Techmeme
January 24, 2024, 12:20 AM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple pivots to a less ambitious design for its upcoming EV, from Level 4 autonomy to Level 2+, and pushes back its launch from 2026 to 2028 or later  —  - After board meetings, car downgraded to Level 2+ autonomy  — Company pushes back launch from 2026 to 2028 at the earliest
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
eBay plans to cut ~1,000 roles, or ~9% of full-time employees, and to scale back the contracts it has within its alternate workforce over the coming months  —  This is breaking news.  Please check back for updates.  — CNBC Councils  — CNBC on Peacock  — Join the CNBC Panel
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google announces AI features for Chrome on Mac and Windows: Organize Similar Tabs and custom themes rolling out soon in the US, and Help Me Write in February  —  Google's Chrome web browser is getting an infusion of AI technology in the latest release.  The company announced today it's soon adding …
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Netflix says it's looking to retire its ad-free Basic plan in some countries where ad-supported plans are available, starting with Canada and the UK in Q2  —  Although Netflix no longer allows new or returning members to sign up for the ad-free Basic subscription that costs $11.99 per month …
Pranav Dixit / Engadget:
Netflix says user engagement with games on its service tripled in 2023 and Grand Theft Auto has become its most successful launch to date  —  The company added the Grand Theft Auto trilogy to its offerings late in the year.  —  Netflix said that user engagement with games on the service tripled in 2023.
Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
CNBC:
Basith Rahman P P / MySmartPrice:
Alleged renders of Google's Pixel 9 Pro show a ~6.5-inch display, smaller than the Pixel 8 Pro's, a refreshed camera island with three cameras, and a flat frame  —  The upcoming Google Pixel 9 Pro might feature a smaller flat display compared to the Pixel 8 Pro.  —  HIGHLIGHTS
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Google unveils a new Gemini-powered chat-based tool in Google Ads to build Search ad campaigns, out in beta to all English language advertisers in the US and UK  —  Google announced today that Gemini, its family of multimodal large language models, now powers the conversational experience within the Google Ads platform.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
X adds support for passkeys for US-based iOS users; the announcement comes shortly after the hack of the US SEC's X account  —  X, formerly Twitter, today announced support for passkeys, a new and more secure login method than traditional passwords, which will become an option for U.S. users on iOS devices.
The Information:
Source: Brex told employees that the fintech is cutting 282 jobs, or ~20% of its staff, saying the team grew “too quickly” and its CTO and COO are stepping down  —  Brex is cutting 20% of its workforce and shaking up senior management ranks in a new effort to slash its cash burn …
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Framework Laptop 16 review: the modular system offers unprecedented customization, is competent at mid-range gaming, but ran hot, froze, and glitched in testing  —  The Framework Laptop 16 is the most ambitious notebook I've ever touched.  There's never been anything like it before.
Ian King / Bloomberg:
Texas Instruments reports Q4 revenue down 13% YoY to $4.08B, vs. $4.13B est., and FY 2023 sales down ~13% YoY, the company's biggest fall in over a decade  —  - Slowdown in automotive and industrial chips drag down results  — Company's wide product range makes it bellwether for industry
Ben Jiang / South China Morning Post:
Xianyu, Alibaba's online second-hand goods trading platform that claims to have 500M+ users, is opening its first bricks-and-mortar store in Hangzhou, China  —  - Xianyu Recycle Shop is a consignment store, allowing users to leave their used items for sale or buy directly from there, the platform says
Bloomberg:
Supermicro stock has jumped 430%+ since early 2023 amid an AI frenzy, outpacing Nvidia and boosting the value of its founder's 12% stake, plus options, to $3.3B  —  - Charles Liang founded Super Micro in 1993 with wife Sara Liu  — Company's shares gained more than 430% since the start of 2023
TechCrunch:
Data shows African startups raised between $2.9B and $4.1B total in 2023, down from $4.6B to $6.5B in 2022, with Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa leading  —  There was considerable debt uptake and regional VC diversification  —  After defying the global funding slowdown of 2022 …

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Prospect:
A running list of the best startups to join  —  We've analyzed thousands of startups using the same data VCs use and distilled our list down to the top 2%.  Discover and join the next Stripe, Airbnb, or Coinbase today.
Zoho:
The evolution of remote support in telecommunications  —  Remote support, once a novel concept, has now become an indispensable tool in the telecom industry.  It offers a way to troubleshoot issues …
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's Big Week, Did Google Kill The Web, AWS CEO Resigns
The Big Technology Podcast, hosted by journalist Alex Kantrowitz, takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Fri. 05/17 - Reddit Embraces Its AI Role
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 12:20 AM ET, January 24, 2024.

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

Ben Sin / XDA Developers:
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Sam Kessler / CoinDesk:
Mark Wilson / Fast Company:

Earlier Picks

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Sudip Kar-Gupta / Reuters:
Ash Parrish / The Verge:
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg:
Emma Roth / The Verge: