Note: Techmeme is hiring part-time editors. Go here to apply, or tell a friend!
|
November 2, 2021, 10:45 PM
|
Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| New York Times: |
Meta plans to shut down Facebook's decade-old facial recognition system this month, deleting the face scan data of 1B+ users following legal and regulatory woes — Saying it wants “to find the right balance” with the technology, the social network will delete the face scan data of more than one billion users.
More:
Meta, Gizmodo, Wired, Ars Technica, CNBC, Reuters, PYMNTS.com, Electronic Frontier Foundation, The Verge, TechSpot, USA Today, Social Media Today, Quartz, Financial Times, Protocol, Android Central, WRAL TechWire, NBC News, ZDNet, VICE, Associated Press, CyberScoop, Engadget, PCMag, Input, The Irish Times, Fortune, Liliputing, MacRumors, BleepingComputer, TNW, Insider, CNET, Voice of America, Neowin, The Hill, AppleInsider, TechCrunch, Tom's Guide, Tech Xplore, Mashable, TechRadar, MSPoweruser, and Game Developer
Tweets: @kashhill, @nytimes, @kevinbankston, @katecrawford, @eff, @swodinsky, @charlescearl, @jovialjoy, @xor, @samfbiddle, @petermdenton, @tomgara, @shiraovide, @rmac18, @aprilaser, @jt_teran, @broderick, @brianbrackeen, @alexhern, @evacide, @om, @stephenpunwasi, @ryan_browne_, @om, @guntruth, @rcalo, @donie, @katienotopoulos, @mattburgess1, @nickwatts1988, @slpng_giants, @edzitron, @eculliford, @jfreewright, @jonrosenberg, @marshacollier, @jason_grosse, @jason_kint, @peninsulaqatar, @akianastasiou, @caseyjohnston, @katienotopoulos, @neontaster, @jkosseff, @aprilaser, @shahidforchange, @digiphile, @om, @kashhill, and @jbadomics
| Taylor Soper / GeekWire: |
Zillow says it is shutting down its home buying business, laying off ~2,000 employees, and taking a write down of $500M+; stock drops 10%+ — Zillow Group's ambitious tech-fueled bid to shake up how people buy and sell homes is coming to a surprising end. — The Seattle online real estate giant …
More:
Bloomberg, Zillow Group, Inc., CNBC, MarketWatch, MobileSyrup, Gizmodo, Wall Street Journal, VICE, Associated Press, The Seattle Times, ZDNet, New York Times, The Information, Silicon Valley Business …, Protocol, CNN, CBS News, Barron's Online, Fortune, Insider, Axios, The Verge, The Real Deal New York, and Insider
Tweets: @opendoor, @jowens510, @kelseyhightower, @lt3000lyall, @darrenrovell, @jowens510, @jonfortt, @xerxeswuff, @kyweise, @samro, @mikeisaac, @dangeiger79, @derektmead, @killedbygoogle, @seldo, @ajlatrace, @carnage4life, and @paul_essen. Thanks:@kslosh
| Tom Warren / The Verge: |
Microsoft will bring its mixed reality platform Mesh with 3D avatars and VR support to Teams in the first half of 2022 — Microsoft and Meta are on a collision course for metaverse competition — Microsoft is entering the race to build a metaverse inside Teams, just days after Facebook rebranded …
More:
Bloomberg, The Official Microsoft Blog, Microsoft 365 Blog, Microsoft, Fast Company, Benzinga, VentureBeat, CNET, Social Media Today, PCWorld, Thurrott, The Week, XDA Developers, Neowin, KnowTechie, Computerworld, TechRadar, Gizmodo, MSPoweruser, GeekWire, Protocol, Blockworks, HotHardware.com News, cloudpro.co.uk, and SlashGear
Tweets: @avinash, @stroughtonsmith, @microsoft365, @rleshner, @jamespmcleod, @pewilliams_, @ibogost, @brianroemmele, @bennetttomlin, @arrington, @vanvidum, @jeffteper, @el33th4xor, @mcnees, @chriscapossela, @kchoudhu, @microsoft, @resnikoff, @maryjofoley, @emilychangtv, @darth, @anonopshispano, @lenkiefer, and @carnage4life
| Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: |
Microsoft announces Loop, an app that combines a “flexible canvas” with collaborative components that sync across Microsoft 365 services — At its Ignite 2021 conference today, Microsoft announced Loop, a new app that combines a “flexible canvas” with components … | Mike Minotti / VentureBeat: |
Activision Blizzard says Blizzard co-leader Jen Oneal is stepping down, leaving Mike Ybarra as sole leader; Oneal says she'll focus on diversity in the industry — Activision Blizzard announced today that Jen Oneal is stepping down from her role as Blizzard co-leader, which she started in August along with Mike Ybarra.
More:
Blizzard News, Game Developer, Kotaku, Washington Post, GamesIndustry.biz, gamerant.com, NME, Engadget, The Verge, PC Gamer, Windows Central, IGN, Kotaku, Destructoid, gamerant.com, and Polygon
Tweets: @velocciraptor, @pezradar, @jasonschreier, @lepidopterrors, and @blizzard_ent
| Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat: |
Activision Blizzard reports Q3 revenue of $2.07B, up 6% YoY, net bookings of $1.88B, up 6% YoY, as user growth remains flat at 390M MAUs — Join gaming leaders online at GamesBeat Summit Next this upcoming November 9-10. Learn more about what comes next.| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Netflix rolls out its exclusive mobile games globally to the Play Store and plans to feature them in its Android app starting this week — After early tests in select markets, Netflix announced today its debut lineup of exclusive mobile games will begin rolling out to all members globally on Android devices, starting this week.
Source:
About Netflix. More:
Comic Book, iThinkDifferent, The Verge, Polygon, Moneycontrol, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, 9to5Google, Reuters, Gizmodo, CNBC, 9to5Mac, iPhone in Canada Blog, CNET, Variety, Android Headlines, Engadget, AppleInsider, and SlashGear
Tweets: @gartenberg, @stroughtonsmith, @alexisohanian, and @markgurman
| Jon Porter / The Verge: |
Zoom says it is testing ads on its free Basic tier; the ads appear on the browser page shown to users at the end of a call — They'll appear in a browser page at the end of meetings — Zoom is piloting showing ads to users on its free “Basic” tier, the company has announced in a blog post.
More:
Zoom Blog, TechCrunch, ZDNet, The Hill, Protocol, iPhone in Canada Blog, iMore, and 9to5Mac
Tweets: @hhariri, @saralivingston, @pierrefar, @ndiakopoulos, @jaycuthrell, and @s_m_i
| Manish Singh / TechCrunch: |
Coinbase is acquiring Agara, which operates an AI-powered customer support platform in India and the US; sources say the price is between $40M and $50M — Coinbase is acquiring the startup Agara, which operates an AI-powered customer support platform, the two said Tuesday …
More:
The Coinbase Blog, Moneycontrol, YourStory.com, AMBCrypto, Cointelegraph, CoinDesk, Entrackr, and Coinspeaker
Tweets: @pankaj, @thinkspection, @refsrc, @sanjaynath, @shanaggarwal, and @coinbase
| Cameron Faulkner / The Verge: |
Oculus rolls out v34, adding a Space Sense safety feature notifying users when objects, people, or animals intrude on a safe VR space, alongside other features — Version 34 is starting to roll out today — Fresh off of Meta's Connect 2021 keynote, where Grand Theft Auto …
More:
Oculus Blog, Road to VR, Android Central, Kotaku, SlashGear, and VRScout
Tweets: @j_shepz, @rufftalkvr, @schrep, @matinassi, and @thekenyeung
| Nikkei Asia: |
Sources: Nintendo will only be able to produce ~24M units of its Switch game console in FY 2021 due to chip shortages, 20% below its original plan of 30M — Production revised down to 24 million units for fiscal 2021 despite high demand — OSAKA — Nintendo will only be able to produce …
More:
Ubergizmo, Benzinga, GamingBolt, Kotaku, Reuters, iMore, GameSpot, Gameranx, MobileSyrup, Tom's Guide, gamerant.com, TechSpot, thegamer.com, The Verge, Insider, TechRadar, and Wccftech. Tweets: @stealth40k
| Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet: |
Microsoft Edge for Linux is now available for all users, supporting multiple distributions including Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, and openSUSE — It's ‘Chredge’ time for Linux: Microsoft's Edge browser is now generally available for a number of Linux distributions.
More:
Windows Blog, MSPoweruser, Ars Technica, PCWorld, About Chromebooks, XDA Developers, and OnMSFT.com
Tweets: @kylealden, @liliputingnews, and @maryjofoley
| Emily Flitter / New York Times: |
After downplaying cryptocurrencies early on, banks are experimenting with them more and lobbying regulators for rules to deny crypto lenders “unfair” advantages — Digital payments technology is forcing the financial system to evolve. Banks feel their power waning and want to regain control.| Meaghan Tobin / Rest of World: |
As Microsoft shuts down LinkedIn in China, developers worry GitHub could be next, even though nearly 10% of GitHub's contributors in 2020 were from China — As Microsoft scales back the Chinese version of LinkedIn, developers worry the code repository could be next.
Tweets: @anupkaphle
| Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC: |
Lyft reports Q3 revenue of $864.4M, up 73% YoY and up 13% QoQ, but misses with 18.9M active riders vs 19.7M estimated; stock up 12%+ after hours — - Lyft reported third-quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell, sending shares surging in extended trading.
More:
PYMNTS.com, Lyft, MarketWatch, FreightWaves, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, and Reuters
| Andrei Frumusanu / AnandTech: |
Deep dive on Pixel 6's Tensor SoC, its architecture, and how it compares to rival chips like Snapdragon 888 and Exynos 2100 in performance and efficiency tests — It's been about two weeks since Google officially announced their newest flagship devices in the form of the Pixel 6, and Pixel 6 Pro.Thanks:@iancutress
| Marie Dealessandri / GamesIndustry.biz: |
Splash, whose AI tools facilitate music creation and integration in games, including in Roblox, raises a $20M Series A led by Alexa Fund and Bitkraft Ventures — The funding round was co-led by Amazon's Alexa Fund and Bitkraft Ventures — Roblox music game developer Splash raised $20 million …
More:
VentureBeat and Music Business Worldwide
| Eduardo Thomson / Bloomberg: |
Chilean fintech startup Fintual raises a $39M Series B led by Sequoia, says it manages $665M in assets for 70,000+ clients through passive investments like ETFs — - Chilean startup Fintual will use the funds to expand in Mexico — Fintual CEO Pedro Pineda speaks in exclusive interview| Bloomberg: |
Shares of Kakao Pay, South Korea's largest mobile payments app, surged 150%+ in early trading after it raised $1.3B in its Seoul IPO at a ~$9.94B valuation — - Fintech firm had to delay its IPO by more than two months — Regulatory crackdown has hurt sentiment for tech shares
More:
Reuters, Nikkei Asia, and The Korea Times
| Liza Lin / Wall Street Journal: |
Yahoo pulls its services out of China in a largely symbolic gesture following LinkedIn, citing an “increasingly challenging business and legal environment” — Yahoo Inc. said it was pulling out of China, citing an increasingly challenging business and legal environment …
More:
Bloomberg, ZDNet, Japan Today, Variety, Protocol, Barron's Online, The Guardian, SlashGear, PCMag, TechSpot, iTnews, and Quartz
Tweets: @lizalinwsj, @jojjeols, @dalperovitch, @jilliancyork, @jacobhelberg, @bigblackjacobin, @keithjkrach, and @isaacstonefish
| Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security: |
Researchers discover a Unicode security vulnerability that affects most code compilers, including for Go, C++, C#, JavaScript, Java, Rust, and Python — Virtually all compilers — programs that transform human-readable source code into computer-executable machine code …
More:
research.swtch.com, Washington Post, TechSpot, and HotHardware.com News
Tweets: @filosottile, @siddhesh_p, @chandlerc1024, and @filosottile
| Clara Molot / Bloomberg: |
Match Group reports Q3 revenue of $802M, up 25% YoY, with 16.3M paying users, up 16% YoY, but forecasts weaker Q4 growth, citing lingering COVID effects in Asia — - Fourth-quarter revenue comes in short; Ebitda is in line — Third-quarter revenue up 25%, meeting analysts' estimates
More:
Match Group, Dallas Business Journal, MarketWatch, and Reuters
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.
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
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:
New in Zoho Payroll USA: Multi-state payroll and more — Running payroll shouldn't get harder as your business grows. Whether you've expanded into new states or built a team with unique needs …
New in Zoho Payroll USA: Multi-state payroll and more — Running payroll shouldn't get harder as your business grows. Whether you've expanded into new states or built a team with unique needs …
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.
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
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Jordan Bramble from Antares
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Apple Playing Games Again
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
How to Reinvent a Magazine, with Wired's Katie Drummond
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Azeem Azhar's Exponential View:
GitHub CEO on what AI means for developer salaries, SaaS, and more
Azeem Azhar explores how AI and exponential technologies are shaping our future.
Subscribe to Azeem Azhar's Exponential View.
Spotlight On:
*Live from Accel's 2025 People Summit* Behind the Netflix Culture Deck with Patty McCord and Jessica Neal
A podcast from Accel about how companies are built, from the people doing the building.
Subscribe to Spotlight On.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
Google CEO Sundar Pichai on the future of search, AI agents, and selling Chrome
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 10:45 PM ET, November 2, 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.
From Mediagazer
Wall Street Journal:Ben Johansen / Politico:
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Upcoming Tech Events
Earlier Picks
| Tage Kene-Okafor / TechCrunch: |
More:
afrotech.com, BENJAMIN DADA, and Bitcoin Magazine
Tweets: @hserunjogi, @chippercashapp, @500globalvc, @samwyri, @adetolaov, @pitdesi, and @arlanwashere