Techmeme
April 18, 2022, 5:55 PM

Top News

Matt Levine / Bloomberg:
A look at corporate raider tactics requiring 51% of a company's stock, which tend to treat remaining minority shareholders poorly, amid Twitter's “poison pill”  —  Poison pills  —  Here are some things you could do 1 :  — Buy 51% of the stock of a public company …
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
To unlock its vast potential, Twitter should go private and split into two companies: one for the service and social graph and one for its apps and ad business  —  Elon Musk wrote in a letter to Twitter's board: … The vast majority of commentary about the Musk-Twitter saga has focused …
Reed Albergotti / Washington Post:
Experts say open sourcing Twitter's algorithm will not increase transparency because recommendation engines are complex and use an immense fire hose of data  —  Conservatives have long claimed discrimination by the social network, but there's no one algorithm that could prove it, researchers say
Ronan Farrow / New Yorker:
An in-depth investigation into the $12B spyware industry, dominated by Israel's NSO Group, as Citizen Lab finds Pegasus infected a device in the UK's No. 10  —  The inside story of the world's most notorious commercial spyware and the big tech companies waging war against it.
The Citizen Lab:
An investigation finds 65+ Catalans were targeted by Pegasus or Candiru, likely by Spanish authorities, and details Homage, a new iOS zero-click used by NSO  —  Key Findings  — The Citizen Lab, in collaboration with Catalan civil society groups, has identified at least 65 individuals targeted or infected with mercenary spyware.
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Report: Microsoft is working on a program to let select brands advertise within free-to-play Xbox games, such as on a billboard, and won't take a revenue cut  —  The ads supposedly wouldn't disrupt gameplay  —  Microsoft is reportedly working on a program that will let brands showcase …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Code on Twitter's site reveals how an upcoming Edit button could work: by making a new tweet with the updated content and listing the old tweets before the edit  —  This month, Twitter announced the ground-shaking news that it was actually going to offer users a way to edit tweets — a longtime user request.
Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch:
a16z unveils Start, an accelerator that offers early-stage founders up to $1M in capital from its seed fund, after quietly piloting the program for over a year  —  For more than a year, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has quietly piloted its own take on an accelerator for early-stage entrepreneurs …
Stacey Higginbotham / Stacey on IoT:
Smart home and IoT company Insteon seemingly shuts down as home hubs suddenly stop working and LinkedIn profiles of top executives show their roles have ended  —  Is your Insteon smart home system down?  I'm getting reports from dozens of Insteon users that as of Friday their smart home hubs have stopped working.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro is now available, with thinking capabilities, enhanced performance, and improved accuracy.  Try it at no cost in the Gemini app.
UiPath:
UiPath Unveils 10 Innovations that Will Shape the Agentic Future  —  Orchestration engine, API workflows and agentic testing among key features of new UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation, launched at UiPath DevCon 2025
Zoho:
Zoho Books now enables direct VAT filing with EmaraTax  —  We're excited to announce that Zoho Books is now recognised as a Digital Tax Integrator by the Federal Tax Authority, enabling direct VAT return filing from within your favorite accounting software.
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

Lenny's Podcast:
Growth tactics from OpenAI and Stripe's first marketer | Krithika Shankarraman
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Tim Apple's Very Bad Week
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
The Logan Bartlett Show:
Jeffrey Katzenberg & Sujay Jaswa (WndrCo) on What Startup Founders Can Steal From Hollywood
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
Subscribe to The Logan Bartlett Show.
Hard Fork:
Google DeepMind C.E.O. Demis Hassabis on Living in an A.I. Future
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
BG2 Pod:
AI, Middle East, China, Tariffs, Recon Bill, Invest America
Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley.
Subscribe to BG2 Pod.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is okay with reinventing the bus
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:55 PM ET, April 18, 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

Ignacio Olivera Doll / Bloomberg:
Kate Kaye / Protocol:
Michael McSweeney / The Block: