Techmeme
June 21, 2023, 4:45 PM

Top News

Annie Palmer / CNBC:
The US FTC files a lawsuit alleging Amazon used “dark patterns” to steer customers to enroll in Prime without consent and “sabotaged” their attempts to cancel  —  - The FTC on Wednesday sued Amazon, alleging it tricked customers into signing up for its Prime subscription program …
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple releases visionOS SDK, and says the company will open developer labs and applications for Apple Vision Pro developer kits next month  —  When Apple announced Vision Pro at WWDC, the company promised to make a robust set of tools available for developers.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft increases the prices in most markets for its Xbox Series X and, for the first time, Xbox Game Pass; Xbox Series X pricing remains the same in the US  —  Microsoft is increasing its Xbox Series X prices in most countries in August apart from the US, Japan, Chile, Brazil, and Colombia.
David Pierce / The Verge:
Josh Dzieza / The Verge:
A look at the vast and mostly hidden “tasker” underclass, including subject-matter experts, hired by companies like Scale AI to annotate data for AI training  —  As the technology becomes ubiquitous, a vast tasker underclass is emerging — and not going anywhere.
Zosha Millman / Polygon:
Ali Selim, the director and executive producer of Marvel's Secret Invasion, says Method Studios used AI to design the opening credits scene  —  ‘It just came right out of the shape-shifting, Skrull world identity’  —  The world of Secret Invasion is decidedly sketchy.
Scott Wong / NBC News:
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer unveils an AI regulatory framework and says that “Congress must join the AI revolution” before it's too late to regulate  —  The Senate majority leader released his long-awaited framework for regulating artificial intelligence …
Jeremy Diamond / CNN:
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Amazon plans to hold Prime Day 2023 on July 11 and July 12 and introduce an invite-only Prime Days deals program; India's event will be held “later this summer”  —  Amazon will hold its 2023 Prime Day sales event on Tuesday, July 11, and Wednesday, July 12, the Seattle-based e-commerce giant announced tonight.
Sawdah Bhaimiya / Insider:
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Discord plans to let creators sell “Downloadables”, one-time digital purchases, and rolls out Media Channels in beta, designed for videos, photos, and files  —  Discord plans to give creators a new way to make money from their communities by selling digital products via one-time purchases.
Kana Inagaki / Financial Times:
Masayoshi Son says SoftBank plans to go on the “counteroffensive” soon by resuming AI investments; the group has $35B+ after halting investments in recent years  —  Billionaire chief talks up AI and reveals he had breakdown in October where he questioned his achievements as an entrepreneur
Will Douglas Heaven / MIT Technology Review:
A look at the recent debates over existential risk in AI, as views once considered extreme are now mainstream talking points, grabbing world leaders' attention  —  “Ghost stories are contagious.”  —  Who's afraid of the big bad bots?  A lot of people, it seems.
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Instagram now lets US users download Reels posted by public accounts, adding a watermark logo and the account name for sharing, which TikTok has done for years  —  Instagram is finally letting users download Reels posted by others so they can share them outside the app.
Kat Bailey / IGN:
In a major reorganization, EA splits EA Games and EA Sports, and renames the former as EA Entertainment, signaling the company's possible expansion beyond games  —  EA is undergoing a major internal reorganization, with EA Games being renamed “EA Entertainment.”
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Reddit suspended some moderators after they changed their subreddits to NSFW as “incorrectly marking a community as NSFW” violates its content and mod policies  —  Reddit has started removing moderator teams managing subreddits that switched the labeling on their communities to Not Safe For Work …

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Earlier Picks

Kevin Purdy / Ars Technica: