Techmeme
August 31, 2022, 10:25 AM

Top News

Alex Heath / The Verge:
Sources: Snap plans to start laying off ~20% of its 6,400+ employees on August 31, 2022, including cuts to its hardware group; Snap stock is down ~80% in 2022  —  Snap's stock price has declined nearly 80 percent this year  —  Snap is planning to lay off approximately 20 percent …
Alex Heath / The Verge:
Memo: on top of cutting 20% of its staff, Snap is canceling its original shows, in-app games, and several other projects; layoffs could save $500M annually  —  Snapchat's original shows, in-app games, and camera drone are no more  —  Snap is laying off around 20 percent of its more than 6,400 employees …
Alex Heath / The Verge:
Mat Di Salvo / Decrypt:
Crypto.com sues an Australian woman after erroneously sending her AU$10.5M in May 2021 when she requested a AU$100 refund; the woman allegedly bought a house  —  A woman asked for a $100 refund from the crypto platform but instead received $10.5 million—and then went on a spending spree, according to reports.
Monica Chin / The Verge:
Asus Zenbook 17 Fold review: foldable OLED display with a comfortable keyboard and professional look, but $3,500 is expensive and there are software glitches  —  It's a 17-inch foldable that actually works  —  Ever since Samsung Display showed off a 17-inch foldable OLED screen last May …
Bloomberg:
Apple's VP of Corporate Development Adrian Perica has quietly left Didi's board; Perica joined the board in 2016 after Apple's $1B investment in Didi  —  An Apple Inc. executive has left the board of Didi Global Inc., as the Chinese ride-hailing company struggles to regain ground …
Josephine Wolff / Wired:
Cyber insurers are failing to reduce companies' cyber risk exposure and to cover breached firms' costs after state-sponsored cyberattacks that fall short of war  —  Cyberinsurance doesn't cover acts of war.  But even as cyberattacks mount, the definition of “warlike” actions remains blurry.
Naomi Nix / Washington Post:
Researchers: self-harm posts are on the rise on Twitter, including graphic photos and high engagement; one hashtag grew to 30,000 tweets by July 2022  —  Self-harm related hashtags have increased roughly 500 percent since October, a new report says  —  A Twitter user in apparent distress turned …
Will Oremus / Washington Post:
Twitter's Elon Musk takeover saga has only amplified its problems, which stem from a broken business model at odds with the platform's freewheeling nature  —  Its ill-fated foray into adult content is emblematic of an unpoliceable platform — and a broken business model
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Live Nation's Ticketmaster partners with Dapper Labs to release ticket NFTs on the Flow blockchain and expands its NFL partnership for NFTs to 100 games  —  Ticketmaster will now let event organizers issue NFTs (non-fungible tokens) tied to tickets on Flow, a blockchain operated by a16z-backed Dapper Labs.
Jack Stebbins / CNBC:
Royal Caribbean Cruises partners with SpaceX's Starlink to offer internet onboard all its ships; installations are scheduled to be completed in early 2023  —  - Royal Caribbean Cruises will begin offering onboard internet via SpaceX's Starlink satellite network.
MK Manoylov / The Block:
Kevin Rose's NFT startup Proof announces a $50M Series A led by a16z, the NFT project Moonbirds Mythics launching in 2023, and a DAO to license Moonbirds' name  —  - Additional participants in the round include Collab+Currency, Flamingo DAO, SV Angel, VaynerFund and Seven Seven Six.
ProPublica:
An investigation details a huge Instagram verification scheme using fake profiles on Spotify, Apple Music, and more; Meta removes badges from 300+ accounts  —  ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.  Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published.

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More News

Andy Baio / Waxy.org:

Earlier Picks

Jonathan Greig / The Record:
Natasha Singer / New York Times:
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Jordan Middler / Video Games Chronicle: