Techmeme
July 19, 2023, 5:25 PM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple built Ajax, a framework for building LLMs, created a chatbot app that some engineers call “Apple GPT”, and is planning an AI announcement 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 …
Lisa Richwine / Reuters:
Netflix Q2: revenue up 2.7% YoY to $8.2B, vs. $8.3B est., net income up 3.3% YoY to $1.5B, 5.9M net new subscribers, vs. 1.9M est., and a Q3 forecast below est.  —  Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) handily beat Wall Street earnings forecasts on Wednesday as a password-sharing crackdown …
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.
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority:
Google launches Nearby Share for Windows, letting users transfer files between PCs and Android devices close to each other, after debuting a beta in March 2023  —  Anyone can download Nearby Share for Windows now, but your future laptop might come with it pre-installed.  —  •  —  TL;DR
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 …
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 …
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
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.
Bloomberg:
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.
Wayne Ma / The Information:
Sources: Meta delayed releasing AR glasses to at least 2027, after having to cut the microLED display, lidar, 3D projector, and more due to technical setbacks  —  In March 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to transform the world, the company then known as Facebook struck a deal to buy …
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.
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.
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 …
Katharine Gemmell / Bloomberg:
The UK CMA provisionally clears Broadcom's $61B VMware acquisition, after finding that the deal “would not harm competition”; the deal still needs US approval  —  - CMA looks to clear technology deal after an in-depth review  — The decision follows a green light from its EU counterpart

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Prospect:
A running list of the best startups to join  —  We've analyzed thousands of startups using the same data VCs use and distilled our list down to the top 2%.  Discover and join the next Stripe, Airbnb, or Coinbase today.
Zoho:
From orders to alerts with Zoho Inventory and Zoho Cliq integration  —  Running a business is challenging, especially when it comes to managing incoming orders from online sales channels.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
The Kevin Rose Show:
Carolina Reis Oliveira & Alessandra Zonari | OneSkin: Aging Myths, Senescent Cells, and How to Age Slower (#56)
Gain unconventional wisdom and insights through conversations with top expert in AI, investing, wellness, technology, and culture.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Wed. 05/08 - Bethesda Bloodbath
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:25 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.

More News

Brian Fung / CNN:

Earlier Picks

Jon Gertner / New York Times:
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Jennifer Elias / CNBC: