Techmeme
December 14, 2021, 3:40 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Tim Starks / CyberScoop:
Sam Byford / The Verge:
Oppo unveils Air Glass, a 30g “assisted reality” wearable that projects 2D info into the user's FoV with a claimed three-hours usage, coming to China in Q1 2022  —  Coming to China early next year  —  Oppo has announced the Air Glass, an AR device that'll go on sale early next year.
Bloomberg:
Sources: the NSO Group is considering shuttering its Pegasus unit and selling the company, amid US restrictions and the danger of defaulting on $450M in debt  —  - Moelis tapped to advise on talks with investment funds  — One plan would repurpose product for strictly defensive use
Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:
Nike acquires RTFKT, an NFT studio founded in 2020, for an undisclosed sum; RTFKT raised an $8M seed in May led by a16z at a $33.3M valuation  —  Nike is taking a plunge deeper into the world of crypto collectibles, announcing that they're acquiring the NFT studio RTFKT (pronounced “artifact").
CoinDesk:
Institutional bitcoin broker and custody services provider NYDIG raises $1B led by WestCap, valuing the startup at $7B+  —  NYDIG said Tuesday it raised a stunning $1 billion in a funding round that will value the firm at over $7 billion - and potentially expand bitcoin's reach into …
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
The UK's CMA issues an interim report voicing concerns over Apple and Google's “vice-like grip” on the mobile ecosystem, hinting at future antitrust action  —  The UK's antitrust watchdog has given the clearest signal yet that interventions under an upcoming reform …
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
A look back at tech's three eras, from Bell Labs to Facebook, and why the metaverse is the fourth, defined by its bifurcation with the physical world  —  For the first several years of Stratechery I would write a year end article about “The State of Consumer Technology”; the last one I wrote …
Sami Fathi / MacRumors:
Apple delays macOS Monterey's Universal Control until spring 2022, after already delaying it to “later this fall”  —  Apple has officially delayed Universal Control, a hallmark feature of macOS Monterey and iPadOS 15 announced in June, until Spring 2022.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
US OSHA is investigating the collapse of an Amazon warehouse in Illinois caused by a tornado, where six workers died, one was injured, and 45 were rescued  —  - OSHA is investigating a collapse at an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois.  — The facility collapsed Friday as a tornado rolled through, killing six employees.
Eva Dou / Washington Post:
Internal Huawei marketing slides show a broader role in surveilling China's population than it has admitted to, including using voice ID and tracking shoppers  —  The Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies has long brushed off questions about its role in China's state surveillance, saying it just sells general-purpose networking gear.
Daniel Rubino / Windows Central:
Microsoft and iFixit partner to let approved independent repairers buy official Microsoft service tools for Surface devices from iFixit.com  —  Authorized and independent technicians can new repair select Surface devices thanks to iFixit and Microsoft  —  What you need to know
Louise Matsakis / The Atlantic:
Investors have poured $1B+ into startups looking to turn mom-and-pop stores into digital retailers and mini-tech hubs, especially in South and Southeast Asia  —  Corner stores don't look like much.  Maybe the one nearest to you has dusty shelves lined with bags of chips and cookies …
BBC:
UK MPs propose changes to the UK's Online Safety Bill, including adding more offenses and fines, mandating tech firms appoint a “safety controller”, and more  —  New criminal offences and major changes have been proposed in the UK's landmark Online Safety Bill, which seeks to regulate social media and tech giants.
Financial Times:
Letter: the US Department of Labor is investigating Apple over Ashley Gjøvik's claims that she was fired under a false pretext after retaliation complaints  —  US labour department inquiry follows claims by ex-senior engineering program manager  —  The US Department of Labor …
Charmaine D'Silva / The Keyword:
Google details Android 12 Go edition, coming to low-end phones in 2022 with faster app launches, longer battery life, better sharing, and more privacy controls  —  Android (Go edition) launched in 2017 with the goal to help more people access the best of Android and Google through affordable, entry-level phones.
Romain Dillet / TechCrunch:
Carto, which helps visualize data on interactive maps, raises a $61M Series C led by Insight Partners, bringing its total funding to $92M  —  Spatial analysis platform Carto has raised a $61 million Series C round.  Many companies collect a ton of data with some location element tied to it.
Jillian Deutsch / Bloomberg:
EU details the Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge and Cloud, with 39 founding companies—none from the US or China—in a bid to improve European cloud prowess  —  - Region attempting to lessen its reliance on U.S. tech firms  — EU also working on a bloc-wide semiconductor strategy

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