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January 29, 2024, 5:35 PM
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Top News

Bloomberg:
Amazon drops its $1.4B acquisition of Roomba maker iRobot after clashing with EU regulators and will pay a $94M fee; iRobot has ~$500M in net losses since 2021  —  - IRobot CEO steps down and company cuts workforce by 31%  — Tech giant to pay $94 million to iRobot over deal termination
Rohan Goswami / CNBC:
After Amazon ended its acquisition, iRobot plans to lay off 31% of its staff, or ~350 people, and says chair and CEO Colin Angle would step down; IRBT drops 5%+  —  - Amazon and iRobot mutually agreed to call off their planned acquisition, writing that there was “no path” to regulatory approval and sending iRobot shares down 15%.
Emanuel Maiberg / 404 Media:
Microsoft adds safeguards to its AI text-to-image tool Designer, after fake AI images of Taylor Swift went viral and a report of 4chan users misusing the tool  —  Microsoft has introduced more protections to Designer, an AI text-to-image generation tool that people were using to make nonconsensual sexual images of celebrities.
Washington Post:
X blocking “Taylor Swift” searches as explicit AI images spread is a blunt measure to accomplish a basic moderation task, after gutting “trust and safety” staff  —  The superstar's fans were spurred into action last week after the images, likely generated by AI, began proliferating online
Bloomberg:
Blizzard names Johanna Faries, former general manager for Call of Duty at Activision, as its president, succeeding Mike Ybarra, who left last week amid layoffs  —  Replaces Mike Ybarra who left the video-game company last week as part of mass layoffs under new owner Microsoft
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Zoom details its visionOS app, which will support 3D file sharing, “real-world pinning” of up to five meeting participants, Apple's Persona feature, and more  —  As promised, Zoom will be available on Apple Vision Pro from day one.  Ahead of Vision Pro's launch on Friday …
Zoe Kleinman / BBC:
Apple says proposed UK legislation could let the country try “to secretly veto new user protections globally”, preventing Apple from shipping them to customers  —  Apple has attacked proposals for the UK government to pre-approve new security features introduced by tech firms.
Michael Nuñez / VentureBeat:
Meta releases Code Llama 70B, a new version of its code generation model, featuring improved code correctness, a variant optimized for Python, and more  —  Meta AI, the company that brought you Llama 2, the gargantuan language model that can generate anything from tweets to essays …
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
After a months-long probe, Italy's data protection authority tells OpenAI that it's suspected of violating EU privacy regulations, giving it 30 days to respond  —  OpenAI has been told it's suspected of violating European Union privacy, following a multi-month investigation of its AI chatbot …
Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:
Amazon expects Prime Video's average hourly ad load to be 2 to 3.5 minutes, below traditional TV and most streaming services, and to reach 159M monthly viewers  —  Move prompts longtime subscribers to cancel Prime altogether, forgoing free shipping; ‘There is only one way to show them that this is not OK’
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Meta partners with the Center for Open Science to share data for researching online well-being, before January 31's Congressional hearing on kids' online safety  —  Ahead of a major Congressional hearing about children's online safety, Meta has announced a collaboration with the Center for Open Science …
Allison Johnson / The Verge:
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review: bright screen, anti-glare, Circle to Search, great camera, and seven years of updates, but pricey, heavy, and AI is a mixed bag  —  The Galaxy S24 Ultra is packed with top-tier hardware, but its highly touted AI features are hit-or-miss — and the price is higher than ever.

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:35 PM ET, January 29, 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.

From Mediagazer

Financial Times:
Sources: WBD's board wanted a proposal it could sign immediately, and Netflix was the only bidder whose paperwork was fully executable the night of December 4

Dominic-Madori Davis / TechCrunch:
A look at Hamlet, a startup that uses AI to process local government meeting videos and which plans to provide the tool to local journalists for free

John Koblin / New York Times:
The Netflix-WBD deal should quiet concerns, for now, from CNN employees worried about the prospect of Paramount combining CBS News and CNN in a WBD acquisition

More News

Gavin Bonshor / AnandTech:
AMD Ryzen 7 8700G and Ryzen 5 8600G review: both offer solid levels of gaming performance for $329 and $229, respectively, especially with AMD's fastest cores

Earlier Picks

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
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
A look at Warner Bros. Discovery's push to expand its gaming division with live services and mobile games, by leveraging its franchises like Game of Thrones
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
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