Techmeme
January 6, 2022, 4:55 PM

Top News

Henry Updegrave / Chainalysis:
A record $14B flowed to criminal crypto addresses in 2021, up from $7.8B in 2020, driven by DeFi scams; total crypto transaction volume hit $15.8T, up 567% YoY  —  This blog is a preview of our 2022 Crypto Crime Report.  Sign up here to reserve your copy and we'll email you the full report when it comes out in February!
Maria Shen / Electric Capital:
Research: with 4,000+ monthly active developers, Ethereum has the largest open-source crypto ecosystem, followed by Polkadot, Cosmos, Solana, and Bitcoin  —  Executive Summary  —  Web3 developers are at an all-time high and growing faster than ever.  — 18,000+ monthly active developers commit code …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify introduces Call-to-Action Cards, a visual ad format for podcasts that puts clickable cards inside show and episode pages  —  Spotify is today introducing is introducing a new ad format aimed at podcasters which it's calling “Call-to-Action Cards” — or CTA cards, for short.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
ESA says E3 2022 will not be held in person and will be an online-only event in the summer due to COVID-19 concerns  —  The Entertainment Software Association is shifting the Electronic Entertainment Expo to an online-only event out of concerns around the pandemic.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
LinkedIn plans to launch interactive, audio-only live events this month in beta for some creators and a video version in the spring  —  LinkedIn, now with more than 800 million people listing their professional profiles to build out their careers, is taking its next steps to get them to spend more time on the platform.
Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:
Twitter says it is testing an option to let iOS users retweet using a video reaction  —  Twitter on Thursday launched a new feature in its iOS app for a small group of users.  With this option, it's now possible to retweet someone's post and add your own video reaction using your camera.
The Wire:
How Modi's BJP uses an app called Tek Fog, with ShareChat integration, to spread propaganda, target critics on WhatsApp, and hijack Facebook and Twitter trends  —  The Wire investigates claims behind the use of ‘Tek Fog’, a highly sophisticated app used by online operatives to hijack major social media …
Steven Zeitchik / Washington Post:
On the January 6 riot anniversary, data scientists say AI models can help forecast similar events, as some question their accuracy and potential for misuse  —  A year after the attack on the Capitol, data scientists say artificial intelligence can help forecast insurrection — with some caveats
Cherlynn Low / Engadget:
Google partners with Acer, HP, and Intel to bring Fast Pair to select Windows PCs later in 2022 and announces improvements to Phone Hub on Chromebooks  —  Google wants to do for Android and Chrome users what Apple does for people in its ecosystem.  It's announcing a set of news today …
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Elisa Braun / Politico:
France's data regulator, the CNIL, fines Google €150M and Meta €60M for failing to let French users easily reject cookie trackers  —  PARIS — French data regulator the CNIL is set to fine Google €150 million and Facebook €60 million for violating EU privacy rules.
José Adorno / 9to5Mac:
Instagram tests the ability to switch between a Home feed, a Favorites feed, and a Following chronological feed, rolling out to all users in H1 2022  —  Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, announced today that the app is rolling out for some users the ability to switch between different feeds.
Miles Kruppa / Financial Times:
PitchBook: US startups raised a record $329.8B in 2021, up from a record $166.6B in 2020; over half, or $190.8B, came from $100M+ rounds  —  Sum nearly doubles from 2020 in a financing rush one fund manager deems ‘not rational’  —  Investors poured a record $330bn into private start-ups …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Apptopia and Sensor Tower: Meta's Oculus app saw 2M downloads across the App Store and Google Play since Christmas Day, with a majority of installs in the US  —  Consumers worldwide have downloaded Meta's Oculus app, the mobile companion for Oculus VR devices including the Quest 2 …
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Rupifi, which works with Flipkart, Jumbotail, and other e-commerce companies in India to offer a buy now, pay later service for mom-and-pop shops, raises $25M  —  Rupifi has raised $25 million in a new financing round as the Indian startup, which currently provides buy now …
More: PYMNTS.com

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More News

Adi Robertson / The Verge:

Earlier Picks

Brave Browser:
Jordan Finneseth / Cointelegraph:
Li Yuan / New York Times:
Monica Chin / The Verge:
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Anna Wiener / New Yorker:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: