Techmeme
January 4, 2021, 6:15 PM

Top News

Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:
A group of over 200 Google and Alphabet workers have announced their plan to form a union, open to both employees and contractors  —  A group of more than 200 Google and Alphabet workers have announced the formation of the Alphabet Workers Union, The New York Times first reported.
New York Times:
Executives of the Alphabet Workers Union say discrimination and harassment continue and the company cracks down on those who are to speak out  —  Our company's motto used to be “Don't be evil.”  An organized work force will help us live up to it.  —  Ms. Koul and Mr. Shaw are, respectively …
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Kuo: Apple to release an AR device, AirTags item trackers, its first devices with Mini-LED displays, more Apple Silicon Macs, and new AirPods in 2021  —  Apple plans to release its long-awaited AirTags item trackers, an unspecified augmented reality device, and other new products in 2021 …
Hugh Son / CNBC:
Haven, the Amazon-Berkshire-JPMorgan venture to disrupt healthcare, is disbanding after three years  —  - Haven began informing employees Monday that it will shut down by the end of next month, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.  — Many of the Boston-based firm's 57 workers …
Eileen Yu / ZDNet:
Singapore now says local law enforcement can access COVID-19 contact tracing data; 78% of its population has adopted the TraceTogether app and wearable token  —  Under the country's Criminal Procedure Code, the Singapore Police Force can obtain any data — including information gathered …
Reuters:
Alibaba founder Jack Ma has not appeared in a public setting since a late October forum in Shanghai, where he was critical of China's regulatory system  —  BEIJING (Reuters) - Alibaba founder Jack Ma's absence from public view in the past two months, including missing the final episode …
Matt Stoller / BIG:
SolarWinds hack is an example of private equity firms wrecking software companies and degrading their products' security to the detriment of national security  —  Private equity monopolist Orlando Bravo made billions by putting our whole society at risk.  —  1 hr ago
Kim Lyons / The Verge:
Slack confirmed it suffered a widespread outage Monday morning but resolved most problems as of 3pm ET, except for some integrations and email notifications  —  Users began reporting problems around 10AM ET  —  Slack is down on the first full work day of 2021.
New York Times:
A British judge rules against extraditing Julian Assange to the US, which has accused him of violating the Espionage Act, citing mental health concerns  —  U.S. officials want the WikiLeaks founder to face charges of violating the Espionage Act.  But a judge in London ruled that he was at extreme risk of suicide.
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Industrial sensor giant Teledyne says it will acquire thermal imaging sensor maker FLIR for $8B in cash and stock  —  Industrial sensor giant Teledyne is set to acquire sensing company FLIR in a deal valued at around $8 billion in a mix of stock and cash, pending approvals …
Eliot Brown / Wall Street Journal:
Because going public via a SPAC is seen as a merger, startups doing so face fewer restrictions on promoting stock vs. normal IPOs, which have a “quiet period”  —  Companies can dazzle investors by appearing on YouTube and other media outlets in ways those doing traditional IPOs can't
Zak Doffman / Forbes:
While Facebook touts e2e encryption on WhatsApp, Apple's privacy labels highlight how much user metadata WhatsApp collects compared to iMessage  —  WhatsApp, the world's leading messenger with 2 billion users sending 100 billion messages each day, popularized secure messaging.

Sponsor Posts

Brightspot:
Is your CMS solving your content problems, or creating new ones?  —  In a commissioned study written and conducted by Forrester, we revealed that 72% plan to change their CMS platform, is your organization one of them?
Prelay:
How Public Tech Companies De-risk Millions in Revenue Loss  —  Complex products and hybrid teams are today's major growth challenges.  With 50-70% of revenue driven by internal teams beyond sales, how is your org adapting?
Zoho:
UCaaS and hybrid work: A match made in heaven  —  The pandemic, the option to WFM (work from the mountains), and an abundance of co-working spaces have fueled the rise of hybrid work.
Vesto:
The treasury management platform built for startups  —  Put your idle cash to work, earn higher yields, and extend your runway with Vesto.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Wed. 03/22 - Google Bard Joins The Fray
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:15 PM ET, January 4, 2021.

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

The Verge: