Techmeme
December 18, 2023, 6:35 AM

Top News

New York Times:
Disney, WBD, and other studios are licensing more content to Netflix in return for much-needed cash, but are holding back their most popular movies and shows  —  When building their own streaming companies, many entertainment studios ended lucrative licensing deals with Netflix.
Tage Kene-Okafor / TechCrunch:
Saudi shopping and BNPL startup Tamara raised a $340M Series C led by PIF-owned SNB Capital at a $1B valuation, taking its total funding to $500M since 2020  —  Tamara, a buy now pay later platform for consumers in Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC region, has raised $340 million in a financing round that values the fintech at $1 billion.
More: Bloomberg
Wall Street Journal:
Western intelligence officials say that former Wirecard COO Jan Marsalek, who fled to Moscow after nearly $2B went missing, was likely a Russian agent for years  —  Jan Marsalek, the jet-setting former COO of now-defunct Wirecard, enabled Moscow to fund covert operations around the world, officials say; ‘whiff of Silicon Valley’
Justine Calma / The Verge:
How conservationists are using AI tool CeruleanAI, developed by the Coral Restoration Foundation, to analyze 3D maps of reefs and monitor restoration  —  Time is running out to save the world's coral reefs, so conservationists are turning to every tool they can to protect vanishing reefs — including AI.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro (experimental) 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:
How EQ plays a defining role in workplace communication  —  What if everyone you worked with had a psychic ability to understand how you're feeling and respond accordingly?  Wouldn't that be great?
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

The Logan Bartlett Show:
Debunking Healthcare's Biggest Myths with Zach Weinberg and Derek Thompson
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
Subscribe to The Logan Bartlett Show.
Techmeme Ride Home:
The Thin-Phone Era Is Here
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Spotlight On:
Supabase's Paul Copplestone on the difference between "playing startup" and strategy
A podcast from Accel about how companies are built, from the people doing the building.
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Diggnation:
Quitting Booze, Quitting Alexa, and AI Tries to Replace Us All
Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht give you their unique, sometimes awkward, and always hilarious take on the edges of the internet.
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More News

Washington Post:
Yue Wang / Forbes:
George Hammond / Financial Times:
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Erin Woo / The Information:

Earlier Picks

Michael Acton / Financial Times:
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Alex Heath / The Verge:
Margi Murphy / Bloomberg:
New York Times: