| Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: |
Sources: Apple built a framework called Ajax to build LLMs, created a chatbot app that some engineers call “Apple GPT”, and aims for a consumer product in 2024 — - Company builds large language models and internal chatbot — Executives haven't decided how to release tools to consumers| Or Goren / Cord Busters: |
Netflix removes its most affordable $10/month ad-free Basic tier in the US and UK, charging new and rejoining members £10.99/month or $15.49/month for no ads — This post may contain affiliate links* — Breaking: In a major shakeup of its pricing model, Netflix, the global streaming giant … | Sahil Patel / The Information: |
Sources: Netflix told advertisers in the last two weeks that its ad-supported tier has around 1.5M subscribers in the US; Hulu's ad tier has ~30M US subscribers — Around 1.5 million people in the U.S. have signed up to pay for Netflix's tier of service that carries ads … | Tom Warren / The Verge: |
Microsoft and Activision Blizzard agree to extend the finalization of their merger agreement to October 18, pending the outcome of negotiations with the UK CMA — Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have agreed to extend their merger agreement pending the outcome of negotiations with UK regulators.| Wall Street Journal: |
Microsoft plans to give 31 security logs to its lower-cost cloud service licensees for free in September 2023, after its China hack disclosures drew criticism — Company says it will make security logs available to customers with lower-cost cloud services — Microsoft said it plans … | Emily Nicolle / Bloomberg: |
France designates Societe Generale's blockchain unit Forge a digital asset service provider, issuing the country's first license under its new crypto rules — - Forge awarded permissions to act as custodian, trade crypto — License will help meet demand from institutional clients: CEO| Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times: |
Microsoft, OpenAI, Cohere, and others are testing using “synthetic data” as developers find generic data from the web is no longer good enough for training LLMs — Microsoft, OpenAI and Cohere experiment with “synthetic data,” as they reach the limits of information created by humans| Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch: |
Meta launches a standalone WhatsApp app for Wear OS 3, letting smartwatch users start chats, reply to messages, and take calls without their connected phone — WhatsApp has finally launched its standalone app for smartwatches running Google's Wear OS, after much anticipation and months-long beta testing.| Todd Haselton / CNBC: |
Microsoft's stock closed up 4% at $359.49 on July 18, an all-time high, after announcing Microsoft 365 Copilot's subscription pricing; MSFT is up 45%+ in 2023 — - Microsoft shares rallied to an all-time high after the company announced pricing for its new Microsoft 365 artificial intelligence subscription service.| Will Shanklin / Engadget: |
| Matthew Humphries / PCMag: |
Intel grants Asus a non-exclusive license to its NUC designs; Asus plans to make, sell, and support 10th to 13th gen systems and can develop new system designs — The agreement covers existing NUCs and allows Asus to design new models. … , Asus is granted a non-exclusive license … | Bloomberg: |
Researchers say hate speech and misinfo are rising on Twitter; CEO Linda Yaccarino says that's not true and touts improvements, like more ad placement controls — Since Musk's takeover, a number of researchers see a rise in hate speech, violent content — Elon Musk's Twitter acquisition … | Jennifer Elias / CNBC: |
Sources: Google is piloting an opt-in program that gives volunteer employees internet-free PCs, in a bid to reduce the risk of cyberattacks against the company — - Google is enlisting employees for a pilot program to work without internet access. — The search giant … | Kate Clark / The Information: |
Michael Moritz leaves Sequoia Capital to focus on the firm's wealth management business; source: Mike Vernal is also leaving; Daniel Chen left in recent months — Five Sequoia Capital partners have left the firm, the biggest shakeup to the storied venture firm's leadership since its leader Roelof Botha took over a year ago.| Bloomberg: |
Sources: former FTX COO Zhe “Constance” Wang joined crypto VC firm Sino Global Capital; Wang has not been accused of wrongdoing in FTX's or Alameda's collapses — - Wang worked at Credit Suisse and Huobi before joining FTX — Wang held COO position at FTX up until the exchange collapsed| Chris Welch / The Verge: |
Beats Studio Pro review: headphones with a good transparency mode, lossless USB-C audio, and native iOS and Android support, but a subpar build quality for $350 — They look like a lazy refresh from the outside, but the noise-canceling Studio Pros include a ton of new features like transparency mode and lossless USB-C audio.| Gene Park / Washington Post: |
A look at “non-playable character” TikTok creators, like Pinkydoll, who livestream themselves saying phrases and doing robotic actions repetitively for tips — On TikTok, a woman named Pinkydoll with a thousand-yard stare faces you, undulating just enough to let you know she's alive.| Brian Heater / TechCrunch: |
Unity launches PolySpatial, which was unveiled alongside the Vision Pro at WWDC to help developers port and create 3D experiences for Apple's visionOS, in beta — Unity this morning announced that it has opened the beta version of its development platform for visionOS.| Yueqi Yang / Bloomberg: |
Nasdaq halts the launch of its digital-asset custodian business in the US and pursuing a related license, citing a shifting business and regulatory environment — The exchange operator is also halting its efforts to pursue a license related to the business but will continue to build out its technological capability to handle crypto.| Sean Hollister / The Verge: |
Hands-on with the Framework Laptop 16, a modular gaming laptop that lets you replace and upgrade the GPU; the DIY edition is available for pre-order for $1,399+ — Four layers of modular components — including a swappable discrete GPU — right at your fingertips.| Axios: |
Sources: Vox Media plans to stop using Chorus, its CMS that the company licensed to external publishers from 2018 to 2022, and move its websites to WordPress — Vox Media, the parent company to websites such as New York Magazine, Eater and SB Nation, will no longer use Chorus … | Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: |
Sacramento-based Unstructured, which offers a service to extract and stage enterprise data in a way that LLMs can use, raised $25M across a Series A and seed — Large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI's GPT-4 are the building blocks for an increasing number of AI applications.| Wayne Ma / The Information: |
Sources: Meta's timeline for releasing AR glasses has slipped to at least 2027, as setbacks caused dropping microLED display tech, lidar, a 3D projector, more — In March 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to transform the world, the company then known as Facebook struck a deal to buy … | Financial Times: |
Sources: Threads has largely replicated Instagram's algorithm, prioritizing posts by creators and friends over hard news, and is relying on Instagram moderators — Facebook's parent company downgrades current affairs on Threads app and refuses to engage with Canadian law designed to fund media groups| Brandy Betz / CoinDesk: |
Miami-based Cosmic Wire, which offers tools for blockchain infrastructure and metaverse creation, raised a $30M seed led by the Solana Foundation and Polygon — The startup offers metaverse creation tools and a list of general blockchain infrastructure solutions.
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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:45 PM ET, July 19, 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.
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| Katharine Gemmell / Bloomberg: |
| Jon Gertner / New York Times: |
| Manish Singh / TechCrunch: |
| Ryan Smith / AnandTech: |
| Jay Peters / The Verge: |
| Kashmir Hill / New York Times: |
| Dan Goodin / Ars Technica: |
| Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch: |