Techmeme
December 3, 2021, 9:30 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 …
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.
Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
An anti-fascist researcher says her Twitter account was suspended after someone reported a 2019 tweet of hers following Twitter's new “private media policy”  —  Researchers fear the new ban on posts sharing people's private information will be ‘emboldening to the fascists’ eager to keep their identities concealed.
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 …
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.
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 …
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 …

Sponsor Posts

TELUS Digital:
See how your customer experience priorities compare  —  TELUS Digital surveyed leaders about the tech they're investing in, the KPIs they're tracking and their plans for outsourcing.  Get the results.  No form fill required!
Intel:
Intel Delivers powerful CPUs for AI and Networking  —  With the onset of AI, businesses demand powerful and efficient CPUs.  Explore new Intel Xeon 6 processors, for the broadest set of workloads with leadership performance and lower TCO.
Zoho:
The rise of AI in recruitment  —  Note: This is a guest post by our integration partner Ringover.AI has already begun transforming recruitment, but in the coming years, it will reach new heights.
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.

Featured Podcasts

Lenny's Podcast:
Become a better communicator: Specific frameworks to improve your clarity, influence, and impact | Wes Kao (coach, entrepreneur, advisor)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Techmeme Ride Home:
(BNS) The Legality Of The AI Stuff
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Hard Fork:
Tech Stock Shock + Solving the Mystery of OpenAI's "Blip" + Tinder's Flirt-Off
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
BG2 Pod:
Liberation Day, Tariffs, US v China Open Source, OpenAI Fundraise, $CRWV, TikTok
Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley.
Subscribe to BG2 Pod.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
What AI anime memes tell us about the future of art and humanity
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Great Chat:
Battle of the startup cities
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:30 AM ET, December 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

Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:

Earlier Picks

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Olivia Solon / NBC News:
Carly Page / TechCrunch:
Tom Simonite / Wired:
Reuters:
Bloomberg: