Techmeme
December 8, 2021, 5:05 PM

Top News

Patrick McGee / Financial Times:
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Appeals court grants a stay in the Epic v. Apple ruling, letting Apple maintain its IAP system as the sole source of in-app payments on iOS as the case proceeds  —  Apple can maintain its App Store payment monopoly while the case proceeds  —  An appeals court has paused one of the most consequential parts …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Roku says it has agreed to a multi-year extension with Google for distributing YouTube and YouTube TV apps on its devices; Roku's stock is up 18%+  —  Roku and Google have agreed to a multi-year extension for both YouTube and YouTube TV apps to be distributed on Roku.
Sami Fathi / MacRumors:
Kuo: AirPods Pro 2, the first update since 2019, will launch in Q4 2022 with a Beats Fit Pro-like design, an improved chip, fitness tracking, and more  —  The AirPods Pro 2, the first update to the AirPods Pro since its debut in 2019, will launch in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to Apple analyst Ming Chi-Kuo.
Sami Fathi / MacRumors:
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Better.com CEO Vishal Garg apologizes for how he handled firing ~900 employees, ~9% of staff, over Zoom, as a report says Better.com is delaying its SPAC  —  Better.com CEO Vishal Garg apparently realizes he's done wrong.  —  (As if the barrage of negative publicity wasn't enough evidence of that.)
Neal E. Boudette / New York Times:
After Tesla added over 12 video games that can be played while driving, critics argue the company is compromising road users' safety, on top of Autopilot issues  —  The feature raises fresh questions about whether Tesla is compromising safety as it rushes to add new technologies.
C-SPAN.org:
Livestream of Adam Mosseri testifying before a Senate Commerce subcommittee, in a session examining how Instagram affects young users  —  Instagram CEO testifies on impact of platform on young users before a Senate Commerce subcommittee.
Sebastian Herrera / Wall Street Journal:
Amazon has emerged as the de facto wage-and-benefits setter as US companies fight to attract workers in a tight labor market, causing ripples across the economy  —  In local markets throughout America, the e-commerce giant's facilities have an impact on inflation, job markets and labor standards
Steve Dent / Engadget:
Facebook launches a Professional Mode, letting eligible creators monetize their profiles, and a Reels Play bonus program that offers up to $35K/month  —  Facebook has launched a new professional mode for profiles that will let eligible creators earn money without the need to create a separate Page.
Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch:
Twitter is testing a process for reporting harmful tweets that lets US users describe what happened and will use the data to improve its responses  —  Twitter is trying out some changes to the way that users report tweets that they believe might break Twitter's rules.
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Andrew Tangel / Wall Street Journal:
FAA outlines flight restrictions, including restricting bad weather automated landing systems, to avoid interference with the C-band 5G spectrum from January 5  —  Agency's order could disrupt air travel with limits to cockpit systems needed in poor weather; new 5G services expected to go live Jan. 5
Bloomberg:
A look at the rise of “dark stores”, mini-warehouses in urban retail spaces used by fast grocery delivery companies, and how they erode community life  —  Mini-warehouses dubbed “dark stores” are quietly taking over urban retail space.  Left unregulated, the insatiable demand …
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Twitter tests turning its in-app explore page into a TikTok-like feed with For You and Trending tabs, amid similar experiments from Netflix, Spotify, and Reddit  —  Twitter posted today that its testing a feature that would turn its in-app explore page into a TikTok-like video feed, complete with even a “For You” tab.
More: 9to5Mac and Tubefilter
Steve Lohr / New York Times:
Meta, Nike, CVS, GM, IBM, Walmart, and others join the Data & Trust Alliance, which has developed an anti-bias scoring system to analyze AI usage during hiring  —  The organization has created a format for evaluating the technology, which is often used to screen job candidates.
Jamie Tarabay / Bloomberg:
Google sues two Russians it claims help run a botnet that has infected 1M+ devices and uses command-and-control server addresses stored on Bitcoin's blockchain  —  - Complaint says the two created a sophisticated ‘botnet’  — Glupteba sells stolen logins, credit cards, Google says
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Reddit launches Spotify Wrapped-style annual usage statistics for users, including time spent and popular content; users created 366M posts in 2021, up 19% YoY  —  Reddit is launching a new personalized Spotify Wrapped-like recap feature for all users tomorrow.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Gaming hardware company NZXT raises $100M led by Francisco Partners, its first outside funding since launching in 2004  —  NZXT has raised funding for the first time since it debuted as a PC gaming hardware company in 2004.  It's a whopper of a round at $100 million.
More: FinSMEs and NZXT
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Synthesia, which uses AI to create virtual avatars, raises a $50M Series B led by Kleiner Perkins, bringing its total funding to $66.5M  —  Synthesia, a company leveraging AI to generate videos of avatars, today announced that it raised $50 million in a series B round, bringing its total raised to $66.5 million.

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Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Andrew Hayward / Decrypt:
Richard Lawler / The Verge: