Techmeme
April 7, 2022, 1:50 PM

Top News

Paul Vigna / Wall Street Journal:
One-click checkout service Bolt acquires crypto payments startup Wyre, sources say for around $1.5B, which would make it the largest non-SPAC crypto merger yet  —  Deal extends crypto's hot M&A market following record deal activity in 2021  —  Bolt Financial Inc., a payments-focused financial …
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Coinbase adds support for the popular UPI payment method in India, making the cryptocurrency exchange functional in the world's second-largest internet market  —  Coinbase is adding support for the popular UPI payment instrument in India, making its eponymous cryptocurrency exchange functional …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google releases “multisearch” for Lens, letting users ask questions about photos and screenshots, in beta for US users in English on Android and iOS  —  One of the most interesting announcements at Google's Search-focused keynote in September was a big upgrade to Lens that lets you take a photo and ask questions about it.
CoinDesk:
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen gives her first speech on digital assets, saying a CBDC “would require years of development, not months”, and more  —  The U.S. official addressed CBDCs, stablecoins and regulations.  —  A digital dollar could become a “trusted money comparable …
Alyse Stanley / Washington Post:
Epic Games and Lego partner to “shape the future of the metaverse” by building a digital experience where children can play safely online, but offer few details  —  Epic Games has already outlined ambitious plans for the metaverse and Thursday the “Fortnite” maker announced it intends to build part of it with Legos.
Andrew Hayward / Decrypt:
OpenSea adds Solana NFT trading support in beta with limited coverage of just 165 collections; a marketplace search shows 865K NFTs minted on Solana  —  At long last, Solana support is finally live on OpenSea—in beta mode.  —  In brief  — Solana NFTs have been added to OpenSea, the largest overall NFT marketplace.
Nitasha Tiku / Washington Post:
Gwyneth Paltrow, Mila Kunis, and other celebrities are pushing women to invest in NFTs, which critics say is a self-serving feminism centered on white women  —  Gwyneth Paltrow and Mila Kunis joined a Zoom in January to encourage 5,000 women in the audience to break into the male-dominated world of crypto.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Activision Blizzard will make all of its 1,100 temporary and contingent QA workers full-time employees starting July 1 and will raise minimum hourly rate to $20  —  Nearly 1,100 temp game testers are getting full-time jobs with benefits  —  Activision Blizzard has just announced …
Hannah Murphy / Financial Times:
Naomi Nix / Washington Post:
Meta disrupts several covert influence operations against Ukraine by Belarus- and Russia-linked actors, including attempts to hack Ukrainian military personnel  —  Facebook said Thursday it disrupted several covert influence operations targeting Ukrainians, as the company has intensified …
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
Berkshire Hathaway discloses that it has purchased ~121M shares of HP Inc, worth ~$4.2B, for an 11.4% stake; HP's stock rises 11%+  —  Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) disclosed on Wednesday that it has purchased nearly 121 million shares of HP Inc (HPQ.N), the latest in a series of large investments …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
OpenPhone, which provides SMBs with a business phone line through its mobile app, raises a $40M Series B led by Tiger Global, bringing its total funding to $56M  —  Pam answering the phone at Dunder Mifflin become one of the most iconic refrains of life at The Office, and it's really no wonder that it did …
More: FinSMEs
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google plans to hide and block Play Store apps that don't target an Android API within two years of the latest major Android release, starting on November 1  —  Google is preparing to clear its Play Store of outdated apps.  The company warned Android app developers that starting on November 1 …
Song Jung-a / Financial Times:
Samsung expects Q1 operating profit to rise 50% YoY to $11.6B, the highest since 2018, and revenue to rise 18% YoY to $63B on strong smartphone and chip sales  —  South Korean group's strong sales undercut by performance concerns against rivals Apple and TSMC
Audrey An / The Keyword:
Google will roll out Privacy Guide, a guided tour of privacy and security settings in Chrome, to all desktop users on version 100 or above in the coming weeks  —  Product Manager, Chrome at Google Safety Engineering Center Munich  —  Your browser plays a big role in your online experience — including protecting your privacy.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: online fast fashion retailer Shein raised between $1B and $2B in a round closed last week, valuing it at $100B; Shein was valued at ~$15B in 2020  —  China-based fast-fashion seller now worth more than H&M and Zara combined  —  Fast-fashion retailer Shein was valued at $100 billion …
Matt Burgess / Wired:
New data-sharing proposals in Europe push for the expansion of facial recognition and to allow police forces across the EU to link their photo databases  —  Lawmakers advance proposals to let police forces across the EU link their photo databases—which include millions of pictures of people's faces.

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:
All new Zoho Workerly 2024  —  Staffing businesses around the world face a unique set of challenges when it comes to managing their temporary workforce.  With a constantly shifting job market and changing staffing needs …
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:
Thu. 03/28 - Claude 3 Opus Surpasses GPT-4 For The First Time
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 1:50 PM ET, April 7, 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.

More News

New York Times:
Foreign Affairs:

Earlier Picks

Wall Street Journal:
Washington Post:
Casey Newton / Platformer: