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August 16, 2023, 11:10 PM
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Top News

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
OpenAI acquires New York-based AI design studio Global Illumination, marking the company's first public acquisition; the terms of the deal weren't disclosed  —  OpenAI, the AI company behind the viral AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT, has acquired Global Illumination, a New York-based startup leveraging AI …
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
NYC bans TikTok on city-owned devices and asks agencies to remove the app within 30 days; a NYC Cyber Command review found that TikTok “posed a security threat”  —  New York City is banning TikTok from city-owned devices and requiring agencies to remove the app within the next 30 days.
Bloomberg:
Docs: Amazon plans to impose a new 2% fee per sale on merchants who ship products themselves, on top of the ~15% commission they already pay, from October 2023  —  - The new levy comes even with an FTC antitrust suit looming  — Merchant fees generate revenue as online sales growth slows
Timmy Shen / The Block:
Coinbase says the exchange received regulatory approval from the CFTC-backed National Futures Association to offer futures trading services to eligible US users  —  - Coinbase is now allowed to operate as a futures commission merchant and offer eligible U.S. customers access to crypto futures from its platforms, the company said.
Sankalp Phartiyal / Bloomberg:
Sources: Foxconn's plant in Tamil Nadu, India plans to deliver iPhone 15 units weeks after Chinese factories; output previously lagged by six to nine months  —  - Apple is diversifying iPhone supply chain away from China  — India's push to become a manufacturing hub is bearing fruit
Financial Times:
Docs: India accounts for $10B of Foxconn's annual revenue, or 4.6% in 2022, showing the limits of “China plus one”; China makes up 75% of Foxconn's operations
Nico Grant / New York Times:
Docs: Google DeepMind has been developing generative AI to perform 21+ different types of personal and professional tasks, including to give users life advice  —  The tech giant is evaluating tools that would use artificial intelligence to perform tasks that some of its researchers have said should be avoided.
Caitlin Harrington / Wired:
OSHA investigations and 11 interviews: Amazon's first aid clinics put warehouse staff at risk by keeping them working instead of referring them to medical care  —  A WIRED investigation and federal citations show how first aid clinics in Amazon warehouses sometimes direct injured employees …
More: GeekWire.  Bluesky: @epro.social.  X: @lfelizleon, @jbarab, and @tonyajoriley
Bloomberg:
Intel ends its $5.4B bid to acquire Israeli company Tower Semiconductor, announced in February 2022, after failing to win Chinese regulatory approval in time  —  - Deal for Tower Semiconductor needed Chinese antitrust approval  —  Intel Corp. walked away from its attempt …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Epic Games expands its Epic Online Services crossplay tools from PC to PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch, helping developers more easily add crossplay multiplayer  —  The change could mean that developers will be able to more easily bring crossplay multiplayer to their games.
Dan Garisto / Nature:
A look at studies saying LK-99 is not a superconductor and that impurities in the material were responsible for its superconducting-like behaviors  —  You can also search for this author in  —  PubMed Google Scholar  —  Researchers seem to have solved the puzzle of LK-99.
Forums: Hacker News
Shaurya Malwa / CoinDesk:
Shiba Inu's Ethereum layer-2 network Shibarium, which hopes to lure users with low fees to an ecosystem focused on financial services and gaming, goes live  —  The much-awaited Shibarium network saw over 21 million wallets created during its testnet and is expected to position Shiba Inu as a serious DeFi contender.
Hannah Miller / Bloomberg:
Crypto custody startup BitGo raised $100M at a $1.75B valuation from unnamed US and Asian investors; Galaxy Digital scrapped a $1.2B BitGo acquisition in 2022  —  The crypto company raised $100 million from new investors, emphasizing its focus on following rules and regulations.
Candice Ortiz / Mediaite:
Conservative radio host Glenn Beck says all Glenn Beck Program episodes were removed from Apple Podcasts, and then restored, “with no explanation”  —  Commentator Glenn Beck's entire show was removed from Apple's podcast network on Wednesday, allegedly without warning or explanation.
Alexandra Alter / New York Times:
The Authors Guild, the American Booksellers Association, and the Open Markets Institute urge the DOJ and the FTC to investigate Amazon's book market “monopoly”  —  The online retailer's size and sway affects the free exchange of ideas, the groups argue.
Chris Vallance / BBC:
Sama CEO Wendy Gonzalez says the company no longer plans to take harmful content moderation work from Meta and she regrets the work, after some staff sued Sama  —  A firm which was contracted to moderate Facebook posts in East Africa has said with hindsight it should not have taken on the job.
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Apple backtracks and moves the iPhone's “end call” button back to the middle of the screen, from the bottom-right corner, in the latest iOS 17 beta  —  - Apple has moved the end call button back to the middle of the screen in the the newest developer version of iOS 17 released on Tuesday.

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:10 PM ET, August 16, 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.

From Mediagazer

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Arkansas PBS severs ties with the PBS network, the first state public TV system to do so since Congress cut CPB funds, citing the annual $2M+ membership cost

Sam Roberts / New York Times:
Arthur L. Carter, who started a Connecticut newspaper in 1981, bought and sold The Nation, and founded the New York Observer in 1987, has died at 93

Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney's Zootopia 2 surpasses $1B at the global box office, the fastest PG-rated film to do so after just 17 days in release

More News

Elizabeth Howcroft / Reuters:
PayPal plans to “temporarily pause” letting UK users buy crypto from October 1, to work on complying with new regulations, and restart support in “early 2024”
Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:
Tencent reports Q2 revenue up 11% YoY to ~$20.6B, below ~$20.8B est., and operating profit up 37% YoY to ~$6.9B, driven by benefits from cost cutting in 2022

Earlier Picks

Jesse Hamilton / CoinDesk:
GOP House Financial Services Committee lawmakers demand that SEC Chair Gary Gensler explain how Prometheum won its unique approval as a broker-dealer for crypto
Chelsey Cox / CNBC:
At a White House roundtable, the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau touts Fair Credit Reporting Act rules to crack down on harmful data broker practices
Ash Parrish / The Verge:
Xbox debuts a strike-based enforcement program, to improve “player transparency” and clear up confusion; eight strikes over six months results in a one-year ban
Reed Albergotti / Semafor:
OpenAI says the company has been using GPT-4 to enforce its content policies and says some of its customers are already using the LLM for content moderation
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google adds an experimental browsing feature that summarizes page content to Search Generative Experience, first in the Google mobile app for Search Labs users
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
YouTube updates YouTube Music on iOS and Android with Samples, a music discovery feed featuring vertically cropped, 30-second clips uploaded directly by artists
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