Techmeme
December 21, 2021, 2:50 PM

Top News

Vlad Savov / Bloomberg:
Jack Dorsey's tweet stirs uproar: “You don't own ‘web3.’ The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives. It's ultimately a centralized entity”  —  Fresh off relinquishing the chief executive reins of Twitter Inc., Bitcoin enthusiast Jack Dorsey has taken …
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely steps down as CEO, naming head of communications and marketing Ami Gan as his replacement; Stokely will remain as an adviser  —  OnlyFans named spokesperson Ami Gan as its new chief executive officer, replacing Tim Stokely, who founded and built the media company …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
AT&T plans to sell its Xandr programmatic advertising marketplace to Microsoft; the deal would not include the ad sales business supporting 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.
Stephanie Chan / Sensor Tower Blog:
In 2021, 906 developers are projected to pass $1M annual revenue for the first time on Apple's App Store and Google Play, vs. 475 in 2016 and 1,003 in 2020  —  As global consumer spending in mobile apps is projected to again reach new heights in 2021, Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data reveals …
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
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 …

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More News

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