Techmeme
December 17, 2021, 5:55 AM

Top News

The Citizen Lab:
Two Egyptians living in exile had their iPhones compromised in June 2021 using Predator spyware built by North Macedonian developer Cytrox  —  Key Findings  — Two Egyptians—exiled politician Ayman Nour and the host of a popular news program (who wishes to remain anonymous) …
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Meta bans seven surveillance-for-hire groups, including Cytrox, removing over 1,500 Facebook and Instagram accounts and alerting 50K users who were targeted  —  Cytrox is one of seven surveillance companies now banned from Meta's platforms  —  While NSO Group was taking flak for hacking …
Zachary Basu / Axios:
The US bans investing in eight Chinese companies, including DJI and Megvii, for their alleged involvement in surveilling Uyghurs and other minority groups  —  The Treasury Department has added eight Chinese companies — including DJI, the world's largest commercial drone manufacturer …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Job listings show Apple is hiring engineers for a new office in Irvine, California to develop wireless chips that could replace Broadcom and Skyworks components  —  - Company seeks engineers for location in Irvine, California  — Apple is poised to attract employees from Broadcom, Skyworks
Kris Holt / Engadget:
Sidewalk Labs plans to shut down, fold its products into Google, and spin out Canopy Buildings; CEO Dan Doctoroff says he is stepping down for health reasons  —  Alphabet's smart city project is winding down and Google will take over its products.  Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff announced …
Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:
Legacy, an NFT-powered game by Peter Molyneux's 22cans studio and Gala Games planned for next year, raises $54M in virtual land NFT sales in less than a week  —  But are these games a brave new world or a FOMO-driven gold rush bubble?  —  On Saturday, Peter Molyneux's 22cans studio …
Paul R. La Monica / CNN:
The CFPB probes buy now, pay later practices of Affirm, Afterpay, PayPal, Klarna, and Zip, citing concerns over customers' debt accumulation and data harvesting  —  New York (CNN Business)Regulators in Washington may crack down on the industry behind “buy now, pay later,” …
Orla McCaffrey / Wall Street Journal:
Tax preparation company H&R Block sues Block, formerly Square, for trademark infringement, claiming Block's name and logo are “nearly identical” to its own  —  Square changed name to Block earlier this month, a nod to CEO Jack Dorsey's blockchain ambitions
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Spotify acquires Australian company Whooshkaa, which helps radio broadcasters turn existing content into podcasts and sell ads around them  —  Spotify on Thursday said it acquired Whooshkaa, a podcast technology platform that specializes in technology for radio broadcasters to turn existing content into podcasts.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Oracle is in talks to acquire electronic medical records company Cerner, in a deal that could be worth ~$30B, which would make it Oracle's biggest yet  —  An agreement, which could potentially be worth $30 billion, would rank as biggest ever for software giant
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Pakistan-based CreditBook, a bookkeeping app for small merchants, raises an $11M pre-Series A led by Tiger Global, the firm's first investment in the country  —  Two years ago, a group of entrepreneurs in Pakistan began surveying the market to understand why financial services weren't reaching …
Tim O'Reilly / O'Reilly Media:
A look at the cycles of decentralization and recentralization, and why we won't understand what Web3 consists of until after the next bubble pops  —  There's been a lot of talk about Web3 lately, and as the person who defined “Web 2.0” 17 years ago, I'm often asked to comment.
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
GM's Cruise says CEO Dan Ammann is leaving the company to “pursue other opportunities”; Cruise co-founder and CTO Kyle Vogt will take over as interim CEO  —  He will be replaced by Cruise founder Kyle Vogt  —  Dan Ammann, the CEO of Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company …
Joe Miller / Financial Times:

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Earlier Picks

Chainalysis:
Washington Post:
Liza Lin / Wall Street Journal:
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Henry Mance / Financial Times: