Techmeme
August 15, 2022, 1:50 PM

Top News

New York Times:
a16z invests in Adam Neumann's residential real estate management startup Flow, sources say ~$350M at a $1B+ valuation, the firm's largest-ever individual check  —  WeWork's founder is back with a billion-dollar venture.  —  WeWork's founder is going residential
Lucy Harley-McKeown / The Block:
Galaxy Digital terminates its $1.2B acquisition of crypto custodian BitGo, announced in May 2021, after the service failed to provide audited statements  —  - Galaxy Digital announced on Monday that it would terminate its deal with crypto custodian BitGo, which had been announced in May 2021.
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Android 13 begins rolling out today to Google's Pixel phones, earlier in the year than the previous two Android annual updates  —  Google's major OS update is a little early this year  —  This year's major Android update, Android 13, is officially releasing today for Google's Pixel phones, the search giant has announced.
Bobby Kent / GameLuster:
Court docs in Brazil show Microsoft sold approximately 58.5M Xbox One units in total, or half of the PS4's 117.2M sales; Microsoft has long hidden sales figures  —  A high-profile case is ongoing in Brazil, as Microsoft attempts to defend its Activision Blizzard acquisition from CADE, the Brazilian competition authority.
Lily Hay Newman / Wired:
A “jailbreak” for John Deere tractors, helping farmers modify and repair them, highlights issues with securing farm equipment and the right-to-repair debate  —  A hacker has formulated an exploit that provides root access to two popular models of the company's farm equipment.
New York Times:
A look at the rise of digital productivity monitoring for white collar jobs in the US, sometimes used to assign workers scores, determine pay, and more  —  Across industries and incomes, more employees are being tracked, recorded and ranked.  What is gained, companies say, is efficiency and accountability.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple ads team lead Todd Teresi now reports directly to Eddy Cue and wants to increase the group's ad revenues from $4B per year to double digits  —  Apple is set to expand ads to new areas of your iPhone and iPad in search of its next big revenue driver.
Reuters:
Unity Software rejects AppLovin's $17.54B all-stock takeover offer, saying it would proceed with its deal to acquire ironSource for $4.4B in stock  —  Gaming software maker Unity Software Inc (U.N) on Monday rejected AppLovin Corp's (APP.O) $17.54 billion takeover offer and said it would go ahead …
Margaret O'Mara / MIT Technology Review:
An in-depth look at Silicon Valley's historical corporate culture, how straight white men benefitted, and efforts by women and minorities to push for change  —  A new generation of tech activists, organizers, and whistleblowers, most of whom are female, non-white, gender-diverse, or queer, may finally bring change.
Bloomberg:
Analysis: Google Maps in the US regularly misleads people looking for abortion providers, instead pointing them towards non-medical crisis pregnancy centers  —  Chey was a 19-year-old college sophomore living near Orlando, Florida, when she discovered she was pregnant and decided to have an abortion.
Tiffany Hsu / New York Times:
Ahead of the US midterms, a look at TikTok's ongoing struggles to contain misinformation during elections, such as in Australia, France, and Kenya this year  —  The fast-growing platform's poor track record during recent voting abroad does not bode well for elections in the U.S., researchers said.
David McCabe / New York Times:

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