Techmeme
April 21, 2023, 9:15 AM

Top News

Jon Porter / The Verge:
Twitter begins removing blue checkmarks from legacy verified accounts, fulfilling one of Elon Musk's long-stated plans; Musk has called the system “corrupt”  —  The change is apparent on Twitter accounts for several Verge writers and other journalists like LA Times reporter Matt Pearce …
More: Bloomberg, New York Times, Insider, BBC, Bloomberg, PCMag, Wall Street Journal, Mashable, TweakTown, The Guardian, SiliconANGLE, Newser, Social Media Today, Livemint, Instagram - Kara Swisher, NBC News, The Irish Times, Associated Press, CryptoSlate, SlashGear, Deadline, TechCrunch, Variety, and Washington Post
Tweets: @stephenking, @alexeheath, @jonathanmayer, @jsrailton, @mattbinder, @elmo, @uscpsc, @halleberry, @timjhogan, @halleberry, @finallevel, @masonmount, @johnbiggs, @mrseanhaines, @ciara, @scotusblog, @billbrasky2620, @eladnehorai, @harddrivemag, @josephmenn, @mkbhd, @dicebourbon, @alexeheath, @keyawnce3, @theregister, @shayan86, @oliverdarcy, @mer__edith, @goldman, @superpixels, @k8em0, @spenolpalinusa, @danprimack, @paulg, @atrupar, @doctorow, @plasticmartyr, @benstiller, @mattbinder, @atrupar, @ow, @carolinebano, @tomcoates, @tnkgrl, @teroterotero, @danprimack, @zhang_heqing, @tmz, @internethippo, @sukiwaterhouse, @digiphile, @jamestitcomb, @natalieegenolf, @euan_macdonald, @refsrc, @teroterotero, @bromojumbo, @zsk, @bbcworld, @kurtwagner8, @willoremus, @leokelion, @elonmusk, @eve6, @jamieeast, @sorayadarabi, @fmanjoo, @thor_benson, @ashleyfeinberg, @arictoler, @rvawonk, @ashleyfeinberg, @saeeddicaprio, @benfrubinstein, @eve6, @vladsavov, @danrather, @howelloneill, @hmfaigen, @_cingraham, @tomcoates, @kashprime, @nmsonline, @mattrosoff, @teroterotero, @mattgertz, @tomwarren, @rnaudbertrand, @kendrickperkins, @phillipspobrien, @matthew_d_green, @jperlow, @golikehellmachi, @brandyzadrozny, @saeeddicaprio, @evanhill, @oneunderscore__, @astridwilde1, @nikitabier, @waltmossberg, @johnbiggs, @digiphile, @jamiewiikinson, @shaneharris, @rsgnl, @cwarzel, @panzer, @rdrv3, @mattnavarra, @dogfather, @edzitron, @edzitron, @arictoler, @fredericl, @willoremus, @jamesrbuk, @kalhanr, @yoda, @jonathanchait, @sherman4949, @shiringhaffary, @willoremus, @sjvn, @inafried, @scottnover, @kattenbarge, @adamsinger, @pbump, @lorakolodny, @wongmjane, @schillingc, @joannastern, @jbrodkin, @film_girl, @taylorlorenz, @strngwys, @strngwys, @isaach, @rustybrick, @kurtwagner8, @tomwarren, and @sifill_
The Verge:
Twitter offered LeBron James a complimentary Blue subscription after he said he wouldn't pay for one; Musk says he's paying for “a few” subscriptions personally  —  Twitter has started getting rid of legacy blue checks for those who don't pay up.  Well, unless you're LeBron James and a couple of other celebrities.
Paul Sawers / TechCrunch:
Email: Twitter tells advertisers that they must have “a verified checkmark or subscribe to either Twitter Blue or Verified Organizations” to keep running ads  —  As Twitter's legacy blue check mark system finally comes to an end, the social network's new paid-for verification system …
Jahnavi Nidumolu / Reuters:
Twitter dropped the “Government-funded” and “China state-affiliated” labels from accounts of media organizations and journalists, including NPR, BBC, and Xinhua  —  Twitter dropped the “Government-funded” and “China state-affiliated” labels, which implies government involvement …
Miles Kruppa / Wall Street Journal:
Google announces Google DeepMind, a unit combining DeepMind's team and Google Research's Brain team, to be led by DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis as its CEO  —  Search giant merges AI resources to accelerate progress in technology that is reshaping business
Ina Fried / Axios:
Humane co-founder Imran Chaudhri demoed an AI-powered wearable with a projected display that does not need a nearby phone and uses voice and gestures for input  —  Ex-Apple employee Imran Chaudhri gave TED attendees on Thursday an early glimpse of the AI-powered wearable that his startup, Humane, has been developing.
Paresh Dave / Wired:
Stack Overflow CEO says the company plans to charge large AI developers for access to the 50M questions and answers on its service as soon as mid-2023  —  The programmer Q&A site joins Reddit in demanding compensation when its data is used to train algorithms and ChatGPT-style bots
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
After YouTube pulls Heart On My Sleeve due to a UMG copyright notice, a look at the legal dilemma for Google, which claims scraping data to train AI is fair use  —  If young Metro don't trust you, I'm gonna... tie you up in a decade of fair use litigation.  —  The AI Drake track …
David Pierce / The Verge:
A look at ActivityPub, the open, decentralized social network protocol finalized in 2018 that is gaining prominence powering Twitter alternatives like Mastodon  —  The tech industry is abuzz about a new standard for social networking that is more open, more user-centric, and potentially more powerful than Twitter and Facebook.
Wall Street Journal:
Internal Q&A: Mark Zuckerberg says Meta plans to slow hiring, and that net employee growth of 1% to 2% per year will be the standard going forward  —  Facebook-parent CEO says employee growth of 1%-2% a year will be standard in future  —  Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Mark …
Carina Chocano / New Yorker:
A profile of Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn, who co-created CAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA, as he predicts AI will eventually make computers better teachers than humans  —  The company's founder, Luis von Ahn, believes that artificial intelligence is going to make computers better teachers than humans.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Transform ML Experimentation with Tangle  —  Save months of compute time with Tangle, built by Shopify.  Try this open-source platform to simplify ML workflows, ensure reproducibility, and seamlessly share with collaborators.
Zoho:
Contract Signed.  Project Ready.  Tasks Created.  —  Every project begins with a promise; a contract that outlines the deliverables, the timelines, and the terms.  But for most businesses …
Bitrix24:
Bitrix24 powers the next generation of high-performing businesses  —  Chat, projects, CRM, and automation — all in one place.  Replace dozens of tools so your team moves faster, collaborates smarter, and grows effortlessly.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
AI Device Wars Heat Up, RIP Metaverse?, Netflix Acquires Warner Brothers
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
"Hollywood is Truly Freaked Out." Inside the Netflix/WBD Deal with Lucas Shaw
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Hard Fork:
OpenAI Calls a 'Code Red' + Which Model Should I Use? + The Hard Fork Review of Slop
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Access:
Is Roblox making the internet better or worse? We asked the CEO
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Lenny's Podcast:
Why LinkedIn is turning PMs into AI-powered "full stack builders" | Tomer Cohen (LinkedIn CPO)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:15 AM ET, April 21, 2023.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Christopher Dring / GamesIndustry.biz:

Earlier Picks

Jillian Deutsch / Bloomberg:
Bloomberg:
Michael Kan / PCMag: