Techmeme
July 27, 2022, 3:25 PM

Top News

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Spotify has “decided to stop further production of Car Thing units” and will take a €31M charge, citing factors like “product demand and supply chain issues”  —  Spotify's push to complement its music streaming with a big move into podcasting and related content appears …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Spotify reports Q2 revenue up 23% YoY to €2.9B, a €125M net loss, up from €20M YoY, MAUs up 19% YoY to 433M, and Premium users up 14% YoY to 188M; stock up 10%+  —  Spotify turned in strong numbers for the second quarter, beating expectations for total and paid subscriber adds and reporting 23% revenue growth.
Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
Interviews with 20+ people detail GTA developer Rockstar's attempts to change its “boys' club” workplace culture, starting in 2018, after complaints and burnout  —  In the summer of 2020, after a police officer killed George Floyd, Rockstar Games quietly shelved a mode of play …
New York Times:
The FTC files to block Meta's acquisition of VR company Within, saying Meta “chose to buy” instead of compete, the first antitrust lawsuit filed under Lina Khan  —  The move is a blow to Meta's metaverse efforts and signals a shift in how the Federal Trade Commission is approaching tech deals.
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Google announces Maps updates: photorealistic aerial views of nearly 100 landmarks, more detailed cycling route information, and location sharing notifications  —  Google — facing increasing competition from other apps like Instagram and TikTok when it comes to consumers searching for things …
Vikas SN / Moneycontrol:
Chris Stokel-Walker / Gizmodo:
Internal TikTok PR documents reveal suggested responses to difficult questions, including downplaying AI, parent company ByteDance, and “the China association”  —  Leaked documents detail what TikTok tells the media—and what it doesn't.  —  Leaked documents from within TikTok reveal …
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Alex Heath / The Verge:
Mark Zuckerberg told employees that Meta and Apple are in a “very deep, philosophical competition” to build the metaverse and set the internet's direction  —  “This is a competition of philosophies and ideas,” Meta's CEO recently told employees  —  Mark Zuckerberg believes …
Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:
The US Senate passes the Chips and Science Act, including $52B+ for US chipmakers plus tax credits to encourage investment; the bill now heads to the House  —  - The Senate passed bipartisan legislation aimed to help the U.S. compete with China by injecting tens of billions of dollars into the domestic production of semiconductors.
Taylor Lorenz / Taylor Lorenz's Newsletter:
Nostalgia for the “old”, chronological Instagram makes sense but belies changing norms around online sharing, communication, privacy, and engaging content  —  It isn't just the platform that has changed, we have too.  —  Over the past few days there's been a movement to “Make Instagram Instagram again.”
Ry Crist / CNET:
Like Amazon's Ring, Google's Nest reserves the right to comply with emergency US law enforcement requests for video footage without a warrant or user consent  —  The law lets Ring and Google share user footage with police during emergencies without consent and without warrants.  Here's everything you should know.
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google delays the phaseout of third-party cookies in Chrome to H2 2024, after delaying it from 2022 to 2023, citing the need for more Privacy Sandbox tests  —  Google was originally planning to get rid of third-party cookies in its browser by 2022, but that was later pushed back to 2023.
Emily Birnbaum / Bloomberg:
Sources: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told donors at a fundraiser that the AICO Act to pare back the power of Big Tech companies doesn't have the votes  —  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told a group of donors that he doesn't believe that there are enough votes in the Senate …
Leah Nylen / Bloomberg:
MK Manoylov / The Block:
Unstoppable Domains, which offers NFT domains as a personal identifier across Web3 apps, raised a $65M Series A led by Pantera Capital at a $1B+ valuation  —  - Unstoppable Domains announced Wednesday that it raised $65 million in a Series A funding, reaching a $1 billion valuation.
Stefanie Marotta / Bloomberg:
Shopify misses as Q2 revenue grew 16% YoY to $1.3B and GMV reached $46.9B, up 11% YoY; SHOP rises 6%+, after crashing 14% on Tuesday due to layoffs  —  Shopify Inc. rallied, reversing losses in premarket trading, as Chief Executive Officer Tobi Lutke urged investors to overlook the slowdown …
Daniel Rubino / Windows Central:
Microsoft's Q4 Surface revenue increased 10% YoY, driven by commercial PC sales, as Windows OEM revenue declined 2% YoY due to PC production shutdowns in China  —  Production shutdowns hampered commercial PC sales, but Microsoft's Surface met expectations due to enterprise purchases.
Jordan Novet / CNBC:

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Earlier Picks

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