Techmeme
August 16, 2023, 7:30 AM

Top News

Washington Post:
X added five-second delays, some now removed, on t.co links to Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Bluesky, Substack, the NYT, Reuters, and other sites Musk attacks  —  The site formerly known as Twitter has added a five-second delay when a user clicks on a shortened link to the New York Times …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Users of XPro, previously TweetDeck, report encountering paywalls to use the service; X said on July 3 that “in 30 days” XPro would be a subscriber-only feature  —  X, the social network formally known as Twitter, appears to be finally following through on its promise to make TweetDeck a paid service.
Andrew Paul / Popular Science:
To comply with a state law requiring that school library books be “age appropriate”, an Iowa school district used ChatGPT to find books depicting “a sex act”  —  Faced with new legislation, Iowa's Mason City Community School District asked ChatGPT if certain books 'contain …
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  —  ChatGPT creator OpenAI has been using its most advanced large language model to enforce the company's content policies …
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.
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  —  Google today is rolling out a few new updates to its nearly three-month-old Search Generative Experience (SGE) …
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  —  Today, a new strike-based enforcement program is coming to Xbox.  The system is meant to clear up confusion regarding …
Ian King / Bloomberg:
Intel terminates its $5.4B deal to acquire Israeli company Tower Semiconductor after failing to win regulatory approval; the deal was announced in February 2022  —  - $5.4 billion deal scrapped after China didn't sign off  —  Intel Corp. said it's walking away from its attempt …
WABetaInfo:
WhatsApp beta for Android now lets a limited group of testers use generative AI to create custom stickers; inappropriate stickers can be reported to Meta  —  WhatsApp is rolling out a new update through the Google Play Beta Program, bringing the version up to 2.23.17.14.  —  What's new in this update?
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  —  Patrick McHenry, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, rounded up all of his panel's Republicans to question …
Yuka Hayashi / Wall Street Journal:
The US Commerce Department has built a team of people from Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, KKR, and other Wall Street firms to help allocate $39B in chip subsidies  —  Talent from Goldman Sachs, KKR and Blackstone will help determine how $39 billion in semiconductor chip subsidies are allocated
Hannah Miller / Bloomberg:
Crypto key startup BitGo raised $100M at a $1.75B valuation from undisclosed 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.
More: The Block
Helene Braun / CoinDesk:
Binance plans to shut down its fiat-to-crypto service Binance Connect, formerly known as Bifinity, that supported payment methods including Visa and Mastercard  —  The service was rolled out in March last year, in an effort to make traditional financial companies “crypto-ready.”
Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
Nielsen: in July, linear TV made up less than 50% of all US TV usage, a first in over two years of tracking, and streaming hit a record 38.7% high of TV usage  —  Nielsen's monthly platform rankings show broadcast and cable making up less than half of all TV use.
Wall Street Journal:

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More News

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Financial Times:

Earlier Picks

Chelsey Cox / CNBC:
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Malcolm Owen / AppleInsider:
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Timmy Shen / The Block:
Jay Peters / The Verge: