Techmeme
October 13, 2023, 11:35 AM

Top News

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft completes Activision Blizzard acquisition after a 20-month battle with regulators in the UK and US; Bobby Kotick will remain CEO until the end of 2023  —  The Verge exclusively reported last week that Microsoft was planning to close today, and now it's official.
Samuel Tolbert / Windows Central:
The UK CMA approves Microsoft's ~$69B Activision acquisition, after Microsoft restructured the deal to sell some of Activision's cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft  —  The final roadblock has been removed.  —  What you need to know  — UK regulatory authority the CMA granted Microsoft approval to purchase Activision Blizzard.
Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
CD Projekt used AI to recreate the voice of Miłogost Reczek, a Polish voice actor who died in 2021, for Cyberpunk 2077's new Polish DLC, after asking his family  —  Gamemaker says it consulted with family of the late Miłogost Reczek  —  Polish video game developer CD Projekt SA …
Sarah Fielding / Engadget:
Meta responds to EU misinformation concerns regarding the Israel-Hamas war, saying it has created a new operations center, restricted some hashtags, and more  —  The company has created a new operations center with experts fluent in Hebrew and Arabic.  —  Meta has shared an updated content …
Yogita Khatri / The Block:
Tether promotes long-time CTO Paolo Ardoino to CEO, starting in December, and envisions becoming a “tech-centric organization”; current CEO will be an advisor  —  - Stablecoin issuer Tether promoted its long-time CTO Paolo Ardoino to CEO as it envisions becoming a “tech-centric organization.”
Blake Brittain / Reuters:
Google vows to defend users of generative AI tools in Google Cloud and Workspace from copyright claims; Microsoft, Adobe, and others have made similar pledges  —  Google (GOOGL.O) said on Thursday that it will defend users of generative artificial-intelligence systems in its Google Cloud …
New York Times:
In five hours of cross-examination, SBF's lawyers did not elicit any revelations or inconsistencies from Caroline Ellison, who said SBF made “terrible mistakes”  —  Mr. Bankman-Fried's lawyers sought to poke holes in Ms. Ellison's testimony, but her account remained largely consistent.
Sarah Wynn / The Block:
The CFTC charges Voyager Digital co-founder Stephen Ehrlich with fraud, saying he and Voyager lied to clients and hid the crypto lender's true financial health  —  - Stephen Ehrlich and the firm the co-founded, Voyager Digital, lied to customers and hid the crypto lender's true financial health, according to the CFTC.
Ian King / Bloomberg:
Filing: Qualcomm plans to cut 1,258 jobs in California, including 750+ from its engineering ranks, starting in mid-December 2023; the company has ~50,000 staff  —  - Workforce reductions to come in mid-December chipmaker says  — Company not commenting on any actions outside of California
Javier Espinoza / Financial Times:
The EU opens an investigation into X over hosting disinformation tied to Hamas' Israel attack and sends X a formal request for information under the DSA  —  Investigation is first under bloc's Digital Services Act and follows letter raising concerns about platform
Reuters:

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More News

Justin Ling / Wired:
Michael Kan / PCMag:

Earlier Picks

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Akash Sriram / Reuters:
Andy Greenberg / Wired: