Techmeme: As the US faces record COVID-19 infections, effective use of exposure notification apps is unlikely, given slow adoption and poor data on their efficacy (Washington Post)

Open Links In New Tab

Mobile Archives Advertise Site News

December 29, 2021, 9:25 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: following Haugen's leaks, Meta sought to divide lawmakers along partisan lines to forestall regulation, as Zuckerberg told employees not to apologize — Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg drove response to disclosures about company's influence; sending deputies to testify in Congress

Washington Post:

As the US faces record COVID-19 infections, effective use of exposure notification apps is unlikely, given slow adoption and poor data on their efficacy — The United States is grappling with record-high infections, but adoption of the system is still far behind what its creators and proponents envisioned

More: 9to5Mac and iThinkDifferent

Tweets: @cha_myoung, @robpegoraro, @trippmickle, @andrewmartonik, @vickerysec, @markseibel, @gerritd, and @washingtonpost

Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:

HDMI Forum will introduce HDMI 2.1a, the new standard, at CES 2022, offering minor updates that will further complicate a system with haphazard device support — Brace yourself for yet another new HDMI standard — The HDMI standards are a mess. HDMI 2.1, in particular …

More: TFTCentral, Gizmodo, Forbes, TweakTown, Trusted Reviews, TechSpot, 9to5Mac, HotHardware.com News, AppleInsider, GSMArena.com, MacDailyNews, XDA Developers, Dot Esports, and Pixel Envy

Tweets: @bdsams, @nut_bunnies, @rstephens, @idlesloth84, @samitsarkar, @rjcc, @backlon, @tha_rami, and @edzitron

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:

T-Mobile confirms reports of a data breach caused by SIM swap attacks on a “very small number of customers”, following six other data breaches since 2018 — T-Mobile confirmed that recent reports of a new data breach are linked to notifications sent to a “very small number of customers” who fell victim to SIM swap attacks.

More: The T-Mo Report, Android Police, The Verge, CNET, Slashdot, KnowTechie, The US Sun, Engadget, iPhone Hacks, MacRumors, TalkAndroid.com, SiliconANGLE, Android Headlines, Security Affairs, Pocketnow, 9to5Mac, Android Central, TmoNews, and PhoneArena

Richard Lawler / The Verge:

Fortnite servers are back online after a major outage that lasted over five hours prevented players from logging on, among other issues — The hit battle royale game told players “You do not have permission to play Fortnite.” — There was some bad news if you're on winter break and hoping …

More: MarketWatch, Polygon, CNN, Forbes, Game Rant, RealSport101, Bleeding Cool, Destructoid, IGN, Epic Games Public Status, SlashGear, Input, Engadget, KnowTechie, Digital Trends, and MobileSyrup

Tweets: @fortnitestatus, @fortnitestatus, @fortnitestatus, @epicgames, @fransbouma, @hannahtaylorpro, @mobleytakeover, @jenswo8, @verge, and @playz_stevo

New York Times:

How tech founders and investors use the Qualified Small Business Stock tax break, a 1990s-era provision for SMBs, to minimize taxes on their investment profits — Once aimed at small businesses, a 1990s-era tax break has become a popular way for Silicon Valley founders and investors to avoid taxes on their investment profits.

More: Insider, Bloomberg, and Kotaku

Tweets: @jyuter, @ericgeller, @_cingraham, @dealbook, @tomphilpott, @jswatz, @wolfiesmom, @rbreich, @poppy_haze, @donmoyn, @victorlavalle, @timothynoah1, and @maureenmfarrell

Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch:

Autonomous trucking startup TuSimple says its semi truck completed an 80-mile route in Arizona without a human on board and no human intervention — Autonomous trucking startup TuSimple has completed its first autonomous truck run on open public roads without a human in the vehicle, according to the company.

More: Associated Press, TuSimple, Electrek, FreightWaves, SiliconANGLE, CNET, The Hill, and Forbes

Paul Butler:

Web3 game Axie Infinity's play-to-earn model blurs the lines between “player” and “worker”, creating a Ponzi scheme with built-in deniability — In Bullshit Jobs: A Theory, David Graeber makes the case that a sizable chunk of the labour economy is essentially people …

More: brave new bird and Bricks & Stones

Tweets: @carnage4life, @arvidkahl, @trubloeu, @paulgb, @rjcc, @carnage4life, @jerrycap, @swombat, @carnage4life, and @akramsrazor

Bloomberg:

Apple puts Foxconn's southern India factory on probation after worker protests shut it down and an investigation revealed substandard living conditions — - Foxconn apologized for lapses in worker living conditions — Apple has asked for corrective actions before factory reopens

Wall Street Journal:

Google, Microsoft, and Oracle invest in potential cloud clients to beat AWS; Google claims 6% cloud market share, behind AWS at 41% and Microsoft at 20% — Alphabet company and others invest in potential clients as they look to close gap with Amazon in fast-growing sector

Tweets: @aatilley

Bloomberg:

Didi Global reports Q3 revenues of $6.6B, down 11.5% QoQ, and a net loss of $4.7B, as China's cybersecurity probe forced many of its apps to be taken down — Didi Global Inc. reported a massive $4.7 billion net loss for the quarter ended September as it navigates toward delisting its shares …

More: Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and Business Wire

Cobie:

The dogecoin bull run in 2021 and recent $SOS token airdrop by a third party to OpenSea users show that the only scarce resource in crypto is attention — People talk a lot about scarcity in crypto. Whether it's enforcing digital scarcity through NFTs or the idea that “there's 55m millionaires but only 21m bitcoins”.

More: CoinDesk. Tweets: @carnage4life, @carnage4life, @carnage4life, @carnage4life, @ljin18, and @mdudas

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:

Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control — Picture this: It's Monday morning. You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.

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.

Sponsor Techmeme

Featured Podcasts

Uncapped with Jack Altman:

Saam Motamedi from Greylock Partners

Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.

Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.

Invest Like the Best:

Henry Ellenbogen - Man Versus Machine

The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.

Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.

Grit:

How Evan Spiegel Is Building the Future of Computing

Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.

Subscribe to Grit.

Acquired:

10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)

Learn the playbooks that built the world's greatest companies - and how you can apply them as a founder, operator, or investor.

Subscribe to Acquired.

Lenny's Podcast:

Why humans are AI's biggest bottleneck (and what's coming in 2026) | Alexander Embiricos (OpenAI Codex Product Lead)

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.

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.

Add your podcast here

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:25 PM 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.

From Mediagazer

Dan Mangan / CNBC:

Trump files a $10B defamation lawsuit against the BBC in a Florida court, alleging it deceptively doctored his January 6 speech in a Panorama documentary

Jake Kanter / Deadline:

The UK government begins its review of the BBC's charter, set to expire in 2027, as ministers consider licence fee reforms and allowing more commercial revenue

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Howard Stern signs a new three-year deal with SiriusXM, after a report earlier this year suggested that his show was about to be canceled

Upcoming Tech Events

Jan 4

Samsung "The First Look" media event

Game Developers Conference

More News

Youkyung Lee / Bloomberg:

Six of the 10 best-performing South Korean stocks in 2021 are linked to the metaverse or NFTs, including Wemade Max, up 1,500%, and Giantstep, up 1,200%

More: BitcoinExchangeGuide

Eleanor Olcott / Financial Times:

China's control over online culture has grown under Xi's “common prosperity” drive, removing 20K influencers in 2021 and leaving mostly “wholesome” content

Tweets: @ziadramley

Debarghya Sil / Inc42:

Indian B2B manufacturing services marketplace Zetwerk raises a $210M Series F led by Greenoaks at a $2.5B valuation, after a $150M Series E in August

More: Livemint and PYMNTS.com

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

More: MacDailyNews and 9to5Mac

Tweets: @carnage4life, @carnage4life, @neilcybart, @neilcybart, and @neilcybart

Reuters:

A California federal judge rules that Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai can be questioned for up to two hours in a privacy lawsuit over Chrome's Incognito mode

More: Newser, Winvesta Crisps, Slashdot, and iTnews

Tweets: @reuterslegal and @mikescarcella

Jacky Wong / Wall Street Journal:

Chinese AI company SenseTime raises ~$700M in a Hong Kong IPO, below its $2B goal due to pricing shares at the low end, after delaying an IPO earlier this month

More: South China Morning Post, SiliconANGLE, Bloomberg, ChinaTechNews.com, and Nikkei Asia

Catalin Cimpanu / The Record:

Sources: Iranian hackers were behind the ransomware attack that took down the IT systems and some live streams of Cox radio and TV stations in early June

Earlier Picks

Tanzeel Akhtar / CoinDesk:

DeBank, which lets users track and analyze their DeFi investments, raises $25M led by Sequoia China at a $200M valuation

More: Coinspeaker, Bitcoin News, The Block, CryptoPotato, Cointelegraph, Crypto Briefing, and PitchBook. Tweets: @debankdefi

Mariam Baksh / Nextgov:

Biden signs the annual defense bill codifying voluntary cybersecurity frameworks for the private sector, which operates most of the US' critical infrastructure

More: Forbes and The Block

Tweets: @jason_vtf and @forbescrypto

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

More: Waypoint, Media Center, Gizmodo, The Verge, Caixin Global, TechCrunch, equalocean.com, and SlashGear

Tweets: @drewdraws2, @arekfurt, @ibd_ecarson, @geelygroup, and @waymo

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

Source: @mosseri. More: MobileSyrup, Ubergizmo, Instagram, PetaPixel, iPhone Hacks, iPhone in Canada Blog, KnowTechie, Waivly, Social Media Today, CNET, and Insider

Monica Alleven / Fierce Wireless:

US appeals court rules in favor of the FCC's decision to designate a large swath of the 6 GHz band to unlicensed users, after AT&T challenged the FCC

More: The Verge, Gizmodo, Light Reading, WifiForward, Wi-Fi Alliance, SiliconANGLE, Bloomberg Law, and FCC

Tweets: @benlovejoy, @jaycuthrell, @brendancarrfcc, and @brendancarrfcc

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”