Techmeme
October 3, 2023, 3:30 PM

Top News

Sam Schechner / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: in September, Meta pitched EU regulators a plan to charge Facebook and Instagram users a subscription to avoid ads, starting at ~€10/month for desktop  —  European users would have option to pay fee or agree to personalized ads, according to company's pitch to regulators
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Netflix plans to raise the price of its ad-free service a few months after the Hollywood actors strike ends, likely starting with the US and Canada  —  Company to become latest streamer to lift fees; Disney weighs launching new live-sports tier abroad
Molly White:
David Yaffe-Bellany / New York Times:
Michael Lewis' new book, Going Infinite, depicts SBF as delusional, but says his FTX collapse explanations have “remained irritatingly difficult to disprove”  —  “Going Infinite,” by Michael Lewis, offers a behind-the-scenes account of Mr. Bankman-Fried's rise and fall.
Josh Ye / Reuters:
Apple starts requiring a Chinese government license to publish new apps on its China App Store, after China tightened its mobile app oversight in August 2023  —  Apple (AAPL.O) has started requiring new apps to show proof of a Chinese government licence before their release on its China App Store …
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Imran Rahman-Jones / BBC:
The FCC fines Dish Network $150K for failing to move its old EchoStar-7 satellite far enough away from others in use, marking the agency's first space junk fine  —  The US government has issued its first ever fine to a company for leaving space junk orbiting the Earth.
Monica Chin / The Verge:
Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 review: gorgeous build, a 120Hz display, an adaptive touchpad, and a unique hinge, but a poor battery and expensive at $2,000  —  Microsoft's new Surface Laptop Studio 2 has new chips, a new touchpad, and a very, very high price tag.
Nikki Ekstein / Bloomberg:
An interview with Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky on affordable prices, reliability, proper customer support, using AI for quality control, a loyalty program, and more  —  “We never fully built the foundation,” Brian Chesky says in a revelatory interview.  “It had four pillars when we needed to have 10.”
Todd Spangler / Variety:
TikTok confirms the company is running a limited-scale test of an ad-free subscription plan, but only says the market is not the US and does not share the price  —  TikTok is exploring a new way to make money: The popular video app has kicked off a limited-scale test of a monthly subscription service that eliminates ads.
Andrew Webster / The Verge:
Epic Games plans to add IARC age ratings to Fortnite's “first- and third-party playable content” on November 14; creators can start the process on October 16  —  The company says that ‘this is a critical step toward building a metaverse that is safe and fun for everyone.’
Steven Ehrlich / Forbes:
Email: Chainalysis lays off ~150 employees, or 15%+ of its workforce, and plans to focus on government contracts; the company cut staff by ~5% in February 2023  —  Chainalysis is laying off approximately 150 employees, or slightly more than 15% of its staff of 900, CEO Michael Gronager told employees …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26  —  Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.
Zoho:
Zoho Billing Enterprise Edition: A platform for strategic revenue operations  —  Today's enterprises are adopting more flexible pricing models, charging customers based on actual consumption.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
AI Is Upending Law. Is That A Sign For The Rest Of Us? — With Melia Russell
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
[trading places]:
Ben Black Akkadian Ventures🏆 | Secondaries Secrets 💎 | RAISE Conf 🎯 | Vercel $9B 🚀
a very bad podcast about broken unicorns & busted carry hosted by dave mcclure and aman verjee
Subscribe to [trading places].
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Lachlan Cartwright Started in Tabloids. Now He's a Must-Read Media Gossip.
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Invest Like the Best:
Gavin Baker - Nvidia v. Google, Scaling Laws, and the Economics of AI
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Pat Grady & Alfred Lin from Sequoia
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:30 PM ET, October 3, 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

Earlier Picks

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Wall Street Journal:
Wall Street Journal:
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Monica Chin / The Verge:
Ryan Weeks / The Block: