Techmeme
December 3, 2021, 8:20 AM

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 …
Ian King / Bloomberg:
Analysis: SoftBank could lose ~$74B if the Nvidia-Arm deal is blocked; an IPO for Arm would likely value it well below Nvidia's offer  —  - U.S. antitrust enforcers seek to block sale of Arm to Nvidia  — SoftBank faces potentially less lucrative Plan B: an Arm IPO
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 …
Mathew Ingram / Columbia Journalism Review:
Journalists and activists worry Twitter's new privacy policy will be weaponized and make their jobs harder, due to vague terms like “the public interest”  —  On Tuesday, Twitter said it is expanding its privacy policy to include what the company calls “private media.”
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.
Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:
Marketers are reacting to privacy laws and Big Tech policy changes with quizzes and other events to collect their own customer info and build detailed profiles  —  Marketers are staging sweepstakes, quizzes and events to gather people's personal information and build detailed profiles
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 …
Simon Jessop / Reuters:
Clarity AI, which uses AI to assess the environmental impact of companies, raised $50M in August, from Vision Fund 2, Jony Ive, and others, at a $450M valuation  —  Softbank Group Corp's (9984.T) Vision Fund 2 has led the latest funding round for sustainability data technology platform Clarity AI …
Bloomberg:
A draft EU proposal would force food delivery and ride-hailing apps to reclassify as many as 4.1M workers as employees, costing the sector up to $5.1B per year  —  - Up to 4.1 million couriers, drivers could be made employees  — Customers might see increase in costs for delivery and drivers
More: Bloomberg
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 …
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
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 and Engadget
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 …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify's new AI commerce stack  —  Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Zoho:
Enhancements to Zoho Writer's automation flow designer: New PDF operations, password protection, and more  —  Once we rolled out the automation flow designer in Zoho Writer's merge templates …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

BG2 Pod:
AI Enterprise - Databricks & Glean
Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner.
Subscribe to BG2 Pod.
Great Chat:
The stories we told ourselves in 2025
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.
Grit:
How Brands Stay Visible When AI Decides | Profound CEO James Cadwallader
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
The coming AI security crisis (and what to do about it) | Sander Schulhoff
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's Potential, Google's Speedy Model, Copilot Hits Turbulence
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.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:20 AM ET, December 3, 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

Tim Copeland / The Block:

Earlier Picks

Mia Sato / The Verge:
Olivia Solon / NBC News:
Carly Page / TechCrunch:
Tom Simonite / Wired:
Reuters:
Bloomberg: