Techmeme
February 8, 2022, 11:55 AM

Top News

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Nvidia and SoftBank call off Nvidia's Arm acquisition, following regulatory scrutiny; Arm CEO Simon Segars resigns, replaced by Arm IP group president Rene Haas  —  Nvidia's deal to acquire Arm is off, the two companies and Arm's owner SoftBank announced (PDF) tonight.
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple unveils Tap to Pay on iPhone, coming to the US in 2022 with Stripe as launch partner, letting merchants take contactless payments via partner-enabled apps  —  Apple has officially announced a new Tap to Pay feature for iPhone.  This feature, coming later this year …
Cara Lombardo / Wall Street Journal:
Peloton CEO and co-founder John Foley will step down, replaced by ex-Spotify and Netflix CFO Barry McCarthy; Peloton will cut 2,800 jobs and cancel Ohio factory  —  Exercise-equipment maker to name former Spotify CFO Barry McCarthy as successor, overhaul board and cut costs
New York Times:
Meta announces that Peter Thiel, one of Facebook's first institutional investors and longest-serving directors, will step down from Meta's board this year  —  The tech billionaire, who has been on the board of the company formerly known as Facebook since 2005, is backing numerous politicians in the midterm elections.
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget:
What to expect from Samsung's Unpacked event: Galaxy S22, S22+, and S22 Ultra, Galaxy Tab S8 series, and more  —  In a few short days, Samsung will host its first Unpacked of 2022.  While the company is sure to stage many more events throughout the year (too many, if you ask us), the first one is always the most exciting.
Shiona McCallum / BBC:
The UK's Online Safety Bill will mandate porn websites verify users' age or face fines; similar proposals were quietly dropped in 2019 after criticism  —  Porn websites in the UK will be legally required to verify the age of their users under new internet safety laws.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Source: Apple acquires London-based AI Music, which uses AI and royalty-free music to create dynamic soundtracks that change based on user interactions or moods  —  Apple Inc. acquired a startup called AI Music that uses artificial intelligence to generate tailor-made music …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
TikTok updates its policies to improve safety for LGBTQ users, including banning misgendering, adds tools for age appropriate content, and more  —  Months after TikTok was hauled into its first-ever major congressional hearing over platform safety, the company is today announcing a series …
Nikhil Subramaniam / Inc42 Media:
BharatPe, an Indian fintech unicorn backed by VCs such as Sequoia and Coatue, is facing allegations of embezzlement, impropriety in merchant dealings, and more  —  Calling CEO Suhail Sameer “a puppet of investors”, Grover has alleged a conspiracy behind sending him away and instituting a probe
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
An in-depth look at Apple's IAP changes in the Netherlands: Apple's proposal seemingly isn't compliant, reducing the commission by 3% is spiteful, and more  —  The continuing saga of Apple's conflict with the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) — the Dutch equivalent …
Devlin Barrett / Washington Post:
US DOJ seizes ~$3.6B worth of bitcoin and arrests two people in New York in connection with the 2016 Bitfinex hack  —  The Justice Department announced Tuesday it had seized more than $3.6 billion in bitcoin allegedly stolen as part of a 2016 hack of Bitfinex, saying authorities have also arrested …
Blockworks:
Blockchain game studio Gala Games plans to allocate $5B within the next year to expand NFTs: $2B for gaming, $1B for music, $1B for movies, $1B for a theme park  —  Gala Games is seeking to ramp up its presence in the NFT sector and will allocate billions of dollars to further its efforts in the coming year
More: CoinGape
Hannah Murphy / Financial Times:
Sources: ahead of its IPO, Reddit has approached WPP and other big ad agencies to secure marketing deals, a delicate tightrope given its outspoken user base  —  Anarchic social network in discussion with WPP as it seeks to make profit without angering 330mn outspoken users
Alan Rappeport / New York Times:
The IRS says it will transition away from using facial recognition for identity verification, after a bipartisan backlash regarding its use of ID.me services  —  The tax collection agency will transition away from using a service from the authentication service ID.me amid bipartisan backlash.

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More News

Wall Street Journal:
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Earlier Picks

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Sam Reynolds / CoinDesk: