroyed per week — Exclusive: Watch footage showing the ‘destruction zone’ in Amazon's Dunfermline warehouse where millions of unsold items are destroyed every year

More: Insider, The Verge, KnowTechie, Input, and ITV

Sami Fathi / MacRumors:

Germany's Federal Cartel Office announces an antitrust investigation into Apple's App Store, pre-installed apps, and more — Germany's Federal Cartel Office, the Bundeskartellamt, today initiated proceedings against Apple on the claims of anti-competitive behavior related to the App Store …

More: Bundeskartellamt, Reuters, iThinkDifferent, BBC, Bloomberg, mobilesyrup.com, Silicon Republic, Pocketnow, Reuters, TechCrunch, and iMore

Tweets: @kartellamt, @markscott82, @samifathi_, and @markscott82

Sam Shead / CNBC:

Google says it has decided not to reopen Campus, its London-based startup space, after the pandemic forced it to close — - The Silicon Valley tech giant announced on Monday that it has decided “not to reopen” Campus in East London after it was forced to close by the coronavirus pandemic.

More: campus.co, The Register, Bloomberg, Medium, Insider, and TechRadar

Tweets: @googlestartupuk, @sarahdrinkwater, @nicklevine, @googlestartupuk, @ruskin147, @googlestartupuk, @googlestartupuk, @sarahdrinkwater, @jamesliamcook, and @mikebutcher

Mary Biekert / Bloomberg:

Securitize, which helps companies issue asset-backed security tokens, raises $48M Series B co-led Morgan Stanley and Blockchain Capital — - Firm gathers $48 million in its Series B fundraising round — Teixeira of Morgan Stanley to join Securitize's board

More: The Block, CoinDesk, Finextra, PR Newswire, Decrypt, and Cointelegraph

The Information:

Sources: Shopify is rolling out a service that will let BuzzFeed and other content publishers link to merchants in exchange for a cut of transaction revenue — Shopify, which has become a major force in e-commerce by providing online tools to merchants, is rolling out a new service …

Tweets: @vinnysgreen

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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.

From Mediagazer

Deadline:

A US district court judge says she'll issue a ruling by July 22 on state AGs' request for a temporary stay that would pause the Paramount-WBD merger

Patrick Hipes / Deadline:

Sinclair-owned TV stations affiliated with ABC and NBC aired Trump's speech about elections, using Sinclair's feed; Sinclair owns or operates 177 stations

Nick Robins-Early / The Guardian:

Spanish-language Telemundo captured 49% of the World Cup audience in the US through the first 48 matches, including viewers whose primary language is English

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More News

BBC:

How North Korean hackers nearly stole $951M from Bangladesh Bank's New York Fed account in 2016, only to be stopped at the last moment after transferring $81M

More: Slashdot

Noor Zainab Hussain / Reuters:

Filing: cybersecurity company SentinelOne will sell 32M shares at $26-$29, aiming for a $7B+ valuation and raising $928M at the top end, when it floats on NYSE

More: Silicon Valley Business …, Globes Online, CTech, and Business Wire

Choe Sang-Hun / New York Times:

A look at the huge rise of esports in South Korea, where thousands of young people compete to go pro, and efforts to create sustainable jobs in the industry

Tweets: @sameeryasir, @nytimesbusiness, @almostbernard, and @nytimes

Patrick Shanley / Washington Post:

A look at the future of E3, once the dominant gaming event, as the pandemic, withdrawal of Sony, and rise of competing events has weakened its impact and appeal

More: TechCrunch. Tweets: @launcherwp, @pshanley88, and @pshanley88

Julia Fioretti / Bloomberg:

Sources: Full Truck Alliance, a Chinese Uber-like service for trucks, raises $1.6B after pricing at $19, the top of the range; trading begins today on NYSE

More: Reuters

Stephanie Findlay / Financial Times:

Sources: Indian payments company Paytm is seeking to raise up to $3B in its forthcoming IPO, targeting a valuation of $29B; the company was last valued at $16B

Ax Sharma / BleepingComputer:

Researcher finds iPhone bug that disables wireless functionality after joining a WiFi network called “%p%s%s%s%s%n”; resetting network settings fixes the issue

More: CodeColorist, mobilesyrup.com, Macworld, Tom's Guide, Android Authority, BGR India, Pocketnow, The Hacker News, Gizchina, SlashGear, Gizmodo, Ubergizmo, 9to5Mac, iThinkDifferent, phonearena.com, HotHardware.com News, MacRumors, PCMag, BetaNews, ZDNet, Forbes, and Wccftech

Tweets: @vm_call, @vm_call, @kennwhite, @insane_irish, @gossithedog, @securestep9, @gossithedog, and @jaimyn_m

Sam Shead / CNBC:

A look at Founders Forum, the annual UK event branded as the “Davos of tech” attended by Europe's top CEOs and investors from technology and media

More: Beyond Search

Earlier Picks

Alan Suderman / Associated Press:

Tax experts say that ransomware victims' ransom payments are probably tax deductible in the US, unless they were paid by an insurance company

More: TechRadar. Tweets: @mikko, @xamat, @gossithedog, @thegrugq, @thegrugq, and @sosowski

Brian Heater / TechCrunch:

Wristcam, which makes a $299 Apple Watch band with a camera capable of taking 4K images and recording 1080p video, raises $25M led by Marker LLC

Tweets: @brianfagioli and @daniel_duan. Thanks:@vscpr

Dr. Ian Cutress / AnandTech:

Interview with Jim Keller, a chip expert lauded for his work at AMD and Apple, on ARM vs x86 vs RISC-V, managing 1,000 people at Intel, and plans at Tenstorrent

Tweets: @iancutress, @anandtech, @0xcats, and @hkanji. Thanks:@anandtech

Matt Dougherty / KHOU-TV:

Some power companies in Texas are remotely adjusting the smart thermostats of users enrolled in their energy saving programs to reduce strain on power grids

More: XDA Developers, BGR, Android Police, Protocol, The Verge, KnowTechie, MacDailyNews, SlashGear, Insider, AppleInsider, and Gizmodo

Tweets: @dellcam, @elpasotimes, @erratarob, @apoorv_bh89, @stealthygeek, @dcseifert, @vickerysec, @film_girl, @aoverk, @khou, @nuclear94, @mollyjongfast, @arvindpawan1, @grantstern, @jgamblin, @natebeachw, @phil_lewis_, and @karlbode

Rita Liao / TechCrunch:

Amber Group, a Hong Kong-based crypto finance startup that provides trading and asset management services, raises $100M Series B at $1B pre-money valuation

More: Blockworks, CNBC, Forkast, New York Post, CoinDesk, Silicon Republic, TNW, Coinspeaker, Coin Journal, Decrypt, Cointelegraph, and Tech News. Tweets: @_annabellehuang

Wall Street Journal:

Analysts say the dominance of TSMC, which makes ~92% of the world's most sophisticated chips and 60% of chips used in cars, poses risks to the global economy

More: Wall Street Journal. Tweets: @silvermanjacob, @chinarealtime, @jasonmillerindc, @zackkanter, @djtgallagher, @jchengwsj, and @scottlincicome

Ezra Fieser / Bloomberg:

A look at El Zonte, a surfing village in El Salvador dubbed Bitcoin Beach after an anonymous 2019 donation turned it into a controlled alt-currency experiment

Tweets: @andrewrosati, @codinghorror, @apompliano, and @kejalvyas

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:

Pandemic boosted the “phone-ization” of PCs, which are adopting power efficient CPUs and thin designs, a trend which will accelerate with broader adoption of 5G

More: The Overspill. Tweets: @gregorymbryant, @dsilverman, @psb_dc, @parthodasgupta, @onelinders, @stevesi, @mims, and @mims