Techmeme
April 20, 2022, 6:05 PM

Top News

Yogita Khatri / The Block:
Coinbase launches its NFT marketplace in beta with Ethereum-based NFTs and ETH payments; 1.5M+ joined the waitlist after the service's unveiling in October 2021  —  Quick Take Coinbase NFT has gone live in beta form.  It currently supports Ethereum-based NFTs and payments in ETH.
New York Times:
A decade-long timeline of investors warning of a tech startup bubble that never burst; instead of collapsing, more money poured in, and things got bubblier  —  The venture capitalists are sounding the alarm.  At posh conferences, they buzz about falling valuations for start-ups.
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Instagram plans to tweak its ranking algorithm to highlight original content more, recommending accounts that aggregate and reshare other users' content less  —  Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced today that the company is going to tweak its ranking algorithm to highlight original content more on its platform.
New York Times:
70% of employees at an Atlanta Apple Store agree to hold a union election, making the Apple Store the first to file for a union election with the CWA  —  The petition for a union vote continues a trend of organizing at service-sector employers like Starbucks and Amazon.
David Pierce / The Verge:
The Brave browser's Nightly and Beta versions introduce De-AMP, a feature that bypasses Google-hosted AMP pages and takes users straight to the original website  —  Yet another nail in the AMP coffin  —  Brave announced a new feature for its browser on Tuesday: De-AMP …
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Cybersecurity authorities of Five Eyes countries warn of Russia-backed hacking groups targeting critical infrastructure organizations in and outside Ukraine  —  Today, Five Eyes cybersecurity authorities warned critical infrastructure network defenders of an increased risk that Russia-backed hacking groups …
Bloomberg:
Google and Meta restrict the accounts of Hong Kong's sole chief executive candidate, John Lee, citing US sanctions from 2020 for quashing pro-democracy protests  —  Google and Meta Platforms Inc. moved on Wednesday to curtail the social media presence of Hong Kong's sole chief executive candidate …
Canalys:
Global smartphone shipments fell 11% in Q1 2022; Samsung grew its market share from 22% to 24%, Apple gained from 15% to 18%, and Xiaomi dipped from 14% to 13%  —  Worldwide smartphone shipments fell 11% amid unfavorable economic conditions and sluggish seasonal demand in the first quarter of 2022.
Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:
Netflix's Q1 earnings show that Disney, Paramount, and other companies that reorganized around streaming video must deal with consistent subscriber volatility  —  The entire entertainment industry is watching to see what happens as the streaming giant throws everything it has at the wall.
Alex Hern / The Guardian:
Apple to debut an opt-in child safety feature for iPhones in the UK that scans messages for nudity, but drops some controversial aspects, like notifying parents  —  Feature that searches messages will go ahead after delays over privacy and safety concerns  —  A safety feature that uses AI technology …
Ivan Levingston / Bloomberg:
Just Eat Takeaway says it is exploring a partial or full sale of Grubhub, after completing its $7.3B acquisition of the company in June 2021  —  Just Eat Takeaway.com NV said it's considering a partial or full sale of its Grubhub unit less than a year after buying it for $7.3 billion …
Emily McCormick / Yahoo Finance:
Netflix reports losing 200K net subscribers in Q1, vs. an estimated 2.5M net additions, and $7.87B revenue, vs. $7.95B est.; Netflix stock closes down 35%+  —  Netflix (NFLX) reported an unexpected decline in first-quarter net subscribers as the company navigated an exit from Russia and an increasingly saturated North American market.
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Lauren Hirsch / New York Times:
Sources: Elon Musk is evaluating various debt packages to secure financing for his Twitter bid, including preferred debt and a loan against his Tesla shares  —  The world's richest man is trying to shore up debt financing, including potentially taking out a loan against his shares of Tesla, so he can buy Twitter for $43 billion.
Financial Times:
Catarina Moura / The Block:
Spruce, a startup offering a toolkit for decentralized identity authentication and more, raises a $34M Series A led by a16z  —  Spruce, a startup that developed a toolkit for decentralized identity, has raised $34 million in a Series A round led by a16z.  —  Other participants …
Maddie Stone / Project Zero:
Google's Project Zero: 58 in-the-wild 0-days were detected and shared in 2021, more than double the previous record, as the industry improves at finding 0-days  —  A Year in Review of 0-days Used In-the-Wild in 2021  —  This is our third annual year in review of 0-days exploited in-the-wild [2020, 2019].

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