Techmeme
January 29, 2024, 7:10 AM

Top News

David Pierce / The Verge:
The Browser Company releases Arc Search, a new iOS app that takes a user's search query, browses the web, and builds a custom webpage to answer the query  —  A few minutes ago, I opened the new Arc Search app and typed, “What happened in the Chiefs game.”  That game, the AFC Championship, had just wrapped up.
Salvador Rodriguez / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Meta is optimistic Vision Pro can reinvigorate its $50B metaverse effort, with the Quest ecosystem filling the role played by Android in smartphones  —  Company executives are optimistic about competition as billions spent have yet to translate into wide consumer adoption
Will Knight / Wired:
The Biden admin plans to use the Defense Production Act to require companies to inform the Commerce Department when they start training high-powered AI models  —  The Biden administration is using the Defense Production Act to require companies to inform the Commerce Department when they start training high-powered AI algorithms.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Reddit is targeting a valuation “in the mid-single-digit billions” for its planned IPO in March 2024, after raising funds at a $10B valuation in 2021  —  - Firm, advisers considering figure after early investor talks  — Private trades value social media company below $5 billion
Bloomberg:
Sources: DJ Novotney, an Apple VP of hardware engineering who led work on home devices and helped start Apple's electric vehicle project, is leaving for Rivian  —  - DJ Novotney, VP of hardware, helped start Apple's car project  — Apple has seen multiple senior leaders leave in recent months
Oliver Haslam / iMore:
Apple updates Shazam to add support for identifying songs from other apps while listening via wired or Bluetooth headphones  —  Apple's Shazam is now better than ever.  —  Shazam has long been the go-to app for people who want to know what song they're listening to but now it's better than ever thanks to a new version 17.3 update.
More: MacRumors, BGR, and Wired
Steven Sinofsky / Hardcore Software:
Apple has handled its response, including its proposed App Store changes, to the EU's DMA with aplomb, despite the law being an assault on Apple's brand promise  —  An essay on the EU Digital Markets Act and Apple's “Update on apps distributed in the European Union” (and some personal history)
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Wall Street Journal:
X blocks Taylor Swift searches as a “temporary action and done with an abundance of caution”, days after explicit AI-generated images of her flooded the site  —  Singer's name yielded error messages Saturday, days after her fans swarmed the social-media platform vowing to ‘protect Taylor Swift’

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More News

Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Lora Kolodny / NBC News:
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:

Earlier Picks

Tim Harford / Financial Times:
Yuka Hayashi / Wall Street Journal: