Techmeme
February 4, 2022, 4:50 PM

Top News

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple plans to charge dating app developers using alternative payment systems a 27% commission in The Netherlands, instead of its usual 30% for in-app purchases  —  Apple today provided some additional details about how it will allow dating apps in the Netherlands to offer alternative payment systems …
Bloomberg:
David McLaughlin / Bloomberg:
Meta's dismal earnings highlight the challenging competitive landscape, especially TikTok, adding ammunition for the company to fight the FTC's antitrust suit  —  Meta Platforms Inc.'s dismal earnings report had one potential silver lining for Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple plans to unveil the 5G iPhone SE and a new iPad Air in an online presentation on or near March 8  —  Apple Inc. is targeting a date on or near March 8 to unveil a new low-cost iPhone and an updated iPad, according to people with knowledge of the matter, kicking off a potentially record-setting year for product launches.
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Meta adds a “personal boundary” system, on by default, to VR avatars in Horizon Worlds and its Horizon Venues live event service, aiming to stop harassment  —  It's rolling out in Horizon Worlds and Venues  —  Meta is adding a “personal boundary” system to its Horizon virtual …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Report details Stadia's future as a white-label game streaming service called Google Stream, including talks with Capcom, Bungie, and Peloton  —  Stadia's future as a white-label streaming platform has been clear for some months now, especially after the first partnership with AT&T …
Wall Street Journal:
Filing: News Corp discovered a hack on January 20 that accessed emails and documents of some staff; an expert says the attack is likely linked to China  —  The attack, discovered on Jan. 20, affected publications including The Wall Street Journal, New York Post and the company's U.K. news operation
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple reduces the Apple Music free-trial offer from three months to one month; new AirPods, HomePod, or Beats owners still get six months free  —  Apple has quietly made a big change to Apple Music this week, reducing the initial free-trial offer from three months.
James Vincent / The Verge:
Twitter begins expanding its reply downvote test globally on web and mobile; downvotes are not public and are used to tweak which replies Twitter shows  —  Votes aren't public and are used to surface relevant replies  —  If you've seen the option to downvote replies on Twitter, you're not alone.
Bloomberg:
Two more employees from Google's Ethical AI research group leave to join Timnit Gebru's new nonprofit research institute DAIR, adding to the turmoil at the unit  —  Google's Ethical AI research group lost two more employees, adding to the turmoil at the unit studying an area that is vitally important …

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: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26  —  Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.
Zoho:
The best time to become a Zoho Partner  —  The business world is not only changing but it is being rebuilt.  Customers want connected ecosystems that will help them automate, unify their data, and do more with less.
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

Hard Fork:
Australia Kicks Kids Off Social Media + Is the A.I. Water Issue Fake? + Hard Fork Wrapped
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Access:
Why the next AI frontier is phone calls, with Beside CEO Maxime Germain
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Great Chat:
So what happens after AGI?
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.
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.
Big Technology Podcast:
AI Is Upending Law. Is That A Sign For The Rest Of Us? — With Melia Russell
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.
[trading places]:
Ben Black Akkadian Ventures🏆 | Secondaries Secrets 💎 | RAISE Conf 🎯 | Vercel $9B 🚀
a very bad podcast about broken unicorns & busted carry hosted by dave mcclure and aman verjee
Subscribe to [trading places].
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:50 PM ET, February 4, 2022.

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

New York Times:

Earlier Picks

Andrew Thurman / CoinDesk:
Blake Brittain / Reuters:
Annie Palmer / CNBC: