Source: Facebook is planning to change its company name to reflect its focus on the metaverse as soon as next week  —  Mark Zuckerberg wants to be known for building the metaverse  —  Facebook is planning to change its company name next week to reflect its focus on building the metaverse …

Microsoft begins letting Windows 11 beta testers try Android apps from the Amazon Appstore, starting with 50 apps  —  Beta Channel testers get access first  —  Microsoft is now allowing Windows 11 testers to try out Android apps.  A preview version of the Windows Subsystem for Android …

Sources: PayPal has approached Pinterest about an acquisition, potentially valuing it at $39B; Pinterest stock had dropped 16% this year but is up 10%+ today  —  PayPal Holdings Inc. is exploring an acquisition of social media company Pinterest Inc., people with knowledge of the matter said, Bloomberg News reports.

US Commerce Department announces rules banning the export or resale of hacking tools to China, Russia, and other countries of concern  —  The Commerce Department on Wednesday announced a long-awaited rule that officials hope will help stem the export or resale of hacking tools to China …

Source: Pierre Omidyar's philanthropic organization Luminate handles Frances Haugen's PR in Europe; Omidyar donated $150K to Whistleblower Aid in 2020  —  Support from eBay-founder-turned-tech-critic Pierre Omidyar is helping Frances Haugen take on one of the world's most powerful companies.

District of Columbia AG Karl Racine plans to add Mark Zuckerberg to an ongoing privacy lawsuit, which began in 2018 following the Cambridge Analytica scandal  —  The District of Columbia case, which grew out of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, could expose the chief executive to financial and other penalties.

UK's CMA fines Facebook £50.5M for breaching an order imposed during its ongoing Giphy acquisition investigation, saying Facebook refused to report information  —  Social media giant Facebook has been fined £50.5 million ($69.1 million) for breaching an order imposed …

Bitcoin crosses $65,607, an all-time high, after the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF rose by nearly 5% on the NYSE  —  The latest rally appears fueled by the successful debut on Tuesday of the first U.S. bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund.  —  Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency …

Spotify partners with Shopify to let artists list merch on profiles for $29/month to $299/month, starting in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand  —  Spotify on Wednesday announced a new partnership with ecommerce provider Shopify to let artists list merchandise directly on their profiles …

Since May, Google says it has blocked 1.6M messages and restored ~4,000 YouTube influencer accounts affected by a phishing campaign offering fake collaborations  —  A network of Russian-speaking hackers are phishing YouTube influencers with fake collaboration offers in order to hijack their accounts …

Sources: China's Oppo is developing high-end mobile chips, using TSMC's 3nm tech, for its premium handsets due out in 2023 or 2024  —  China's top handset maker looks to use TSMC's cutting-edge 3-nm tech  —  TAIPEI — China's leading smartphone maker Oppo is developing high-end mobile chips …

[Thread] Analysis of FTC's report on Big Tech's startup M&A between 2010 and 2019: half of the deals were <$10M, most had <10 people and were US-based, and more  —  A common talking point in tech anti-trust: big tech companies have made hundreds of acquisitions in recent years, and almost none were reviewed, let along stopped. So, last month the FTC released some actual data, for Google, Apple, FB, Amazon and Microsoft. 🧵 https://twitter.com/...

Sources: the recent ransomware attack against Sinclair is linked to Russian group Evil Corp., which changed names to avoid 2019 US sanctions  —  - Evil Corp. said to change names to avoid 2019 U.S. sanctions  — Broadcaster hit with new ransomware strain called Macaw

A look at Ask Delphi, a research project by the Allen Institute for AI that offers answers to ethical dilemmas, often with bewildering responses  —  A fascinating project that's best understood as a cautionary tale  —  Got a moral quandary you don't know how to solve?  Fancy making it worse?

Profile of Asana as it announces an Enterprise Work Graph, Workflow Builder, APIs for integrating with CRM tools, and more  —  When people first started to take note of a fledgling company called Asana a dozen years ago, the big news was that it had been started by Facebook cofounder Dustin Moskovitz along …

Samsung updates Galaxy Watch4 with Fall Detection, new watch faces, gesture controls, and more, rolling out in the US and South Korea  —  There have been a few minor updates to the Galaxy Watch 4 since the wearable's debut in August, but today Samsung is releasing its first major update for the product.

Twitter acquires London-based Sphere, which develops a group chat app and has raised $30M to date  —  Twitter has acquired London-based Sphere, which operates an eponymous groups chat app, the latest in a series of recent moves from the social network as it looks to aggressively broaden and improve its product offerings.

Sommelier Finance, which offers an automated DeFi portfolio manager, raises a $23M Series A led by Polychain Capital  —  Sommelier Finance, a crypto project that helps automate DeFi trading, has raised $23 million in a Series A funding round.  —  The round was led by Polychain Capital …

SAP's Qualtrics reports Q3 revenue of $271.6M, up 41% YoY, subscription revenue of $220.3M, up 49% YoY, Q4 projected sales of $297M, vs $264M est.; stock up 5%+  —  Business software firm Qualtrics International (XM.O) on Wednesday raised its full-year sales forecast above analyst estimates …

IBM reports Q3 revenue of $17.62B, vs. $17.77B est., Global Technology Services revenue of $6.15B, down ~5% YoY, vs $6.25B est.; stock down 4%+ after hours  —  - IBM's revenue was up slightly as its top two business segments fell short of estimates.  — After removing the Kyndryl business IBM …

How Facebook, Apple, Google, Amazon, and others increasingly rival states for geopolitical influence and are reshaping the global order as we know it  —  After rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, some of the United States' most powerful institutions sprang into action to punish the leaders of the failed insurrection.

Analysis: Andreessen Horowitz's investment team has grown to 70 in the past four years, up by 170%, outpacing Sequoia, Accel, Lightspeed, and others  —  One of the running jokes among Silicon Valley venture capitalists is that, eventually, all of them will become partners at VC firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Superplastic, which owns an animated collab house of “synthetic superstars” on social media, raises a $20M Series A, bringing its total funding to $38M  —  A company from the creator of Ello and Kidrobot is announcing a new $20 million funding round to build out an imagined virtual world populated …

Sources: China tells McDonald's to expand its e-renminbi payments system ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics; source says Visa and Nike are also under pressure  —  Digital renminbi issued by central bank draws security concerns from US critics  —  China has told McDonald's to expand …