Techmeme
November 18, 2021, 4:30 AM

Top News

Ian Sherr / CNET:
Apple announces Self Service Repair, a program starting next year that will publish repair manuals, let customers buy parts and tools, and more  —  The tech giant says it will publish repair manuals and allow everyday customers to buy the same parts and tools certified technicians and repair shops use.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Cher Scarlett, a leader of #AppleToo, is leaving Apple and will withdraw her NLRB complaint after reaching a settlement  —  Cher Scarlett, an Apple Inc. employee who created a protest movement within the company over pay transparency and other workplace issues, is leaving the iPhone maker after reaching a settlement.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Instagram says it is shutting down its standalone mobile messaging app Threads by December 31  —  Instagram's standalone messaging app Threads is shutting down.  The app will no longer be supported by the end of December 2021, the company confirmed to TechCrunch after reports began circulating …
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Google releases a Pixel 6 and 6 Pro update slightly improving the fingerprint scanner, which some have called slow to unlock and unreliable  —  The 15MB update brings unspecified adjustments to the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro  —  Google quietly rolled out a Pixel 6 update that addresses …
Shannon Liao / Washington Post:
Over 100 Activision Blizzard employees staged a walkout on Tuesday, the second in four months, demanding CEO Bobby Kotick step down, after a WSJ report  —  This story has been updated from a previous version.  —  IRVINE, Calif. — Employees at beleaguered video game company Activision Blizzard walked …
Shannon Liao / Washington Post:
Daniel Howley / Yahoo Finance:
Nvidia beats with record Q3 revenue of $7.1B vs. $6.82B estimated, up 50% YoY, Gaming revenue of $3.22B, up 42%, and Data Center revenue of $2.94B, up 55%  —  Nvidia (NVDA) reported its Q3 earnings after the bell on Wednesday beating analysts' predictions on the top and bottom line as revenue jumped 50% year-over-year.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify expands Podcast Subscriptions globally and now includes 20 price points from $0.50 to $150 and a way for creators to download subscribers' contact info  —  Just a few months after launching support for podcast subscriptions to U.S. creators, Spotify today is making the service available to creators in global markets.
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A: Brian Chesky on how he restructured Airbnb during the pandemic, running a public company, crypto, the metaverse, working with Jony Ive's LoveFrom, and more  —  Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky prides himself on thinking very differently than other CEOs, and his answers to the Decoder questions …
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Grammarly, which helps users improve their writing with its AI assistant, raises $200M at a $13B valuation  —  Grammarly, the popular auto-editing tool for writing, has raised $200 million in funding at a $13 billion valuation from new investors including Baillie Gifford and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, among others.
More: Grammarly Blog, VentureBeat, and CNBC
Tweets: @pt and @ms_zamandlovu
Agence France-Presse:
Google will begin paying Agence France-Presse for news content in Europe as part of a 5-year partnership, the first with a news agency under a 2019 EU directive  —  Under the agreement with Google, AFP will also offer fact-checking training on several continents (AFP/Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD)
More: Reuters
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Paytm falls ~20% in its trading debut in India, giving it a market valuation of $14.9B, after raising $2.5B in its IPO  —  A decade ago, Vijay Shekhar Sharma flew to Hong Kong to attend an All Things D conference.  At the event, he watched Silicon Valley executives Jack Dorsey and Brian Chesky talk about the firms they were building.
Dan Mangan / CNBC:
The US DOJ will sell $56M worth of cryptocurrency it seized as part of the BitConnect fraud case; victims can apply to be reimbursed  —  - The U.S. Justice Department will sell off $56 million worth of cryptocurrency it seized as part of a massive Ponzi scheme case against a man who promoted the crypto lending program BitConnect.
Kate Park / TechCrunch:
Australia-based Practice Ignition, which offers client engagement and commerce services for businesses, raises a $50M Series C led by JMI Equity  —  Practice ignition, an Australia-based client engagement and commerce platform for professional service businesses, has raised $50 million …

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