Techmeme
December 21, 2021, 1:30 PM

Top News

Vlad Savov / Bloomberg:
Jack Dorsey causes controversy by criticizing Web3, tweeting: “You don't own ‘web3.’ The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives”  —  Fresh off relinquishing the chief executive reins of Twitter Inc., Bitcoin enthusiast Jack Dorsey has taken …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
AT&T plans to sell its Xandr programmatic advertising marketplace to Microsoft; the deal would not involve the ad sales business behind DirecTV  —  Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed; the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory reviews.
New York Times:
Crypto and blockchain startups raised $28B+ in 2021, up 4x YoY, according to PitchBook, as large tech companies lose execs and engineers to crypto companies  —  Tech executives and engineers are quitting Google, Meta, Amazon and other large companies for what they say is a once-in-generation opportunity with crypto.
Isla McKetta / Speedtest Stories & Analysis:
A look at US satellite internet speeds, with Starlink median download/upload speeds of 87.3 Mbps and 13.5 Mbps, followed by HughesNet at 19.3 Mbps and 2.5 Mbps  —  Satellite internet is making headlines across the globe as Starlink continues to launch service in new countries and Viasat plans to acquire Inmarsat.
Politico:
Sources detail Amazon's increasingly close relationship with the DOJ and FBI, as it tips off the agencies about employees and third-party sellers  —  Amazon has increasingly tipped off the Justice Department and FBI to investigate its own employees and the sellers using its platform, according to a POLITICO analysis. 
Andrew Hayward / Decrypt:
Render Network, a P2P network that offers remote rendering power for 3D visuals, raises $30M led by Multicoin Capital, bringing its total raised to $50M  —  In brief  — Render Network, a peer-to-peer service for providing 3D rendering power, has raised $30 million.
More: The Block
Juro Osawa / The Information:
Sources: despite publicly stepping down, ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming remains actively involved, focusing on long-term strategy  —  Zhang Yiming, founder of ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, resigned as CEO and chair earlier this year.  He no longer has any management title or board seat.
Sahar Massachi / MIT Technology Review:
A framework for fixing social media: apply lessons from physical cities, prevent fake accounts, improve corporate behavior, and listen to integrity workers  —  We need to make our online spaces more similar to our offline ones to limit the reach of bad actors and keep people safe.
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
T-Mobile says its Scam Shield service blocked 21B scam, spam, and unwanted robocalls in 2021, as scam call traffic hit an all-time high of 425M calls per week  —  T-Mobile says it blocked 21 billion scam, spam, and unwanted robocalls this year through its free Scam Shield robocall …
Janko Roettgers / Protocol:
TikTok faces allegations that it copied code from broadcast app OBS Studio and other open source projects for Live Studio without adhering to licensing terms  —  TikTok's latest video-production tool is said to be violating open-source licenses: The company's new Live Studio Windows app …

Sponsor Posts

Soxton:
Fast, affordable law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
F5:
Accelerate AI Adoption at F5's AI Virtual Summit  —  Learn how to architect, secure, and scale AI for production with real-world insights from industry leaders on June 23.  Register now to save your spot.
Zoho:
Zoho RPA named a Leader in the 2026 RPA Technology Value Matrix by Nucleus Research  —  Zoho RPA has been named a Leader in the 2026 RPA Technology Value Matrix, published by Nucleus Research …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Lenny's Podcast:
The hidden pattern behind successful products | Mark Pincus (founder of Zynga)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
SpaceX's IPO Triumph, Anthropic's Fable Fumble, OpenAI's Price War
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Access:
A top iPhone app developer reacts to Apple's new Siri
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Hard Fork:
'Hard Fork' Live, Part 1: Satya Nadella and Cindy Cohn
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
The Upstarts Podcast:
TBC's Alex Ksendzovsky: The Neurosurgeon Using Brain Cells To Build Better AI
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
AI's Mythos Moment: Rishi Sunak on preparing governments for AI
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:30 PM ET, December 21, 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

Saritha Rai / Bloomberg:
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch:

Earlier Picks

Taylor Kerns / Android Police:
Stephen Totilo / Axios:
Catalin Cimpanu / The Record:
Catalin Cimpanu / The Record:
Brian Sozzi / Yahoo Finance:
Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:
Ben Bowman / The Streamable: