Techmeme
January 21, 2021, 3:35 PM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple's first VR headset, planned for 2022 with a focus on gaming, video, and communication but with limited AR features, faces development hurdles  —  Apple Inc.'s first crack at a headset is designed to be a pricey, niche precursor to a more ambitious augmented reality product …
Nick Clegg / About Facebook:
Facebook is referring its decision to indefinitely suspend Trump's accounts to the Oversight Board and says the accounts will remain suspended in the meantime  —  Today, Facebook is referring its decision to indefinitely suspend former US President Donald Trump's access to his Facebook …
Romain Dillet / TechCrunch:
Raspberry Pi Foundation launches $4 Pico, a tiny microcontroller for hardware projects that uses Raspberry Pi's own RP2040 chip  —  Meet the Raspberry Pi Pico, a tiny little microcontroller that lets you build hardware projects with some code running on the microcontroller.
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Google signs an agreement with French media to create a framework for payment for publisher content and has reached agreements with three major newspapers  —  Google has reached an agreement with an association of French publishers over how it will be pay for reuse of snippets of their content.
Josh Eidelson / Bloomberg:
Instacart cuts 1,877 jobs, including its only union roles, as it shifts to new models, like selling its tech to retailers to have their staff prepare orders  —  Instacart Inc. plans to terminate about 1,900 employees' jobs, including the only unionized positions in the U.S., representing a fulsome embrace of the gig economy.
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra review: beautiful screen with high refresh rate and a great camera system but let down by software with ads and subpar Bixby  —  Samsung's “Ultra” phones are meant to be the absolute pinnacle of the company's (non-folding) mobile technology.
Joseph Cox / VICE:
Hackers and hobbyists have deployed facial recognition on Parler videos taken at the Capitol on Jan. 6, showing the democratization of facial recognition tech  —  It demonstrates the democratization of facial recognition, but comes littered with ethical issues.  —  Joseph Cox
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Pebble founder launches Beeper, a $10/month universal chat app, promising to bring 15 chat service into a single UI, including iMessage on Android and Windows  —  Beeper brings 15 chat apps together into one interface  —  Beeper is a new universal chat app that's an attempt …
Drew FitzGerald / Wall Street Journal:
Monica Chin / The Verge:
A large number of laptop flagships in H1 2021 will ship with 16:10 or 3:2 displays, signalling an industry-wide shift toward laptops with taller aspect ratios  —  For lovers of tall screens, it's a great time to be alive  —  One of the biggest trends coming out of this year's CES …
Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
Amazon says it wants to help the Biden administration's vaccination efforts and non-WFH Amazon staff should be vaccinated “at the earliest appropriate time”  —  Amazon says it is ready to turn its facilities into COVID-19 vaccination sites and is offering other resources to the U.S. government.
The Information:
Sources: Patreon is considering an IPO as soon as this year and has recently passed $100M in annualized revenue  —  Patreon, the online service that allows podcasters, musicians and other artists to receive direct financial support from fans, is considering a public listing as soon as this year …
Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:
Singapore-based iSTOX, a digital securities service that lets users make private equity investments as small as $75.50, raises $50M Series A  —  ISTOX, a digital securities platform that wants to make private equity investment more accessible, has added new investors from Japan to its Series A round, bringing its total to $50 million.
Bloomberg:
Polish postal locker service InPost prices shares at €14 to €16, suggesting a valuation of €7B-€8B, as it seeks to raise as much as €3.2B in its Amsterdam IPO  —  - Company marketing shares at 14 euros to 16 euros apiece  — Price range equals valuation of 7 billion to 8 billion euros

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Earlier Picks

Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Richard Lawler / Engadget:
Ina Fried / Axios:
Zoë Bernard / The Information:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: