Techmeme
November 23, 2021, 10:25 PM

Top News

Nicole Perlroth / New York Times:
Apple sues NSO Group in US federal court, seeking to ban NSO from using Apple products and alleging NSO illegally targeted Apple users with surveillance tools  —  Apple accused NSO Group, the Israeli surveillance company, of “flagrant” violations of its software, as well as federal and state laws.
Apple:
Apple plans to notify targets of state-sponsored spyware attacks like NSO's ForcedEntry and commits $10M to cybersurveillance researchers and advocates  —  Apple also announced a $10 million contribution to support cybersurveillance researchers and advocates
Jennifer Elias / CNBC:
Internal email chain shows over 600 Google employees have signed a document opposing Google's vaccine mandate, which Google says it firmly stands behind  —  - Several hundred Google employees have signed and circulated a manifesto opposing its widened Covid vaccine mandate, according to internal communications viewed by CNBC.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify debuts Netflix Hub, collecting official soundtracks, playlists, and podcasts for top Netflix content, in seven countries including the US, UK, and India  —  Looking for the soundtrack from your favorite Netflix show?  Now, it will be easier to find thanks to an expanded partnership between Netflix and Spotify.
Jordan Pearson / VICE:
ConstitutionDAO's organizers say the project has run its course and will shift its Discord channel into read-only mode in two weeks  —  The attempt by crypto fans to buy a copy of the Constitution has been defined by chaos since it failed.  Now, it's dead.  —  Jordan Pearson
The Verge:
Samsung says it will build a ~$17B, 1,200+ acre chip factory in Taylor, Texas, operational in H2 2024 and roughly 30 miles away from its Austin facility  —  Creating 1,800 jobs in the city of Taylor  —  Samsung officially announced a new advanced chip-making plant in Texas …
Jillian Deutsch / Bloomberg:
EU approves Digital Markets Act measures: mandating social app interoperability, banning ad targeting to minors, and fines up to 20% of global annual sales  —  - Competing messaging apps may have to be interoperable  — Companies would have to stop targeting some ads to minors
Reuters:
Italy's antitrust regulator fines Amazon $77M and Apple $151M for alleged anti-competitive cooperation to sell Apple and Beats products  —  Italy's antitrust authority has fined U.S. tech giants Amazon.com (AMZN.O) and Apple Inc (AAPL.O) a total of more than 200 million euros ($225 million) …
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Apple delays the release of its digital ID feature in the Wallet app for iOS and watchOS until early 2022  —  Apple recently updated its website to indicate that an upcoming iOS 15 and watchOS 8 feature that will let you add your driver's license or state ID to your iPhone and Apple Watch …
Rebecca Torrence / FierceHealthcare:
Luma Health, which helps health care providers centralize and automate scheduling and communication with patients, raises a $130M Series C led by FTV Capital  —  Luma Health, a platform that automates provider-patient communication, has raised $130 million in series C funding.
Elizabeth Howcroft / Reuters:
Decentraland says it sold a virtual real estate plot for $2.4M in crypto to Tokens.com subsidiary Metaverse Group, claiming it to be its largest transaction  —  A patch of virtual real estate in the online world Decentraland sold for a record $2.4 million worth of cryptocurrency …
More: The Block
Mike Wheatley / SiliconANGLE:
Kore.ai, which helps companies make AI assistants with low-code tools, raises a $73.5M extended Series C after Nvidia joins as an investor  —  Conversational artificial intelligence startup Kore.ai Inc. said today it has extended its Series C funding round to $73.5 million following a further investment from Nvidia Corp.
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Startups like Royal, which helps musicians create and sell NFTs, could potentially upend predatory record deals and further shift power to artists and fans  —  Royal's Justin Blau and Paradigm's Fred Ehrsam on how selling royalties directly to fans could end predatory record deals
Ronan Shields / Digiday:
Outbrain announces a $55M acquisition of Video Intelligence, an ad tech company that matches video with text content, as it aims to differentiate from Taboola  —  Ad tech's spate of public listings over the last 12 months has helped spur a further round of mergers and acquisitions in the space …

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UiPath:
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More News

Nick Harris / The Mail on Sunday:
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Earlier Picks

Reuters:
David Thiel / @elegant_wallaby:
Rich Woods / XDA Developers:
Niantic: