Techmeme
September 15, 2022, 11:00 AM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Adobe plans to acquire UI design and prototyping tool Figma for around $20B in cash and stock; Figma CEO Dylan Field will continue in the role; ADBE drops 12%+  —  Adobe Inc. agreed to buy software design startup Figma Inc. in a deal valued at about $20 billion to help it expand tools for creative professionals.
Mike Truppa / The Block:
Ethereum activates its long-awaited Merge upgrade, in development since 2020, and transactions are now being processed under proof of stake  —  - The Merge upgrade is transitioning Ethereum from proof of work to proof of stake.  — The Merge is one of the largest technological events in the industry to date.
Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch:
In a US Senate committee hearing, Meta, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter executives defended their platforms and dodged security, privacy, and moderation questions  —  Executives from four of the biggest social media companies testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee Wednesday …
Casey Newton / Platformer:
TikTok and ByteDance's links to China mean wrongdoing will be punished more harshly in the US than Meta and Twitter, no matter how “transparent” the company is  —  In new testimony to Congress, the company faces stern questions on China  —  Ever since TikTok became …
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
TikTok adds TikTok Now, a BeReal-like feature, to its app in the US, with daily prompts to capture a 10-second video or a photo using front and back cameras  —  TikTok launched a new feature today that is basically just a copy of BeReal, the buzzy French social app that's been steadily gaining popularity.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google cancels seven out of 14 projects in its Area 120 incubator, including Qaya, which offered storefronts for creators, and shifts to only AI-first projects  —  Google CEO Sundar Pichai, speaking at the Code Conference last week, suggested the tech company needed to become 20% more efficient …
Victoria Song / The Verge:
Melissa Repko / CNBC:
Walmart launches a virtual try-on tool to let shoppers see how a shirt, dress, or another clothing item would look on their own bodies without visiting a store  —  - Walmart is launching a virtual try-on tool to help shoppers see how a shirt, dress or another clothing item would look on their own body.
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
EU lawmakers propose the Cyber Resilience Act, a new set of rules for IoT and smart device makers to bolster cybersecurity or face fines  —  European Union lawmakers have proposed a new set of product rules to apply to smart devices that's intended to compel makers of Internet-connected hardware …
Patrick Kennedy / ServeTheHome:
Arm unveils Neoverse V2, its next-gen core for pushing cloud, hyperscale, and HPC performance workloads, which is set to power Nvidia's upcoming Grace CPU  —  Today Arm announced its next-generation cores for higher performance per core applications.  Dubbed the Arm Neoverse V2 or “Demeter” …
Source: ArmMore: AnandTech, HPCwire, and TechPowerUp
Zeyi Yang / MIT Technology Review:
Users say a demo of ERNIE-ViLG, Baidu's new text-to-image AI model, labels words in political contexts as “sensitive” and blocks them from generating a result  —  The new text-to-image AI developed by Baidu can generate images that show Chinese objects and celebrities more accurately than existing AIs.
New York Times:
California's AG files an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, focusing on the company allegedly penalizing sellers who list products at lower prices on other sites  —  Rob Bonta, California's attorney general, said the retailer punishes companies that offer lower prices on other websites.
Stephanie Murray / The Block:
Coinbase updates its app to let US users see a scorecard that evaluates members of Congress on crypto policy issues, register to vote, and find political events  —  - Coinbase is getting political: The exchange added new app features to help users evaluate lawmakers, register to vote and find political events.
Hannah Lang / Reuters:
The US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to start regulating BNPL companies, such as Klarna and Affirm, and will release guidance in the future  —  The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) plans to start regulating “buy-now, pay-later” (BNPL) companies like Klarna and Affirm Holdings …
More: Finextra
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Meta's Oversight Board says the company should be more careful with automated moderation and criticizes removing a cartoon depicting police violence in Colombia  —  Meta's Oversight Board says the company should be more careful with automated moderation tools, criticizing it for removing a cartoon depicting police violence in Colombia.

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Earlier Picks

Adi Robertson / The Verge: