Techmeme: Graphcore, which designs chips for AI workloads, raises $222M Series E led by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan at a $2.77B post-money valuation (Ingrid Lunden/TechCrunch)

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December 29, 2020, 5:05 PM

Top News

Reed Albergotti / Washington Post:

Federal judge dismisses Apple's claims that mobile device virtualization company Corellium violated copyright law with its software to run iOS on PCs — Corellium helps customers find bugs in Apple's mobile operating system. Apple aimed to shut it down. — Corellium, a security research firm sued …

Reed Albergotti / Washington Post:

Leaked docs: Lens, a supplier for Apple, Tesla, Amazon, used alleged forced Uighur labor; Apple says it has confirmed its suppliers have not used forced labor — New documents show Lens Technology, which makes iPhone glass and is owned by China's richest woman, received Uighur Muslim laborers transferred from Xinjiang.

More: 9to5Mac, The Verge, Engadget, Gizmodo, CNET, Business Insider, iPhone in Canada Blog, iPhone Hacks, Input, AppleInsider, and The Mac Observer

Tweets: @starfire2258, @chuckrossdc, @bubbaprog, @benlovejoy, and @reedalbergotti

Ron Miller / TechCrunch:

VMware sues its former COO Rajiv Ramaswami, claiming that his taking a job as CEO of Nutanix was a breach of contract — Earlier this month, when Nutanix announced it was hiring former VMware COO Rajiv Ramaswami as CEO, it looked like a good match. What's more, it pulled a key player from a market rival.

More: SiliconANGLE, Bloomberg, VMware, and Silicon Valley Business …

Tweets: @bryanrbeal and @aaronbuley

Flurry:

Survey: US smartphone activations on Christmas Day fell 23% YoY as iPhones dominated the top 10 activated smartphones and budget devices, like LG K30, surge — Christmas day in the United States is the single greatest day for new smartphone activations. And despite supply chain delays caused …

More: MacRumors, TechSpot, Tom's Guide, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, iClarified, Redmond Pie, Apple Must, iPhone Hacks, MacDailyNews, Patently Apple, and ArcticStartup

Tweets: @andruedwards, @khoi, and @stroughtonsmith

Svea Herbst-Bayliss / Reuters:

In a letter, an activist hedge fund pushes Intel to explore strategic alternatives, like whether it should remain an integrated device manufacturer; stock up 5% — (Reuters) - Activist hedge fund Third Point LLC is pushing Intel Corp to explore strategic alternatives, including whether …

More: TheStreet, CRN, Tom's Hardware, CNBC, AppleInsider, Wccftech, and MSPoweruser. Tweets: @markhachman

Bloomberg:

Source: Ant Group is planning to fold its financial operations into a holding company that could be regulated more like a bank — - Financial units face stricter regulation in planned structure — Lifestyle businesses to be excluded from holding company

More: Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, TechCrunch, South China Morning Post, PYMNTS.com, Tech in Asia, Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg

Tweets: @kate_okeeffe, @kevtellier, @wsjmarkets, @jchengwsj, @vusithembekwayo, @jchengwsj, @niubi, @bloombergquint, and @zhangtaisu

Wall Street Journal:

Unredacted draft version of the lawsuit filed by 10 states earlier this month details a Google-Facebook ad deal that allegedly constituted illegal price fixing — Lawmakers have called for an investigation into the tech giants' contract, dubbed ‘Jedi Blue,’ which allegedly allowed for auction rigging

More: The Irish Times and New York Post

Tweets: @repkenbuck, @johnvoorhees, @bowknowsbiz, and @paulnemitz

Olivia Solon / NBC News:

Police rely heavily on car sensor and infotainment system data, including GPS and call records, to challenge alibis, thanks to looser privacy standards for cars — On June 26, 2017, the lifeless body of Ronald French, a bearded auto mechanic with once-twinkling eyes, was mysteriously found in a cornfield in Kalamazoo County, Michigan.

More: Slashdot and The Verge

Tweets: @fabiochiusi, @saramorrison, @chris_chmura, @lam_barrett, and @mslods

Emily Birnbaum / Protocol:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is tying the fate of $2,000 stimulus checks to the repeal of Section 230 — Both efforts are probably doomed. — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is tying the fate of $2,000 stimulus checks to the repeal of Section 230, an effort that will likely doom …

More: The Verge, CNBC, and The White House

Tweets: @realdonaldtrump, @brianschatz, @briantylercohen, @evan_greer, @juddlegum, @yashar, @martinsfp, @sethabramson, @kellymakena, and @karaswisher

CoinDesk:

Coinbase says it will suspend trading of XRP on January 19, 2021, following the SEC's suit against Ripple — Coinbase said it will suspend trading of XRP, the cryptocurrency the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claimed last week is really a security.

Kristin Robinson / Variety:

A loophole in Spotify's copyright infringement detection tactics is allowing unauthorized remixes and bootlegs of songs to be uploaded as podcasts — Spotify has joined the ranks of streaming services like SoundCloud and YouTube as a hub for bootlegs of popular songs.

More: Engadget

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:05 PM ET, December 29, 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.

From Mediagazer

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:

Arkansas PBS severs ties with the PBS network, the first state public TV system to do so since Congress cut CPB funds, citing the annual $2M+ membership cost

Financial Times:

OpenAI hopes the Disney deal boosts Sora, which has high costs and limited traction; Sensor Tower: users average 13 minutes per day on Sora vs. 90 on TikTok

Sam Roberts / New York Times:

Arthur L. Carter, who started a Connecticut newspaper in 1981, bought and sold The Nation, and founded the New York Observer in 1987, has died at 93

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More News

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google is testing an expansion of its “Short Videos” feature at the top of mobile search that will surface TikTok and Instagram videos in a dedicated carousel

More: Search Engine Roundtable. Tweets: @type_seo and @eddie_childs

Joe Morrison / A Closer Look with Joe Morrison:

Google Maps' moat is vanishing after a ~1,400% price hike for API usage in 2018, as OpenStreetMap improves with support from Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft

Tweets: @randfish and @samgoeta

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

CommonGround, a stealth startup aiming to debut a product in 2021 that rethinks online communication with “4D collaboration”, raises $19M led by Matrix Partners

Bloomberg:

Apple and Amazon stock has risen 87% and 79% respectively in 2020, far outpacing the S&P 500's 16%, as Apple rises 16% in December amid strong iPhone 12 demand

More: MacDailyNews, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, and The Mac Observer

Kristen V Brown / Bloomberg:

DNA testing company 23andMe raises ~$82.5M Series F led by Sequoia Capital and NewView Capital; the company laid off 14% of its workforce earlier this year

More: TechCrunch

Katie Deighton / Wall Street Journal:

A look at a center for young people with disabilities in Georgia that Google and others have used as a place to test products for accessibility

Tweets: @ipoupyrev and @wsj

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Graphcore, which designs chips for AI workloads, raises $222M Series E led by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan at a $2.77B post-money valuation

More: VentureBeat, SiliconANGLE, Tech.eu, CNBC, coinspeaker.com, Forbes, PR Newswire, Financial Times, and Crunchbase News. Tweets: @jwangark. Thanks:@ingridlunden

Siobhan Roberts / New York Times:

Mathematicians, professors, and others reflect on Game of Life, a simulation game devised in 1970, and its lasting influence on the field of cellular automata

Tweets: @nytnational, @ankurg90, @nytscience, @alexbellos, @rudytheelder, @nytnational, @padreinatlanta, @daedelus, @alanzucconi, and @mkapor

Earlier Picks

Rita Liao / TechCrunch:

DXY, a Chinese online portal for doctors, healthcare organizations, and consumers to share knowledge, raises $500M led by Trustbridge Partners

More: Pandaily and Tech in Asia. Tweets: @strictlyvc

Taylor Soper / GeekWire:

Amazon says during this holiday season, third-party sales grew 50% globally, compared to the same time period in 2019

More: Amazon News Blog, TechRadar, PYMNTS.com, CNET, and The Hill

Tweets: @primestudent, @glenngabe, @pip_net, @quinnypig, @amazon, and @jaycarney

Todd Spangler / Variety:

NY Post source for Hunter Biden laptop stories sues Twitter for defamation, alleging Twitter falsely labeled him a hacker after blocking NY Post content in Oct.

More: The Verge, Ars Technica, MakeUseOf, Reclaim The Net, Gizmodo, Deadline, LAW.com, The Wrap, New York Post, and Engadget

Tweets: @superwuster and @nypost