Techmeme River
Techmeme River
Monday, December 5, 2022
5:40 AM
Survey of 8,000 young people in nine European countries finds 34% have pirated content, 27% reported trolling someone, 22% reported inciting violence, and more
The Guardian
5:25 AM
Unlike Bernie Madoff, SBF has not confessed to any criminal conduct, arguing FTX's collapse was purely sloppiness, meaning a US prosecution could take some time
New York Magazine
4:40 AM
A wide-ranging interview with Cory Doctorow on lessons from science fiction, Big Tech's comeuppance, surveillance capitalism, smart contracts, dApps, and more
New Yorker
2:10 AM
Source: Foxconn expects its Zhengzhou plant to resume full production in late December or early January, but plans may change; November revenue drops 11.4% YoY
Reuters
1:40 AM
A look at PostScript, Adobe's programming language for desktop publishing that debuted in 1984, as its source code is publicly released for the first time
CHM
Sunday, December 4, 2022
5:55 PM
An interview with Max Levchin on Affirm, the US CFPB's inquiry into BNPL services, problems with credit cards, the current economic environment, and more
Wired
1:35 PM
In an interview, SBF admits involvement in Alameda's largest uses of funds: spending $3B to buy out Binance's stake in FTX and pouring $4B into venture capital
Financial Times
11:10 AM
Kuo: mass shipments of Apple's AR/VR headset may be delayed until H2 2023, from previously estimated Q2 2023, due to “software-related issues”
MacRumors
7:05 AM
Autonomous trucking software company Embark lost ~98% of its market value, or ~$5B, since going public a year ago via a SPAC merger, amid a sector-wide downturn
Crunchbase News
2:00 AM
A look at FORM software, released in the 1980s for particle physics calculations, which is maintained almost entirely by a retiree and risks obsolescence
Quanta Magazine
12:40 AM
Boston- and London-based Zoe, a nutrition and health tracking app, raised £25M led by Accomplice at a £209M valuation, after closing a £48M Series B in May 2021
TechCrunch
Saturday, December 3, 2022
11:55 PM
Saudi Arabian food delivery service Jahez agrees to acquire local rival The Chefz for ~$173M in a cash and stock deal
Bloomberg
9:20 PM
Elon Musk says Apple has “fully resumed” advertising on Twitter, after claiming on November 28 that Apple had “mostly stopped” Twitter ads
Bloomberg
7:10 PM
An interview with the co-founder of Vietnamese unicorn VNG, which offers games and services like Zalo, a messaging app that had 74M+ MAUs in Vietnam in February
Bloomberg
4:15 PM
A look at virtual currencies like Roblox's Robux, which have become many kids' preferred way to be paid for chores or receive an allowance
Wall Street Journal
1:45 PM
Tim Cook was able to placate Elon Musk within two days, but the chaos at Foxconn's “iPhone City” may become the greatest test of Cook's diplomatic skills yet
Financial Times
11:55 AM
Elon Musk thinks the “Twitter Files” show that Twitter staff nefariously helped Joe Biden, but all they show is a team debating a difficult moderation decision
The Verge
10:55 AM
Twitter reinstated the account of Andrew Anglin, the neo-Nazi who founded the white supremacist website The Daily Stormer, after originally banning him in 2013
HuffPost
10:10 AM
Sources: Winklevoss twins' Gemini crypto exchange is trying to recover $900M owed to it by Genesis Global and Genesis' parent company Digital Currency Group
Financial Times
6:10 AM
A look at the use of WhatsApp in Indian state Gujarat's elections, as political parties deploy thousands of “digital warriors” to spam the “people's feed”
Rest of World
2:05 AM
A profile of Duolingo, which has almost 15M DAUs, up 51% YoY, and 3.7M paying subscribers, as the company expects 2022 revenue to pass $365M, up 45% from 2021
Bloomberg
1:50 AM
A look at Apple's efforts to reduce its dependence on Foxconn; sources say Apple wants suppliers in China, Vietnam, and India to actively plan product assembly
Wall Street Journal
1:20 AM
Twitter's VP of trust and safety Ella Irwin says it is focusing on automation to moderate content, favoring curbs on distribution rather than outright removals
Reuters
12:45 AM
Sources: Twitter's US ad revenue was 80% below internal expectations for the week of the World Cup's November 20 start, as it keeps missing weekly ad targets
New York Times
12:25 AM
Germany says it is not planning a blanket ban on telecom equipment made by Chinese companies, but will continue making such decisions on a case-by-case basis
Reuters
Friday, December 2, 2022
11:50 PM
Inside the Crypties, an awards ceremony calling itself the Oscars for Web 3.0, with awards for game of the year, investor of the year, social impact, and more
New York Times
9:30 PM
Sources: FTX's derivatives exchange LedgerX is for sale, attracting interest from Blockchain.com, Gemini, and others; Nov. 17 filing: LedgerX had ~$303M in cash
Bloomberg
8:51 PM
Matt Taibbi posts internal Twitter documents showing the company's 2020 debate over the handling of content related to NY Post's Hunter Biden laptop story
Variety
8:10 PM
A US judge dismisses an indictment against Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, formally ending a criminal sanctions case that strained US-China relations
Reuters
6:50 PM
Sources: ex-FTX US President Brett Harrison is raising money for a startup to build crypto trading software for big investors, seeking $6M at a $60M valuation
The Information
5:20 PM
China is using phone trackers and other tools to track protestors, the first time mass surveillance has been directed at middle-class people in affluent cities
New York Times
3:45 PM
Mike Novogratz's Galaxy Digital agrees to buy high-security custodian GK8 from bankrupt crypto lender Celsius; Celsius acquired GK8 for $115M in late 2021
The Block
2:25 PM
Amazon's senior VP of global media and entertainment Jeff Blackburn will leave in early 2023; Blackburn left Amazon in February 2021 and rejoined in May 2021
CNBC
1:35 PM
Google says it is testing end-to-end encryption for RCS-based group chats on its Messages app
TechCrunch
1:05 PM
Internal doc: Alameda and FTX's largest venture bet was Bitcoin mining company Genesis Digital, investing a total of $1.15B between August 2021 and April 2022
Bloomberg
12:50 PM
Triller removes music catalogs for UMG, WMG, Sony Music, and Merlin after Sony filed a lawsuit claiming Triller failed to make payments worth “millions”
Billboard
11:45 AM
Reach Power, which is developing products to wirelessly transmit electricity to power IoT and other devices, raised a $30M Series B led by DCVC
Reuters
11:00 AM
AWS launches Application Composer, a low-code tool for visually designing and building serverless applications with a drag-and-drop interface
TechCrunch
10:50 AM
Ye's Twitter account is suspended after he tweeted a picture of a swastika merged with a Star of David; Elon Musk replied, saying he violated Twitter rules
Wall Street Journal
10:25 AM
Sources: BloomTech, previously Lambda School, is cutting half of staff, or an estimated 88 employees, its third round of known layoffs since the pandemic began
TechCrunch
10:05 AM
Filing: DOJ requests the appointment of an independent examiner to probe “substantial and serious allegations of fraud, dishonesty” that led to FTX's bankruptcy
CNBC
9:25 AM
Sources: Alameda sheltered FTX from an up to $1B loss in April 2021 after an FTX trader's MobileCoin trade went bad, wiping out Alameda's 2021 profits
Financial Times
8:45 AM
The trial of three Wirecard executives has begun, seeking to understand how the €24B startup imploded in June 2020, one of the largest frauds in German history
Financial Times
8:20 AM
A look at some implications for generative AI: “answer engines” replacing search engines, AI mastering cognitive tasks by surveilling how experts work, and more
The Atlantic
7:35 AM
Palmer Luckey's Anduril, which builds autonomous systems for the US military, raised nearly $1.5B at a $7B pre-money valuation, up from $4.2B in June 2021
Financial Times
7:15 AM
Sources: Twitter offers advertisers generous incentives, including matching $500K to $1M in spending in 2022, in a bid to jump-start its faltering business
Wall Street Journal
5:40 AM
TikTok and Bumble plan to use StopNCII.org's database of hashes of nude images and videos to block revenge porn; Meta has been using it since last year
Bloomberg
12:47 AM
@TheeAleexJ @kanyewest I tried my best. Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended.
@elonmusk
12:00 AM
DeepMind unveils DeepNash, an AI agent that matches human experts in the board game Stratego by combining game theory and model-free deep reinforcement learning
Nature
Thursday, December 1, 2022
10:05 PM
Stripe debuts a customizable fiat-to-crypto payments widget for Web3 devs to directly embed into their apps; Stripe to handle KYC checks, fraud, and compliance
Fortune
8:45 PM
SpaceX gets FCC approval to deploy up to 7,500 next-generation Starlink internet satellites in low Earth orbit; SpaceX had applied for nearly 30K satellites
CNBC
6:35 PM
US House committee report details how fintech companies, like Blueacorn, allegedly disbursed billions in fraudulent PPP loans, while collecting billions in fees
Washington Post
4:55 PM
Parler's owner says it “has mutually agreed with Ye to terminate the intent of sale of Parler”, after announcing the deal in October
TechCrunch
4:25 PM
Epic makes its RealityScan app, which lets users scan real-life objects to turn them into 3D models, available for free on iOS, after a limited beta in April
The Verge
3:56 PM
Sources: Apple ramps up work on a mixed-reality headset, set to launch as early as 2023, and renames its OS from realityOS to xrOS, short for “extended reality”
Bloomberg
3:00 PM
Discord renames Premium Memberships as Server Subscriptions and makes them available for all US creators; Discord will take a 10% cut of subscriptions
Tubefilter
2:21 PM
Source: a16z's Future is shutting down; Future hasn't published a new article in months, most of its editorial staffers have left, and its newsletter is defunct
Insider
1:45 PM
Apple reached 25% smartphone market share in China in October, retaining its top OEM spot for a second month; one in four devices sold in China was an iPhone
Counterpoint Research
12:45 PM
A look at Anthropic, which raised $580M led by SBF in April to research “AI safety”, and 70 AI-related organizations SBF and FTX executives invested $530M+ in
New York Times
12:03 PM
[Thread] Coinbase says Apple “blocked our last” Wallet iOS app release until the exchange disabled sending NFTs, claiming Apple wanted a 30% cut from gas fees
@coinbasewallet
11:10 AM
Twitter alternative Hive temporarily shuts down after researchers found vulnerabilities that would have let hackers access DMs and edit others' Hive posts
TechCrunch
10:45 AM
Mozilla acquires Pulse, which made an automated status updater for Slack before shuttering, and plans to use its ML tech to improve personalization in Pocket
TechCrunch
10:20 AM
Sources: on Tuesday, China's internet regulator told Tencent, ByteDance, and others to grow censorship teams, focus on protest content, and censor info on VPNs
Wall Street Journal
10:10 AM
Frore Systems, which develops the AirJet system to better cool processors, raised $100M led by Qualcomm Ventures, bringing its total funding to $116M
TechCrunch
9:56 AM
Tether's reports show increasing loans denominated and payable in its own stablecoin, reaching $6.1B as of September 30, a potential risk in a crisis
Wall Street Journal
8:40 AM
Despite genuine concerns, generative AI seems unlikely to replace workers, instead complementing and empowering them by taking over mundane, repetitive tasks
Noahpinion
8:20 AM
A look at online and smartphone gambling in the UK, legalized in 2005, as bettors lost £14B+ in four of the past five years and concerns about addiction rise
Bloomberg
7:30 AM
YouTube releases its 2022 recap for the US, highlighting the most-watched videos, top creators, breakout stars, top songs, and global top ads
9to5Google
7:15 AM
Fleek, which is developing tools for Web3 companies, including for storage, billing, and hosting, raised a $25M Series A led by Polychain Capital
TechCrunch
7:10 AM
Sources: Netflix plans to expand its pre-release content screening program, the Netflix Preview Club, from 2,000+ users to tens of thousands in early 2023
Wall Street Journal
6:55 AM
Disney unveils FRAN, an AI tool that helps TV or film producers make an actor look older or younger without the need for complex and expensive visual effects
Gizmodo
6:20 AM
In a rare interview, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew explains how US data will be kept out of China through “Project Texas”, discusses “booktok”, algorithms, and more
The Verge
6:00 AM
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says the company does not plan to stop selling “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America”, an antisemitic film promoted by Kyrie Irving
Associated Press
5:50 AM
In his NYT interview, SBF gave few straight answers while admitting to gross errors, denying claims of fraud, and claiming he “didn't knowingly commingle funds”
Bloomberg
5:45 AM
The UK government plans to test SpaceX's Starlink in remote locations, including Snowdonia National Park, choosing the service over British rival OneWeb
Financial Times
5:40 AM
Source: despite Zhengzhou lifting its COVID-19 lockdown, Foxconn plans to keep its closed-loop system, restricting staff movements to dorms or the factory floor
Bloomberg
4:20 AM
Medibank's hackers post what appears to be the remaining data of 9.7M customers on the dark web, claiming “case closed”, as Medibank continues its investigation
The Guardian
2:40 AM
Sources: TSMC plans to make 4nm chips in its ~$12B Arizona plant, set to open in 2024, an upgrade from prior 5nm claims, at the urging of Apple, AMD, and others
Bloomberg
2:25 AM
Sources: Amazon begins layoffs in its Alexa, Kindle, and Halo hardware teams, as part of the planned ~10K cuts, as investors anticipate a broader downsizing
Financial Times
12:30 AM
ICA Miami and other museums continue to collect and display NFTs even as the market sinks, arguing digital art has a long history and valuations are unimportant
New York Times
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
11:15 PM
Elon Musk says Neuralink expects human trials to begin in about six months pending FDA approval, and details work on implants to treat paralysis and vision
Bloomberg
10:15 PM
How Twitter users in China have been circumventing the nation's Great Firewall and fighting spam to get footage of protests out to the rest of the world
Wall Street Journal
9:55 PM
Twitter plans to expand recommended tweets to all users, including those who may not have seen them in the past
Engadget
9:25 PM
OpenAI releases a demo of ChatGPT, a chatbot version of GPT-3 that answers follow-up questions, admits its mistakes, challenges incorrect premises, and more
MIT Technology Review
8:45 PM
Mozilla's Firefox and Microsoft's Edge plan to stop trusting new certificates from TrustCor, after a report revealed TrustCor's ties to a US defense contractor
Washington Post
7:50 PM
Twitch unveils Shield Mode, which lets streamers and mods activate customizable safety measures with one click, mass ban chatters using specific terms, and more
Engadget
7:25 PM
Elon Musk says he met with Tim Cook at Apple's HQ on Wednesday, and that Cook was clear that Apple “never considered” removing Twitter from the App Store
MacRumors
7:10 PM
LastPass says customer data was accessed after hackers breached its third-party cloud storage, shared with parent GoTo, using info stolen in an August 2022 hack
BleepingComputer
6:25 PM
Mark Zuckerberg says Apple's policies that let the company unilaterally control which apps can be installed are not sustainable and cause a conflict of interest
Axios
6:15 PM
Pathmatics: Apple's Twitter ad purchases grew from $989K in October to $1M+ in November; on November 28, Elon Musk said Apple “mostly stopped” Twitter ads
Gizmodo
5:15 PM
Box reports Q3 revenue of $250M, up 12% YoY, and billings of $258.2M, up 12% YoY, and forecasts Q4 revenue between $255M and $257M, vs. $259.3M est.
MarketWatch
5:06 PM
A video and live blog of Sam Bankman-Fried being interviewed by Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times' DealBook Summit, covering FTX, Alameda, and more
New York Times
4:55 PM
Salesforce reports Q3 revenue up 14% YoY to $7.84B, vs. $7.82B est., and operating cash flow down 23% YoY to $313M; stock drops 6%+
CNBC
4:50 PM
Snowflake reports Q3 revenue up 67% YoY to $557M, vs. $539M est., and anticipates Q4 product revenue between $535M and $540M, vs. $553M est.; stock drops 5%+
CNBC
4:25 PM
Salesforce says Bret Taylor will step down as vice chair and co-CEO on January 31, 2023, and Marc Benioff will stay on as chair and CEO
CNBC
4:05 PM
As FTX collapsed, mainstream news organizations often failed to give a straightforward assessment of exactly what happened and potential crimes involved
CoinDesk
3:10 PM
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov says the messaging app plans to build a decentralized crypto exchange and noncustodial wallets
CoinDesk
2:25 PM
Uniswap Labs launches an NFT marketplace aggregator with listings from OpenSea, LooksRare, NFTX, and others, after acquiring the aggregator Genie in June
Fortune
1:15 PM
Google says Barcelona-based spyware vendor Variston planted spyware by exploiting zero-day flaws in Chrome, Firefox, and Windows between 2018 and 2022
TechCrunch
11:50 AM
NYC-based Teampay, a low-code service to help enterprises automate software purchasing, raised a $47M Series B, comprising $35.25M equity and $11.75M debt
TechCrunch
11:27 AM
US crypto exchange Kraken plans to lay off 1,100 people, or 30% of its workforce, citing a need to “adapt to current market conditions”
CoinDesk
11:10 AM
Airbnb launches a program to help renters find an apartment in 25 US markets and then list a spare room or occasionally the whole apartment on the platform
TechCrunch
10:30 AM
OpenSea says NFT creators collectively earned $1.1B in royalties in 2022 so far, of which 80% were to collections outside the top 10
The Block
10:20 AM
As crypto miners default on loans, lenders could receive mining equipment as collateral, a popular financing tool, increasing losses as the rigs' value plunges
Bloomberg
9:55 AM
Surveys: as of 2021, Black Americans were more likely than their white counterparts to own crypto and more likely to own crypto than stocks or mutual funds
The Atlantic
9:30 AM
A look at TikTok's role in spreading the “blackout challenge”, leading some kids to choke themselves to death, as critics say the company could be doing more
Bloomberg
9:10 AM
Amazon Kindle Scribe review: great battery, display, and accessories, but lackluster notetaking, outdated document syncing and software, and small writing delay
The Verge
8:45 AM
A UK court rules Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, Luno, and other exchanges must give customer details to an unnamed UK exchange to track down $10.7M in stolen funds
Financial Times
8:30 AM
Memo: DoorDash plans to lay off around 1,250 employees, aiming to curb expenses; sources say that represents around 6% of its workforce
Bloomberg
8:25 AM
Brussels-based crypto market maker Keyrock raised a $72M Series B led by Ripple, following a €4.3M Series A in October 2020
The Block
8:20 AM
Sources detail Alameda's early years, starting in fall 2017, as SBF shrugged off concerns about risky investments, leading several employees to quit in 2018
Wall Street Journal
8:15 AM
Spotify releases Wrapped 2022 for users, adding a “music personality” feature, and says Joe Rogan, Emma Chamberlain, and others were its top podcasters
The Verge
7:50 AM
The European Central Bank says that bitcoin is “rarely used for legal transactions” and is on the “road to irrelevance”, without citing any strong data points
TechCrunch
7:30 AM
Chinese state media: a five-day COVID lockdown in Zhengzhou, home of Foxconn's “iPhone City”, has been lifted; an analyst says disruptions cost Apple ~$1B/week
CNN
7:05 AM
A look at China's growing interest in the open-source RISC-V chip architecture after US sanctions, including enlisting Alibaba and Tencent to help design chips
Financial Times
6:20 AM
Sources detail Huawei's plans to stealthily build a domestic chip supply chain with partners in Beijing, Wuhan, Qingdao, and Shenzhen, investing over $55.8B
Nikkei Asia
6:10 AM
SpaceX's Starlink increases the price for new Ukrainian customers to $700, far above the $385 cost from earlier in 2022; monthly subscriptions rise to $75
Financial Times
6:00 AM
Emboldened by FTX's collapse, the disgraced founders of Terra, Celsius, and Three Arrows Capital have reemerged, offering their thoughts on SBF, FTX, and more
Bloomberg