(BNS) The Golden Girls - With Christina Warren

Microsoft is buying Activision Blizzard in the biggest gaming acquisition of all time. Partially this is a metaverse play, but meanwhile, Meta is quietly locking down all the metaverse patents. Crypto.com halts withdrawals on its platform but insists it hasn’t been hacked. And why are countries encouraging their athletes to use burner phones when they attend the upcoming Olympics? Sponsors: Streak.com/techmeme EditorX.com Links: Microsoft to buy Activision in $68.7 billion all-cash deal (CNBC) Activision Blizzard Games Will Come To Xbox Game Pass As Part Of Acquisition (PureXbox) Facebook patents reveal how it intends to cash in on metaverse (Financial Times) Crypto.com Suffers Hack for At Least $15M in Ethereum (Decrypt) Samsung begins mass production of Exynos 2200 smartphone processor (ZDNet) Cross-country Exposure - Analysis of the MY2022 Olympics app (Citizenlab.ca) Olympic burner phones? Athletes warned about bringing personal devices to China for 2022 Beijing Games (USAToday) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

18 Jan 202218min

... and I'm not just talking about the hosts! Myself, Chris, and about a dozen listeners kick around the latest apps, tools, platforms and other things we use to GTD. Sponsors: Wix.com Some of the books I mention at the end: A Short History Of Nearly Everything The Infinite Machine: How an Army of Crypto-hackers Is Building the Next Internet with Ethereum Rocket Billionaires: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the New Space Race Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

15 Jan 20221h 55min

Russia has cracked down on REvil? Question-mark? Investing in crypto is so hot, FTX has launched its own monster venture fund. Why has the Android 12 rollout been such a disaster so far? How long is the Cybertruck going to be delayed? And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: EditorX.com Napjitsu.com/techmeme Links: Russia takes down REvil hacking group at U.S. request - FSB (Reuters) Crypto Exchange FTX Sets Up $2 Billion Venture Fund (WSJ) "You Don't Own Web3": A Coinbase Curse and How VCs Sell Crypto to Retail (Startups And Econ) GOOGLE’S ANDROID 12 UPDATE HAS BEEN THE ROCKIEST IN YEARS (The Verge) Tesla delays Cybertruck to early 2023, says reportTesla delays Cybertruck to early 2023, says report (The Verge) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Remembering VRML: The Metaverse of 1995 (How To Geek) After the Beanie Baby bubble burst (Vox) Crypto Firms Gear Up for Battles Over New Rules in Washington (Bloomberg) Xbox players are fed up with forced crossplay against PC gamers (The Verge) Academics want to preserve video games. The game industry is fighting them in court. (The Washington Post) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

14 Jan 202217min

Apple indeed is removing Wordle clones, but PUBG sues them for NOT removing what they allege are clones of their game. Does Google Analytics run afoul of GDPR? China is going to do NFTs, NOT on the blockchain. And will the new Nuro bot bring me my burrito? Sponsors: RealVision.com/techmeme DeVry.edu/engineering Links: Apple Removes Wordle Apps Fueled by Confused Users (Bloomberg) Game maker says Apple, Google selling rip-offs in new lawsuit (Reuters) In bad news for US cloud services, Austrian website’s use of Google Analytics found to breach GDPR (TechCrunch) Canalys: Worldwide PC shipments soared in 2021 to 341 million units (TechCrunch) Instagram, still benefiting from TikTok’s ban in India, again became the top app by downloads in Q4 (TechCrunch) China to create own NFT industry based on state-backed blockchain infrastructure, main developer says (South China Morning Post) Nuro’s newest autonomous delivery bot is designed for the masses (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

13 Jan 202219min

The FTC gets a second shot at Meta, after a judge okays their lawsuit edit. Samsung ghost on its own event. The state of the mobile app economy. Is cloning Wordle to release an app ok or not? And the new app at the top of the App Store that definitely comes from the, why didn’t I think of that file. Sponsors: EditorX.com Links: ‘Second time lucky?’ FTC’s case against Facebook can move forward, federal judge rules. (Washington Post) Samsung no-showed on its major Exynos 2200 launch [Update: Samsung speaks] (Ars Technica) Samsung Electronics to Unveil Exynos 2200 AP on Launch Day of Galaxy 22 (BusinessKorea) App Annie: Global app stores’ consumer spend up 19% to $170B in 2021, downloads grew 5% to 230B (TechCrunch) The Wordle clones have disappeared from the App Store (The Verge) Locket, an app for sharing photos to friends’ homescreens, hits the top of the App Store (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

12 Jan 202217min

Moxie Marlinspike is stepping down as CEO of Signal, and Brian Acton is stepping up. For now. Y Combinator is getting more generous with the investment it makes in its cohort companies. Carriers aren’t pleased with Apple’s iCloud Private Relay service. And another day, another headline like: the Associated Press is getting into NFTs. Sponsors: do.co/trh Wix.com Links: Moxie Marlinspike has stepped down as CEO of Signal (The Verge) Y Combinator’s New Deal Sparks Fear in Seed Investors (The Information) T-Mobile begins blocking iPhone users from enabling iCloud Private Relay in the US [U] (9to5Mac) Apple Highlights Services in 2021, Recaps Upcoming Features Like IDs on iPhone (MacRumors) The Associated Press is starting its own NFT marketplace for photojournalism (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

11 Jan 202216min

Take-Two takes out Zynga for $12.7 billion dollars. The SEC wants private unicorn companies to report more financial details. The open source developer who borked a bunch of projects to protest working for the man, I guess. And the weekend Web3 debate between Moxie Marlinspike and Vitalic Buterin. Sponsors: Grammarly.com/techmeme EditorX.com Links: Take-Two to acquire mobile gaming giant Zynga for $12.7B (TechCrunch) SEC Pushes for More Transparency From Private Companies (WSJ) Matter was a major star at CES 2022, but can it maintain its shine? (The Verge) Dev corrupts NPM libs 'colors' and 'faker' breaking thousands of apps (BleepingComputer) My first impressions of web3 (Moxie.org) Response From Vitalic Buterin on Reddit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

10 Jan 202216min

Our first ever Portfolio Profile, of the first investment the Ride Home Fund ever made! Sensel! As you’ll hear, touch technology as a key layer in computing interface and interaction is about to undergo a major generational leap forward, and Sensel is at the bleeding edge of this transformation. Not only is there a good chance that the next laptop you buy will have Sensel technology inside, but you’ll hear how Sensel’s tech could come to smartphones soon, to medical devices, to automobiles. In essence, Senel’s tech has the potential to radically transform how we interact with computers all across the real world, and even provide a key foundational layer as we build out the metaverse. Sponsors: My First Million Podcast Wix.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

8 Jan 202246min