Techmeme
December 8, 2021, 5:05 PM

Top News

Patrick McGee / Financial Times:
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Appeals court grants a stay in the Epic v. Apple ruling, letting Apple maintain its IAP system as the sole source of in-app payments on iOS as the case proceeds  —  Apple can maintain its App Store payment monopoly while the case proceeds  —  An appeals court has paused one of the most consequential parts …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Roku says it has agreed to a multi-year extension with Google for distributing YouTube and YouTube TV apps on its devices; Roku's stock is up 18%+  —  Roku and Google have agreed to a multi-year extension for both YouTube and YouTube TV apps to be distributed on Roku.
Sami Fathi / MacRumors:
Kuo: AirPods Pro 2, the first update since 2019, will launch in Q4 2022 with a Beats Fit Pro-like design, an improved chip, fitness tracking, and more  —  The AirPods Pro 2, the first update to the AirPods Pro since its debut in 2019, will launch in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to Apple analyst Ming Chi-Kuo.
Sami Fathi / MacRumors:
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Better.com CEO Vishal Garg apologizes for how he handled firing ~900 employees, ~9% of staff, over Zoom, as a report says Better.com is delaying its SPAC  —  Better.com CEO Vishal Garg apparently realizes he's done wrong.  —  (As if the barrage of negative publicity wasn't enough evidence of that.)
Neal E. Boudette / New York Times:
After Tesla added over 12 video games that can be played while driving, critics argue the company is compromising road users' safety, on top of Autopilot issues  —  The feature raises fresh questions about whether Tesla is compromising safety as it rushes to add new technologies.
C-SPAN.org:
Livestream of Adam Mosseri testifying before a Senate Commerce subcommittee, in a session examining how Instagram affects young users  —  Instagram CEO testifies on impact of platform on young users before a Senate Commerce subcommittee.
Sebastian Herrera / Wall Street Journal:
Amazon has emerged as the de facto wage-and-benefits setter as US companies fight to attract workers in a tight labor market, causing ripples across the economy  —  In local markets throughout America, the e-commerce giant's facilities have an impact on inflation, job markets and labor standards
Steve Dent / Engadget:
Facebook launches a Professional Mode, letting eligible creators monetize their profiles, and a Reels Play bonus program that offers up to $35K/month  —  Facebook has launched a new professional mode for profiles that will let eligible creators earn money without the need to create a separate Page.
Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch:
Twitter is testing a process for reporting harmful tweets that lets US users describe what happened and will use the data to improve its responses  —  Twitter is trying out some changes to the way that users report tweets that they believe might break Twitter's rules.
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Andrew Tangel / Wall Street Journal:
FAA outlines flight restrictions, including restricting bad weather automated landing systems, to avoid interference with the C-band 5G spectrum from January 5  —  Agency's order could disrupt air travel with limits to cockpit systems needed in poor weather; new 5G services expected to go live Jan. 5
Bloomberg:
A look at the rise of “dark stores”, mini-warehouses in urban retail spaces used by fast grocery delivery companies, and how they erode community life  —  Mini-warehouses dubbed “dark stores” are quietly taking over urban retail space.  Left unregulated, the insatiable demand …
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Twitter tests turning its in-app explore page into a TikTok-like feed with For You and Trending tabs, amid similar experiments from Netflix, Spotify, and Reddit  —  Twitter posted today that its testing a feature that would turn its in-app explore page into a TikTok-like video feed, complete with even a “For You” tab.
More: 9to5Mac and Tubefilter
Steve Lohr / New York Times:
Meta, Nike, CVS, GM, IBM, Walmart, and others join the Data & Trust Alliance, which has developed an anti-bias scoring system to analyze AI usage during hiring  —  The organization has created a format for evaluating the technology, which is often used to screen job candidates.
Jamie Tarabay / Bloomberg:
Google sues two Russians it claims help run a botnet that has infected 1M+ devices and uses command-and-control server addresses stored on Bitcoin's blockchain  —  - Complaint says the two created a sophisticated ‘botnet’  — Glupteba sells stolen logins, credit cards, Google says
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Reddit launches Spotify Wrapped-style annual usage statistics for users, including time spent and popular content; users created 366M posts in 2021, up 19% YoY  —  Reddit is launching a new personalized Spotify Wrapped-like recap feature for all users tomorrow.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Gaming hardware company NZXT raises $100M led by Francisco Partners, its first outside funding since launching in 2004  —  NZXT has raised funding for the first time since it debuted as a PC gaming hardware company in 2004.  It's a whopper of a round at $100 million.
More: FinSMEs and NZXT
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Synthesia, which uses AI to create virtual avatars, raises a $50M Series B led by Kleiner Perkins, bringing its total funding to $66.5M  —  Synthesia, a company leveraging AI to generate videos of avatars, today announced that it raised $50 million in a series B round, bringing its total raised to $66.5 million.

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Is AI just hype?  —  Find out how top enterprises use Tribe to get real business results.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Zoho:
Authy killed their desktop apps.  Time to switch to a reliable authenticator.  Time to switch to Zoho OneAuth.  —  Twilio's Authy recently announced end of life (EOL) for their desktop apps on March 19, 2024—five months ahead of schedule.
Comprehensive.io:
Browse salary data from 3,000 startups for free  —  Click for FREE, immediate access to real-time compensation benchmarking data.  Paid version helps HR automate comp reviews and communicate total compensation to employees.
The Kevin Rose Show:
Henry Shukman, Lessons from an Authentic Zen Master
Gain unconventional wisdom and insights through conversations with top expert in AI, investing, wellness, technology, and culture.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Mon. 03/18 - Apple To Partner With Google For AI On iOS?
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:05 PM ET, December 8, 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

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Andrew Hayward / Decrypt:
Richard Lawler / The Verge: