What's Popular on Techmeme
Facebook says global ads chief Carolyn Everson is leaving after more than a decade; Everson was a liaison to big marketers during major controversies
Mark Zuckerberg says all employees can request to work remotely full-time if their job allows, office-based staff will need to be in 50%+ of the time, and more
Several macOS Monterey features will not come to Intel Macs, like Live Text within photos, FaceTime's Portrait mode, and unlimited, on-device keyboard dictation
In an email to podcasters, Apple says Podcasts Subscriptions will launch globally on June 15, after postponing a planned launch in May
Sources: under pressure from an Amazon-led group, Senate's China-focused bill left out consumer protections to make marketplaces authenticate 3rd-party sellers
washingtonpost.com · 4 days ago
Sources: Facebook is planning to launch its first smartwatch, featuring a detachable display with two cameras and a heart rate monitor, next summer
DoorDash launches in Japan, marking the company's first foray into Asia, starting in Sendai, a city north of Tokyo with a population of ~1M
Sinch acquires MessageMedia, which provides SMS and other messaging services for businesses, for $1.3B, to compete with Twilio in business SMS services
Marc Benioff says he expects 50% to 60% of Salesforce employees to work from home even after the pandemic ends, up from about 20% before the pandemic hit
A look at the legal fight between Amazon and Reliance over Indian retail company Future Group, which has agreed to sell its retail assets to Reliance for $3.4B
nytimes.com · 5 days ago
El Salvador becomes first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender after lawmakers voted by a "supermajority" in favor of the Bitcoin Law
Apple's changes to notifications on phones and the addition of Mail Privacy Protection could hurt publishers, including solo newsletter publishers on Substack
Ad-supported and subscription-only newsletters both have ways to understand audiences without the tracking pixels blocked by Apple's Mail Privacy Protection
Overhaul, whose software allows companies to have full visibility of their supply chain in real time, raises $35M Series B led by Macquarie Capital
Chinese grocery delivery app Dingdong Maicai, which is backed by Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global Management, has filed for a US IPO; it has raised $1B+ total
Grabango, which develops computer vision-based check-out free tech for existing grocery and convenience stores, raises $39M Series B led by Commerce Ventures
Biden admin announces steps to bolster US supply chains, including for chips and rare earth metals, and a "strike force" to combat unfair trade practices
Senate passes bill providing $52B for domestic semiconductor manufacturing, a 30% NSF funding bump, and $29B for science directorate; bill now heads to House
Facebook says it fixed a proxy error in its Discover app after researchers found it removed images from other websites more frequently than Facebook's services
Apple Music debuts Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio and adds Spatial Audio playlists, says Spatial Audio support is "coming soon" for Android devices
Facebook and Instagram will now reward influencers with cash bonuses for hitting certain milestones, like selling a set number of badges in an Instagram stream
engadget.com · 5 days ago
After its April IPO, UiPath reports Q1 revenue of $186.2M, up 65% YoY, ARR of $653M, up 64% YoY, and a loss of $239.7M, vs ~$53M YoY; stock down ~7% after hours
Apple opens up the ShazamKit framework to third-party apps, including on Android, allowing them to use Shazam's audio recognition tech
iPhone apps on iPadOS 15 can now, finally, run in landscape, in addition to portrait orientation
Apple's tight integration is how it creates great experiences like SharePlay, but the advantage is imperiled by anticompetitive App Store rules like the 30% cut
Blockdaemon raises $28M Series A to scale up enterprise blockchain infrastructure, with BlockFi Lending, Goldman Sachs, Greenspring Associates among investors
Austin-based cyber risk analytics service Brinqa raises $110M growth round from Insight Partners
Brazilian neobank Nubank adds $750M to its Series G, now totaling $1.15B, led by Berkshire Hathaway, at a $30B valuation
Adobe launches M1 Mac-native versions of more Creative Cloud apps including Lightroom Classic and Illustrator, claims 80%+ faster performance than Intel Macs
Google will show more mobile search apps to choose from on new Android phones in Europe and make participation free for search providers
Verbit, which uses AI and thousands of freelancers to provide voice transcription and captioning services, raises $157M Series D at a $1B+ post-money valuation
As Twitch turns 10, a look at how the service pioneered the patronage system that is prevalent across the internet's creator economy today
Investigation found 100+ online ads for production line jobs at 30+ companies in Apple's supply chain that contained discriminatory language
Russia has been pressuring social media platforms like YouTube and Twitter to remove anti-government content and police its critics, and it seems to be working
PwC survey: of time spent watching streaming video in 2020, people in the US spent 62% of their time on subscription-based and 32% on ad-supported services
As Uber and Lyft aim to become profitable this year, it seems like a golden era of VC-subsidized services, from Uber to Bird and MoviePass, is coming to an end
An open letter with 170 signatories in 55 countries calls for a ban on biometric recognition tech, after EU proposes AI rules that critics say have loopholes
Chainalysis: American bitcoin traders made $4.1B in profits last year, 3x more than Chinese traders, followed by Japan, UK, Russia, and Germany
Sources: in a major leadership shakeup at Magic Leap, its CTO, COO, and chief patent officer are all set to leave, while its former CMO is being hired back
In the first of a series of blog posts, Instagram explains how it ranks Feed, Stories, Explore, and Reels, and addresses "shadowbanning" accusations
about.instagram.com · 5 days ago