Techmeme
July 29, 2021, 12:35 AM

Top News

Facebook:
Facebook reports Q2 revenue of $29.08B, up 56% YoY, MAUs of 2.9B, up 7% YoY, headcount of 63,404, up 21% YoY; stock down ~3% on warning of revenue slowdown  —  “We had a strong quarter as we continue to help businesses grow and people stay connected,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO.
Stephanie Condon / ZDNet:
Facebook says Q2 ad revenue was $28.58B, up 56% YoY, with average price per ad up 47% YoY and a 6% YoY increase in ads delivered  —  The rising price for ads delivered strong top and bottom-line results for Facebook, even as the social media giant continued to warn of “increased ad targeting headwinds.”
Patrick Klepek / VICE:
Activision Blizzard staffers stage a walkout, demanding fairer treatment for underrepresented staff and an end to arbitration clauses in staff contracts  —  “This is the beginning of an enduring movement in favor of better labor conditions for all employees.”  —  Patrick Klepek
Wall Street Journal:
Google says anyone coming to work at its campuses must be vaccinated, starting in the US, and will delay the return to offices from September until mid-October  —  Google delays planned return to offices until mid-October as U.S. companies take new precautions against Delta variant's spread
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Facebook says it will require its US staff be vaccinated before returning to offices this fall, and will work around medical or other vaccine exemptions  —  Facebook will require U.S. workers returning to its offices to be vaccinated, the company said on Wednesday.  —  This is breaking news.
Tiernan Ray / ZDNet:
OpenAI introduces Triton 1.0, an open-source programming language for writing GPU code for neural networks, and claims it is easier to write than Nvidia's CUDA  —  SEO: Python-like language promises to be easier to write than native CUDA and specialized GPU code but has performance comparable …
Source: OpenAI and GitHubMore: SiliconANGLE, VentureBeat, and MarkTechPost
Tweets: @copyconstruct, @gdb, and @openai
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Twitter says it is testing Shop Module, a new shopping section that brands can add to the top of their profiles, launching in the US today on iOS  —  Starting with a pilot of around a dozen brands  —  Twitter is piloting a new feature that allows businesses to add a shopping section …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
In a memo, Apple says it plans to restore a mask requirement for staff and customers at most of its US retail stores on Thursday, due to rising COVID cases  —  - Company to make change Thursday in areas with rising cases  — Company asks, but doesn't require, retail staff to get vaccine
Patrick Howell O'Neill / MIT Technology Review:
NSO Group confirms that Israeli government officials opened an investigation and visited NSO's Tel Aviv office on Wednesday to assess Pegasus abuse allegations  —  ‘We want them to check everything,’ says CEO of cybersecurity company implicated in campaigns against politicians, activists and other notable figures.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Sony says it has now sold over 10M PS5 consoles, up from the 7.8M announced in April, making it the fastest-selling PlayStation ever  —  PS5 is the fastest-selling PlayStation  —  Sony has now sold more than 10 million PS5 consoles.  That's up more than 2 million sales …
Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal:
Biden instructs federal agencies to develop voluntary cybersecurity goals for companies operating critical infrastructure, as officials consider mandatory rules  —  Though voluntary, officials said the new step could be a prelude to a push for cybersecurity mandates
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
Senate reaches a deal on an infrastructure plan including $65B for broadband investments, $35B less than Biden's original plan; final vote still yet to happen  —  That's less than the original $100 billion plan  —  On Wednesday, bipartisan Senate negotiators reached a deal on an infrastructure package after weeks of tense discussion.
Cody Toombs / Android Police:
Google releases the first stable build of Jetpack Compose, a UI framework for Android, after two years in public development  —  Since its introduction during I/O 2019, Jetpack Compose was obviously destined to become the prescribed method of Android UI development.
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Qualcomm Q3: revenue of $8B, up 63% YoY, net income of $2.2B, up 124% YoY, chip segment revenue of $6.47B, up 70% YoY, and a strong Q4 revenue forecast  —  - Qualcomm revenue was up 63% from the same period last year, and earnings per share more than doubled annually in the quarter that ended on June 27.
Reuters:
Robinhood raises $2.1B in its IPO after selling 55M shares at the low end of its $38 to $42 range, giving it a valuation of $31.8B  —  Robinhood Markets Inc, the owner of the trading app which emerged as the go-to destination for retail investors speculating on this year's “meme' stock trading frenzy …
Tage Kene-Okafor / TechCrunch:
Cairo and Dubai-based Swvl, a bus-hailing and ridesharing provider in emerging markets, plans to go public in the US in a SPAC merger at a valuation of ~$1.5B  —  Cairo and Dubai-based ride-sharing company Swvl plans to go public in a merger with special purpose acquisition company Queen's Gambit Growth Capital, Swvl said Tuesday.
More: Reuters and CNBC
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
New bipartisan infrastructure bill aims to raise ~$30B by imposing new taxes on exchanges trading digital assets including crypto; bill awaits Congress approval  —  The draft language could mean a number of individuals interacting with crypto may have to start reporting their transactions.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Spotify Q2: revenue of €2.3B, up 23% YoY, ad revenue up 110% YoY to €275M; paying subscribers reached 165M, up 20% YoY, total MAUs reached 365M; stock down 6%+  —  Spotify, citing ongoing headwinds from the COVID pandemic, fell short of its total monthly user growth goal in the second quarter of 2021.

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