Techmeme
September 16, 2021, 12:05 PM

Top News

Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Initial benchmarks show iPhone 13's A15 chip offers a roughly 15% improvement for GPU performance and 10%-18% improvement for CPU performance over A14  —  Earlier today, we reported on a Geekbench Metal result for the iPhone 13 Pro showing an approximately 55% graphics performance improvement compared to the iPhone 12 Pro.
Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Dylan Patel / SemiAnalysis:
David McLaughlin / Bloomberg:
FTC says Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft made 819 unreported acquisition deals of $1M+, including for patents and acquihires, from 2010 to 2019  —  - Report shows hundreds of deals by tech giants went unchecked  — Antitrust enforcers must close loopholes, FTC Chair Khan says
Sarah McBride / Bloomberg:
Brooklyn-based Genius, a music-annotating startup that provides context for lyrics, sells its assets for $80M, less than the total funding it raised  —  The sale price is less than the total funding raised.  —  Music-annotating startup Genius Media Group Inc., a site that drew attention …
Katie Roof / Bloomberg:
Discord raises $500M led by Dragoneer, Fidelity, and others, source says at a ~$15B post-money valuation, more than double its valuation from last year  —  - Discord raised $500 million, led by Dragoneer Investment Group  — Startup turned down $12 billion offer from Microsoft
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
Senator Markey and Reps. Castor and Trahan wrote to Facebook calling on it to abandon its plans to launch an Instagram app for kids in light of WSJ's report  —  Democrats call on the company to abandon Instagram for kids  —  Two top lawmakers on the Senate Commerce Committee's panel …
Wenxin Fan / Wall Street Journal:
China's biggest movie star, Zhao Wei, who had 86M Weibo followers, was erased from China's internet on August 26, amid a clampdown on its entertainment industry  —  Zhao Wei was the Reese Witherspoon of China, then she was censored by the Communist Party amid a clampdown of the country's entertainment industry
Andrew Fedorov / Input:
A look at CouchSurfing.com, which is now headed by Palantir alum Patrick Dugan, as it abandoned its always-free ethos at the start of the pandemic  —  Back in spring 2011 — the end of black truffle season, before the climbing roses bloomed — the Couchsurfers gathered at the Palazzo Massarucci …
Ash Parrish / The Verge:
After being sued by the state of California, Activision Blizzard is sued by a group representing employees, alleging it tried to prevent them from organizing  —  Organized by CODE-CWA, the suit claims Activision Blizzard engaged in coercive and intimidating behavior
Hugh Son / CNBC:
Goldman Sachs is acquiring buy now, pay later fintech GreenSky for about $2.24B, in an all-stock deal  —  - Goldman Sachs is acquiring fintech lender GreenSky for $2.24 billion as the investment bank pushes further into consumer finance.  — The all-stock deal for GreenSky …
Romain Dillet / TechCrunch:
French startup Skello, which develops a SaaS tool that lets companies manage their work schedules, raises €40M led by Partech  —  French startup Skello has raised a $47.3 million funding round (€40 million).  The company has been working on a software-as-a-service tool that lets you manage the work schedule of your company.
More: Tech.eu and EU-Startups

Sponsor Posts

Soxton:
Fast, affordable law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
F5:
Accelerate AI Adoption at F5's AI Virtual Summit  —  Learn how to architect, secure, and scale AI for production with real-world insights from industry leaders on June 23.  Register now to save your spot.
Zoho:
Agentic AI: The need for a data foundation  —  This is the first post of the 4-part series on Agentic Data Infrastructure.Every business app now ships with an AI agent.  Each one is good at its own job.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
All about Interest Rates
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
Subscribe to The Nick, Dick and Paul Show.
Training Data:
Google DeepMind's Logan Kilpatrick: Why the Model Eats the Harness
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
Subscribe to Training Data.
Big Technology Podcast:
What Should An AI Device Look Like? — With Alex Himel
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Great Chat:
Founders dish on VC bad behavior (and bring receipts)
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Mike Volpi from Hanabi Capital
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
AI's Mythos Moment: Rishi Sunak on preparing governments for AI
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 12:05 PM ET, September 16, 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

Politico:
Patrick Howell O'Neill / MIT Technology Review:

Earlier Picks

Catherine Thorbecke / ABC News:
Elizabeth Culliford / Reuters:
Ryan Weeks / The Block: