Techmeme
December 1, 2021, 6:35 PM

Top News

Kate Rooney / CNBC:
Square is changing its name to Block, effective December 10, and renaming Square Crypto to Spiral, as its business shifts toward technologies like blockchain  —  - Payments giant Square will change its corporate name to Block, effective Dec. 10.  — The move comes as Square expands beyond …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft announces Teams Essentials, a standalone version of Teams for SMBs with a simplified UI, focus on meetings, and no Office apps for $4 per user/month  —  This standalone version of Teams is even more of a Zoom competitor  —  Microsoft is creating its first standalone version of Microsoft Teams for small businesses.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
TikTok adds monetization tools for creators, including Stripe-powered Tips and Video Gifts, starting in the US, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain  —  TikTok is today introducing new ways for its creators to make money from their content.  While already, the short-form video platform allowed creators …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Reddit announces real-time features, including live upvote, downvote, comment, and viewer counts, a typing indicator, and notifications for top-level comments  —  You'll see typing indicators, too  —  Reddit is introducing some big changes on Wednesday by adding new real-time features.
Kris Holt / Engadget:
Twitter bans sharing private images and videos without consent, with exceptions for newsworthiness and public figures, and will remove content that users report  —  Twitter has expanded its private information policy to include media, banning users from sharing photos or videos of a private individual without their permission.
Kevin Roose / New York Times:
Jack Dorsey joins other tech leaders who seem to have grown tired of managing their platforms, amid increasing political controversy and hard-to-fix problems  —  Jack Dorsey, who is stepping down after six years as Twitter's chief executive, is one of the tech leaders who seem to have grown tired of managing their empires.
Stacy Mitchell / Institute for Local Self-Reliance:
Research: Amazon revenue from third-party sellers will reach $121B in 2021, up from $60B in 2019, as seller fees reach 34%, up from 30% in 2018 and 19% in 2014  —  Amazon's dominance of online retail means that small businesses have little choice but to rely on its site to reach consumers.
Kevin McLaughlin / The Information:
In an internal Slack message, Marc Benioff says Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor will continue to report to him  —  Bret Taylor is co-CEO of Salesforce in name only, it turns out.  The Information has learned that in his new role Taylor will continue to report to Marc Benioff, who is ostensibly his equal as co-CEO.
Robin Pogrebin / New York Times:
A look at Particle, founded by an ex-Christie's exec and others, which plans to split Banksy's Love Is in the Air into 10,000 pieces to be sold as NFTs  —  A former Christie's executive has joined cryptocurrency experts to create a company that purchases art and sells the fragments as NFTs.
Matt Grossman / Wall Street Journal:
Match Group will pay $441M to settle claims by Tinder founders and executives that Match avoided paying them up to $2B by undervaluing the app in mid-2017  —  Company says it would pay $441 million to plaintiffs, including dating app's co-founders  —  Match Group Inc. has settled a lawsuit filed …
Bloomberg:
Sources: China plans to ban companies from going public on foreign markets through variable interest entities, closing a loophole used by local tech companies  —  China is planning to ban companies from going public on foreign stock markets through variable interest entities …
Marty Swant / Forbes:
The Facebook Papers offer glimpses into how users perceive Meta's ad products, like the impact of its reaction emojis, and the concerns raised by employees  —  The “Facebook Papers” have been revelatory when it comes to how the company formerly known as Facebook deals with content moderation and a wide variety of other issues.
Rest of World:
Crypto trading volume in Indonesia this year reached ~$50B by October, up over 10x YoY, despite the government and the Ulema Council forbidding crypto payments  —  Crypto is booming on the archipelago.  Its proponents aren't who you'd think  —  Ananda Badudu is 32 years old …
Yinka Adegoke / Rest of World:
A look at China's extensive tech investments in Africa, including undersea cables, data centers, and fintech apps, as part of its “Digital Silk Road” initiative  —  As the Chinese “tech stack” leads from undersea cables to smartphones and fintech apps, concerns grow for the digital future of ordinary Africans.
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, with improved camera and AI processing and up to 20% better performance and 30% better power efficiency over Snapdragon 888  —  Faster performance, better cameras, improved AI, and more  —  Qualcomm has a new flagship smartphone processor …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Tel Aviv-based Frontegg, which helps SaaS companies track user data, raises a $25M Series A led by Insight Partners  —  Frontegg, a Tel Aviv-based startup that provides SaaS companies with the core user management tools they need to build their own services, today announced that it has raised …

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