Techmeme
January 6, 2021, 4:40 PM

Top News

Ryan Mac / BuzzFeed News:
As a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol building, Facebook and Twitter let Trump cheer them on using their platforms, only adding ineffective labels  —  As rioters stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday, President Donald Trump clung to his last vestiges of power: his social media accounts.
Queenie Wong / CNET:
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple says App Store users spent $1.8B on goods and services between December 24 and New Year's Eve and $540M on New Year's Day alone; Books has 90M MAUs  —  Apple has announced today that App Store customers spent a record amount throughout the holiday season.
Pranob Mehrotra / XDA Developers:
WhatsApp updates its Terms and Privacy Policy to mandate data sharing with Facebook, including transaction data, mobile device information, IP address, and more  —  WhatsApp users are receiving an in-app notice today regarding the service's new terms and privacy policy.
Bloomberg:
Facebook's Andrew Bosworth says its smart glasses, built in partnership with Ray-Ban, will arrive “sooner than later” in 2021 without AR features  —  - Company has more than 6,000 staff on AR, VR and hardware tasks  — Zuckerberg seeking the next computer platform after smartphone
Emily Birnbaum / Protocol:
As Democrats are poised to win Georgia's Senate seats, a look at potential tech legislation under a unified government, including a federal privacy bill  —  As of Wednesday morning, Democrats looked poised to win both Georgia Senate seats, taking back control of the Senate after five years of Republican leadership.
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
DOJ says SolarWinds hackers accessed about 3% of its email accounts, but there's no indication that the breach impacted classified systems  —  - Hackers who tapped into government networks through SolarWinds software potentially accessed about 3% of the Justice Department's email accounts, a spokesperson said Wednesday.
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Alexandra Alper / Reuters:
Trump signs an executive order banning transactions with Ant Group's Alipay, Tencent's WeChat Pay and QQ, and five other Chinese payment apps  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese software applications, including Ant Group's Alipay.
Dina Bass / Bloomberg:
An oral history from 24 people describing how Microsoft developed the original Xbox, initially an over-budget ungainly product, and reshaped the gaming industry  —  The original product was ungainly, over-budget and nearly canceled.  Here's how it became a hit and reshaped an industry.
Nicole Friedman / Wall Street Journal:
Amazon commits $2B+ over five years to create and preserve affordable housing in three of its employment hubs: Seattle, WA; Arlington, VA; and Nashville, TN  —  Tech giant to make investments over next five years in and around Seattle, Arlington, Va., and Nashville, Tenn.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says it will shut down Minecraft Earth, which let users play Minecraft in real life through AR, on June 30, due to the pandemic  —  The ambitious project to cover the world in blocks is over  —  Microsoft is closing down its Minecraft Earth mobile game in June, due to the ongoing pandemic.
Hunter Walk / Medium:
To help creators avoid burnout, platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok need to explore new ideas like rate limiting of posts and paid time-offs  —  Creator Wellness Will Be A Key Goal of New Products  —  Being a modern creator is, for many, exhausting.
Reuters:
Sources: Alibaba is planning to raise $5B to $8B in a USD-denominated bond sale this month, as China increases scrutiny of Jack Ma's empire  —  HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd plans to raise at least $5 billion through the sale of a U.S. dollar-denominated bond this month …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Transform ML Experimentation with Tangle  —  Save months of compute time with Tangle, built by Shopify.  Try this open-source platform to simplify ML workflows, ensure reproducibility, and seamlessly share with collaborators.
Zoho:
Contract Signed.  Project Ready.  Tasks Created.  —  Every project begins with a promise; a contract that outlines the deliverables, the timelines, and the terms.  But for most businesses …
Bitrix24:
Bitrix24 powers the next generation of high-performing businesses  —  Chat, projects, CRM, and automation — all in one place.  Replace dozens of tools so your team moves faster, collaborates smarter, and grows effortlessly.
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

Big Technology Podcast:
AI Device Wars Heat Up, RIP Metaverse?, Netflix Acquires Warner Brothers
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
"Hollywood is Truly Freaked Out." Inside the Netflix/WBD Deal with Lucas Shaw
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Hard Fork:
OpenAI Calls a 'Code Red' + Which Model Should I Use? + The Hard Fork Review of Slop
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:
Is Roblox making the internet better or worse? We asked the CEO
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Lenny's Podcast:
Why LinkedIn is turning PMs into AI-powered "full stack builders" | Tomer Cohen (LinkedIn CPO)
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:40 PM ET, January 6, 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

Matt Grossman / Wall Street Journal:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Will Heaven / MIT Technology Review:
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: