Techmeme
February 16, 2023, 12:30 PM

Top News

Peter Kafka / Vox:
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki plans to step down after nine years and will be replaced by her longtime lieutenant Neal Mohan; Wojcicki was Google's 16th employee  —  One of the most prominent women in tech — and one of Google's earliest employees — is leaving the company.
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Chatting with Bing Chat, codenamed Sydney and sometimes Riley, feels like crossing the Rubicon because the AI is attempting to communicate emotions, not facts  —  Look, this is going to sound crazy.  But know this: I would not be talking about Bing Chat for the fourth day in a row if I didn't really, really, think it was worth it.
Bing Blogs:
Microsoft reflects on the new Bing: 71% gave AI answers a thumbs up, Bing can become repetitive after 15+ questions, a few sessions over two hours, and more  —  A little over a week ago, we shared an all new, AI-powered Bing search engine, Edge web browser, and integrated Chat, that we think of as Your Copilot for the Web.
Jemima Kelly / Financial Times:
A year on from Meta hyping the metaverse in a dystopian Super Bowl ad, enthusiasm for a virtual future has evaporated and Meta is now more focused on efficiency  —  Enthusiasm for a virtual future is draining away — and so is investment  —  Remember when we were all going to ditch our humdrum lives …
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget:
PlayStation VR2 review: excellent OLED displays, comfortable, solid controllers, and immersive headset haptics, but pricey and limited games at launch  —  The PlayStation VR 2 is the virtual reality upgrade console gamers have been waiting for — but is it really worth $550?
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: spooked by a growing regulatory crackdown, US banks are backing away from crypto companies and re-evaluating their exposure, no matter how small  —  SEC and banking overseers step up scrutiny following collapse of FTX  —  Crypto's Crash Has Been Swift but Largely Self-Contained.  Here's Why.
Jesse Hamilton / CoinDesk:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple postponed the introduction of its MR headset from around April to June 2023, at its annual WWDC, after testing found hardware and software issues  —  Apple Inc. has postponed a planned introduction of its first mixed-reality headset from around April to June …
Shane Huntley / The Keyword:
Analysis of the cyber threat landscape one year after Russia invaded Ukraine shows Russia's aggressive multi-pronged plan across five phases with mixed success  —  One year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Google TAG, Mandiant, and Trust & Safety provide insights into changes in the cyber threat landscape triggered by the war.
Bloomberg:
A profile of FTX co-founder and CTO Gary Wang, a roommate to Sam Bankman-Fried at MIT who is cooperating with the US, as insiders say he may have key insights  —  They'd come a long way together, from teenage mathletes to MIT frat brothers to crypto billionaires.
Akane Otani / Wall Street Journal:
Jaime Rogozinski, who created r/WallStreetBets, sues Reddit, arguing the company breached its contract by removing him as a moderator in 2020  —  Jaime Rogozinski says site ousted him without claim; Reddit calls suit frivolous  —  WallStreetBets' founder is suing the site where it all began.
Reuters:
A German court rules that police use of Palantir's automated data analysis to prevent crime in some states was unconstitutional, after a rights group complained  —  A top German court ruled on Thursday that police use of automated data analysis to prevent crime in some German states was unconstitutional …
More: Euractiv
Game Developer:
Activision Blizzard plans to require employees to come to the office three days per week starting on April 10 for Activision Publishing and July 10 for Blizzard  —  Remote work is reportedly ending across Activision Blizzard.  According to a developer at Blizzard Entertainment …
Dave Michaels / Wall Street Journal:
Binance Chief Strategy Officer Patrick Hillmann says the company expects to pay monetary penalties to settle US regulatory and law enforcement investigations  —  DOJ, CFTC have been probing world's largest cryptocurrency exchange  —  Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange …
Sam Reynolds / CoinDesk:
CoinMarketCap data shows the crypto market is struggling with an “Alameda gap” after new coin applications fell from 10,264 in Q1 2022 to 6,350 in Q4 2022  —  Data from CoinMarketCap shows a precipitous decline in applications for token listings as liquidity dries up.
More: Protos
Jane Lanhee Lee / Reuters:
Switzerland-based Unisers, which is developing a way to detect extraneous extremely small particles during chip production, raised $14M led by Intel Capital  —  Switzerland-based microchip toolmaker Unisers said on Thursday it had raised $14 million in a funding round led by Intel Capital …

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More News

Bloomberg:
Paresh Dave / Wired:

Earlier Picks

Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Natalie Andrews / Wall Street Journal: