Techmeme
December 3, 2021, 8:45 AM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
The FTC sues to block Nvidia's acquisition of Arm, arguing the chip deal is anticompetitive; the $40B deal has risen to ~$75B due to Nvidia's share price  —  The agency alleges the semiconductor deal is anticompetitive  —  WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday sued …
Ian King / Bloomberg:
Analysis: SoftBank could lose ~$74B if the Nvidia-Arm deal is blocked; an IPO for Arm would likely value it well below Nvidia's offer  —  - U.S. antitrust enforcers seek to block sale of Arm to Nvidia  — SoftBank faces potentially less lucrative Plan B: an Arm IPO
The Verge:
Report: Google's Pixel hardware group is working on the company's first smartwatch, internally codenamed “Rohan”, which it plans to launch next year  —  A Pixel Watch is finally in the works  —  Google is finally making its own in-house smartwatch that's set to launch in 2022 …
Mathew Ingram / Columbia Journalism Review:
Journalists and activists worry Twitter's new privacy policy will be weaponized and make their jobs harder, due to vague terms like “the public interest”  —  On Tuesday, Twitter said it is expanding its privacy policy to include what the company calls “private media.”
Reuters:
Didi Global says it will begin the process of delisting from the NYSE and listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange, in an attempt to appease Chinese regulators  —  Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Global (DIDI.N) said on Friday it will start work on delisting from the New York stock exchange …
Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:
Marketers are reacting to privacy laws and Big Tech policy changes with quizzes and other events to collect their own customer info and build detailed profiles  —  Marketers are staging sweepstakes, quizzes and events to gather people's personal information and build detailed profiles
Bloomberg:
A draft EU proposal would force food delivery and ride-hailing apps to reclassify as many as 4.1M workers as employees, costing the sector up to $5.1B per year  —  - Up to 4.1 million couriers, drivers could be made employees  — Customers might see increase in costs for delivery and drivers
More: Bloomberg
Tim Copeland / The Block:
DeFi protocol BadgerDAO is investigating after security researchers say $120.3M was stolen from users via its compromised front end  —  Quick Take  — DeFi protocol BadgerDAO was exploited earlier today for $120 million.  — It appears that its front end was compromised and users were tricked into making unwanted transactions.
Simon Jessop / Reuters:
Clarity AI, which uses AI to assess the environmental impact of companies, raised $50M in August, from Vision Fund 2, Jony Ive, and others, at a $450M valuation  —  Softbank Group Corp's (9984.T) Vision Fund 2 has led the latest funding round for sustainability data technology platform Clarity AI …
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
In a filing in the Epic lawsuit, Apple says it “could charge a commission” if developers use a competing payments platform, following a similar Google policy  —  Although the appeal of the Apple-Epic lawsuit is ongoing, Apple is currently subject to the judge's decision …
Hristina Yordanova / DappRadar:
The four leading virtual worlds recorded over $100M in NFT land sales in the past week, with The Sandbox alone seeing trading volumes of over $86M  —  The Sandbox alone attracted more than $86 million in land sales  —  Metaverse land is the new big hit in the crypto community …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft backtracks on Windows 11's controversial default browser changes, adding a button to easily change default browsers  —  Windows 11 will now make it easier to change default browsers  —  Microsoft is backtracking on changes it made to Windows 11 that made it more difficult to switch default browsers.
New York Times:
A look at the Xbox Series X and PS5 markets, as holiday shoppers navigate a world of “purchase bot” resellers, retail memberships, and social media tips  —  New gaming consoles remain in short supply this holiday season, spawning cottage industries of tipsters and scalpers making money off their scarcity.
Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:
Interviews with 16 current and former Apple retail, support, and sales employees detail harsh working conditions, poor pay, and little interest from HR  —  The company's hourly workers say conditions are untenable.  Does Apple care?  —  Illustrations by Jesse Zhang
Tina Bellon / Reuters:
Uber says it is launching an optional audio recording pilot program to enhance safety in three US cities this month, following a Latin America rollout in 2019  —  Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) on Thursday said it will launch an optional audio recording pilot program in three U.S. cities to enhance safety …
More: PCMag and Engadget
Kate Rooney / CNBC:
Square is changing its name to Block, effective December 10, and renaming Square Crypto to Spiral, as its business shifts toward technologies like blockchain  —  - Payments giant Square will change its corporate name to Block, effective Dec. 10.  — The move comes as Square expands beyond …

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