Techmeme
March 2, 2022, 4:15 PM

Top News

Ethan Diamond / Bandcamp Updates:
Epic Games acquires Bandcamp, which will continue operating as a standalone marketplace and music community; Bandcamp has paid nearly $1B to artists and labels  —  I'm excited to announce that Bandcamp is joining Epic Games, who you may know as the makers of Fortnite and Unreal Engine, and champions for a fair and open Internet.
Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:
Ukrainian vice PM calls for game companies to cut off Russia during the invasion, directly calling out Sony, Riot Games, EA, Ubisoft, Microsoft, and others  —  Vice PM says move “will motivate the citizens of Russia” to rise up in protest.  —  Mykhailo Fedorov, the vice prime minister …
Washington Post:
A profile of Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's youngest cabinet minister, who is using his Twitter account to pressure tech giants to shut down Russian propaganda  —  Six months ago, Mykhailo Fedorov, one of Ukraine's deputy prime ministers, made a pilgrimage to Silicon Valley to discuss his country's digital transformation.
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple announces a digital-only event dubbed “Peek performance” will be held on March 8 at 10am PT; a 5G iPhone SE, revamped iPad Air, and new Macs are expected  —  Apple today announced that it will be holding its first event of 2022 on Tuesday, March 8 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific …
Paul Alcorn / Tom's Hardware:
Intel, AMD, Arm, TSMC, Samsung, and others introduce the Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe) consortium to standardize die-to-die interconnects  —  A broad range of blue-chip industry promoters, like Intel, AMD, Arm, TSMC, and Samsung, among others, introduced the new Universal …
Stephen Harrison / Slate:
How Russia's war with Ukraine is playing out on Wikipedia; Russian Wikipedia editors decided to call an invasion what it is, rejecting the Kremlin's narrative  —  On Thursday, President Vladimir Putin issued the order for Russian forces to invade Ukraine.  Since then, Russians …
Mariella Moon / Engadget:
The US CPSC and Fitbit recall Fitbit Ionic smartwatches after receiving 118 reports of burn injuries; Fitbit sold ~1M units in the US and 693K internationally  —  Fitbit has issued a voluntary recall for Ionic smartwatches that it manufactured and sold from 2017 through 2020.
Andrew Hutchinson / Social Media Today:
Meta releases its Widely Viewed Content report for Q4, showing the most viewed Facebook Page was removed for violating policies; Meta would not reveal its name  —  Safe to say that Meta's efforts to refute the idea that Facebook amplifies divisive political content are not going exactly as it would have hoped.
Vikas SN / Moneycontrol:
Netflix acquires Finnish mobile game developer Next Games for ~$72M; the studio specializes in games based on entertainment franchises, such as Stranger Things  —  Next Games had released ‘Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales’, a role-playing game based on the streaming giant's hit 80s horror drama series in October last year.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon plans to close 68 brick-and-mortar retail locations across the US and the UK, including all of its Amazon Books, 4-star, and Pop Up stores  —  - Amazon plans to close all locations of its Pop Up, Books and 4-star stores, the company confirmed to CNBC.
Paresh Dave / Reuters:
Google will remove RT News and Sputnik News from the Play Store, after removing Russian state outlets from its news features, following a similar move by Apple  —  Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google said on Tuesday that it has blocked mobile apps connected to RT and Sputnik from its Play store …
Mark Scott / Politico:
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:
Ciaran Martin / Lawfare:
An in-depth look at Russia's offensive cyber capabilities, their potential use in Ukraine, the limitations of cyber power, and implications for the West  —  It turns out that the next war was not fought in cyberspace after all.  Or at least the start of it has not been.
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
SOTU: Biden asks Congress to pass new rules to enhance child safety on social media, including banning targeted ads to, and data collection of, children  —  He wants to ban targeted advertising to kids  —  President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass new rules to enhance child safety …
Dan Primack / Axios:
Nine days after the launch of Truth Social, valued at $3.5B+, Trump has not posted, the app has fallen to #57 in US App Store, and most remain on the waitlist  —  Former President Trump is blowing the launch of his new social media company, via a series of unforced errors.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: sports e-commerce startup Fanatics has raised $1.5B at a $27B valuation, up from $18B in August 2021  —  Investors in latest round include Fidelity Management & Research, funds managed by BlackRock and Michael Dell's family office  —  Fanatics Inc. has raised $1.5 billion from a group …
More: CNBC and Bloomberg

Sponsor Posts

TELUS Digital:
Are you ready for the era of agentic AI?  —  Tech leaders are always talking about what's next, and right now, agentic AI is dominating the discourse.  Equip yourself with the info you need in this recorded webinar.
Tribe AI:
State of AI: Adoption, Challenges and Recommendations  —  Examining the current state of AI, the key challenges organizations face, and practical recommendations for utilizing AI integration alongside other best practices.
Zoho:
5 reasons why digital signatures are a must-have for small and medium enterprises  —  Every morning, Hazel stops by her favorite corner cafe, where the barista already knows her order—a double espresso, no sugar.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Techmeme Ride Home:
Mooooaaar Models!
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
How Trump's tariffs actually work on the ground
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Great Chat:
Imposter syndrome is due for a rebrand
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
How to make money in Washington, with Punchbowl's Jake Sherman
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Spotlight On:
*RSA Preview* 1Password's Jeff Shiner on balancing B2B and B2C customers in a rapidly evolving tech landscape
A podcast from Accel about how companies are built, from the people doing the building.
Subscribe to Spotlight On.
Invest Like the Best:
Neil Mehta - Finding Future S&P 500 Companies
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:15 PM ET, March 2, 2022.

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

Washington Post:
Chris Stokel-Walker / Wired: