Techmeme
January 15, 2021, 12:10 AM

Top News

Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Samsung unveils $799 Galaxy S21, $999 Galaxy S21+, and $1,199 Galaxy S21 Ultra, available now to preorder and launching on January 29  —  Samsung's latest flagships are here: the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21 Plus, and the Galaxy S21 Ultra.  The first two — which start at $799 and $999 …
David Carnoy / CNET:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Rick Osterloh / The Keyword:
Google completes Fitbit acquisition, vows to protect users' privacy, says “deal has always been about devices, not data”  —  Google has completed its acquisition of Fitbit.  Together, we can make health and wellness more accessible to more people.
Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post:
Jack Dorsey says Trump ban was the right decision for Twitter but reflects a “failure” to promote healthy conversation and sets a dangerous precedent  —  Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey explained in a tweetstorm that the company faced an ‘extraordinary and untenable circumstance’
Sam Shead / CNBC:
A coalition of health and tech companies, including Microsoft, Salesforce, and Oracle, says it is developing a digital COVID-19 vaccination “passport”  —  - A digital Covid vaccination passport is being jointly developed by a group of health and technology companies who anticipate …
Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:
Axios says it will launch AxiosHQ, which lets companies write internal memos styled like Axios newsletters, next month, starting at $10K a year  —  AxiosHQ communications platform to launch with Delta Air Lines and AT&T among early customers  —  Punchy news startup Axios is betting …
Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post:
Sandberg deflected blame for Capitol riot, but fliers and hashtags promoting the pro-Trump rally circulated on Facebook and Instagram weeks beforehand  —  Fliers and hashtags promoting the pro-Trump rally circulated on Facebook and Instagram in the days and weeks beforehand
New York Times:
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Apple has removed a controversial feature in macOS 11.2 beta 2 that allowed its own apps to bypass third-party firewalls, security tools, and VPNs  —  The ContentFilterExclusionList has been removed in macOS 11.2 beta 2.  —  Apple has removed a controversial feature from the macOS operating system …
Mike Stone / Reuters:
The Trump admin adds Xiaomi, along with 8 other Chinese firms, to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies, forcing US investors to divest by Nov. 11  —  The Trump administration on Thursday added nine Chinese firms to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies …
Sarah Emerson / OneZero :
The far-right is flocking to MeWe, a privacy-focused Facebook alternative that has Tim Berners-Lee on its board, with membership growing to 15M in recent months  —  ‘Have you tried to moderate 15 million people?’  MeWe founder Mark Weinstein told OneZero  —  'm an American who is sick …
Wall Street Journal:
TSMC says it will raise capital expenditures to between $25B and $28B in 2021, an increase of at least 47% YoY  —  The world's biggest contract chip maker plans to boost capex by at least 47% in 2021  —  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. , a key chip supplier to Apple Inc. …
Kate Clark / The Information:
Source: Sequoia Capital recently bought shares of online automation firm Zapier from its founders on the secondary market, with the sale valuing Zapier at $4B+  —  Zapier isn't a household name in Silicon Valley, but the world's top venture capitalists have long been trying to own a piece of the booming enterprise software firm.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
A leak of a near-final version of Windows 10X shows a strong similarity to Chrome OS, with the Start button centered on the taskbar, lack of Live Tiles, more  —  A new lightweight version of Windows to take on Chromebooks  —  After years of waiting, it looks like Microsoft now has a true answer to Chrome OS.
Bloomberg:
Norway's consumer protection agency details how Amazon riddles the process of canceling Prime with “dark patterns,” calls on regulators to investigate  —  - Public Citizen, others ask regulators to probe Prime rules  — Report says manipulative techniques make it hard to opt out
Romain Dillet / TechCrunch:
X1 Card, which offers a credit card with limits based on current and future income instead of credit score, raises $12M funding round led by Spark Capital  —  X1 Card is raising a $12 million funding round.  The company is building a credit card that sets limits based on your current and future income, not your credit score.
More: PYMNTS.com
Kerry Flynn / CNN:

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Sarah E. Needleman / Wall Street Journal:

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