Techmeme
February 8, 2022, 4:27 PM

Top News

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple unveils Tap to Pay on iPhone, letting US merchants accept contactless payments via partner-enabled apps later in 2022; partners include Stripe and Shopify  —  Apple has officially announced a new Tap to Pay feature for iPhone.  This feature, coming later this year …
Devlin Barrett / Washington Post:
The US DOJ arrests two people in New York and seizes ~$3.6B worth of bitcoin allegedly stolen in a 2016 Bitfinex hack, its “largest financial seizure ever”  —  The Justice Department announced Tuesday it had seized more than $3.6 billion in bitcoin allegedly stolen as part …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Nvidia and SoftBank call off Nvidia's Arm acquisition, following regulatory scrutiny; Arm CEO Simon Segars resigns, replaced by Arm IP group president Rene Haas  —  Nvidia's deal to acquire Arm is off, the two companies and Arm owner SoftBank announced Tuesday.  —  With this, there is also a major leadership change at Arm.
Cara Lombardo / Wall Street Journal:
Peloton CEO John Foley will step down and ex-Spotify and Netflix CFO Barry McCarthy will take over; Peloton will cut ~2,800 jobs and cancel its Ohio factory  —  Exercise-equipment maker to name former Spotify CFO Barry McCarthy as successor, overhaul board and cut costs
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Apple plans to improve benefits for full- and part-time US retail workers, including doubling paid sick days and increasing PTO, amid a tight labor market  —  Apple Inc. plans to significantly increase its benefits for U.S. retail store workers as it grapples with a tightening labor market …
Jeff John Roberts / Decrypt:
Crypto infrastructure startup Alchemy raises a $200M Series C extension from Lightspeed and Silver Lake at a $10.2B valuation, up from $3.5B in October 2021  —  Alchemy, a startup that provides blockchain tools, has been growing fast: It raised buckets of money last year and attracted dozens …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
TikTok updates its policies to improve safety for LGBTQ users, including banning misgendering and deadnaming, adds tools for age-appropriate content, and more  —  Months after TikTok was hauled into its first-ever major congressional hearing over platform safety, the company is today announcing …
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
A look at Apple's IAP changes for Dutch dating app developers: its proposal seemingly isn't compliant, reducing the commission by just 3% is spiteful, and more  —  The continuing saga of Apple's conflict with the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) — the Dutch equivalent …
John Markoff / New York Times:
As data centers grow, engineers at Meta, Google, and other companies worry about the reliability of ever-smaller chips and hardware failures with unclear causes  —  As the largest computer networks continue to grow, some engineers fear that their smallest components could prove to be an Achilles' heel.
CNBC:
Amazon Care rolls out its telehealth service nationwide, expands in-person care to more US cities, and adds Whole Foods, Silicon Labs, and TrueBlue as customers  —  - Amazon is launching its telehealth program, known as Amazon Care, nationwide and has signed up a handful of new companies to use its services.
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Google rolls out Journeys for Chrome on desktop, letting users revisit old browsing sessions, based on searches from the omnibar, organized by subject matter  —  Journeys groups your search history together by category  —  Google Chrome is rolling out Journeys, a feature that lets you revisit …
Shiona McCallum / BBC:
The UK's Online Safety Bill would mandate that porn websites verify users' ages or face fines; similar proposals were quietly dropped in 2019 after criticism  —  Porn websites in the UK will be legally required to verify the age of their users under new internet safety laws.
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Netflix and Amazon had fewer Oscar nominations in 2022; half of the Best Picture nominees had little to no theater time and all major studios used hybrid models  —  This morning's Oscar nominations suggest a rethink — or at least a collective hitting of the pause button — on the status of streaming in the awards conversation.
Tage Kene-Okafor / TechCrunch:
Partech Partners report: African startups raised a record $5.2B in 2021 across 681 deals, up from $1.43B across 359 deals in 2020  —  Last year was record-breaking for African startups.  I know I'm probably starting to sound like a broken record, but the astronomical growth is worth highlighting again and again.
Wall Street Journal:
The EU details the Chips Act, which would make €43B in public and private funding available for R&D and chip production, seeking to compete with the US and Asia  —  Legislation could mobilize about $49 billion in government and private cash, though critics fear a subsidy race
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
A review of digital advertising in 2022, which has shifted from a Google-Meta duopoly to one where Amazon and potentially Apple are major forces  —  Six years ago tomorrow, in The Reality of Missing Out, I wrote that the digital advertising market was settled, and Google and Facebook won:
Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:
Lyft Q4: revenue of $970M, vs. $940M est. and up from $570M YoY, average revenue per rider of $51.79, up 14% YoY, but 18.73M active riders, down from 18.94M QoQ  —  - Lyft reported fourth-quarter earnings after-the-bell on Tuesday.  — Lyft reported 18.73 million active riders in the last quarter of 2021.
More: Lyft, Inc.

Sponsor Posts

Soxton:
Fast, affordable law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
F5:
Accelerate AI Adoption at F5's AI Virtual Summit  —  Learn how to architect, secure, and scale AI for production with real-world insights from industry leaders on June 23.  Register now to save your spot.
Zoho:
Don't Do.  Just Tell.  With Zoho MCP for Bigin.  —  Dear small business owners,This one's a little different.We're not here to walk you through a checklist of features.  We're here to tell you about something …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Invest Like the Best:
Alex Sacerdote - How to Invest Through Technology Cycles
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Lenny's Podcast:
Father of the iPod and iPhone on building taste, judgment, and creativity in the AI era | Tony Fadell
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.
Big Technology Podcast:
Will Apple (Finally) Get AI Right At WWDC?, Anthropic's Worry, Microsoft vs. OpenAI
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.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Vanta's Christina Cacioppo: The Underdog Turning 'Nonsense' Compliance Into A $4.2B Security Standout
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Hot I.P.O Summer + What Is A.I. Doing to Math? + HatGPT
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.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
AI's Mythos Moment: Rishi Sunak on preparing governments for AI
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 4:27 PM ET, February 8, 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

Earlier Picks

Nikhil Subramaniam / Inc42 Media:
Mario Gabriele / The Generalist: