Techmeme
November 15, 2021, 8:30 PM

Top News

Sam White / British GQ:
As Xbox turns 20, a Q&A with Phil Spencer and other executives on future plans, including Game Pass and xCloud, exclusive games, the history of Xbox, and more  —  Phil Spencer saved Xbox.  Now he wants to reinvent gaming.  Ahead of Xbox's 20th anniversary, we sat down with him and Microsoft's gaming …
Packy McCormick / Not Boring:
A look at ConstitutionDAO, which has taken $4M+ in crypto donations to bid at an auction on one of the original copies of the US Constitution, printed in 1787  —  ConstitutionDAO, web3, and America … Today's Not Boring is brought to you by... Secureframe … Schedule a Secureframe Demo
Miles Kruppa / Financial Times:
Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam and ex-Sequoia partner Matt Huang announce Paradigm One, a $2.5B fund focused on crypto and Web3  —  Fred Ehrsam is behind $2.5bn fund Paradigm One, to which investors jockeyed to commit money  —  Cryptocurrencies are booming, and a three-year-old investment firm …
Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
Twitter makes its v2 API, announced in August 2020, the default for developers, giving third-party apps more freedom as it aims to become more decentralized  —  Twitter's new API is finally official, which could mean good things for third-party clients  —  Twitter has announced …
Anna Nicolaou / Financial Times:
Substack says it has reached 1M paying subscribers, up from 250,000 last December  —  Many top journalists have left legacy media to go it alone on publishing platform  —  Newsletter start-up Substack has reached 1m paying subscribers, underlining the growing power of à la carte journalism …
Hartley Charlton / MacRumors:
Apple defends its ads for third-party apps, saying they are marked as from the App Store, have been live for five years, and it regularly communicates with devs  —  Following allegations that Apple secretively buys ads for subscription-based apps to collect more commission …
Meghan Bobrowsky / Wall Street Journal:
Ohio AG sues Meta on behalf of an Ohio pension fund and Meta investors, alleging Facebook execs misled the public about its products' negative impact on minors  —  Lawsuit filed on behalf of Meta investors and Ohio Public Employees Retirement System seeks to recover more than $100 billion
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says it will block tools like EdgeDeflector that stop Windows 11 from using Edge to open Start menu search results, via an upcoming software update  —  Microsoft shouldn't need to force anyone to use Edge  —  Microsoft has already made it more difficult to switch default browsers in Windows 11 …
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
Biden signs $1T+ infrastructure bill into law, with $65B to boost broadband access, $475M in grants to help low-income Americans acquire computing devices, more  —  It includes billions in EV and broadband infrastructure  —  On Monday, President Biden signed a historic $1 trillion infrastructure bill aimed …
Victoria Song / The Verge:
Peloton sues rival fitness companies Echelon and iFit, claiming that both violated patents related to its on-demand classes  —  This doesn't bode well for all those Peloton copycats  —  Peloton isn't too happy with its rivals.  The company has filed lawsuits against Echelon and iFit …
Wall Street Journal:
As the FAA forces AT&T and Verizon to delay 5G rollouts, a look at the FAA and the FCC's dispute over 5G and cockpit safety, which started under the Trump admin  —  Dispute among federal agencies over next-generation wireless has remained unresolved for two presidential administrations
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Samsung releases Android 12-based One UI 4 for the Galaxy S21, S21 Plus, and S21 Ultra, with new theming options, keyboard tweaks, and privacy settings  —  With older phones and tablets following ‘soon’  —  Samsung is making its One UI 4 software update available for the Galaxy S21 …
Zheping Huang / Bloomberg:
A look at Epic Games' failed, multiyear effort to launch Fortnite in China, as it shuts down Fortnite's Chinese servers  —  Epic Games Inc. spent 2018 preparing Fortnite, the world's hottest video game, for a blockbuster debut in China, the world's biggest gaming market.
Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
Mixpanel raises a $200M Series C at a $1.05B valuation from Bain Capital Tech Opportunities, seven years after its Series B, as it focuses on product analytics  —  Mixpanel was a hot startup in 2014 when it nabbed a $65 million Series B on an $865 million valuation, a sizable B round and valuation for those days.
Larry Dignan / ZDNet:
IBM debuts 127-qubit Eagle quantum processor coming to select members of the IBM Quantum Network in December, and previews next-gen IBM Quantum System Two  —  According to IBM, Eagle leverages new techniques that place control components on multiple physical levels while keeping qubits on a single layer.

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Daniel Flatley / Bloomberg:
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