Techmeme
December 24, 2021, 10:50 AM

Top News

Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Amid COVID-19 concerns, Google, GM, and Waymo cancel in-person plans for CES, following Meta, Amazon, Twitter, and others, while Intel scales back its presence  —  The world's biggest technology show may not be  —  CES, the world's largest technology show, appears to be in jeopardy due to rising COVID-19 cases in the United States.
Neal E. Boudette / New York Times:
Tesla agrees to release a software update that blocks its Passenger Play gaming feature while the vehicle is in motion, after the NHTSA opened an investigation  —  Tesla has agreed to modify software in its cars to prevent drivers and passengers from playing video games on the dashboard screens …
Richard Lawler / The Verge:
Marc Andreessen blocked Jack Dorsey on Twitter following his tweets critical of a16z and Web3; Dorsey then tweeted “I'm officially banned from web3”  —  The venture capitalist blocked the former Twitter CEO, and Dorsey said he's now ‘banned from Web3’
Vlad Savov / Bloomberg:
Andrew Martin / Bloomberg:
The White House invites major software companies and developers to discuss improving open-source security, starting with a one-day event in January  —  White House officials are asking major software companies and developers to work with them to improve the security of open-source software, according to an administration official.
More: CNN and Reuters
Karen Weise / New York Times:
Amazon reaches a nationwide settlement with the NLRB to let its warehouse employees more easily organize, likely affecting over 1M current and former workers  —  The agreement's national scope and its concessions to organizing go further than any previous settlement that the e-commerce giant has made.
Jeff John Roberts / Decrypt:
As Bakkt's stock drops from $50 to ~$9 two months after its SPAC merger, president and founding executive Adam White says he is leaving the company next week  —  Adam White, a founder and President of the digital assets and rewards platform Bakkt, took to Twitter on Thursday to say he is moving on from the company.
Katie Roof / Bloomberg:
Sources: cybersecurity startup Snyk is preparing for an IPO that could happen as soon as mid-2022, with a target to exceed its $8.6B valuation from September  —  Cybersecurity startup Snyk Ltd. is making preparations for an initial public offering that could happen as early as next year, according to people familiar with the matter.
Priya Anand / Bloomberg:
Internal docs show Amazon is struggling to retain Alexa device users; in some years between 2018-2021, 15%-25% of new users were no longer active after one week  —  Each holiday season since 2015, Amazon.com Inc. has counted on selling a lot of its Alexa voice-controlled smart speakers.
FinSMEs:
Privoro, which makes security devices for smartphones, including a case with intelligent audio masking and camera blocking, raises a $30M Series B  —  Privoro, a Chandler, AZ-based mobile security hardware company, raised £40M in Series B funding.  —  The round was led by Tracker Capital Management.

Sponsor Posts

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