Techmeme
December 29, 2021, 7:25 AM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple issued rare bonuses of restricted stock worth $50K-$180K to select engineers, after Meta poached ~100 Apple engineers over the past few months  —  Apple Inc. has issued unusual and significant stock bonuses to some engineers in an effort to retain talent …
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Some LastPass users say their master passwords were compromised and used in blocked login attempts from unknown IPs; LastPass blames “credential stuffing”  —  Many LastPass users report that their master passwords have been compromised after receiving email warnings that someone tried …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Waymo partners with Chinese automotive company Geely to bring a “rider-first” EV with no steering wheel to its US robotaxi Waymo One fleet in the coming years  —  Waymo One is Alphabet's Lyft/Uber competitor that's live in Phoenix and currently undergoing testing in San Francisco.
Kris Holt / Engadget:
Adam Mosseri says in 2022 Instagram will “double down” on video, consolidate its video products around Reels, and focus on creators, transparency, and messaging  —  In a brief year-end video message, Instagram head Adam Mosseri offered some insight into what's ahead for the platform.
Michail / GSMArena.com:
Xiaomi unveils the 6.28-inch 12 and 6.73-inch 12 Pro with Snapdragon 8, 50MP camera, up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB SSD, coming December 31 starting at ~$580  —  After months of leaks and rumors, Xiaomi's 12 series is now official with two entries - Xiaomi 12 and Xiaomi 12 Pro.
BBC:
Amazon says it has updated Alexa after the voice assistant “challenged” a 10-year-old girl to touch a penny to the prongs of a half-inserted plug  —  Amazon has updated its Alexa voice assistant after it “challenged” a 10-year-old girl to touch a coin to the prongs of a half-inserted plug.
Laura Forman / Wall Street Journal:
Early pandemic winners, including Cathie Wood's ARK fund, Peloton, Zoom, Poshmark, DocuSign, Chegg, and Zillow, have seen their market value decline in 2021  —  Those former tech sweethearts that experienced a reversal in fortune this year could remain in the dumps in 2022
Debarghya Sil / Inc42:
Indian B2B manufacturing services marketplace Zetwerk raises a $210M Series F led by Greenoaks at a $2.5B valuation, four months after raising $150M  —  D1 Capital, IIFL, ICONIQ, and Steadview Capital also participated in the new round  —  As per Inc42 analysis, the new round will help Zetwerk's valuation soar to $2.5 Bn

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