Techmeme
December 15, 2020, 4:30 PM

Top News

Sam Schechner / Wall Street Journal:
EU proposes two bills governing tech giants, focused on illegal content and anticompetitive behavior, to empower regulators to levy large fines or break them up  —  Proposed bills would be the bloc's most ambitious internet laws since GDPR  —  European officials want new powers …
Nikkei Asia:
Sources: Apple plans to produce up to 96M iPhones for H1 2021, a nearly 30% YoY increase, and is also working on a new Apple TV for next year  —  Robust orders come as smartphone industry faces severe parts shortages  —  TAIPEI — Apple plans to produce up to 96 million iPhones for the first half of 2021 …
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Reuters:
Reuters:
Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal:
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Neverware, which helps schools and enterprises resurrect old PCs with its Chromium-based CloudReady OS, gets acquired by Google, which invested in its Series B  —  Neverware lets you turn old PCs and Macs into Chromebook-esque devices through its CloudReady OS.
Craig Timberg / Washington Post:
Facebook says people linked to France's military used fake accounts to meddle in African politics, tangling with similar efforts by Russia's IRA in some nations  —  It's the first time Facebook has identified people affiliated with a Western government for sanction
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Ireland fines Twitter €450K for failing to promptly declare and document a data breach, in Europe's first GDPR decision of its kind  —  Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) has issued Twitter with a fine of €450,000 (~$547k) for failing to promptly declare and properly document …
Jason Nelson / Decrypt:
Pornhub appears to be only accepting cryptocurrency for its premium service after Visa and Mastercard cut off payments to the website last week  —  It appears that Pornhub, the world's largest adult website, is only accepting crypto for its premium service.
Daisuke Wakabayashi / New York Times:
Critics and competitors argue that Google's massive web index, far surpassing its rivals in size, should be the focus of antitrust scrutiny  —  As regulators seek ways to curb the company's power, there is more focus on the vast index — hundreds of billion of web pages — behind its search engine.
Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:
Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton says TikTok banned him without warning, thinks it was after pressure from TikTok stars, with whom he's feuded; TikTok denies this  —  The celebrity blogger was banned from TikTok on Saturday in a move he said was influenced by the app's biggest stars.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google Photos expands Memories, adding new collage designs and 3D Cinematic photos that simulate depth in a scene by adding a smooth panning effect  —  Google Photos is rolling out a series of updates to its Memories feature, which surfaces your best photos from years past.
Fortune:
Vise, which automates tasks for independent investment advisors while creating custom portfolios for clients, raises $45M Series B led by Sequoia Capital  —  So-called robo-advisers may be all the rage, but Sequoia Capital is betting that humans will still hold a prominent place in helping people make investment decisions.
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Parsec, which has built streaming tech for remote work and cloud gaming, raises $25M Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz  —  Parsec, a startup that's built streaming technology for both work and play, is announcing that it has raised $25 million in Series B funding.
Theodore Schleifer / Vox:
Alloy, a Reid Hoffman-backed political data startup for Democrats, imploded after four senior employees, who had all complained about a colleague, were fired  —  Alloy was once seen as Democrats' next great hope.  But chaos awaited.  —  Just two weeks after Election Day …

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:
Say hello to Zia Answer Bot: Your organization's knowledge, on-demand in every Zoho Lens session.  —  Imagine your technician is halfway through a live remote assistance session.
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

The Upstarts Podcast:
Mutiny's Jaleh Rezaei: Walking Away From Millions In Software To Grow Even Faster With Sales AI
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:
'Hard Fork' Live, Part 3: Differing Visions of an A.I. Future
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:
The billionaire paying AI researchers to stay out of Big Tech
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
The Race to the Middle
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
Subscribe to The Nick, Dick and Paul Show.
Great Chat:
After you ring the bell
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:
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 4:30 PM ET, December 15, 2020.

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

Wall Street Journal:
Financial Times:
Sean O'Kane / The Verge:
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: