Techmeme
March 22, 2021, 5:10 PM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple's HomePod mini has a sensor, currently disabled, that measures temperature and humidity; Apple is working on speakers with screens and cameras  —  Apple Inc.'s HomePod mini speaker launched last November with new features such as a home intercom system.
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Judge certifies a class action suit against Apple that claims it knew for years that MacBooks' butterfly keyboards were flawed and small fixes were insufficient  —  The suit says Apple knew its thinner keyboard was rotten  —  A judge has certified a class action suit against Apple for its fragile butterfly keyboard design.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says it will begin a limited reopening of its Redmond HQ on March 29 and plans a future focus on hybrid workplaces  —  Microsoft is letting some employees back into the office  —  Microsoft is planning to start reopening its Redmond, Seattle headquarters later this month.
Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch:
Spark Capital decides to “sever all ties” with Dispo after claims of sexual assault against a former Vlog Squad member; David Dobrik departs from Dispo  —  Dobrik departs from Dispo board and leaves company  —  Venture capital firm Spark Capital has decided to ‘sever all ties’ with Dispo …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Long time Google VP Caesar Sengupta, who was in charge of Next Billion Users, Google Pay, and oversaw Chrome OS, is leaving the company after 15 years  —  One big focus for Google today is making products for what it dubs the Next Billion Users in countries just coming online.
Nikkei Asia:
Sources: Samsung plans to release new Galaxy Z Flip and Fold phones this year and is working on a double-folding phone to be unveiled as early as this year  —  South Korean tech titan is working on new double-hinged model  —  TAIPEI/SEOUL — Samsung Electronics is betting heavily on foldable smartphones …
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
Biden announces his intent to nominate Lina Khan, a legal scholar and leading voice in the growing tech antitrust movement, to serve as an FTC commissioner  —  Khan brought Big Tech scrutiny mainstream  —  President Joe Biden has announced his intent to nominate Lina Khan …
Andy Day / Fstoppers:
Instead of convincing people merely to buy things that they don't need, NFTs are convincing them to buy imaginary optimism based on a mass enchantment and FOMO  —  Photographers, filmmakers, and digital artists are falling over themselves to mint NFTs in a get-rich-quick scheme …
Lauren Kaori Gurley / VICE:
NLRB docs show it filed a federal complaint against Amazon after a probe found Amazon illegally questioned and threatened a leader of Amazon walkouts in Queens  —  The state of New York is also suing Amazon for alleged health and safety violations at the same Queens warehouse where workers led the first COVID-19-related walkouts.
More: CNET and Insider
Yang Jie / Wall Street Journal:
Japanese chip maker Renesas says a fire at one its plants has halted production for at least a month, impacting automakers, and estimates losses at $160M/month  —  Shares of Toyota, Nissan and Honda fell Monday  —  TOKYO—A fire at a factory of one of the world's leading auto chip makers …
Reuters:
ByteDance says its Nuverse video game unit has acquired Shanghai-based gaming studio Moonton Technology, sources say for around $4B  —  (Reuters) - ByteDance said on Monday its video games unit Nuverse has agreed to acquire Shanghai-based gaming studio Moonton Technology, as it seeks to further expand into the video games business.

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
SubQ Snap 1.1: the first long-context decision model for real enterprise work  —  Tied for #1 on the AA Decision Index, Snap is a multimodal model with a 384k-token context window for fast reasoning and agentic decisions.
Zoho:
Labels that build themselves: Simplified Label Automation in Zoho Writer  —  Anyone who ships every day knows this feeling.  Forty orders, each with a different number of items, and every item needs its own label.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
WebBrain:
WebBrain: an open-source AI agent for your browser  —  Read pages, fill forms and automate tasks in Chrome or Firefox.  Use local models or your preferred AI provider.  Get started free.

Featured Podcasts

Invest Like the Best:
Ramtin Naimi on the State of Venture Investing
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
The Upstarts Podcast:
How Ramp Built A $60B AI Product Factory Off A Corporate Card | Co-CEO Eric Glyman
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Great Chat:
Would you let a robot do it?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Training Data:
A Model For Everyone: How Ronak From Trajectory Is Building Products For Continual Learning
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
Subscribe to Training Data.
Big Technology Podcast:
Can AI Keep Going After The Democrats' Big Win? — With Teddy Schleifer
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.
Machine Gods:
Crypto's Biggest Heist Ever + The Spy Who Loved Nvidia + Hacktober's Unsolved Mysteries
The official podcast of the singularity, from Casey Newton and Kevin Roose. Twice-weekly news, analysis, and interviews with the people who are building the future.
Subscribe to Machine Gods.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:10 PM ET, March 22, 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

Benedict Evans:
Axios:
Ronn Blitzer / Fox News: