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September 20, 2023, 4:00 PM
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The Verge:
Everything Amazon announced at its product event: Alexa Emergency Assist for $6/month, the Alexa Eye Gaze accessibility feature, the $50 Echo Pop Kids, and more  —  Amazon is kicking off its annual fall product announcements at its HQ2 campus in Arlington, Virginia.
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Amazon refreshes its Alexa-powered Echo Frames glasses: enhanced speech processing, better noise isolation, 15% thinner, and a six-hour battery life for $270  —  Amazon today unveiled a new generation of Echo Frames, its Alexa-powered glasses, with enhanced speech processing, better noise isolation and a $269.99 price tag.
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge:
Amazon unveils the $180 Echo Hub, a wall-mountable smart home controller with an 8" touchscreen, and Map View, an Alexa app interface for the user's floor plan
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Amazon unveils new generative AI features aimed at making Alexa more conversational and personalized, available as a free preview on all Echo devices in the US
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Amazon refreshes its $150 Echo Show 8 with a new design, a centered camera, a smart home hub, Spatial Audio, and a home screen that changes based on proximity
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Amazon announces the $50 Fire TV Stick 4K, the $60 Fire TV Stick 4K Max, the $120 24-inch Fire TV Soundbar, and generative AI updates for Fire TV voice search
Ina Fried / Axios:
OpenAI teases DALL-E 3, which can be summoned and controlled using ChatGPT, and plans to make the tool available to ChatGPT+ and enterprise customers in October  —  OpenAI is offering an early look at DALL-E 3, the next version of its image generation tool.
CNBC:
Sources: as equities soared in 2020, Apple and Goldman were working on an iPhone stock trading feature but shelved the project when markets turned south in 2022  —  - Apple was exploring the launch of an iPhone feature that would let users buy and sell stocks, according to three sources familiar with the plans.
Victoria Song / The Verge:
Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 review: Double Tap is great, but Precision Finding requires an iPhone 15, and the Siri and brightness improvements feel minor  —  Iterative updates aren't flashy, but these smartwatches are mainly for folks who don't have Apple Watches yet.
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Meta expands its Meta Verified program to businesses on Facebook and Instagram in select markets, for $21.99/month/page for each or $34.99/month/page for both  —  Meta announced today that it is expanding Meta Verified to businesses after first launching it for creators in March.
Financial Times:
Meta launches in-chat payments for WhatsApp in India, letting businesses accept payments via credit cards, debit cards, WhatsApp Pay, and UPI at no extra charge
BBC:
After Meta criticized the UK's potential E2EE rules, the UK says Meta “failed to provide assurances” over keeping its platforms “safe from sickening abusers”  —  Facebook's owner Meta has hit back at a new government campaign strongly critical of its plans to encrypt messages.
Qianer Liu / Financial Times:
Sources: the Kirin 9000S SoC has four CPUs that use Arm designs, the other four use Huawei-modified Arm designs, HiSilicon developed the GPU and NPU, and more  —  Facing US sanctions, Chinese company emulates Apple by using its own designs in chips for Mate 60 Pro
Nikkei Asia:
On WeChat, China's Ministry of State Security says the US, since 2009, has continuously hacked Huawei's servers, stolen critical data, and installed backdoors  —  Beijing says Washington forces tech companies to install backdoors for spying  —  China has accused the U.S. of hacking Huawei's servers continuously since 2009.
Ben Weiss / Fortune:
PayPal says select Venmo users can now purchase its stablecoin PYUSD, with a rollout to more users in the coming weeks, in addition to BTC, ETH, BCH, and LTC  —  PayPal announced on Wednesday that Venmo users will be able to buy PayPal's new stablecoin, PayPal USD, increasing the number …
WABetaInfo:
WhatsApp releases a beta for iOS via Apple's TestFlight with a companion mode for iPadOS, built using Mac Catalyst, after years of user requests for an iPad app  —  WhatsApp has just submitted a new update through the TestFlight beta Program, bringing the version up to 23.19.1.71.
Mariam Sunny / Reuters:
Neuralink is recruiting for the first human trial of its brain implant for paralysis patients, expected to take about six years, likely for fewer than 10 people  —  Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's brain-chip startup Neuralink said on Tuesday it has received approval from an independent review board …
The Verge:
Memo: Phil Spencer tells staff the FTC v. Microsoft documents leak is “disappointing” and that the company failed to live up to its confidentiality expectations  —  / ‘We all put incredible amounts of passion and energy into our work, and this is never how we want that hard work to be shared with the community.’

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:00 PM ET, September 20, 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

Michael Savage / The Guardian:
The BBC names ex-Google executive Matt Brittin as its next director general, replacing Tim Davie, as the BBC negotiates its funding; Brittin left Google in 2025

Noor Ibrahim / Marie Claire:
Q&A with Wendy McMahon, who resigned last year as CEO and president of CBS News and Stations, on CBS under Bari Weiss, the pace of change for news, and more

Zoya Sheftalovich / Politico:
Internal email: Politico reviewed security after an off-the-record call between a reporter and an EU official was apparently intercepted and posted to YouTube

More News

Mark Bergen / Bloomberg:
Copenhagen-based Corti, whose AI co-pilot transcribes hospital calls and does paperwork, raised $60M led by Atomico and Prosus, sources say at a $260M valuation

Earlier Picks

Javier Espinoza / Financial Times:
An Uber executive says the EU's Platform Work Directive that designates gig workers as employees may raise prices and cause Uber to close in hundreds of cities
Bloomberg:
E-commerce marketing company Klaviyo prices its 19.2M shares at $30 each, above its $27-$29 range, raising $576M in its IPO at a $9.2B fully diluted valuation
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
The Linux Foundation launches the Unified Acceleration Foundation to create an open standard for accelerator programming, an evolution of the oneAPI initiative
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Bard's “Google it” feature adds the ability to “double check” answers by highlighting phrases with “supporting or contradicting information found by Search”
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