|
February 1, 2022, 7:55 AM
|
Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Brendan Sinclair / GamesIndustry.biz: |
Sony Interactive Entertainment announces it is buying Bungie, which makes Destiny and other games, for $3.6B; Bungie will become an independent subsidiary — Destiny studio will remain multiplatform, able “to self-publish and reach players wherever they choose to play”
More:
Bungie.net, Bungie.net, GamesIndustry.biz, The Verge, SIE Blog - English, Stratechery, International Business Times, Silicon Republic, Telecoms.com, Business Wire, TechRadar, thegamer.com, Wccftech, Video Games Chronicle, Gizchina, Laptop Mag, Music Ally, Bloomberg, Polygon, Australian Financial Review, Series G, TechCircle, GeekWire, Tech in Asia, Axios, The Overspill, BBC, Variety, and Associated Press
Tweets: @jasonschreier, @bungie, @jasonschreier, @boogie2988, @stroughtonsmith, @pparsons, @vahn16, @stroughtonsmith, @andrearene, @loudmouthjulia, @ms5000watts, @maxwinebach, @rurikhan, @stroughtonsmith, @winkwinkerson, @brkeogh, @kenli729, @film_girl, @snazzyq, @kifleswing, @stroughtonsmith, @tomwarren, @s3rioussam, @paultassi, @arlostuff, @vicious696, @reckless, @alexhern, @levie, @maxwinebach, @reckless, @martinsfp, @harrisfoster, @knowsworthy, @paultassi, @paultassi, and @destinythegame
| The New York Times Company: |
The New York Times acquires Wordle, the simple word game that has amassed “millions of daily players”, for “an undisclosed price in the low-seven figures” — Wordle, Josh Wardle's stimulating and wildly popular daily word game, is joining The New York Times's portfolio of original …
More:
New York Times, The Verge, Mercury News, Silicon Republic, Wall Street Journal, Nieman Lab, Club386, Axios, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Neowin, CNBC, MacRumors, Coinspeaker, The Guardian, Techdirt, The Register, Global Nerdy, One Degree, thegamer.com, Wccftech, Benzinga, SiliconANGLE, Semiotech, BBC, and BuzzFeed News
Tweets: @powerlanguish, @nytimes, @marcatracy, @daveyalba, @lpolgreen, @silvermanjacob, @silvermanjacob, @mat__savage, @anildash, @karaswisher, @asteadwesley, @vogon, @dongwon, @smalljones, @wfkars, @ofirahy, @cmclymer, @krisholt, @paultassi, @jasonschreier, @levie, @parkermolloy, @rustybrick, @ellievhall, @norabf, @andreawoo, @rajasen, @laurenpelley, @neilanalien, @lpolgreen, @__apf__, @maggiekb1, @jyarow, @priyavprabhakar, @youseegundam, @robertjimison, @mcmansionhell, @bdsams, @raynefq, @rapplerdotcom, @scottnover, @jamespmcleod, @nrarmour, @phillyd, @sallykohn, @mizliz_, @grahamstarr, @stshank, @dylanmatt, @katierogers, @danlamothe, @christinemhall, @caissie, @mattsheffield, @mohanadelshieky, @damiencave, @celeste_pewter, @jason_kint, @roywoodjr, @ofirahy, @elanazak, @acedtect, @mattmcgee, and @pappiness
| David McLaughlin / Bloomberg: |
Source: the FTC, not the DOJ, is reviewing Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition and will focus on potential harm to rivals — The U.S. antitrust review of Microsoft Corp.'s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc. will be handled by the Federal Trade Commission … | John Hendel / Politico: |
Nonprofit suicide chat service Crisis Text Line ends its data sharing relationship with for-profit spinoff Loris.ai and asks the company to delete existing data — The nonprofit mental-health hotline Crisis Text Line ended its data-sharing relationship with a for-profit spinoff Monday …
More:
danah boyd and Crisis Text Line
| Connie Loizos / TechCrunch: |
Ryan Breslow, co-founder of one-click checkout startup Bolt, steps down as CEO and becomes executive chairman, after his tweets bashing YC and Stripe went viral — Ryan Breslow, who founded the “one-click” checkout tech company Bolt as a Stanford student and dropped out of college to build it …
More:
The Economic Times and PYMNTS.com
Tweets: @theryanking, @theryanking, @shaunmmaguire, @ellenhuet, @joshqharris, @theryanking, @theryanking, @mi_abaga, @cookie, @oduneweniyi, @iaboyeji, and @rkhazzam
| Manish Singh / TechCrunch: |
India proposes a 30% tax on income from the transfer of crypto, NFTs, and other digital assets and will launch a digital rupee in the next financial year — India on Tuesday proposed launching digital rupee in within a year and a 30% tax on income from transfer of virtual digital assets …
More:
PYMNTS.com, Reuters, Bloomberg, Livemint, The Economic Times, Hindustan Times, pib.gov.in, Binance, The Block, CoinJournal, Inc42 Media, Tech in Asia, ZyCrypto, CoinDesk, Entrackr, The Economic Times, CryptoPotato, and CoinGape
Tweets: @cz_binance, @balajis, @positivecrypto, @balajis, @deepakshenoy, @chandrarsrikant, and @ashwinm_
| Maximiliano Firtman / firt.dev: |
iOS 15.4 beta code shows Apple is working on support for Safari push notifications for web-based apps — iOS 15.4 beta has finally added icon support in the manifest, Web Push, AR, and VR experiments. — Twitter @firt About Newsletter — About 8 min reading time
More:
MacRumors, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, TechRadar, iPhone in Canada Blog, iMore, The Apple Post, Road to VR, iThinkDifferent, and BGR India
Tweets: @firt, @stevemoser, and @_davideast
| Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk: |
Silvergate Bank confirms it is purchasing the Diem Association's tech and other assets by issuing $132M in stock and paying $50M in cash; Diem is shutting down — The Diem Association is shutting down. — Silvergate Bank confirmed Monday that it's purchasing the technology and other assets from Diem …
More:
Diem, Silvergate, The Verge, CNBC, Silicon Republic, Cointelegraph, MediaNama, Cryptonews, Mashable, Financial Times, and Agence France-Presse
Tweets: @diemassociation, @davidmarcus, @davidmarcus, @ccatalini, @ccatalini, @readdanwrite, @alexeheath, @ccatalini, @taliagold, @diemassociation, and @juthica
| Taylor Lyles / IGN: |
Discord starts letting US PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 users link their PSN accounts and display game activity; support for more countries is coming soon — Support will roll out first to US users, though. — PlayStation owners will able to connect their accounts to Discord starting today …
More:
Eurogamer.net, Discord Blog, The Verge, TechRadar, TechSpot, and Game Rant
Tweets: @discord, @playstation, @gozutrucker69, and @dimitrimonroez
| Kim Lyons / The Verge: |
Meta rolls out updated 3D avatars across Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram Stories in the US, Canada, and Mexico — It's a step toward the company's concept of the metaverse — Facebook parent company Meta is introducing 3D avatars to Instagram Stories and direct messages and updating …
More:
Meta, XDA Developers, iMore, Waivly, and BGR India
Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg. Tweets: @instagram, @boztank, @kellymakena, @meta, @gregpak, @wongmjane, @dianelyssa, @wongmjane, @hondanhon, @taartfart, @sb2749, @kylebrussell, @ericstephen, and @andresegers
| Reuters: |
Taiwan-based GlobalWafers' proposed €4.35B takeover of German chip supplier Siltronic falls apart as Germany's government misses the approval deadline — Germany's economy ministry said it could not complete its review of a planned sale of chip supplier Siltronic to Taiwanese rival GlobalWafers …
More:
Financial Times, CNBC, WRAL TechWire, Taipei Times, Nikkei Asia, and Bloomberg
| Wall Street Journal: |
Antenna: Apple TV+, Disney+, HBO Max, and others struggle to retain US subscribers who joined to watch a hit show; some subscribers only stay for a few months — Roughly half of U.S. viewers who joined right after ‘Hamilton’ and ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ were gone in six months, data show
More:
The Wrap, MacRumors, iThinkDifferent, and 9to5Mac
Tweets: @benmullin, @benmullin, @christianism, @iansherr, @ballmatthew, and @kimmasters
| Ann-Marie Alcántara / Wall Street Journal: |
Pinterest adds an augmented reality tool for furniture to its mobile app, letting users see how 20K products from retail partners would look in their homes — The new tool expands on its existing technology used for beauty products — Pinterest Inc. is introducing a new augmented reality tool … | Abner Li / 9to5Google: |
Google begins rolling out iMessage reactions for Messages in beta, appearing next to message bubbles; some emoji reactions are not quite identical — As we spotted in November and following the latest push for RCS support on iPhone earlier this month, Google Messages is starting to roll …
More:
iMore, The Verge, Droid Life, and iPhone Hacks
| Nivedita Balu / Reuters: |
Chargebee, which helps businesses manage billing, subscriptions, revenue, and compliance, raises $250M at a $3.5B valuation led by Tiger Global and Sequoia — Enterprise software startup Chargebee has raised $250 million at a valuation of $3.5 billion, in a funding round lead by Tiger Global …
More:
VentureBeat, Finextra, Livemint, and Tech in Asia
| Financial Times: |
Analysis: Google, Amazon, Meta, and Apple donated at least $1.2M to four US foreign policy think tanks in 2019-2020, up from $625,000 in 2017-18 — Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple battle Washington's move towards stricter regulation using anti-China lobbying| Ed Dixon / SportsPro: |
Report: crypto-based sports fan platform Iqoniq, which partnered with Spain's LaLiga and others, has entered liquidation; Iqoniq raised €100M in July 2020 — Fan engagement platform Iqoniq has gone into liquidation, leaving multiple sporting organisations potentially out of pocket.
Source:
The Times. More:
Insider Sport, Wigan Today, RaceFans, JOE.co.uk, and EconoTimes
Tweets: @martynziegler, @_condo, @martynziegler, @mhairim90, @mattwoosie, @timessport, @carnage4life, and @fypfanzine
| IDC: |
Global tablet shipments grew 3.2% YoY to 168.8M in 2021; Apple had 34.2% market share, Samsung had 18.3%, Lenovo had 10.5%, Amazon had 9.5%, and Huawei had 5.7% — Worldwide tablet shipments reached 46 million units during the fourth quarter of 2021 (4Q21), posting a decline for the second time since the pandemic began in 2020.
More:
AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, and ZDNet
| Saritha Rai / Bloomberg: |
Sources: Byju's is talking to at least three SPACs, aims to unveil IPO plans with one of them in three to four weeks, and is exploring a $750M-$1B pre-IPO round — India's most valuable startup, the online education provider Byju's, is in negotiations with at least three special-purpose acquisition companies …
Tweets: @ranjanxroy and @ajitosu
| Faseeh Mangi / Bloomberg: |
Riyadh-based Retailo, which aims to digitize mom-and-pop stores in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the UAE, raises a $36M Series A led by Graphene Ventures — The e-commerce platform Retailo has raised $36 million to help fund its effort to digitize mom-and-pop stores in Pakistan, U.A.E. and its home country of Saudi Arabia.
More:
FinSMEs
| Sam Byford / The Verge: |
Joe Rogan posts a video to Instagram defending booking contentious guests, apologizes to Spotify for the backlash, and says he may book more “experts” — 'I'm very sorry that this is happening to them.' — Joe Rogan has issued a response to the ongoing controversy …
Source:
Instagram. More:
New York Times, New York Magazine, and ВІС …
Facebook: Joe Rogan. Tweets: @broderick, @noupside, @noupside, @justinhendrix, @karaswisher, @lisamarieboothe, @waltmossberg, @hyugafe, @lucas_shaw, @counternotions, @rob_sheridan, @johnlmacfarlane, @noupside, @gwynnion, @b52malmet, @johnlmacfarlane, @thatshockratees, @karaswisher, @timsweeneyepic, @bostonjoan, @chrisfralic, @ericboehlert, @waltmossberg, @bostonjoan, @gregmals, @xor, @noupside, @counternotions, @lucas_shaw, and @lucas_shaw
| Daniel Ek / Spotify: |
More:
Bloomberg, Forbes, Android Central, CNET, Protocol, New York Times, and Matt on Audio
Tweets: @eldsjal, @joerogan, and @mikeisaac
Sponsor Posts
Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro — Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
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.
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:
From content collaboration to content intelligence: Zoho WorkDrive's 2025 journey — As 2025 draws to a close, we're reflecting on a year marked by meaningful progress, purposeful innovation, and continuous learning at Zoho WorkDrive.
From content collaboration to content intelligence: Zoho WorkDrive's 2025 journey — As 2025 draws to a close, we're reflecting on a year marked by meaningful progress, purposeful innovation, and continuous learning at Zoho WorkDrive.
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.
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
Hard Fork:
Why Roomba Died + Tech Predictions for 2026 + A Hard Forkin' Xmas Song
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Big Technology Podcast:
Sam Altman: How OpenAI Wins, AI Buildout Logic, IPO in 2026?
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.
Access:
Betting on reality with Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Lenny's Podcast:
The new AI growth playbook for 2026: How Lovable hit $200M ARR in one year | Elena Verna (Head of Growth)
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
"Neither Side Is Used to Losing." Lucas Shaw on What's Next for Netflix and Paramount in the Battle for Warner Bros.
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.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
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 7:55 AM ET, February 1, 2022.
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.
From Mediagazer
Paul Glynn / BBC:Ken Vogel / @kenvogel:
Natalie Korach / @nataliekorach:
Upcoming Tech Events
Earlier Picks
| Samuel Stolton / Politico: |
Tweets: @adamkovac, @viacristiano, @apolyakova, @schneideringrid, @auerdirk, @auerdirk, @kkomaitis, and @andreas_schwab