Techmeme: How soccer industry database Transfermarkt arrives at its highly influential player valuations, even as its data is crowdsourced from volunteers and staff (Rory Smith/New York Times)

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August 13, 2021, 6:45 AM

Top News

Reuters:

Sources: Apple employees have sent 800+ Slack messages on an internal channel debating the company's plans to scan US iPhones, iPads, and computers for CSAM — A backlash over Apple's move to scan U.S. customer phones and computers for child sex abuse images has grown to include employees speaking …

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE:

Nvidia says part of its April keynote was led by a virtual replica of CEO Jensen Huang, created by scanning Huang and then training an AI to mimic his gestures — Nvidia pulled off a stunt to promote and showcase its latest technology by digitizing its CEO Jensen Huang in a conference keynote.

More: The Official NVIDIA Blog, TechRadar, Input, PCMag, TechSpot, and CNET

Tweets: @jakobsonradical, @stroughtonsmith, @lorenzofb, @motherboard, @nvidiaap, @pcper, @jbathgate, @danielolimac, @cadenhouse, @jakobsonradical, @jhuckaby, and @jaycuthrell

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Disney+ beats Q3 subscriber estimates, reaching 116M subscribers vs. 114.5M expected; ESPN+ subscribers rose 75% YoY to 14.9M, Hulu grew 21% YoY to 42.8M — Disney's streaming service is seeing improved growth, after initially seeing slower numbers of subscriber additions in Q2 as Covid lockdowns and mask mandates came to an end.

More: Silicon Republic, CNBC, Thurrott, New York Times, Variety, PYMNTS.com, MacDailyNews, Deadline, and The Information

Tweets: @benjisales and @cnbcnow

See also Mediagazer

Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:

In an internal memo, Amazon drops guidelines that claimed ownership rights to video games made by staff after work hours, following criticism from developers — - Memo from Game Studios chief suggests rules were too broad — Company previously claimed rights to games made outside work

More: Engadget, TechSpot, and Gamasutra

Tweets: @quinnypig, @jasonschreier, @patal00n, and @raymecvinson

Felix Salmon / Axios:

Circle announces intention to become a bank, fully regulated by Federal Reserve, OCC, and FDIC, which could make USDC a de facto central bank digital currency — Crypto giant Circle has announced its intention to become a bank, fully regulated by the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the FDIC.

More: Circle Blog, SiliconANGLE, and CryptoSlate

Tweets: @jp_koning, @splitcapital, @jerallaire, @felixsalmon, and @chrisamccoy

Bloomberg:

Facebook delays its office reopenings in the US until January 2022; Facebook originally hoped for 50% office capacity by September and 100% by October — - Company originally planned to have employees back by October — Facebook will also require vaccinations for U.S. staff members

More: CNBC, The Register, ZDNet, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal, GeekWire, The Verge, CNET, and Reuters

Tweets: @mikeisaac, @kurtwagner8, @carnage4life, @stevekovach, @choire, @seldo, @entirelyamelia, @markgurman, @chris_herd, and @gasca

Kevin Roose / New York Times:

A look at community NFT projects like Pudgy Penguins, which have become a new kind of financial and social status symbol on the internet — Is this what the metaverse looks like? — Earlier this week, I got attacked by penguins. — Not real ones, mind you.

More: Decrypt and Coinmonks

Tweets: @alexisohanian, @noelleinmadrid, @dmccabe, @kevinmdraper, @davidgokhshtein, @mdudas, @kevinroose, @maxieryan, @steefcrypto, @nytimestech, @partypenguinnft, @caseynewton, @evabeylin, and @jeremysliew

Shen Lu / Protocol:

In response to internal calls for reform, Alibaba says it will form a committee of five female execs to handle workplace sexual harassment and related issues — This story contains mention of sexual assault. — After rape allegations of a female employee against her manager …

More: Alizila, ZDNet, South China Morning Post, CNBC, Pandaily, Wall Street Journal, and DealStreetAsia. Tweets: @shenlulushen

Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:

Airbnb reports Q2 revenue of $1.34B, up nearly 300% YoY, with Gross Booking Value of $13.4B, up 320% YoY, and net loss of $68M, down 88% YoY — - Airbnb beat Wall Street's expectations for revenue and bookings in the second quarter, but the company warned about expected volatility from the Covid delta variant.

More: Airbnb, The Real Deal New York, MarketWatch, Yahoo Finance, Associated Press, San Francisco Business Journal, Skift, Reuters, SiliconANGLE, Barron's Online, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, and Financial Times

Tweets: @imrichardfertig, @eringriffith, and @sameer_singh17

Rory Smith / New York Times:

How soccer industry database Transfermarkt arrives at its highly influential player valuations, even as its data is crowdsourced from volunteers and staff — Soccer takes the player valuations posted on the website Transfermarkt extremely seriously. It has never really stopped to ask where they come from.

Tweets: @nytsports, @kevinmdraper, @rorysmith, and @andrewdasnyt

Hirsh Chitkara / Protocol:

Illustrators say Corporate Memphis, an art aesthetic synonymous with tech marketing, has stuck around because execs continue to overlook the value of their work — You may not have heard of “Corporate Memphis,” but you've almost certainly seen it. The illustration style can be found …

Tweets: @drewharwell, @kobi_lacroix, @ranimolla, @meganmorrone, @nullthread, and @nick_stevens_gr

Maia Szalavitz / Wired:

Researchers say algorithms like NarxCare, which are used to identify a patient's risk of misusing opioids, may be actually worsening the US opioid crisis — A sweeping drug addiction risk algorithm has become central to how the US handles the opioid crisis. It may only be making the crisis worse.

Tweets: @oliviasolon, @thebiologistisn, @national_pain, @laureneoneal, @digiphile, @ddayen, @sesmith, @justinamash, @jurijuri, @lumpylouish, @knitgrrl, @wanderindreamr, @annaleen, @allytncat, and @maiasz

David Ramli / Bloomberg:

Innovusion Holdings, which develops lidar systems, raises $66M Series B plus round, bringing its total raised to $180M — - Supplier to auto-makers completes Series B plus round — Financing led by Guotai Junan International, Shunwei Capital — Innovusion Holdings Ltd …

More: SiliconANGLE

KrASIA:

XtalPi, which uses AI for drug discovery and development, raises $400M Series D led by OrbiMed and RRJ, at a valuation of over $2B — The company provides its AI technology to pharmaceutical companies to enhance R&D for new drugs. — AI pharmaceutical company XtalPi secured USD 400 million …

Dee-Ann Durbin / Associated Press:

DoorDash reports Q2 revenue of $1.24B, up 83% YoY, total orders of 345M, up 69% YoY, net loss of $102M, and says fee caps in cities like NY and LA cost it $26M — DoorDash booked a record number of orders in the second quarter even as its revenue growth slowed from pandemic-induced highs.

More: TheStreet, DoorDash, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and Reuters

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From Mediagazer

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Peter Attia is stepping aside as a contributor to CBS News, after his correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein came to light in the release of US DOJ files

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Sources: Paramount submitted a new bid for WBD that improves on its previous $30-a-share, all-cash proposal and addresses some of WBD's concerns

K.J. Yossman / Variety:

BAFTA host Alan Cumming thanks the audience for its “understanding” after outbursts from Tourette's campaigner John Davidson that weren't cut from the broadcast

More News

David Uberti / Wall Street Journal:

A look at efforts to shape federal rules for companies disclosing cyberattacks, with a group representing Alphabet and Amazon pushing for a 72-hour window

Tweets: @dnvolz and @weldpond

Andrew Deck / Rest of World:

As Substack expands abroad, writers say it needs local payment options and customer service in other languages; some worry about legal support in hostile states

Tweets: @decka227, @lainnafader, @jason_koebler, @mvzelenks, @dlberes, @wexler, @cengizyar, @kixes, @ranaayyub, @iatalkspace, @mccarthyryanj, @wongmjane, @lmatsakis, @lmatsakis, and @lmatsakis

Bloomberg:

Sources: Sequoia remains optimistic about China as the healthcare sector, about a third of Sequoia's China portfolio, has yet to become a focus of crackdowns

More: KrASIA. Tweets: @mcbridesg and @sarahhalzack

Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:

Agora, a materials management platform for building contractors, raises $33M Series B led by Tiger Global, bringing its total raised to about $45M

More: FinSMEs. Tweets: @mariarioumine. Thanks:@bayareawriter

Joseph Cox / VICE:

Internal docs: Amazon plans to monitor keyboard strokes and mouse movements of customer service staff to stop rogue workers or hackers accessing customer data

More: Ubergizmo, IT Management, HotHardware.com News, and Engadget

Tweets: @adam_k_levin, @josephfcox, @vice, @sarahbmyers, @cdibona, @lainnafader, @josephfcox, @josephfcox, @josephfcox, and @josephfcox

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

Kronologic, a sales meeting booking service that uses AI to automatically sends calendar invites on behalf of salespeople, raises $20M in seed funding

Kelly Gilblom / Bloomberg:

Study of 6,000 websites and 900 apps that host pirated movies and TV finds they make ~$1.3B per year from ads, including ads by Amazon, Facebook, and Google

More: Beyond Search. Tweets: @creativefuture and @raju

Joseph Cox / VICE:

Google says it banned location data company SafeGraph in early June, meaning apps using SafeGuard location SDK had to remove it

More: CNET, phonearena.com, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Engadget, and The Verge

Tweets: @josephfcox, @josephfcox, @josephfcox, @eff, @vice, @angelsdiaz_, @jshermcyber, @wolfiechristl, @josephfcox, @mikereyes, @josephfcox, and @jason_koebler

Earlier Picks

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

TikTok details upcoming protections for users aged 13 to 17, including turning in-app messaging off by default and changes to notifications

More: TikTok, Insider, CNET, TNW, Mashable, TechRadar, Engadget, Social Media Today, SlashGear, Tubefilter, The Mac Observer, The Guardian, PCMag, Neowin, Forbes, TechSpot, iDownloadBlog.com, 9to5Mac, and BBC

Tweets: @commonsense, @ultraviolet, @mattnavarra, @mshannahmurphy, and @frankcatalano

Mike Isaac / New York Times:

Reddit raises $410M+ led by Fidelity Investments at a $10B+ valuation, up from $6B six months ago when it raised $250M; the new round could reach ~$700M

Nathan Grayson / Washington Post:

Thousands of marginalized streamers implore Twitch to counter “hate raids”, where groups of malicious users fill a streamer's chat with targeted abuse

More: Gizmodo, Input, afrotech.com, and Kotaku

Tweets: @twitch, @gibiz, @leto, @rizzn, @tophgames, @urbanbohemian, @cypheroftyr, @twitch, @iambrandontv, @twitch, and @vahn16

Naman Ramachandran / Variety:

UK's CMA says it has provisionally found that Facebook's Giphy acquisition could negatively impact competition, such as by denying competitors access to GIFs

Simon Evans / Reuters:

Lionel Messi's new contract with Paris St Germain includes a “large number” of crypto $PSG Fan Tokens from Socios.com, which let holders vote on minor decisions

More: EN.PSG.FR, blockchain.news, CNBC, Cointelegraph, The Block, Bitcoinist.com, Neowin, CoinJournal, Cryptonews, Cointelegraph, and Forbes

Tweets: @reuterssports, @espnindia, @coinmarketcap, @masonnystrom, @footballelixir, @footballelixir, @oscarwgrut, @oscarwgrut, @socios, and @mdudas

Reuters:

Foxconn reports Q2 profit of $1.07B, up 30% YoY, on revenue of $48.5B, up 20% YoY, due to strong demand from Apple and other clients

More: The Elec, phonearena.com, Tom's Guide, iPhone in Canada Blog, 9to5Mac, and AppleInsider. Tweets: @tculpan

Gael Fashingbauer Cooper / CNET:

Twitter rolls out a web and app redesign, implementing its first proprietary font, called Chirp, high-contrast black and white follow and unfollow buttons, more

Wolfie Zhao / The Block:

The attacker who stole $611M from Poly Network has now returned over $342M in USDC, BTCB, SHIBA, and others, after saying they were “ready to surrender”