Techmeme
January 13, 2022, 9:55 AM

Top News

Martine Paris / Bloomberg:
Apple confirms it removed several Wordle clones from the App Store, after some app developers capitalized on the online guessing game's popularity  —  Apple Inc. removed several Wordle games from its App Store after users confused them with another word-play title popularized by Jimmy Fallon and other celebrities.
Bloomberg:
Microsoft hires veteran semiconductor designer Mike Filippo from Apple; sources say Filippo will work on developing homegrown chips for Azure servers  —  Microsoft Corp. lured away a veteran semiconductor designer from Apple Inc. as it looks to expand its own server-chips efforts, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Justin Hendrix / Tech Policy Press:
Over 260 health professionals tell Spotify to implement a misinformation policy, after a Joe Rogan Experience episode featured a discredited scientist  —  More than 260 doctors, nurses, scientists, health professionals and others have signed an open letter calling on the streaming media platform Spotify to …
Michael McSweeney / The Block:
Coinbase says it is acquiring FairX, a CFTC-regulated derivatives exchange, and plans to bring crypto derivatives to its US customers  —  Coinbase is acquiring FairX, a CFTC-regulated derivatives exchange.  —  The exchange company announced the move on Wednesday, saying …
Martin Matishak / The Record:
US Cyber Command says malware group MuddyWater is tied to Iranian intelligence, the first time the US government has publicly linked the threat actor to Tehran  —  U.S. Cyber Command on Wednesday revealed that a hacking group reputed for its cyberespionage campaigns is actually part of Iran's intelligence apparatus.
Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
Canalys: worldwide PC shipments grew 15% YoY in 2021 to 341M, the highest annual number since 2012; Apple shipped 28.3% more units, Acer 21.8%, and Dell 18%  —  It would be easy to think PC sales dropped worldwide last year amid chip shortages, but that conventional thinking would be wrong.
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Austria's data protection watchdog upholds a decision that a local website using Google Analytics violates GDPR, a potential issue for US cloud services  —  A decision by Austria's data protection watchdog upholding a complaint against a website related to its use of Google Analytics does …
Reuters:
TSMC reports Q4 revenue rose 24.1% YoY to $15.74B as net profit reached $6.01B; capex will reach $40B to $44B in 2022, up from $30B in 2021  —  Taiwanese chip firm TSMC expects strong growth to accelerate in coming years due to booming semiconductor demand, as the tech giant on Thursday reported …
Coco Feng / South China Morning Post:
China's state-backed Blockchain Services Network (BSN) will roll out infrastructure to support NFTs; the NFTs will not be linked to cryptocurrencies  —  The BSN-Distributed Digital Certificate does not support crypto-transacted NFTs, and will allow businesses and individuals to build apps …
Felix Onuah / Reuters:
Nigeria will lift its ban on Twitter after suspending it on June 4, 2021; Twitter decided to open an office in Nigeria, among other agreements  —  Nigeria will lift a ban on Twitter (TWTR.N) from midnight after the social media platform agreed to open a local office, among other agreements …
Blake Brittain / Reuters:
Krafton, which makes PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, sues Apple and Google, arguing that neither company removed a game that allegedly copies PUBG  —  (Reuters) - The maker of the popular game “PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds” says in a new U.S. lawsuit that a Singapore-based company …
Jon Fingas / Engadget:
FCC proposes stricter data breach reporting rules, including a mandate to notify customers of “inadvertent” breaches, scrapping a one-week wait period, and more  —  The Federal Communications Commission is the next US regulator hoping to hold companies more accountable for data breaches.
Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:
Apple says no changes were made in iOS 15.2 that would've toggled iCloud Private Relay off and that no carriers have blocked its users from using the feature  —  Some iPhone users this week noticed that iCloud Private Relay suddenly stopped working with their cellular connections.
Meghan Bobrowsky / Wall Street Journal:
Second Life founder Philip Rosedale says he is returning to its parent company to help it expand into the metaverse  —  Philip Rosedale is coming back to the digital world he created to help inject growth  —  The founder of Second Life, one of the earliest digital-reality worlds, is returning for a second stint to take on big tech.

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Earlier Picks

Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Sam Reynolds / CoinDesk:
Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:
Casey Newton / Platformer: