Hey Insiders! We have a brand new LIVE INTERVIEW SERIES premiering on January 4, 2022. Allow us to introduce Venturing In VC, hosted by Inside.com's Landon Campbell. Join Landon as he interviews influential venture capitalists about their routines, journeys, and lessons learned along the way. Catch a sneak preview and don't miss a live interview. Sign up today: https://live.inside.com/vivc |
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Reddit filed a draft registration with the SEC to take the company public at a future unknown date. It has yet to determine the number of shares and the proposed price range. More: - In August, the company announced a $410M funding round led by Fidelity, giving it a valuation of $10B+.
- At the time, CEO Steve Huffman said the investment would give leaders more time to figure out details of a potential IPO, stating that "all good companies should go public when they can.”
- Speculation about a public listing grew this year after Reddit hired its first CFO, former Snapchat CFO Drew Vollero, who led Snap's IPO in 2017.
- In Q2, Reddit's advertising revenue tripled YoY to reach $100M. The company plans to double its workforce to 1,400 employees by the end of this year.
- As of August, its platform had 100,000+ active subreddits and ~52 million daily users.
THE NEW YORK TIMES 
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H&R Block has sued Square over its new name “Block," alleging trademark infringement. The tax preparation company argues that Block is a direct competitor through its financial services, including its recent purchase of tax prep firm Credit Karma Tax, now called Cash App Taxes. The complaint was filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. More: - H&R Block wants Block to stop using the new name and a logo, calling it "nearly identical."
- It contends that the name change will be confusing to customers and "improperly capitalize on the goodwill and consumer trust cultivated by Block since 1955.”
- Square announced on Dec. 1 that it's changing its corporate name to Block to reflect its expanding business into bitcoin and other areas. Block is still calling its seller product Square.
- Founded in 2009, the company has grown from a credit card reader to a seller business and peer-to-peer payments system, and has expanded into music and bitcoin through its standalone units Cash App, Tidal, and TBD.
CNBC
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Apple postponed its return-to-office plans for corporate employees indefinitely and will give all employees — including those who work in retail stores — a $1,000 bonus. The news comes as Apple temporarily closed three stores this week amid rising COVID cases. More: - A return-to-work date is "yet to be determined," CEO Tim Cook wrote in an internal memo sent to employees this week.
- He noted that offices remain open and teams in "Greater China and elsewhere" are coming in on a regular basis.
- Cook also announced that all Apple employees will receive a $1,000 "work from home" bonus to help them with their home workspaces.
- The company said it will provide four weeks' notice before employees must return to the office. Its hybrid work plan will allow working from home on Wednesdays and Fridays.
COVID response: - On Tuesday, Apple said it will require all of its customers in U.S. stores to wear face masks, not just those stores in areas where masks are mandated.
- The company shut down stores in Miami through today and Ottawa and Annapolis through Friday, though the reopenings could be delayed if employees test positive for COVID-19.
PCMAG
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 TikTok is now testing its desktop streaming software and Twitch competitor, TikTok Live Studio, with several thousand users in Western markets. The software lets users stream content from phones, gaming consoles, and computers and chat directly with viewers through an interface. TikTok told TechCrunch that it can't guarantee the software will see a wider launch after testing. More: - The limited software is open to eligible TikTok users to download on PC for Windows.
- Streaming analyst Zach Bussey tweeted screenshots of the app, which he described as "super basic" and allowing both portrait and landscape scenes.
- Users can pull video and audio from games, mobile devices, cameras, and individual programs. It also has options to enable comments and gifting.
- In July, TikTok added new features, including live Q & A, scheduled events, and a co-streaming option, to its live streaming for creators to broadcast videos in real-time.
TECHCRUNCH
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 A message from CLEARBIT How to right-size your company's lead qualification system. A too-complex system is a lot to maintain, burning resources with no guaranteed value. On the flip side, a too-simple model can hold you back as you scale. In this practitioner’s guide to lead scoring and routing, we share real-world advice and benchmarks to find the sweet spot for your own company. You'll learn everything in this list and more: - Business maturity benchmarks across our recommended lead scoring models
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Instagram has restored the account of an Australian artist and technologist who goes by the handle "@metaverse." The Meta-owned company disabled Thea-Mai Baumann's account in November, saying she was "blocked for pretending to be someone else." More: - Baumann, who created the account in 2012 to showcase her augmented-reality business and work, said she spent weeks attempting to get her account reinstated.
- She later reached out to the New York Times, which contacted Instagram on Dec. 2.
- Days later, the company restored the account and claimed it was "incorrectly removed for impersonation." It also apologized for the error.
- Baumann said she believes she "would have disappeared in the whole metaverse, Meta rebrand" without help from the New York Times.
- Mark Zuckerberg announced the company's new name on Oct. 28, saying it embodies its ongoing vision of developing the metaverse, an immersive world where users can play, work, and engage through virtual and augmented reality.
THE GUARDIAN
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 Meta is rolling out a software update to its Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses that enable users to make voice calls and send and receive messages through Facebook Messenger. The company made its first smart glasses, a competitor to Snapchat Spectacles, in partnership with eyewear giant Luxottica, which owns the Ray-Ban brand. More: - Through the update, wearers will be able to use the glasses' built-in assistant to make audio calls, send messages, and hear messages read back to them via the chat platform.
- Meta is also adding the ability to adjust the audio volume and control media playback, such as songs on a playlist, using voice control.
- The glasses, released in September, have built-in mics and speakers along with dual 5MP cameras and Bluetooth.
- Its cameras can capture up to 30 seconds of video, and an LED lights up in the front while recording.
- While the glasses lack augmented reality capabilities to overlay digital content onto the real world, Meta said it plans to incorporate that in the future, presumably either with these or new glasses.
ENGADGET
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QUICK HITS - Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger expects the global chip shortage to last until 2023 amid soaring demand during the pandemic.
- Waymo confirmed that one of its autonomous vehicles struck a pedestrian on Wednesday night in San Francisco. The car was in manual mode when the collision occurred.
- Google says that the Android 12 Go Edition OS for lower-cost phones will arrive in 2022.
- Autonomous vehicle company Aurora announced a partnership to integrate Uber Freight's network into its Horizon system, which offers hauling services.
- Klarna's new browser extension enables shoppers to use its buy now, pay later services at all online retailers even if they haven't partnered with the fintech firm.
- Dating app Grindr was fined $7.1M by Norway’s Data Protection Authority for giving users’ data to advertisers without their consent.
- Humans.ai's HEART token is now listed on major cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin, topping $30M in volume on its first trading day.
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Upcoming Events: - December 21 - Growth in Crypto Security with AJ Yawn (ByteChek) (Register Here)
- January 04 - Venturing in VC with Landon Campbell (Episode #1) (Register Here)
- January 06 - Augmented and Virtual Reality with Timoni West (VP of AR/VR at Unity) (Register Here)
- January 11 - The Business of Interactive Gambling with Jon Kaplowitz (Penn) (Register Here)
- January 25 - Need To Know NoCoder - Leon Young (Cogniss) (Register Here)
- January 27 - Understanding the Metaverse (Register Here)
- February 03 - Blockchain Gaming & Play-to-Earn Economies (Register Here)
- February 10 - The Business of Wellness (Register Here)
- February 17 - Customer Acquisition in a post iOS 14 world (Register Here)
- February 24 - Alternative Investments (Register Here)
- March 03 - The $12B Appetite for Amazon Aggregators (Register Here)
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 |  | Beth is an Inside Analyst and a former public policy/investigative reporter. She has covered AI, VR, technology, and e-commerce for Inside. When she's not busy writing, she's hiking in Arizona's desert, playing pickleball, or trying out new Mexican food recipes. |   | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is writing an illustrated book about climate change that will be published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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