Techmeme
November 15, 2021, 12:55 PM

Top News

Sam White / British GQ:
Q&A with Xbox's Phil Spencer and other executives on plans for the platform, including Game Pass and xCloud, exclusive games, the history of Xbox, and more  —  Phil Spencer saved Xbox.  Now he wants to reinvent gaming.  Ahead of Xbox's 20th anniversary, we sat down with him and Microsoft's gaming …
Miles Kruppa / Financial Times:
Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam and ex-Sequoia partner Matt Huang announce Paradigm One, a $2.5B fund focused on crypto and Web3  —  Fred Ehrsam is behind $2.5bn fund Paradigm One, to which investors jockeyed to commit money  —  Cryptocurrencies are booming, and a three-year-old investment firm …
John Koetsier / Forbes:
Some subscription app developers suspect Apple is buying Google ads that send users to their apps in the App Store, to protect its cut by decreasing web signups  —  Apple is secretly buying Google ads for high-value apps to collect potentially millions of dollars in subscription revenue, multiple app publishers have told me.
Larry Dignan / ZDNet:
IBM debuts 127-qubit Eagle quantum processor coming to select members of the IBM Quantum Network in December, and previews next-gen IBM Quantum System Two  —  According to IBM, Eagle leverages new techniques that place control components on multiple physical levels while keeping qubits on a single layer.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft confirms it will block EdgeDeflector and other tools that offer workarounds to Microsoft forcing Edge in Start menu search results  —  Microsoft shouldn't need to force anyone to use Edge  —  Microsoft has already made it more difficult to switch default browsers in Windows 11 …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Huawei is planning to license its smartphone designs to third parties to bypass US sanctions and gain access to critical components  —  - It could license designs to third parties to access components  — Trump-era sanctions have cut off Huawei from U.S. technology
Wall Street Journal:
As FAA forces AT&T and Verizon to delay 5G rollouts, a look at the dispute between FCC and FAA over 5G and cockpit safety, which started during the Trump admin  —  Dispute among federal agencies over next-generation wireless has remained unresolved for two presidential administrations
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Samsung releases Android 12-based One UI 4 for the Galaxy S21, S21 Plus, and S21 Ultra, with new theming options, keyboard tweaks, and privacy settings  —  With older phones and tablets following ‘soon’  —  Samsung is making its One UI 4 software update available for the Galaxy S21 …
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Imprint, which helps companies offer and manage branded payments and rewards products, raises a $38M Series A led by Kleiner Perkins and Stripe  —  Imprint, a one-year-old startup that offers branded payments and rewards products, today announced a $38 million Series A funding round co-led by Kleiner Perkins and Stripe.
Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
Mixpanel raises a $200M Series C at a $1.05B valuation from Bain Capital Tech Opportunities, seven years after its Series B, as it focuses on product analytics  —  Mixpanel was a hot startup in 2014 when it nabbed a $65 million Series B on an $865 million valuation, a sizable B round and valuation for those days.
Sarah E. Needleman / Wall Street Journal:
Roblox will invest $10M in nonprofits, including Boston's Museum of Science, to build three games for middle school, high school, and college students globally  —  Company is starting with $10 million investment for nonprofits to develop games, its first such funding, amid push to help build out the metaverse
Ionut Ilascu / BleepingComputer:
FBI email servers were hacked to send spam warning of a “sophisticated chain attack”, with a likely goal to discredit security researcher Vinny Troia  —  The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) email servers were hacked to distribute spam email impersonating FBI warnings …
Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:

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Taylor Locke / CNBC: