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

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify's new AI commerce stack  —  Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Zoho:
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 …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
2025 In Review, 2026 Predictions — With Reed Albergotti
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Podcast Pioneer PJ Vogt's Second Act: Less Budget, More Control
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
BG2 Pod:
AI Enterprise - Databricks & Glean
Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner.
Subscribe to BG2 Pod.
Great Chat:
The stories we told ourselves in 2025
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Grit:
How Brands Stay Visible When AI Decides | Profound CEO James Cadwallader
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
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 7:25 AM ET, December 29, 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

Monica Alleven / Fierce Wireless:
Steve Kovach / CNBC:

Earlier Picks

Shannon Liao / Washington Post:
sreegs:
Balaji Srinivasan: