Techmeme
November 17, 2021, 11:00 AM

Top News

Ian Sherr / CNET:
Apple announces Self Service Repair, a program starting next year that will publish repair manuals, let customers buy parts and tools, and more  —  The tech giant says it will publish repair manuals and allow everyday customers to buy the same parts and tools certified technicians and repair shops use.
Shannon Liao / Washington Post:
Over 100 Activision Blizzard employees staged a walkout on Tuesday, the second in four months, demanding CEO Bobby Kotick step down, after a WSJ report  —  This story has been updated from a previous version.  —  IRVINE, Calif. — Employees at beleaguered video game company Activision Blizzard walked …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Activision CEO failed to inform the board about allegations an employee had been raped by her supervisor in 2016 and 2017, even after a settlement  —  Top executive didn't inform board of some reports, including alleged rapes; company faces multiple regulatory investigations
Sam Dean / Los Angeles Times:
LA's iconic Staples Center to be renamed as Crypto.com Arena, sources say in a deal worth $700M+ for 20 years  —  Staples Center is getting a new name for Christmas: Crypto.com Arena.  —  The downtown Los Angeles venue — home of the Lakers, Clippers, Kings and Sparks …
Bloomberg:
Amazon tells UK customers it won't accept Visa credit cards issued in the UK from January 19, 2022, citing high transaction fees  —  - Customers told the change will come into effect in Jan. 2022  — Amazon cites high fees charged by Visa as reason for change
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Netflix expands its Top 10 lists to display the most-viewed shows and movies, for English and non-English titles, ranked by aggregate viewing hours  —  Netflix says it's heard the complaints about how it “cherry picks” the self-reported data it releases about content viewed on its platform.
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Meta details a haptic glove prototype that uses air pockets to simulate touching objects in VR and has been in development for seven years  —  A new sci-fi interface for the metaverse  —  You cannot pet a dog in Meta's new, high-tech virtual reality gloves.  But researchers are getting closer.
Kurt Schlosser / GeekWire:
Gene Maddaus / Variety:
Miramax sues Quentin Tarantino over copyright infringement for selling NFTs based on Pulp Fiction screenplay excerpts; Miramax says it owns screenplay rights  —  Miramax filed a lawsuit on Tuesday accusing Quentin Tarantino of copyright infringement by selling NFTs based on the screenplay for “Pulp Fiction.”
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE:
Israeli spyware vendor Candiru, recently blacklisted by the US, waged “watering hole” attacks on UK and Middle East websites critical of Saudi Arabia and others  —  Cybersecurity researchers tracked a hacking campaign spanning more than a year that hit around 20 websites.
Bloomberg:
Source: BlockFi faces SEC scrutiny for offering high interest rates for lending out crypto; Texas, New Jersey, and others are already investigating BlockFi  —  - U.S. regulator examining whether lending product is a security  — Fast-growing firm already responding to state-level inquires
More: CoinDesk
Christine Hall / TechCrunch:
Cash flow management service Settle raises a $60M Series B led by Ribbit Capital, bringing its total funding to $100M  —  Cashflow management startup Settle announced its second round of funding in five months, this time $60 million in Series B financing as it aims to carve out a niche …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Tel Aviv-based Laminar, which helps companies manage public cloud data security, emerges from stealth with $37M across seed and Series A  —  The cloud may be the direction that much of enterprise IT is moving today, but it still remains a major source of security issues …
Charles Daly / Bloomberg:
Microsoft launches a datacenter region in Sweden that runs solely on renewable energy, in partnership with state-owned utility Vattenfall  —  - Customers for the centers include Handelsbanken, PostNord  — Facilities to use green energy supplied by utility Vattenfall
Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
Brave now has a built-in cryptocurrency wallet, sidestepping the need for extension-based wallets like MetaMask  —  Why use an extension when it's a built-in tool?  —  Brave has announced that its web browser now includes a native cryptocurrency wallet, replacing the previous one that was based on the MetaMask wallet extension.

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