Techmeme
January 6, 2022, 3:15 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.
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
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.
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:
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Meta says it is still working on a “highly specialized OS” for its AR/VR devices, and it is not “halting or scaling back” operations in building a reality OS  —  It's still interested in a custom OS  —  Meta reportedly pulled the plug on a custom operating system …
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 …
NetBlocks:
Kazakhstan faces internet disruptions since Tuesday evening and a nationwide blackout on Wednesday afternoon, amid protests over energy price increases  —  Network data from NetBlocks confirm a significant disruption to internet service in Kazakhstan from the evening of Tuesday 4 January 2022 …
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 …
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
HTC announces the Vive Wrist Tracker, a watch-like controller that tracks hand-to-elbow positions for its Vive Focus 3 VR headset, launching in Q1 2022 for $129  —  Set to launch later this quarter  —  HTC is announcing a new wrist-based controller for its Vive Focus 3 virtual reality headset.

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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: