Techmeme: Inside China's Logink, an expansive digital network for tracking global sea cargo that experts fear could give Beijing a commercial or strategic advantage (Daniel Michaels/Wall Street Journal)

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December 27, 2021, 4:00 AM

Top News

Leah Nylen / Politico:

An overview of the efforts by Google, Apple, and Amazon to offer their technology and services for connected cars — Leah Nylen is a technology reporter who covers antitrust and investigations for POLITICO. — When Ford announced that starting in 2023 its cars and trucks would come with Google Maps …

More: Slashdot

Elizabeth Lopatto / The Verge:

Microsoft cancels in-person plans for CES, joining Google, Meta, Amazon, Twitter, and others, amid ongoing concerns over COVID-19 — Microsoft joins Intel, GM, Amazon, and Google in canceling — Microsoft is the latest company to drop a physical presence at CES, as the increased prevalence of COVID-19 spooks exhibitors.

More: Softpedia News, Benzinga, TechRadar, MobileSyrup, PCMag, TechCrunch, OnMSFT.com, TechSpot, The Hill, Insider, Android Central, Livemint, Fortune, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Android Central, CNET, Pocket-lint, France 24, The Economic Times, Forbes, and Reuters

Tweets: @jordannovet, @yoda, and @tomwarren

Yang Jie / Wall Street Journal:

While unable to meet analog chip demand, Texas Instruments hesitates to expand production capacity because of the industry's history of boom and bust cycles — Even in digital age, analog chips such as those made in Texas are essential, and they are in short supply

Tweets: @aparanjape, @pastynome, @jbathgate, and @scottlincicome

Robert Stevens / Decrypt:

OpenDAO airdrops SOS token for users of OpenSea's NFT marketplace; the token, unaffiliated with OpenSea, is up ~10x in two days as watchers debate its prospects — In brief — SOS is an airdrop from OpenDAO, distributed to people who have spent money on OpenSea transactions.

More: The Daily Hodl, Bitcoin News, Crypto Daily, Coinsights, Rabbit Hole, and Crypto Briefing

Tweets: @kingblackbored, @decryptmedia, @the_opendao, @spencernoon, and @carnage4life

Reuters:

Dutch antitrust regulator orders Apple to let dating apps in the App Store offer alternative payment systems by January 15 or face up to a €50M fine — The Netherlands' top competition regulator on Friday said Apple Inc (AAPL.O) broke the country's competition laws and ordered changes …

Sneha Shah / The Economic Times:

Research: Indian startups raised a record ~$36B in 2021, up from ~$11B in 2020; SoftBank invested $3B+ and Tiger Global was among the most active investors — India's startup ecosystem has notched up record investment of nearly $ 36 billion in privately held companies this year as demand …

Tweets: @gagan_arora1, @ettech, @ettech, and @omkar_raii

Daniel Michaels / Wall Street Journal:

Inside China's Logink, an expansive digital network for tracking global sea cargo that experts fear could give Beijing a commercial or strategic advantage — Beijing can track cargo with little-known Logink system, potentially gaining intelligence and commercial advantage

Kyle Stock / Bloomberg:

A look at sidewalk delivery robots serving students across US college campuses, an ideal proving ground with pedestrian-friendly designs and eager consumer base — Robot 509 from Starship Technologies is both patient and skittish. The autonomous machine, which resembles a Yeti cooler crossed …

Tweets: @humanprogress, @citylab, and @citylab

Reuters:

Russian court fines Google ~$98M and Meta ~$27M for repeated failure to delete content it deems illegal, Russia's first two revenue-based fines of their kind — A Moscow court on Friday said it was fining Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O) 7.2 billion roubles ($98 million) for what it said was a repeated failure …

Silicon Canals:

Proxymity, a UK-based digital investor communications service for real-time virtual proxy voting and automated shareholder disclosure, raises a €27.5M Series B — Proxymity, a UK-based digital investor communications platform, has secured €27.5M in a Series B round of funding from an existing consortium of members.

More: BusinessCloud, GlobeNewswire News Room, and Finextra

Shaurya Malwa / CoinDesk:

Analysis: Terra becomes the second largest blockchain for DeFi protocols by total value locked at $18B+, up 42,000% YoY and surpassing Binance Smart Chain — Decentralized payments network Terra is now the second-largest blockchain for decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols in terms of total value locked (TVL).

More: Defi Llama, Decrypt, The Daily Hodl, Cointelegraph, CryptoSlate, Crypto Briefing, CryptoGlobe, Crypto Bulls and Bears, Crypto Briefing, Bankless Times, Decrypt, and CryptoPotato

Tweets: @stablekwon, @anthony, and @coindesk

Ari Paparo Dot Eth / @aripap:

[Thread] For media and advertising, Web3's focus on decentralization and tokenization solves few, if any, problems and is the last thing ad tech needs — This web3 shit is starting to annoy me, so here's a thread with my opinions on the relevance to media and advertising. 1/21 🧵

Tweets: @levie, @davlgd, @randfish, @dustinwstout, @film_girl, @jubiweb, @mandestin, @livepaola, @craw, @zachweinberg, @bznotes, @tkawaja, @dhruvapandey, @ghadjia, and @averyj

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Enhancements to Zoho Writer's automation flow designer: New PDF operations, password protection, and more — Once we rolled out the automation flow designer in Zoho Writer's merge templates …

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From Mediagazer

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Trump says Stephen Colbert is a “pathetic trainwreck” and “CBS should, ‘put him to sleep,’ NOW”; earlier CBS aired the Kennedy Center Honors, hosted by Trump

Zachary Leeman / Mediaite:

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller calls for CBS staff who “revolted” over Bari Weiss' decision to postpone 60 Minutes' CECOT segment to be fired

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Comcast extends Mike Cavanagh's contract through January 1, 2029, and grants a ~$35M performance-based stock package; he's set to become co-CEO in January 2026

Upcoming Tech Events

Jan 4

Samsung "The First Look" media event

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More News

Dan Taylor / Tech.eu:

Berlin-based Pliant, which offers digital corporate credit card management and accounting software, raises an €18M seed led by Alstin Capital

More: EU-Startups

Jane Zhang / South China Morning Post:

Chinese app stores had 2.78M apps in October 2021, down from 4.52M in December 2018, a 38.5% drop amid the government's new data laws and clean-up campaigns

Financial Times:

Q&A with Clubhouse CEO Paul Davison: copycat features from big rivals have not impacted the company “in any real way” and making money is not a pressing concern

Tweets: @carnage4life, @chrismatyszczyk, @edzitron, and @psb_dc

Washington Post:

Pregnancy app What to Expect says it invested significantly in content moderation, as vaccine misinformation rises in the community sections of pregnancy apps

Tweets: @picardonhealth and @afettersmaloy

Levi Sumagaysay / MarketWatch:

In January, DoorDash is reinstating its WeDash policy that has all employees, including the CEO, make deliveries or shadow customer service workers once a month

More: Blind and Forbes

Tweets: @jeffnolan, @kevindstevens, and @davidbrunelle

Yogita Khatri / The Block:

Research: centralized crypto exchanges reported over $14T in 2021 trading volume, up 689% YoY; Binance facilitated 67% of the total volume, or over $9.5T

More: CFX Magazine, Crypto Reporter, Slashdot, Bitcoinist.com, Bitcoin News, and The Block

Tweets: @koolhead17 and @_cryptocurator

Earlier Picks

Aamir Siddiqui / XDA Developers:

Leaked Android 13 “Tiramisu” screenshots show features like per-app language selection, runtime permissions for notifications, and lock screen clock layouts

FinSMEs:

Privoro, which makes security devices for smartphones, including a case with intelligent audio masking and camera blocking, raises a $30M Series B

More: Phoenix Business Journal and PR Newswire

Tweets: @jc2ventures and @privoro

Andrew Martin / Bloomberg:

The White House invites major software companies and developers to discuss improving open-source security, starting with a one-day event in January

More: CNN, SiliconANGLE, and Reuters

Tweets: @dff, @erratarob, @obra, @jvagle, @howelloneill, @weldpond, and @snlyngaas

Dan Gallagher / Wall Street Journal:

Ahead of the holidays, the biggest game releases from EA, Take-Two, and Activision have received poor reviews, capping a difficult year for the industry

Neal E. Boudette / New York Times:

Tesla agrees to release a software update that blocks its Passenger Play gaming feature while the vehicle is in motion, after the NHTSA opened an investigation

More: MUO, Insider, Associated Press, BBC, New York Post, ntmbulo.com, MobileSyrup, BGR, TechRadar, TechSpot, Pocket-lint, Newser, Mashable, Washington Post, CNBC, Gizmodo, The Register, TechCrunch, The Verge, SiliconANGLE, The Drive, TESLARATI, Jalopnik, autoevolution, Neowin, CNET, Protocol, and MSPoweruser

Tweets: @jessicaroberts, @bexcran, @davidzipper, @boring_ai, @celiahodent, @darrenjohnson66, @philkoopman, @fraying, @chrismessina, @dduane, and @martinsfp