Techmeme
December 17, 2021, 11:30 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 …
Washington Post:
The Biden administration is concerned with US investments in Chinese companies developing “dual use” tech that could have civilian and military applications  —  Last year, a fast-rising artificial intelligence company in China won a little-noticed contract from a Chinese military academy …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft is moving some settings, including for networks, devices, and app uninstalls, to the Settings app, heralding the end of the Control Panel  —  One more step to simplifying Windows  —  Microsoft is finally signaling the end of the legacy Control Panel in Windows 11.
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.
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,” …
Paresh Dave / Reuters:
Sources: California's civil rights regulator is investigating Google's treatment of Black female workers following allegations of harassment and discrimination  —  California's civil rights regulator is investigating Google's treatment of Black female workers following alleged incidents …
More: The Verge
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
Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:
Palantir plans to shift UK data processing from the US to the UK, hire 250 UK-based employees, and open an England office in 2022  —  Defence-oriented American firm among first to localise data operations fully as companies Balkanise their activity  —  Palantir, a data analytics firm best known …
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 …
Joe Miller / Financial Times:

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Is AI just hype?  —  Find out how top enterprises use Tribe to get real business results.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Zoho:
All new Zoho Workerly 2024  —  Staffing businesses around the world face a unique set of challenges when it comes to managing their temporary workforce.  With a constantly shifting job market and changing staffing needs …
Comprehensive.io:
Browse salary data from 3,000 startups for free  —  Click for FREE, immediate access to real-time compensation benchmarking data.  Paid version helps HR automate comp reviews and communicate total compensation to employees.
The Kevin Rose Show:
Henry Shukman, Lessons from an Authentic Zen Master
Gain unconventional wisdom and insights through conversations with top expert in AI, investing, wellness, technology, and culture.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Thu. 03/28 - Claude 3 Opus Surpasses GPT-4 For The First Time
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:30 AM ET, December 17, 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

Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:
Sara Fischer / Axios:

Earlier Picks

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Kris Holt / Engadget:
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Washington Post:
Liza Lin / Wall Street Journal:
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Henry Mance / Financial Times: