Techmeme
October 29, 2021, 2:25 PM

Top News

Kevin Roose / New York Times:
Facebook's metaverse is designed to solve several problems: an ageing userbase, dependence on Google and Apple, regulatory risk, and reputational damage  —  If his new strategy works — a big if — it could help address several of Facebook's biggest problems.
Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
Sources: Zuckerberg agreed to a name change after years of staff complaints and research showing a “brand tax” on apps with the “from Facebook” label  —  - Employees have used the term “brand tax” to refer to the negative impact of Facebook on its other brands.
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Facebook's Meta renaming is a bet on the power of founder control, and is about a future that doesn't yet exist, but one that Zuckerberg believes needs to  —  The obvious analogy to Facebook's announcement that it is renaming itself Meta and re-organizing its financials to separate …
Andrew Bosworth:
Andrew Bosworth says Facebook Reality Labs will become Reality Labs, Oculus brand will shift to Meta for hardware and Oculus Quest app starting in early 2022  —  Well the cat's (officially) out of the bag: Our company is now Meta to better reflect who we are and our ambitions to help build the metaverse.
Mark Zuckerberg / About Facebook:
Alex Heath / The Verge:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
The Facebook View app on iOS contains an image of a potential Meta smartwatch, with a front-facing camera notch, rounded screen, and a detachable wrist strap  —  - Device has front-facing camera, possibly for videoconferencing  — Image of watch is found inside of Facebook View iPhone app
YouTube:
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
The Verge:
Apple MacBook Pro 14- and 16-inch review: incredible performance with very long battery life and beautiful displays but expensive with absurd RAM pricing  —  Apple's new pro laptops right the wrongs of the past half decade  —  Let's start simply: the new MacBook Pros with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips …
Joanna Stern / Wall Street Journal:
Apple's VP of Mac and iPad Product Marketing Tom Boger says Touch ID is more convenient than Face ID on a laptop since users' hands are already on the keyboard  —  Full-size ports, real function keys and other retro features, plus cutting-edge M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, make the new MacBook Pro models the laptops to beat
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft acquires Two Hat, a content moderation provider that has helped improve Xbox communities for the past few years  —  The deal will help Microsoft's consumer services push  —  Microsoft has acquired Two Hat, a content moderation provider that's helped keep harmful content off Xbox.
Catalin Cimpanu / The Record:
Europol says it has detained 12 suspects for orchestrating ransomware attacks that hit 1,800+ victims across 71 countries since 2019  —  Europol said it detained 12 suspects this week it believes were part of a professional criminal group that orchestrated a long string of ransomware attacks …
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Google and Jio debut $87 JioPhone Next with a 5.45-inch HD+ display and Qualcomm's quad-core QM-215 chipset, available November 4 in India  —  Google and Indian telecom network Jio Platforms said on Friday that their much-anticipated budget smartphone, JioPhone Next, will go on sale …
Apple:
Apple misses with Q4 revenue of $83.4B, up 29% YoY, vs $84.85B est., iPhone revenue of $38.87B, up 47% YoY, services revenue of $18.3B, up 25.6%; stock down 3%+  —  New September quarter record with revenue up 29 percent  —  Services and Mac revenue reach new all-time highs
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
Google releases a Chrome update that fixes seven vulnerabilities, including two zero-days exploited in the wild  —  Google has released Chrome 95.0.4638.69 for Windows, Mac, and Linux to fix two zero-day vulnerabilities that attackers have actively exploited.
About Amazon:
Amazon misses with Q3 revenue of $110.8B, up 15% YoY, vs $111.6B est., net income of $3.2B, down from $6.3B YoY, AWS net sales of $16.1B, up 39%; stock down 4%+  —  SEATTLE—(BUSINESS WIRE)— Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2021.

Sponsor Posts

Meta:
Open Source AI: Available to all, not just the few  —  Meta's open source AI enables small businesses, start-ups, students, researchers and more to download and build with our models at no cost.
Zoho:
Celebrate and collaborate this holiday season with Zoho Cliq  —  The holiday season is a time for celebration, relaxation, and reflection.  While some people are busy wrapping presents for their loved ones …
Genesys:
Executive Insights: The Era of Contact Center AI Copilots  —  How AI copilots are transforming customer experience and agent performance.
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Mon. 12/23 - The Revenge Of Google Glass?
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 2:25 PM ET, October 29, 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

Earlier Picks

Alexander Osipovich / Wall Street Journal: