Techmeme
January 13, 2021, 1:15 PM

Top News

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Intel CEO Bob Swan to step down in February and VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger will replace him; Intel's stock is up 5%+  —  - Intel CEO Bob Swan is set to step down effective Feb. 15, the company announced.  — VMWare CEO Pat Gelsinger will take over the position.
Romain Dillet / TechCrunch:
Apple announces new projects related to its $100M pledge for racial equity and justice, including a developer academy focused on Black entrepreneurs  —  Last June, Apple committed $100 million to a Racial Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI).  Lisa Jackson, Apple's vice president of environment …
Axios:
YouTube says it has taken down newly posted videos from Trump for violating its policies against inciting violence and bans new uploads for a week  —  YouTube said Tuesday that it has taken down newly posted video content from President Trump for violating its policies against inciting violence.
Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:
Airbnb says it is canceling and blocking reservations made for the week of Biden's inauguration in the Washington, DC metro area  —  - Airbnb is canceling and blocking future reservations in the Washington, D.C., metro area during the week of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, the company said Wednesday.
Karissa Bell / Engadget:
TikTok makes accounts of users aged 13 to 15 private by default, limiting who can comment on the videos and how other users can download or remix their videos  —  TikTok is introducing a new set of “enhanced” privacy settings that restricts certain features for younger teens and changes …
Stephen Nellis / Reuters:
Qualcomm acquires chip startup Nuvia for $1.4B, with plans to put the company's tech into its smartphone, laptop, and automotive processors  —  (Reuters) - Qualcomm Inc on Wednesday said it will acquire Nuvia Inc, a chip startup founded by Apple Inc veterans, for $1.4 billion …
Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:
Dropbox says it will cut about 11% of its global workforce, affecting about 315 employees, and COO Olivia Nottebohm will leave on February 5  —  - Dropbox is cutting its global workforce by about 11%, the company said in an 8K filing released Wednesday.  — The company's stock dropped more than 6% in the premarket.
Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:
Affirm begins trading at $90.90, up over 80% after pricing shares at $49; the company raised $1.2B after pricing shares above its $41-$44 range  —  - Shares of Affirm, an online payments company, began trading on the Nasdaq.  — Affirm priced its shares at $49 apiece …
Tony Connelly / RTÉ:
EU's top court issues an opinion allowing GDPR complaints in any member state, which could lead to a flood of complaints against tech giants  —  The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice has issued an opinion that a privacy complaint against the US tech giant Facebook does …
Nick Statt / The Verge:
WhatsApp clarifies its new data sharing policy with Facebook, which mostly concerns businesses, after recent backlash and surge in Telegram and Signal downloads  —  The company is trying to contain fallout over a privacy policy update  —  WhatsApp has published a new FAQ page …
Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:
Report: GitHub fired an employee who used the term “Nazis” in an internal Slack during the US Capitol riot; ~200 staff signed a letter questioning the firing  —  Roughly 200 employees have signed an open letter asking for answers  —  GitHub reportedly fired a Jewish employee …
Gaurav Laghate / The Economic Times:
Amazon launches a mobile-only Prime Video plan in India starting at Rs. 89, or ~$1.30, per month, in partnership with Bharti Airtel  —  MUMBAI: Amazon Prime Video is set to launch mobile-only subscription plans in India for its streaming service in a global first, offering Indian consumers …
Gizmodo:
GPS metadata from videos posted to Parler on Jan. 6 shows several users deep inside the Capitol; source: FBI has expressed interest in examining the data  —  At least several users of the far-right social network Parler appear to be among the hoard of rioters that managed to penetrate deep inside …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Israeli startup Vdoo, which helps detect and fix vulnerabilities in IoT devices, extends its Series B by $25M to $57M  —  It's estimated that there were some 50 billion connected devices globally in 2020, and while that really says a lot about how far we've come in tech …
Anthony Capaccio / Bloomberg:
Internal report: DoD halts deployment on classified networks of its $2B+ cybersecurity system for detecting intrusions and stopping attacks, citing poor results  —  - Deployment to classified systems halted, test office reveals  — It couldn't stop a ‘realistic attack,’ testing chief reports
Sean O'Kane / The Verge:
Sources: Apple held talks with EV startup Canoo in 2020; Apple was largely interested in Canoo's unique scalable electric vehicle platform  —  As part of the Silicon Valley giant's secretive push into the automotive space  —  Apple held meetings with California EV startup Canoo in the first half …
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
E-commerce optimization startup Tradeswell raises $15.5M Series A led by SignalFire  —  After launching in October, Tradeswell is announcing today that it has raised $15.5 million in Series A funding.  —  Co-founder and CEO Paul Palmieri previously led digital ad company Millennial Media …
More: Tradeswell
Jeff Stone / CyberScoop:
Europol says it has shut down DarkMarket, the largest online marketplace for illicit goods with 2,400+ vendors, and apprehended a suspect, an Australian man  —  German law enforcement has shut down an internet market where users bought and sold narcotics, stolen data and hacking tools, authorities said Tuesday.

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Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Dave Nyczepir / FedScoop:
Wall Street Journal: