Techmeme
December 8, 2021, 5:45 PM

Top News

Patrick McGee / Financial Times:
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
A US appeals court grants a stay in the Epic v. Apple ruling, letting Apple keep its IAP system as the sole source of iOS in-app payments as the case proceeds  —  Apple can maintain its App Store payment monopoly while the case proceeds  —  An appeals court has paused one of the most consequential parts …
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Better.com CEO Vishal Garg apologizes for how he handled firing ~900 employees, ~9% of staff, over Zoom, as a report says Better.com is delaying its SPAC  —  Better.com CEO Vishal Garg apparently realizes he's done wrong.  —  (As if the barrage of negative publicity wasn't enough evidence of that.)
C-SPAN.org:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Roku says it has agreed to a multi-year extension with Google for distributing YouTube and YouTube TV apps on its devices; Roku's stock is up 18%+  —  Roku and Google have agreed to a multi-year extension for both YouTube and YouTube TV apps to be distributed on Roku.
Sami Fathi / MacRumors:
Kuo: AirPods Pro 2, the first update since 2019, will launch in Q4 2022 with a Beats Fit Pro-like design, an improved chip, fitness tracking, and more  —  The AirPods Pro 2, the first update to the AirPods Pro since its debut in 2019, will launch in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to Apple analyst Ming Chi-Kuo.
Sami Fathi / MacRumors:
Neal E. Boudette / New York Times:
After Tesla added over 12 video games that can be played while driving, critics argue the company is compromising road users' safety, on top of Autopilot issues  —  The feature raises fresh questions about whether Tesla is compromising safety as it rushes to add new technologies.
Sebastian Herrera / Wall Street Journal:
Amazon has emerged as the de facto wage-and-benefits setter as US companies fight to attract workers in a tight labor market, causing ripples across the economy  —  In local markets throughout America, the e-commerce giant's facilities have an impact on inflation, job markets and labor standards
Bloomberg:
A look at the rise of “dark stores”, mini-warehouses in urban retail spaces used by fast grocery delivery companies, and how they erode community life  —  Mini-warehouses dubbed “dark stores” are quietly taking over urban retail space.  Left unregulated, the insatiable demand …
Steve Dent / Engadget:
Facebook launches a Professional Mode, letting eligible creators monetize their profiles, and a Reels Play bonus program that offers up to $35K/month  —  Facebook has launched a new professional mode for profiles that will let eligible creators earn money without the need to create a separate Page.
Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch:
Twitter is testing a process for reporting harmful tweets that lets US users describe what happened and will use the data to improve its responses  —  Twitter is trying out some changes to the way that users report tweets that they believe might break Twitter's rules.
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Andrew Tangel / Wall Street Journal:
FAA outlines flight restrictions, including restricting bad weather automated landing systems, to avoid interference with the C-band 5G spectrum from January 5  —  Agency's order could disrupt air travel with limits to cockpit systems needed in poor weather; new 5G services expected to go live Jan. 5
Steve Lohr / New York Times:
Meta, Nike, CVS, GM, IBM, Walmart, and others join the Data & Trust Alliance, which has developed an anti-bias scoring system to analyze AI usage during hiring  —  The organization has created a format for evaluating the technology, which is often used to screen job candidates.
Jamie Tarabay / Bloomberg:
Google sues two Russians it claims help run a botnet that has infected 1M+ devices and uses command-and-control server addresses stored on Bitcoin's blockchain  —  - Complaint says the two created a sophisticated ‘botnet’  — Glupteba sells stolen logins, credit cards, Google says
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Reddit launches Spotify Wrapped-style annual usage statistics for users, including time spent and popular content; users created 366M posts in 2021, up 19% YoY  —  Reddit is launching a new personalized Spotify Wrapped-like recap feature for all users tomorrow.
Wallace Witkowski / MarketWatch:
UiPath reports Q3 revenue of $220.8M, vs. estimates of $208.3M and up 50% YoY, ARR of $818.4M, up 58% YoY, and losses of $122.8M  —  UiPath Inc. shares fell in the extended session Wednesday even as the “software robots” provider's quarterly results topped Wall Street expectations.
Andrew Hayward / Decrypt:
Ubisoft will add NFT items into its games, starting with Ghost Recon Breakpoint on the Tezos blockchain, becoming the first major gaming company to do so  —  In brief  — Major game publisher Ubisoft will implement in-game NFT items into its games, starting with Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Gaming hardware company NZXT raises $100M led by Francisco Partners, its first outside funding since launching in 2004  —  NZXT has raised funding for the first time since it debuted as a PC gaming hardware company in 2004.  It's a whopper of a round at $100 million.
More: FinSMEs and NZXT
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Report details the supply chain issues that forced Apple to significantly scale down its iPhone and iPad production plans  —  As Apple's ever-important holiday shopping season continues, the company is facing what a new report from Nikkei Asia describes as the “nightmare before Christmas.”

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Bloomberg:
Richard Lawler / The Verge: