Techmeme
November 16, 2023, 11:30 AM

Top News

Will Knight / Wired:
YouTube lets some Shorts creators test Dream Track, a new DeepMind-powered AI tool to generate and remix music in the styles of nine artists, including Sia  —  YouTube creators will get to test a new AI tool that generates and remixes music in the style of several famous musicians, including Sia, Demi Lovato, and T-Pain.
K.J. Yossman / Variety:
Embracer reports Q2 net sales up 13% YoY to ~$1B, layoffs impacted 900 employees, or 5% of its workforce, and 36 fewer games are in development than Q2 2022  —  “Lord of the Rings” owner Embracer Group has reported a 13% increase in net sales year-on-year in Q2, in part thanks to its intensive restructuring program.
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple releases Apple Music Classical on iPad as part of a v1.1 update, the first major update to the app after its release in spring 2023 on iPhone  —  Apple Music Classical, included as part of a standard Apple Music subscription, launched as an iPhone only app in the spring ... but is now available on the iPad too.
Jane Zhang / Bloomberg:
Alibaba reports Q2 revenue up 9% YoY to ~$31B, beating ~$30.9B est., a ~$3.8B net income, up from a ~$3B loss in Q2 2022, and calls off its cloud spinoff  —  - The decision marks a dramatic reversal on a signature move  — Alibaba's historic six-way restructuring is now in doubt
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Zac Bowden / Windows Central:
Microsoft launches a Windows App in preview for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, Windows, and the web, letting enterprise customers securely access Windows via other devices  —  Microsoft brings Windows to non-Windows devices.  —  What you need to know  — Microsoft is launching the “Windows app” …
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Google's Search Generative Experience adds shopping tools to help find niche or unique items and expands virtual try-ons to men's tops from hundreds of brands  —  Google's AI-powered Search Generative Experience (SGE) is behind a bunch of new shopping features that aim to help users find niche …
Charisma Madarang / Rolling Stone:
Elon Musk replied “You have said the actual truth” to an X user who, replying to a “Hitler was right” inquiry, accused Jewish groups of “hatred against whites”  —  The billionaire amplified a post Wednesday accusing the Jewish community of promoting “dialectical hatred against whites”
Nathan Edwards / The Verge:
The Wireless Power Consortium says the first Qi v2.0 devices are arriving in time for the holidays and over 100 are in certification testing or waiting in line  —  Qi2 — the next version of the wireless charging standard, now with more magnets! — is more almost-here than ever.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Threads tests tags, which categorizes and links posts with a hashtag but without showing the # symbol, initially in Australia and “soon” in other countries  —  Instagram's Threads app has been duping Twitter/X in a number of ways and today it's adding one more feature that's …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Supantha Mukherjee / Reuters:
TikTok joins Meta in challenging its EU DMA “gatekeeper” status, saying the service is “arguably the most capable challenger to more entrenched” rivals  —  TikTok on Thursday joined Meta (META.O) in appealing against the “gatekeeper” status under the Digital Markets Act …
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
At its conference, Unity says the company plans to launch Unity 6 in 2024, details Unity Muse, an AI suite for content creation, and announces Unity Cloud  —  Unity, the global game engine and monetizationplatform, said that its Unity 6 platform will launch in 2024 with AI innovations and platform updates.
Niamh Rowe / Wired:
Some companies providing Microsoft, Google, and others with AI data-labeling services are inadvertently hiring minors, often exposing them to traumatic content  —  Companies that provide Big Tech with AI data-labeling services are inadvertently hiring young teens to work on their platforms, often exposing them to traumatic content.
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google rolls out Bard access in English for teens who “meet the minimum age requirement to manage their own Google Account”, offering safety guardrails  —  Following the Search Generative Experience (SGE) in September, Google is rolling out Bard access for teens with safety guardrails in place.
Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
Pew: 30% of US adults regularly get their news from Facebook, 26% from YouTube, 16% from Instagram, 14% TikTok, 12% X, 8% Reddit, and 5% Nextdoor and LinkedIn  —  Facebook may be ready to divorce the news business, but it's still the No. 1 source of news on social media for Americans.
Music Business Worldwide:
Amy-Jo Crowley / Reuters:
Advent International acquires myPOS, a UK-based payments services provider for small merchants; sources: the deal is expected to value myPOS at around €500M  —  Advent International has signed a deal to buy payments firm myPOS as part of the London-based buyout group's latest push into digital payments …
More: FinTech Global and Nuvei
Natasha Mascarenhas / The Information:
Two Israeli startups, Lasso Security and Ask-AI, reject the investments of Web Summit's venture arm after its ex-CEO Paddy Cosgrave accused Israel of war crimes  —  Web Summit attempted to put a turbulent chapter behind it this week, drawing more than 70,000 attendees to the annual tech conference in Lisbon.
More: PreSeed Now
Connor Jones / The Register:
Security researchers detail the largest cyberattack against Danish critical infrastructure, which involved Zyxel zero-days and 22 breached companies in May 2023  —  Zyxel zero days and nation-state actors (maybe) had a hand in the sector's worst cybersecurity event on record

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Build AI that works  —  Tribe builds tech for top AI companies.  Get in touch to learn how our bench of 500+ engineers and researchers can accelerate your roadmap.
Kulkan Security:
Hire Kulkan as your penetration testing partner  —  Kulkan prioritizes deep-dive manual security reviews, dissecting your software and infrastructure to find issues that once remediated can truly reduce security risk.
Zoho:
Case studies: The marketing goldmine you've been underutilizing  —  If you are a product reseller or a channel partner, a case study is one of the better marketing tools you can use to draw attention towards your business and what you offer.
Mastodon:
Donate to Mastodon  —  Mastodon gGmbH, the non-profit behind the open-source software powering the social web, relies entirely on support from users like you.  Donate directly with a credit card or through Patreon.
The Kevin Rose Show:
How to Cultivate Everyday Dharma, Suneel Gupta (#54)
Gain unconventional wisdom and insights through conversations with top expert in AI, investing, wellness, technology, and culture.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Fri. 04/26 - Net Neutrality Is Back
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:30 AM ET, November 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.

More News

Suvashree Ghosh / Bloomberg:
Julia Love / Bloomberg:

Earlier Picks

Thomas Wilde / GeekWire:
Ryan Tracy / Wall Street Journal:
Abner Li / 9to5Google: