Techmeme
January 15, 2021, 6:50 PM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple to launch redesigned iMacs this year with a Pro Display XDR-like design, and is working on two new Mac Pros, one of which may use Intel CPUs  —  Apple Inc. is planning the first redesign of its iMac all-in-one desktop computer since 2012, part of a shift away from Intel Corp. processors …
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Kuo: 14" and 16" MacBook Pros coming in Q3 2021 with Apple Silicon, MagSafe charging, no Touch Bar, new design with squared-off sides and more built-in IO ports  —  Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today released some interesting details about the upcoming MacBook Pro.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple has begun preliminary work on an iPhone model with a foldable screen, while testing an in-screen fingerprint reader for 2021  —  Apple Inc. has begun early work on an iPhone with a foldable screen, a potential rival to similar devices from Samsung Electronics Co. and others …
Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider:
Kuo: Apple is “aggressively” testing vapor chamber thermal systems to cool its upcoming iPhones  —  Noted TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in a report on Friday said recent industry surveys indicate Apple is “aggressively” testing vapor chamber thermal systems for use in iPhone …
Nick Statt / The Verge:
WhatsApp to delay new privacy policy by three months following widespread confusion over whether the policy would mandate data sharing with Facebook  —  The new update will now go out on May 15th  —  WhatsApp on Friday announced a three-month delay of a new privacy policy originally slated …
Shoshana Wodinsky / Gizmodo:
The Information:
Sources: Apple is discussing launching a new subscription service that would charge people to listen to podcasts  —  Apple—long considered the sleeping giant in the podcast space—is waking up.  The company, which runs the most widely used podcasting app in the industry …
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Twitter outlines its plans for Wednesday's Inauguration Day, including transitioning @POTUS and other handles to Biden and archiving several official accounts  —  - Less than two weeks after President Donald Trump was kicked off his personal Twitter account, the institutional White House …
Mike Rogoway / Oregonian:
Sources: at an all-hands staff meeting, incoming CEO says Intel has to deliver better products for PCs than what a “lifestyle company in Cupertino” makes  —  - Competition: Intel rivals AMD and NVIDIA use TSMC's factories and have capitalized on the technical advances in Taiwan to leapfrog Intel in key segments.
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple has started to block the sideloading of unsupported iOS and iPadOS apps onto M1 Macs using third party software  —  Earlier this week, 9to5Mac reported that Apple would soon start blocking users from side loading iPhone and iPad applications to their M1 Macs.
Jason Del Rey / Vox:
Interview with Walmart's e-commerce chief Marc Lore, who is leaving the company at the end of the month to build “a city of the future”  —  Marc Lore, the founder of Jet.com, helped Walmart become the No. 2 online shopping site after Amazon.  —  Marc Lore, a serial entrepreneur …
Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:
As Snapchat starts competing with TikTok via its Spotlight program, some creators begin earning small fortunes and look for ways to expand  —  Top performers are raking in cash, as the company seeks to compete against TikTok and similar platforms.  —  In late November, Cam Casey …
Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:
Leaked screenshots show GitHub employees using the term “Nazi” in its internal Slack to protest the unexplained firing of an employee that used the same word  —  Now in protest, they're using Slack to call Nazis what they are  —  GitHub employees are protesting the firing …
Alex Kantrowitz / OneZero :
Smaller services like Substack, Spotify, and Clubhouse are coming under scrutiny now that the big platforms have warmed to aggressive moderation  —  Smaller services are coming under scrutiny now that the big platforms have warmed to aggressive moderation  —  Glenn Greenwald was pissed.
Sarah Emerson / OneZero :
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Amazon launches Amazon Custom Assistant, which will let car makers build their own custom AI assistants with their own wake words, custom voices, and more  —  Amazon is letting automakers tailor custom voice experiences using its AI platform  —  Amazon is giving car companies …
Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:
Bumble files for an IPO, says it had 42M MAUs, 2.4M total paying users, and lost $117M on revenue of $417M in the first nine months of 2020  —  The dating and networking service Bumble has filed to go public.  —  The company, launched by a former co-founder of the IAC-owned Tinder …

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Earlier Picks

Rebecca Klar / The Hill:
Adam Satariano / New York Times:
Mike Stone / Reuters:
New York Times: