Techmeme: Q&A with Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer on Xbox having no major 2022 releases, momentum in 2023, layoffs, the Activision deal and the FTC lawsuit, and more (Kat Bailey/IGN)

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January 30, 2023, 7:50 AM

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Zheping Huang / Bloomberg:

Source: Chinese search giant Baidu plans to launch an AI chatbot, similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT, in March 2023, initially embedded into its main search services — Baidu Inc. is planning to roll out an artificial intelligence chatbot service similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT, according to a person familiar …

More: Reuters, PingWest, Engadget, The Economic Times, The Information, Barron's Online, Wall Street Journal, TechNode, Neowin, TechCircle, and Digital Trends

Mastodon: @ukuku@mstdn.social. Tweets: @pelstrom, @robinwauters, @pelstrom, @davidinglestv, @dinabass, @pingroma, @ruima, @elenaneroba, and @eden_holdings

Sander Lutz / Decrypt:

The Biden administration publishes a roadmap for mitigating cryptocurrencies' risks and urges Congress to hasten efforts to create a crypto regulatory framework — Four senior Biden officials penned a note Friday urging lawmakers to hasten their efforts to create a regulatory framework for crypto.

Source: The White House. More: Bitcoin News, SiliconANGLE, Emage 兆.耳, crypto.news, Cryptonews, Bitcoinist.com, Crypto Daily, Cointelegraph, Inside Bitcoins, and CryptoPotato

Tweets: @briandeesenec, @alondranelson46, @robamorg, @whostp, @bradydale, @periannedc, @shyftnetwork, @wmougayar, @cryptowendyo, @cryptolycus, @regulatoryjason, @dennis_porter_, and @caitlinlong_

John D. McKinnon / Wall Street Journal:

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew plans to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on March 23, the first appearance by a TikTok CEO before Congress — Republicans are expected to use hearing to highlight security and privacy concerns over video app — TikTok Offers More Transparency to Win Over U.S. Regulators

More: Washington Post, House Committee on Energy …, Bloomberg, Reuters, and Fortune

Tweets: @niubi and @b_fung

John D. McKinnon / Wall Street Journal:

The US' Berman amendments, passed during the Cold War to protect the free flow of content between the US and hostile countries, may complicate a TikTok ban — Decades-old measures protect free flow of content internationally, even with hostile nations — How TikTok Could Become a U.S. Company

More: CNBC, Bloomberg, TechNode, The Information, International Business Times, scussion, and South China Morning Post

Tweets: @sroach_econ, @bensonel, and @martijnrasser

Jon Porter / The Verge:

Kuo: Apple plans to release a foldable iPad in 2024, featuring a carbon fiber kickstand, as well as an updated iPad mini, after a quiet 2023 for the iPad — Apple could be on track to release a foldable iPad as early as next year, according to supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

More: MacRumors, 9to5Mac, Android Authority, AppleInsider, MacRumors, Pocket-lint, Wccftech, BGR, Huawei Central, iThinkDifferent, SPARROWS NEWS, TechCircle, Appuals.com, iMore, GSMArena.com, Cult of Mac, and WRAL TechWire

Tweets: @mingchikuo, @mingchikuo, @mingchikuo, @mingchikuo, and @bengeskin

David Ingram / NBC News:

San Francisco asked California regulators to halt or scale back the expansion of Cruise and Waymo, after repeated incidents with stopped and idle robotaxis — SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco is trying to slow the expansion of robotaxis after repeated incidents in which cars without drivers stopped …

More: Engadget, California Public Utilities Commission, The Verge, SiliconANGLE, Digital Trends, Slashdot, and California Public Utilities Commission

Tweets: @davidzipper, @davidzipper, @wiredscience, @nbcnews, @david_ingram, @aniccia, @tsimonite, and @aarianmarshall

Wall Street Journal:

Documents: China's top nuclear weapons research lab, on the US export entity list since 1997, bought 7nm to 14nm Intel and Nvidia chips several times since 2020 — State-owned institute continued buying Intel- and Nvidia-made chips despite inclusion on a U.S. export blacklist in 1997

More: Associated Press. Tweets: @angelazhanghk, @newley, @cold_peace_, @dravirmani, and @lingling_wei

Financial Times:

The English Premier League strikes a four-year deal with blockchain fantasy sports startup Sorare; sources say Sorare will pay tens of millions per year — League agrees multimillion-pound licensing deal with start-up that offers trading in digital player cards

More: VentureBeat, Reuters, CoinDesk, TechCrunch, CNBC, Sorare, City A.M., and CoinGape

Tweets: @sorare, @premierleague, @ni2las, and @ni2las

Bloomberg:

The memory chip sector, known for boom-and-bust cycles, is facing one if its worst-ever routs, as an inventory glut and a fight for marketshare crater prices — This time was supposed to be different. — The memory-chip sector, famous for its boom-and-bust cycles, had changed its ways.

More: Wall Street Journal. Tweets: @lisaabramowicz1, @pelstrom, @pelstrom, and @trengriffin

TechCrunch:

Court records from 2011 to 2022 show how police in some US states used data like text messages, search history, and emails in abortion-related prosecutions — In late April, police in Nebraska received a tip saying 17-year-old Celeste Burgess had given birth to a stillborn baby and buried the body.

Tweets: @runasand and @evacide

Dave Michaels / Wall Street Journal:

A profile of Jonathan Kanter, the DOJ's assistant AG for antitrust, a longtime Google foe who filed the US anti-monopoly lawsuit to break up its ad business — Jonathan Kanter is a longtime legal adversary to the internet company — Watch: Garland Announces Lawsuit Against Google for Antitrust Violations

More: Digiday

Naomi Nix / Washington Post:

After layoffs, Meta, which used remote work during the pandemic to advance its diversity goals, now faces an uphill battle to continue making progress with DEI — Brit Levy, 35, was eager to join Meta's paid training program for aspiring human resources managers last year because she wanted …

More: gHacks Technology News. Tweets: @nerdbitches, @max111206, and @kcraigtv

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From Mediagazer

Reuters:

The UK says it is leaning towards intervening in Paramount's $110B WBD takeover, citing concerns over media freedom and the provision of on-demand programming

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:

NPR retracts an article saying Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring; he has made no such announcement, and a spokesman called the story “inaccurate”

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Axel Springer closes its £575M acquisition of Telegraph Media Group, ending a three-year saga, and names Carolin Hulshoff Pol as TMG CEO, replacing Anna Jones

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More News

New York Times:

South Korea's K-pop industry is embracing the metaverse, expanding on commonplace virtual counterparts for artists, including by creating the virtual band Mave

More: OnEdge Newsletter. Tweets: @bymattstevens and @slhamlet

Dominic-Madori Davis / TechCrunch:

Crunchbase: US Black Web3 founders raised $60M in 2022, up from $16M in 2021; US Web3 startups raised $11.9B in 2022, down 39% from $16.5B in 2021

Chris Metinko / Crunchbase News:

Florida startups raised $9.7B in 601 deals in 2022, up 25% YoY from $7.8B in 652 deals; VC funding fell 40%+ YoY in 2022 in California, Massachusetts, and NY

More: Crunchbase News. Tweets: @jeffnolan, @saxonbaum, and @crunchbasenews

Karmela Padavic-Callaghan / New Scientist:

Researchers detail how ProGen, an LLM trained on 280M proteins, designed proteins with anti-microbial properties that were tested in real life and shown to work

More: Neowin and Slashdot

Tweets: @twenseleers, @tonymmorley, @thisismadani, @erictopol, @sn4ileater, @shiraeis, and @ppmc_uab

Cory Doctorow / Pluralistic:

How TikTok, Amazon, and other platforms go through “enshittification”, helping users before abusing them to help business customers, then abusing those as well

More: Bloomberg. Tweets: @mikeelgan, @timsweeneyepic, @doctorow, @sriramk, @tychobrahe, @hlinehan, @greglinden, @glichfield, @robertmaguire_, @josh_bersin, @seankreynolds, @scottmonty, @doctorow, @doctorow, @alexdecampi, @masspirates, and @agroebbe

Charlize Alcaraz / BetaKit:

Toronto-based Smile CDR, which offers services for health care and clinical data interoperability, raised a ~$30M Series B led by UPMC Enterprises and others

More: newswire.com

Hannah Lang / Reuters:

The US Federal Reserve rejects Custodia Bank's application to become a Federal Reserve System member, citing safety risks with its crypto-focused business model

Earlier Picks

CTech:

OpenWeb, which helps outlets manage comments and target readers with ads, acquires Jeeng, an audience management service used by over 650 publishers, for $100M

More: Globes Online, OpenWeb, Insider, and FinSMEs

Tweets: @glenngabe and @glenngabe

Financial Times:

Meme-stock mania companies, including GameStop and AMC Entertainment, have raised $4.7B since the hype began in January 2021, but failed to boost performance

Tweets: @edgecliffe

Julia Angwin / The Markup:

Q&A with Princeton CS professor Arvind Narayanan on why he calls ChatGPT a “bullshit generator”, his worries over its boom, developing his AI taxonomy, and more

Mastodon: @JeroenJeremy@mastodon.green. Tweets: @random_walker, @juliaangwin, @daphnehk, @harrymccracken, @jonathandriddle, @digiphile, @random_walker, and @fuzheado

Bloomberg:

As the GOP assumes US House leadership, the antitrust subcommittee shifts its focus from bipartisan efforts to curb Big Tech's power to free speech issues

More: BIG by Matt Stoller. Tweets: @birnbaum_e, @justin_higgins2, @mattzeitlin, @evan_greer, @kdbyproxy, @matthewstoller, @lutherlowe, @mondairejones, @stacyfmitchell, @moreperfectus, @mrddmia, @karlbode, and @technology

Kat Bailey / IGN:

Q&A with Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer on Xbox having no major 2022 releases, momentum in 2023, layoffs, the Activision deal and the FTC lawsuit, and more

More: TrueAchievements, KitGuru, OnMSFT.com, Gamereactor UK, Game Rant, Livemint, Engadget, Video Games Chronicle, Pure Xbox, GamingBolt, PC Gamer, Appuals.com, Wccftech, TheGamer, and Dot Esports

Tweets: @tomwarren, @draydensbeard, @dreadknux, and @tomwarren

New York Times:

Court filing: the US DOJ accuses Sam Bankman-Fried of messaging FTX US' general counsel and a potential witness, and asks a judge to limit his communications

More: Decrypt, PYMNTS.com, The Daily Hodl, Reuters, Bloomberg, CryptoSlate, Engadget, Bitcoin News, Wall Street Journal, Cointelegraph, crypto.news, CoinJournal, NewsBTC, Cryptonews, CNBC, The Block, and CoinDesk

Tweets: @downwithtyranny and @cryptoelitenews