Techmeme
April 12, 2022, 9:30 AM

Top News

The Verge:
Meta rolls out a test for some creators to sell virtual items and effects in Horizon Worlds, which will take a 25% cut of any sale after app store fees  —  Horizon Worlds will take a 25 percent cut of any sale after app store fees  —  Meta is testing new features to let creators …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple has delayed adding a blood pressure monitor to Watch until 2024, possibly 2025, after difficulties with accuracy during testing  —  Apple Inc.'s plan to add a highly anticipated blood-pressure monitor to its smartwatch has hit some snags and the technology isn't expected …
Olga Kharif / Bloomberg:
Ethereum developers launch the so-called mainnet shadow fork, a key stress test ahead of the proof-of-stake Merge upgrade, expected to reduce energy use by ~99%  —  Ethereum's network is inching closer toward its much-anticipated software upgrade known as the Merge, having just entered a key testing step.
Bhanvi Satija / Reuters:
Research: TikTok's ad revenue is projected to triple in 2022 to $11B+, surpassing Twitter and Snapchat combined, which are expected to make $5.58B and $4.86B  —  Video-sharing app TikTok's advertisement revenue is likely to triple in 2022 to more than $11 billion, exceeding the combined sales …
Eli Tan / CoinDesk:
Coinbase will produce a movie trilogy based on the Bored Ape Yacht Club, set to premier at NFT.NYC in June; BAYC owners can submit their apes for consideration  —  The trio of films will tie into the launch of Coinbase's long-awaited NFT marketplace.  —  The Bored Ape Yacht Club is getting …
Andi Ortiz / The Wrap:
Last Week Tonight's John Oliver weighed in on data brokers, showing how easy it was to target members of Congress with ads after obtaining their personal info  —  John Oliver escalated his typical shenanigans on Sunday night's episode of “Last Week Tonight,” going from poking fun at politicians to outright blackmailing them.
Jill R Shah / Bloomberg:
Filing: Meta spent $26.8M on Mark Zuckerberg's security in 2021, up 6% from 2020, far above other execs, such as Sundar Pichai ($4.3M) and Jeff Bezos ($1.6M)  —  The cost of keeping Mark Zuckerberg safe keeps going up for Meta Platforms Inc., far outstripping what similar technology companies with high-profile executives are spending.
Dina Bass / Bloomberg:
Some business customers say Microsoft's licensing rules make it harder and costlier to run Windows and Office on rival cloud platforms like AWS and Google Cloud  —  The current tide of antitrust scrutiny and regulations focused on big technology companies has conspicuously omitted one company …
More: BenzingaTweets: @dinabass, @bradstone, @markets, and @pelstrom
Alex Konrad / Forbes:
A profile of a16z's Chris Dixon, whose early bets on crypto startups, including Coinbase, Uniswap, and Dapper Labs, have made him Forbes' top VC in the space  —  The Andreessen Horowitz partner is the new no. 1 on Forbes' 21st annual Midas List of top venture investors, thanks to savvy bets on tokens …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Singapore-based fashion marketplace Zilingo suspends CEO Ankiti Bose, after attempts to raise $150M-$200M led to an investigation over its accounting  —  Zilingo Pte, one of Singapore's highest-profile startups, has suspended Chief Executive Officer Ankiti Bose after an effort …
Janko Roettgers / Protocol:
Netflix is rolling out a Double Thumbs Up ratings option, which will appear next to the thumbs up and down buttons, to let it refine content recommendations  —  For nearly five years, Netflix has had simple thumbs-up and thumbs-down icons to express viewing preferences and help its algorithms provide better recommendations.
Yogita Khatri / The Block:
Chicago-based BloXroute, which develops blockchain agnostic tools for DeFi trading, raises a $70M Series B led by Vision Fund 2  —  Quick Take  — BloXroute has raised $70 million in new funding from SoftBank, Jane Street and others.  — The firm plans to expand its team to 100 people, CEO Uri Klarman says.
More: CoinDesk and Reuters
Brad Stone / Bloomberg:
Marc Andreessen has tweeted ~350 times in the past two weeks, often referring to “the current thing” meme, joined by Elon Musk and others  —  Three of America's top technologists are talking and tweeting with unusual fervor.  But first...  - Beijing is targeting tech companies' algorithms
Akshat Rathi / Bloomberg:
A look at Stripe's $925M Frontier initiative, which funds carbon-removal startups and has received funding from Alphabet, Shopify, Meta, and others  —  Some of the world's largest companies will spend $925 million buying offsets from startups that remove carbon dioxide from the air.

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Earlier Picks

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Omar Abdel-Baqui / Wall Street Journal: