Techmeme
December 2, 2021, 11:55 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
The FTC sues to block Nvidia's acquisition of Arm, arguing the chip deal is anticompetitive; the $40B deal has risen to ~$75B due to Nvidia's share price  —  The agency alleges the semiconductor deal is anticompetitive  —  WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday sued …
The Verge:
Report: Google's Pixel hardware group is working on the company's first smartwatch, internally codenamed “Rohan”, which it plans to launch next year  —  A Pixel Watch is finally in the works  —  Google is finally making its own in-house smartwatch that's set to launch in 2022 …
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
In a filing in the Epic lawsuit, Apple says it “could charge a commission” if developers use a competing payments platform, following a similar Google policy  —  Although the appeal of the Apple-Epic lawsuit is ongoing, Apple is currently subject to the judge's decision …
Tom Simonite / Wired:
AI researcher Timnit Gebru, who left Google last year, launches Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research, an institute focused on the responsible use of AI  —  The researcher, who says Google fired her a year ago, wants to ask questions about responsible use of artificial intelligence.
Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:
Interviews with 16 current and former Apple retail, support, and sales employees detail harsh working conditions, poor pay, and little interest from HR  —  The company's hourly workers say conditions are untenable.  Does Apple care?  —  Illustrations by Jesse Zhang
The Markup:
Tim Copeland / The Block:
DeFi protocol BadgerDAO is investigating after security researchers say $120.3M was stolen from users via its compromised front end  —  Quick Take  — DeFi protocol BadgerDAO was exploited earlier today for $120 million.  — It appears that its front end was compromised and users were tricked into making unwanted transactions.
Carly Page / TechCrunch:
Facebook makes 2FA mandatory for high-risk accounts, an expansion of Facebook Protect, which covers 1.5M accounts and will be in 50 countries by the end of 2021  —  Facebook, a recently added subsidiary of Meta, said it will make two-factor authentication (2FA) mandatory for high-risk accounts likely …
Kate Rooney / CNBC:
Square is changing its name to Block, effective December 10, and renaming Square Crypto to Spiral, as its business shifts toward technologies like blockchain  —  - Payments giant Square will change its corporate name to Block, effective Dec. 10.  — The move comes as Square expands beyond …
Reuters:
Didi Global says it will begin the process of delisting from the NYSE and listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange  —  Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Global (DIDI.N) said on Friday it will start work on delisting from the New York stock exchange and begin pursuing a listing in Hong Kong after obtaining the approval of its board.
Hristina Yordanova / DappRadar:
The four leading virtual worlds recorded over $100M in NFT land sales in the past week, with The Sandbox alone seeing trading volumes of over $86M  —  The Sandbox alone attracted more than $86 million in land sales  —  Metaverse land is the new big hit in the crypto community …
New York Times:
A look at the Xbox Series X and PS5 markets, as holiday shoppers navigate a world of “purchase bot” resellers, retail memberships, and social media tips  —  New gaming consoles remain in short supply this holiday season, spawning cottage industries of tipsters and scalpers making money off their scarcity.
Tina Bellon / Reuters:
Uber says it is launching an optional audio recording pilot program to enhance safety in three US cities this month, following a Latin America rollout in 2019  —  Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) on Thursday said it will launch an optional audio recording pilot program in three U.S. cities to enhance safety …
More: PCMag
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Apple announces the best apps and games of 2021, across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch, and the most downloaded apps of the year  —  Apple today released its anticipated annual list of the best apps and games of the year across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV and Apple Watch.
Lukas I. Alpert / MarketWatch:
US prosecutors charge two men with running a music royalty scam, collecting $20M+ from YouTube, by falsely claiming rights to 50,000 Spanish language songs  —  Prosecutors say the men claimed rights to 50,000 Spanish-language songs they didn't own, using the royalty money to buy mansions, fancy cars and jewelry.
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
AWS announces Amplify Studio, a Figma-connected low-code service to help developers build cloud apps, as an extension of its AWS Amplify service  —  At its re:Invent conference, AWS today announced Amplify Studio, a new Figma-connected no-code/low-code service that is meant to help developers quickly build cloud-connected apps.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple, which cut its projected iPhone 13 production targets for 2021 by up to 10M units, tells suppliers that it may not make up the shortfall in 2022  —  Apple Inc., suffering from a global supply crunch, is now confronting a different problem: slowing demand.

Sponsor Posts

Command Line:
Bringing local models and sandboxed tools to Windows and GitHub Copilot  —  GitHub Copilot will soon determine when a task is best handled by on-device AI and when it needs cloud-scale models.
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Zoho:
Zoho Books now supports CT600 & Final Accounts Filing as an add-on in the FREE plan  —  Managing end-of-year filing for limited companies in the UK is often expensive and multi-layered.
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.

Featured Podcasts

Sources:
Qualcomm's CEO on the coming AI phone supercycle
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
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The Upstarts Podcast:
Bringing Back Mammoths And Building Noah's Ark 2.0 | Colossal's Ben Lamm
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.
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Great Chat:
The launch industrial complex
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
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Big Technology Podcast:
Can AI Keep Growing Exponentially? Let's Ask SemiAnalysis — With Dylan Patel and Jordan Nanos
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
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Channels with Peter Kafka:
Larry Ellison's Media Ambitions & Kevin Roose on AI's Biggest Gamble
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.
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Google's AI Infrastructure Chief, Amin Vahdat, on the Physics & Economics of Frontier AI
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
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Olivia Solon / NBC News:
Reuters:
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer: