Techmeme
January 4, 2024, 4:50 AM

Top News

Sarah Martin / The Guardian:
The CEO of collapsed crypto fund HyperVerse, introduced to investors in 2021, doesn't appear to exist; Chainalysis: HyperVerse's 2022 consumer losses were $1.3B  —  Exclusive: Steven Reece Lewis was introduced to investors with an impressive list of qualifications and achievements, but no organisation cited can find any record of him
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / TechCrunch:
In a letter to a group of victims of its October 2023 breach, 23andMe blames them, saying that “users negligently recycled and failed to update their passwords”  —  Facing more than 30 lawsuits from victims of its massive data breach, 23andMe is now deflecting the blame …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft announces a new Copilot keyboard key, shipping in new PCs and laptops from partners, the first major change to Windows PC keyboard layouts in 30 years  —  Microsoft wants 2024 to be “the year of the AI PC,” and it's kicking things off with a significant change to the keyboard on new laptops and PCs.
The Information:
TikTok plans to raise TikTok Shop's US seller fees from 2% to 8% over the next few months; a source says TikTok has started reducing some merchant subsidies  —  TikTok powered early growth in its U.S. shopping service by offering low sellers' fees and footing the bill for deep discounts.
Ashley Capoot / CNBC:
Xerox plans to cut 15% of its workforce as part of a restructuring; the company had ~20,500 employees as of December 31, 2022, per an SEC filing; XRX drops 12%+  —  - Xerox announced plans to cut 15% of its workforce as part of a plan to implement a new organizational structure and operating model.
Justine Calma / The Verge:
Researchers built three AI models to analyze 2,000TB of maritime satellite imagery and create the first global map of vessel traffic and offshore infrastructure  —  Using satellite imagery and AI, researchers have mapped human activity at sea with more precision than ever before.
Todd Shields / Bloomberg:
SpaceX launches its first six Starlink satellites capable of offering mobile phone service as part of its Direct to Cell service in partnership with T-Mobile US  —  - Starlink satellites capable of connecting to normal phones  — Companies racing toward service via cell towers in space
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Twitch changes its sexual content policies again and says the platform won't allow streamers to “imply or suggest that they are fully or partially nude”  —  Twitch is changing its sexual content policies again, this time to prohibit implied nudity on the platform.
Kari Paul / The Guardian:
Q&A with Jacob Bakkila, who ran the popular @Horse_ebooks Twitter account for two years, on the inspiration for the language bot, AI chatbots, and more  —  By reusing and repurposing existing writing into viral fragments on Twitter, the account functioned like today's chatbots.
Macauley Peterson / Blockworks:
Etherscan, the leading block explorer for Ethereum that was founded in 2015, acquires Solscan, a block explorer for Solana founded in 2021  —  Solscan and Etherscan “share a vision of providing credibly neutral and equitable access to blockchain data,” the teams say

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More News

Noam Scheiber / New York Times:
Stephen Nellis / Reuters:
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Earlier Picks

Krisztian Sandor / CoinDesk:
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Leo Schwartz / Fortune: