Techmeme
February 3, 2021, 4:25 PM

Top News

Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Jeff Bezos departs as perhaps the best CEO in tech history, having created three huge businesses: Amazon.com, AWS, and Amazon's marketplace/fulfillment services  —  It's the refunds that blow my mind.  —  You may be surprised to know that, despite the fact I live in Taiwan, I have an Amazon Prime account.
Brad Stone / Bloomberg:
CNBC:
Amazon Investor Relations:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
TikTok will prompt users to seek credible information if they try to share videos flagged as misleading, and disincentivize creators from uploading such content  —  TikTok will begin asking users to seek credible information about a topic if they try to share a video that carries …
Robert McMillan / Wall Street Journal:
SolarWinds CEO says hackers had breached the company's Office 365 email system for at least nine months starting December 2019  —  Investigators still don't know how the company was breached in attack that will cost millions  —  The newly appointed chief executive of SolarWinds Corp …
Bloomberg:
Report: Apple plans $3.6B investment in Kia, with a deal on Feb. 17, and aims to start making cars in Georgia, US in 2024, with initial target of 100K cars/year  —  - Local media report says deal may be signed later this month  — Hyundai last month confirmed then backed away from Apple talks
BuzzFeed News:
Facebook says it will try to protect posts that criticized Myanmar's military and its coup and will remove content that praises or supports the coup  —  After failing to stem the hate speech and misinformation that fueled a genocide in Myanmar, Facebook now says it plans …
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Box says it has acquired Dutch cloud-based e-signature startup SignRequest for $55M and plans to launch Box Sign in summer 2021  —  Cloud storage and collaboration giant Box has announced plans to acquire SignRequest, a cloud-based electronic signature (e-signature) startup based in the Netherlands, in a deal worth $55 million.
Sam Byford / The Verge:
Sony says it shipped 4.5M PlayStation 5 units worldwide in 2020, and reports revenue of $8.4B in Q3, up 40% YoY, operating profit of $763.3M, up 50%  —  A similar figure to the PS4 launch  —  Sony shipped 4.5 million PlayStation 5 units worldwide in 2020, as revealed by information published alongside …
Marc Andreessen / Andreessen Horowitz:
a16z names Sriram Krishnan as its newest GP, after roles at Facebook, Snap, Twitter; Krishnan has been consulting for nine months on an a16z “community project”  —  Welcome, Sriram Krishnan, our newest general partner, to Andreessen Horowitz!  —  Sriram is a well-known …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Jack Ma's Ant Group has reached an agreement with Chinese regulators to turn Ant into a financial holding company, subject to bank capital requirements  —  - Ma's fintech giant will become a financial holding company  — Ant is still exploring a potential IPO, but timeline unclear
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Google rolls out an update for Android TV with a refreshed UI that is similar to Google TV on Chromecast  —  A fresh look for Google's (other) smart TV software  —  Google is rolling out a new update for Android TV that gives its smart TV OS a fresh new look — one that's almost identical …
Reuters:
Microsoft says it supports Australia's proposed new laws forcing Google and Facebook to pay for news content and it would be “willing to live by these rules”  —  (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp said on Wednesday it fully supported proposed new laws in Australia that would force internet giants Google …
Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:
Spotify reports Q4 results: 345M MAUs, up 27% YoY, as paying subscribers grew to 155M, up 24% YoY, topping expectations; revenue was up 17% YoY to €2.17B  —  But streaming giant offers conservative outlook for the current year as new sign-ups could ebb
Matthew Ball / MatthewBall.vc:
Apple's iOS is inhibiting the growth of the future internet but regulators can remedy that by forcing Apple into competition in app distribution and payments  —  Chapter One: The Creation of Today's Internet and the Needs of Tomorrow's  —  One of the neat things about the internet is who created it, why, and how.
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Online grocery delivery service Good Eggs raises $100M led by Glade Brook Capital Partners  —  Grocery delivery startup Good Eggs is announcing that it has raised $100 million in new funding, and that it's planning to launch in Southern California in either the summer or fall of this year.
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
India warns Twitter to comply with its order to block content related to a farmer protest and not “assume the role of a court and justify non-compliance”  —  India has issued a notice to Twitter, warning the American social firm to comply with New Delhi's order to block accounts …
Jill Lepore / New Yorker:
Nations are engaging in a cyberweapons arms race, with agencies like the NSA prioritizing offensive capabilities over defense, fueling a lucrative 0-day market  —  Amid a global gold rush for digital weapons, the infrastructure of our daily lives has never been more vulnerable.

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Zoho:
How you can grow your business with Zoho One  —  Zoho One is a comprehensive business suite, giving businesses the scalability, stability, security, and features they need for smooth operations.
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Thu. 11/14 - The FBI (!) Investigating Polymarket
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:25 PM ET, February 3, 2021.

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

Jay Greene / Washington Post:
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Kris Holt / Engadget:
Jesse Pound / CNBC: