Techmeme
December 7, 2022, 6:10 AM

Top News

Shannon Liao / Washington Post:
Microsoft agrees a 10-year deal to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo Switch for the first time, pending FTC approval of its Activision deal, but offers no date  —  Microsoft has signed a deal to bring the Activision Blizzard-published Call of Duty franchise to Nintendo for the first time …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple reins in its ambitious self-driving plans for its electric vehicle, delayed to 2026, now with a steering wheel, pedals, and highway-only autonomy  —  Apple Inc. has scaled back ambitious self-driving plans for its future electric vehicle and postponed the car's target launch date …
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Apple, AMD, and Nvidia have all indicated plans to buy chips from TSMC's future Arizona fabs, expected to open in 2024 and 2026  —  - Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke at an event in Arizona on Tuesday, ahead of remarks expected by President Joe Biden later in the day, where Cook confirmed Apple will buy chips built in the U.S.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Apple changes App Store pricing to range from $0.29 to $10,000, from $0.49 to $999.99, starting with subscription apps; top 100 prices require Apple's approval  —  Apple Inc. is changing the pricing structure for the App Store to let developers charge a wider range of amounts …
Financial Times:
A spreadsheet SBF used in November lists nearly 500 alleged VC investments by Alameda, including in Circle, Genesis, Sky Mavis, Paxos, StarkWare, and Anchorage  —  A look inside Sam and Caroline's grab-bag of crypto, etc.  —  As well as running a crypto exchange that didn't exchange crypto …
Aaron Holmes / The Information:
Sources: Microsoft recently considered building a “super app” that would combine shopping, messaging, search, news, and other services, inspired by WeChat  —  Microsoft recently considered building a “super app” that could combine shopping, messaging, web search …
William Turton / Bloomberg:
Shaurya Malwa / CoinDesk:
Facing a large deficit in its treasury, DeFi protocol Sushi proposes diverting fees from the Kanpai protocol and reduces its runway requirement from $9M to $5M  —  Developers proposed to divert 100% of fees generated on the platform to Sushi's multisig for one year or until new tokenomics are implemented.
Gretchen Morgenson / NBC News:
A look at Silvergate, one of the few US banks that let customers move dollars onto crypto exchanges, now drawing congressional scrutiny following FTX's collapse  —  Silvergate is one of the few U.S. banks that let customers move dollars onto crypto exchanges.  FTX and related firms, like Alameda Research, had 20 Silvergate accounts.
Helene Braun / CoinDesk:
Signature Bank plans to reduce its crypto-tied deposits by $8B-$10B to under 15%; as of September 2022, ~23.5% of the bank's $103B deposits came from crypto  —  Nearly a quarter of the Wall Street bank's current deposits come from crypto-related businesses.
Bloomberg:
Hedge fund Fir Tree Capital sues Grayscale Investments for info on potential mismanagement, as GBTC, down ~74% YTD, trades at a ~43% discount to its BTC's value  —  Fir Tree Capital Management is suing Grayscale Investments for information to investigate potential mismanagement and conflicts …
New York Times:
How Geneva-based developer Proton is waging a sustained fight against Russia's censorship and surveillance campaigns using its VPN tech  —  The cat-and-mouse experience of Proton, a Swiss company, shows what it's like to be targeted by Russian censors — and what it takes to fight back.
Pew Research Center:
A survey of 19 developed nations: 57% say social media has been good for democracy, 35% say it has been bad; in the US, 34% think it has been good for democracy  —  Most think social media has made it easier to manipulate and divide people, but also say it informs and raises awareness
Thomas Claburn / The Register:
Researchers find industrial robot exposure among Chinese workers led to a 7.5% decline in employment, 9% drop in hourly wages, and 14% increase in hours worked  —  Exposed to 'droids?  Symptoms may include disinterest, unemployment, lower pay, along with a bit of depopulation
Nilesh Christopher / Rest of World:
How, in two years, JioMart grew to fulfill 600K grocery deliveries per day in 260 Indian cities, via WhatsApp integration and using Dunzo for last-mile delivery  —  In its first Diwali season, JioMart's daily sales grew by 2.5 times, with the company managing to shed its grocery-only image.
Jon Porter / The Verge:
WhatsApp begins rolling out cutomizable avatars, already available on Facebook and Instagram, letting users choose from 36 stickers  —  Avatars, the customizable characters that are already available across Meta services like Facebook and Instagram, are officially launching on WhatsApp.

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