Techmeme
March 16, 2022, 1:45 PM

Top News

Dan Seifert / The Verge:
iPad Air (2022) review: fast with the M1 chip and great display but Touch ID is not as convenient as Face ID and the front camera is awkward in landscape mode  —  The new iPad Air is a blend of familiar features with predictable results  —  Much of the new iPad Air from Apple is a known quantity.
Sam Byford / The Verge:
Hands-on with Universal Control: Apple's most impressive new feature in years that bridges the gap between macOS and iPadOS without requiring Apple peripherals  —  It's super cool, super niche, and Apple at its best  —  It's been a good month for Mac desktop setup aficionados.
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Meta adds basic parental controls for Quest VR, almost three years after launching the headset, starting with an unlock pattern for specific apps in April  —  Despite releasing its first virtual reality headsets in May 2019, Meta is only now adding parental supervision tools to its Meta Quest VR headset.
More: Oculus, Meta, and NPR
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils the AI-powered Surface Hub 2 Smart Camera, with support for automatic reframing, image correction, and more, available for $799 on May 31  —  Microsoft's latest camera has a lot of smarts  —  Microsoft is launching its first AI-powered camera for the Surface Hub 2.
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Linktree, which creates simple “link in bio” landing pages for people and companies, raises a $110M Series C led by Index and Coatue at a $1.3B valuation  —  Who would've thought that an entire swath of startups would spring up all because Instagram, TikTok and Twitter only let you link to one website in your bio?
Karissa Bell / Engadget:
Mark Zuckerberg says NFT support will be coming to Instagram over the next several months and that users will “be able to mint things within that environment”  —  Love them or hate them, NFTs will soon be coming to Instagram.  Speaking at SXSW, Mark Zuckerberg confirmed …
Bloomberg:
Foxconn resumes partial operations at two Shenzhen campuses closed on Monday, one of which makes iPhones, after authorities approved its “closed loop” process  —  Apple Inc. supplier Foxconn Technology Group has resumed partial operations in the Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen …
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
The FBI and CISA warn that Russian state-sponsored hackers accessed an unnamed NGO's network by exploiting default MFA protocols and the PrintNightmare flaw  —  The FBI says Russian state-backed hackers gained access to a non-governmental organization (NGO) cloud after enrolling their own device …
Thomas Brewster / Forbes:
A look at Ukraine's “invisible heroes”, internet technicians who are risking their lives avoiding bombs and thwarting Russian hackers to keep Ukraine online  —  They're fixing internet in bombed-out buildings, finding rogue operators providing Russians with mobile connections and thwarting hackers.
Ellen Huet / Bloomberg:
Sam Altman's Worldcoin recently halted operations in at least seven countries due to problems like uneven smartphone access, confused users, and fraud attempts  —  Worldcoin — the billion-dollar startup that wants to give cryptocurrency to every living human by imaging their eyes …
Tweets: @ldrogen
Clive Thompson / Wired:
An in-depth look at GitHub and OpenAI's Copilot, which writes 35% of its users' code, and how AI tools can make developers more efficient and democratize coding  —  OpenAI's new tool can autocomplete lines of programming or conjure software from a simple prompt.  It could also riddle the internet with even more bugs.
Tweets: @samaThanks:@colegarry2
Chris Bengel / CBS Sports:
Spotify signs a sponsorship deal with FC Barcelona, including rebranding the soccer club's stadium to Spotify Camp Nou, reportedly worth $310M over four years  —  FC Barcelona have agreed to a sponsorship deal with Spotify to have the audio streaming platform become the club's main partner.
Kris Holt / Engadget:
Google Domains launches out of beta in 26 countries, after seven years, offering 300+ domain endings and “around-the-clock customer support from real people”  —  Seven long, long years ago, Google started offering users a way to buy a domain without having to deal with a host provider.
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
iUNU, whose LUNA robot moves on greenhouse roofs and uses AI to detect problems with plants and find spots that are ready to harvest, raises a $24M Series B  —  Not going to lie, iUNU (pronounced “you knew") is not the easiest name (further confusing matters is the presence of a robot called “LUNA").
More: GeekWire
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
TruEra, which offers AI quality management tools to optimize and monitor ML models, raises a $25M Series B led by Menlo, bringing its total funding to $42.3M  —  TruEra, a startup that offers an AI quality management solution to optimize, explain and monitor machine learning models …
Rest of World:
Six months after El Salvador adopted bitcoin as legal tender, dozens of citizens, economists, and developers detail cracks in the country's crypto revolution  —  As El Salvador prepares to launch its ‘Bitcoin bond’, interviews with citizens, economists and technologists reveal cracks in the country's crypto revolution.
Jamie Crawley / CoinDesk:
Treehouse, which provides DeFi data analytics, raises an $18M seed led by an “undisclosed large fintech investor”, with Binance and others participating  —  Treehouse aims to provide retail investors the infrastructure needed for them to make informed decisions on their DeFi positions

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro is now available, with thinking capabilities, enhanced performance, and improved accuracy.  Try it at no cost in the Gemini app.
UiPath:
UiPath Unveils 10 Innovations that Will Shape the Agentic Future  —  Orchestration engine, API workflows and agentic testing among key features of new UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation, launched at UiPath DevCon 2025
Zoho:
Don't just draw it—do it: Leveraging the Business Model Canvas with Zoho One  —  Every successful business journey begins with three essentials: clarity, strategic alignment, and focused execution.
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

Decoder with Nilay Patel:
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is okay with reinventing the bus
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Lenny's Podcast:
Unconventional product lessons from Binance, N26, Google, more | Mayur Kamat (CPO at N26, ex-Binance Head of Product)
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.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
David Tisch from BoxGroup
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Everything Google Everywhere And All At Once
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Azeem Azhar's Exponential View:
Inside Box's AI playbook with founder & CEO Aaron Levie
Azeem Azhar explores how AI and exponential technologies are shaping our future.
Subscribe to Azeem Azhar's Exponential View.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Meta's Adam Mosseri explains how Instagram really works - and how he wants to build Threads
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:45 PM ET, March 16, 2022.

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

Tage Kene-Okafor / TechCrunch:

Earlier Picks

Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Tom Warren / The Verge: