Techmeme
February 9, 2021, 3:05 PM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Amazon is developing a wall-mounted Echo device with a large touchscreen that serves as a smart home control panel, video chat device, and media player  —  - Lab126 unit developing new device with touchscreen and Alexa  — Product to be thinner than Echo Show, come with video chat
Bloomberg:
A look at how Tim Cook has transformed Apple after Jobs into a more diversified company and successfully deflected political pressure  —  Trade war?  Pfft.  Trump?  Please.  Antitrust?  Zuck's prob.  (Ditto privacy.)  Revenue?  Endless.
Mishaal Rahman / XDA Developers:
Leaked images purportedly show mockups of Android 12, including major UI changes, a privacy indicator, conversation widget, new themes, and more  —  Google is set to release its next major version of Android — Android 12 — later this year, following a series of Developer Previews and Betas …
Sarah E. Needleman / Wall Street Journal:
Reddit raises $250M+ Series E led by Vy Capital at a $6B valuation, doubling in value since its last funding round in February 2019  —  Its WallStreetBets community played a prominent role in recent stock-trading frenzy  —  Reddit Inc. doubled its valuation to $6 billion in a new round …
Nate Lanxon / Bloomberg:
London-based Nothing, a consumer electronics startup from a OnePlus co-founder working on wireless headphones, raises $15M from GV  —  - Nothing will release headphones, other products this year  — GV backs startup's ‘Series A’ funding round with $15 million
Financial Times:
Researchers estimate that the NHS contact tracing app has prevented the transmissions of ~600K coronavirus infections in England and Wales  —  Study finds link in areas of England and Wales between high app usage and lower case numbers  —  The NHS contact-tracing app has prevented …
Jason Koebler / VICE:
Police: a computer in a Florida water treatment plant was breached via its remote access software; intruder tried adding a poisonous amount of lye to the water  —  The hacker tried to drastically increase sodium hydroxide levels in the water, Pinellas County, Florida, officials said on Monday.
Matthew Gault / VICE:
Researchers: flaws in how some browsers cache favicons can lead to website visitors being tracked, even if they are in incognito mode or use script blockers  —  // Favicons can break through incognito mode, VPNs, and Pi-holes to track your movement online  —  Favicons are one of those things …
Bloomberg:
Industry executives warn of severe shortages of chips for phones and game consoles, amid excessive stockpiling of chips by companies like Huawei and Apple  —  - The dearth of supply is deepening as Apple, China hoard chips  — Worsening crunch could impact sectors well beyond automaking
Shara Tibken / CNET:
Qualcomm unveils next-gen X65 5G modem, likely to appear in phones in 2022, and says it can download data at 10Gpbs speeds and has a better battery life  —  Qualcomm's new modem is here, it's blazing fast and it's not just for phones .  The Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF System can download data …
Ashley Gold / Axios:
Survey of 1,000 registered US voters: 44% strongly agree and 41% somewhat agree that social media plays a role in radicalizing people  —  A majority of Americans think social media “has played a role in radicalizing people,” according to a new poll from Accountable Tech and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner shared exclusively with Axios.
Foeke Postma / bellingcat:
Investigation reveals how Instagram influencers are enabling animal abuse for clicks by using services that promote Dubai's underground animal trade  —  The monkey squirms while a woman holds it up with one hand and records it without speaking.  The TikTok video is brief and has no description …
Financial Times:
EU lawmakers are considering regulations that would force Facebook and Google to pay for news content on their platforms, echoing a similar move in Australia  —  Move by MEPs would strengthen hand of publishers against Google and Facebook  —  EU lawmakers overseeing new digital regulation …
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Mighty Buildings, which aims to build homes with 3D printing tech and robotics, raises $40M Series B co-led by Khosla Ventures and Zeno Ventures  —  Once upon a time, the idea of 3D-printed homes felt like a thing of the future.  —  But as housing gets less and less affordable …
Liam Tung / ZDNet:
Programming language Rust is now backed by the Rust Foundation, a new independent organization that will make it easier to accept financing beyond Mozilla  —  The Rust programming language now has its own foundation that's independent from Mozilla.  —  Programming language Rust now has the backing …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro is now available, with thinking capabilities, enhanced performance, and improved accuracy.  Try it at no cost in the Gemini app.
UiPath:
UiPath Unveils 10 Innovations that Will Shape the Agentic Future  —  Orchestration engine, API workflows and agentic testing among key features of new UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation, launched at UiPath DevCon 2025
Zoho:
Zoho Books now enables direct VAT filing with EmaraTax  —  We're excited to announce that Zoho Books is now recognised as a Digital Tax Integrator by the Federal Tax Authority, enabling direct VAT return filing from within your favorite accounting software.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Lenny's Podcast:
Growth tactics from OpenAI and Stripe's first marketer | Krithika Shankarraman
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Tim Apple's Very Bad Week
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
The Logan Bartlett Show:
Jeffrey Katzenberg & Sujay Jaswa (WndrCo) on What Startup Founders Can Steal From Hollywood
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
Subscribe to The Logan Bartlett Show.
Hard Fork:
Google DeepMind C.E.O. Demis Hassabis on Living in an A.I. Future
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
BG2 Pod:
AI, Middle East, China, Tariffs, Recon Bill, Invest America
Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley.
Subscribe to BG2 Pod.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is okay with reinventing the bus
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:05 PM ET, February 9, 2021.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Joseph Cox / VICE:

Earlier Picks

Wall Street Journal:
Sarah E. Needleman / Wall Street Journal:
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: