Hi Inside.com Community, We are extending our Republic raise timeline, and we hope readers and investors love the reason. Inside.com Founder and CEO Jason Calacanis shared full details (and a video preview of our social news site) on our Republic campaign page. These are the key details: - Our social news site’s invitation-only beta will open up on February 28, 2022, with early access for all investors, Inside PRO members, and longtime readers.
- The full site launch is slated for the end of March 2022.
- If you want to get in early, we’ll share more soon — so be on the lookout.
For everyone participating in our Republic campaign, we want this extended investment period to allow our members to experience the social site before investing in Inside.com’s future. In the meantime, enjoy the preview of the new site in our video update, and we hope you will be among the first to try it out. Thanks for being readers and investors. The Inside.com Team |
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Nvidia's $40B bid to acquire chip designer Arm from Softbank has been called off, the companies said on Tuesday, citing "significant regulatory challenges." The deal, first announced in September 2020, would have been one of the largest ever for the chip industry, giving Nvidia control of the IP and architecture of almost all smartphone and tablet chips. More: - The deal has faced scrutiny from U.K., EU, and U.S. regulators, who argued that it would harm competition and give Nvidia an unfair advantage over rivals.
- In lieu of the acquisition, U.K.-based Arm said it will pursue a public offering sometime during the fiscal year starting April 1.
- Arm’s head of IP, Rene Haas, will take over as CEO, replacing Simon Segars who doesn't want to pursue an IPO at this stage in his career.
- Nvidia has already paid Softbank a $1.25B deposit, which is non-refundable and will go toward the Japanese conglomerate's earnings.
- SoftBank acquired Arm in 2016 for $32B.
THE FINANCIAL TIMES 
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Apple acquired AI Music, a startup that specializes in AI-generated music that changes based on a person's heartbeat, mood, and more. Apple could use the startup's tech to boost Apple Music and its other audio products and services, a source told Bloomberg. More: - London-based AI Music was initially founded to help brands create "royalty-free adaptive music."
- Its technology generates soundtracks that can change over time based on how a user interacts with it.
- For example, music could speed up as a person's heart rate increases during a workout, or change based on the action in a video game.
- The price of the acquisition was not disclosed.
- Apple previously acquired classical music streaming service Primephonic, which was integrated into Apple Music.
BLOOMBERG
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 PayPal co-founder and tech investor Peter Thiel will retire from the board of Facebook parent Meta, the company announced on Monday. Thiel, an early investor in Facebook and a board member since 2005, will continue to serve as a director until Meta has its annual stockholder meeting, which is typically held in May. More: - Thiel co-founded both PayPal and the big data analytics firm Palantir Technologies.
- He is currently a managing partner at the VC firm Founders Fund and an early investor in LinkedIn, Yelp, and Clearview AI.
- Reports note that Thiel has been a mentor and close adviser to Mark Zuckerberg, who described him as "an original thinker."
- Thiel publicly backed former President Donald Trump in 2016. A source told the NYT that Thiel is stepping down in order to focus on the U.S. midterm elections in November.
- He is expected to advance his support for Trump's political agenda and back the Senate bids of two GOP candidates — Blake Masters in Arizona, and J.D. Vance in Ohio.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
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TikTok said it's exploring ways to classify and restrict adult-rated content to prevent it from reaching teenage users. The system could resemble the standards already used to rate content in film, TV, and video games, according to TikTok executive Tracy Elizabeth. More: - The ByteDance-owned company is doing a "small test" of the age restrictions. It wants to roll out a feature for creators to limit their content to older audiences.
- It could also allow users to select what content maturity they would like to opt into or skip, Elizabeth said.
- The move comes after a TikTok executive told lawmakers last year that the company was looking into ways for users to "enjoy content based on age appropriateness."
Zoom-out: - Separately, TikTok said it will begin to remove more content that promotes disordered eating patterns, such as short-term fasting and overexercising.
- It's also updating its policy to ban "deadnaming, misgendering, or misogyny" and any content that promotes conversion therapy.
ENGADGET
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 Amazon plans to take a stake in Velodyne Lidar Inc, a maker of sensors enabling vision for autonomous vehicles, robotics, and other industries. Velodyne agreed to issue a warrant for an Amazon subsidiary to acquire nearly 39.6 million shares or close to 16% of the company. More: - The shares will vest over time as Amazon makes discretionary payments to Velodyne of up to $200M.
- In return, Amazon can appoint a board observer when its stake goes above 12.3 million shares.
- According to the warrant filing, Amazon will use Velodyne’s technology "to improve the customer experience.”
- Some reports speculated Amazon could use the lidar "machine vision" in its future self-driving vehicles or its autonomous robots at warehouses.
- After the pact was disclosed, shares of Velodyne surged 43% in premarket trading.
Zoom-out: - Lidar is a key technology for some automakers working on self-driving cars. It provides machines with the ability to map out and "see" their surroundings.
- The sensors emit infrared light and measure how long it takes to bounce off nearby objects and return to the sensor, creating a 3D map.
BARRON'S
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 The IRS said it will no longer roll out third-party facial-recognition software to verify taxpayers' identities online. The agency faced criticism for using a commercial facial recognition tool, called ID.me, that uses technology often found to have deeply embedded racial and gender biases. More: - The agency planned to require taxpayers to have an ID.me account to access some IRS online services.
- The plan faced pushback after ID.me's CEO initially denied — but later acknowledged — that the company uses a complex face-matching technique that compares an individual's selfie to an entire database of faces.
- Critics voiced concerns about cyberattacks that could leak people's sensitive biometric data as well as flaws in the system that could lock out users based on skin color and more.
- The decision comes after Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) sent a letter to the IRS asking to halt the program. Several Republican senators on the Finance Committee also opened an inquiry into the matter.
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- Peloton will cut 2,800 jobs, or about 20% of its workforce, and replace CEO John Foley with former Spotify and Netflix CEO Barry McCarthy amid a slowdown in demand for its products.
- Ferrari partnered with Qualcomm to use its Snapdragon chipset technology in its "digital transformation."
- Nissan plans to stop developing internal combustion engine vehicles in its major markets except for the U.S.
- Amazon said its virtual healthcare program is now available nationwide, with in-person health clinics coming to 20 U.S. cities in 2022.
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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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