Techmeme: Baidu overhauls its search engine with AI features and a voice function in its most sweeping revamp in years, and rolls out its first image-to-video model (Bloomberg)

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July 3, 2025, 2:00 AM

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Eddie Makuch / GameSpot:

Microsoft cuts hundreds of Xbox jobs across studios, sources say including Halo Studios and King, and cancels games like Perfect Dark and Everwild — GameSpot may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and from purchases through links.

More: Bloomberg, Blizzard News, Aftermath, Aftermath, IGN, Thurrott, Windows Central, The Verge, Digit, Pure Xbox, GamingBolt, Engadget, Game Rant, Press Start, Screen Rant, Stevivor, Neowin, Game Developer, Game Informer, Forbes, Comic Book, Push Square, TheGamer, Video Games Chronicle, KitGuru, TechRaptor, Gamereactor UK, Gameranx, VideoGamer, Game Sandwich, Kotaku, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, The Game Post, Polygon, and Dexerto

Bluesky: @jasonschreier, @zfighteramuro, @branzellan, @jonathancovey, @nhegelbagel, @banjotranso, @zfighteramuro, @jasonschreier, @headfallsoff.com, and @eplerjc

X: @charlieintel, @nsupergamerguy, @lusterly_, @rogersbase, @jptellsyou, @coopercooperco, @wario64, @legacykillahd, @_sikamikanico_, @wario64, @stealth40k, @tomwarren, @mr_rebs_, @eyyitsfranklin, @evankazoocovers, @tropicalmaku, @kelskiyt, and @cromwelp. LinkedIn: Adam Dolin

Forums: r/wow and r/gamesEcultura

Jordan Novet / CNBC:

Source: Microsoft plans to lay off ~9,000 employees, or less than 4% of its workforce, across teams and role types, after cutting ~6,000 in May and 300+ in June — Microsoft said Wednesday that it will lay off about 9,000 employees. The move will affect less than 4% of its global workforce …

More: Windows Central, Video Games Chronicle, The Verge, Variety, Windows Central, Bloomberg, IGN, The Verge, GeekWire, The Information, Variety, The Daily Upside, The Register, Associated Press, Thurrott, GamesIndustry.biz, Gizmodo, Digital Trends, Dallas Business Journal, AfroTech, UPI, MediaPost, MobileSyrup, Los Angeles Times, Cord Cutters News, CBC News, Plain Dealer, SiliconANGLE, Nintendo Life, Pure Xbox, PYMNTS.com, Fortune, Business Today, Seattle Business Journal, BBC, New York Times, Eurogamer.net, Türkiye Today, iPhone in Canada, Wall Street Journal, Neowin, Entrepreneur, Irish Independent, CNN, The Indian Express, Telegraph, Channel Futures, Techpresso, The Verge, Mashable, Aftermath, Cryptopolitan, New York Post, Capital Brief, CRN, Nairametrics, MarketWatch, San Francisco Business Times, Irish Independent, ITPro, The Wrap, WinBuzzer, Barron's Online, The Game Post, Gulf News, Daily Kos, and TechCrunch

Bluesky: @jasonschreier, @yeetkunedo, @lightningarts, @jamesdavismakes.com, @keithamus.social, @brandrick, @carnage4life, and @stephentotilo. Mastodon: @nixCraft@mastodon.social. Threads: @johncodezzz

X: @tomwarren, @synthpotato, @fuckyouiquit, @jezcorden, @dc_draino, @xmbgx, @ultraegyptian, @mr_rebs_, @dougmackeycase, @derenicbyrd, @destinlegarie, @_tom_henderson_, and @demickyd

LinkedIn: Noah Berkson, Ruwan Fernando, Marty Kahnle, and Jason Schreier

MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:

OpenAI says the tokenized OpenAI shares Robinhood has started offering are not equity: “We did not partner with Robinhood...and do not endorse it” — OpenAI is distancing itself from Robinhood's latest crypto push after the trading platform began offering tokenized shares of OpenAI and SpaceX to users in Europe.

More: Reuters, Decrypt, CoinJournal, The Crypto Times, Cointelegraph, CoinGape, The Block, TechCrunch, Crypto Briefing, Cryptopolitan, Benzinga, CoinDesk, CryptoSlate, and Wu Blockchain

Bluesky: @gidmk, @mattrosoff, and @edzitron.com

X: @openainewsroom, @s4mmyeth, @chatgpt21, @chooserich, @mikeisaac, @teslaart3, @waymoproblems, @merts_eth, @mikeisaac, and @mikeisaac. Forums: r/smallstreetbets

Bloomberg:

Sources: OpenAI will rent additional computing power from Oracle, totaling about 4.5 gigawatts of US data center power, as part of its Stargate initiative — The AI company will rent additional capacity from Oracle totaling about 4.5 gigawatts of data center power in the US …

More: The Information, Investor's Business Daily, WinBuzzer, The Verge, Financial Times, Cryptopolitan, and SemiAnalysis

Bluesky: @bwnash, @bwnash, @inspector-w, @onefeincat, @edzitron.com, and @edzitron.com

X: @marionawfal, @edludlow, @morqon, @edludlow, @prometheanaix, @andrewcurran_, and @rohanpaul_ai

Forums: r/artificial, r/OpenAI, and r/wallstreetbets

Vicky Ge Huang / Wall Street Journal:

Ripple has applied for a national banking license, which would place Ripple's dollar-backed stablecoin, RLUSD, under the US OCC's regulatory remit — A national banking charter would make the OCC a regulator of Ripple's stablecoin — Ripple has applied for a national banking license …

More: Reuters, crypto.news, Blockhead, Coinpedia Fintech News, ZyCrypto, Blockonomi, American Banker, Cryptopolitan, PYMNTS.com, CryptoSlate, Benzinga, CoinDesk, The Block, Watcher Guru, Decrypt, CoinGape, Crypto Briefing, BeInCrypto, and Cointelegraph

Bluesky: @grahamsteele. X: @bgarlinghouse, @diepsanh, @marionawfal, and @its_runtime

LinkedIn: Ryan Freeman and Todd H Baker

Forums: r/XRP and r/CryptoCurrency

Abbie Richards / Media Matters for America:

TikTok users are posting AI-generated videos, seemingly made with Google's Veo 3, depicting racist and antisemitic tropes that have garnered millions of views — Google's Veo AI video generator is seemingly being used to generate videos depicting racist and antisemitic tropes

More: Ars Technica, Tech Times, and The Verge

Bluesky: @smokeytejota, @carnage4life, @eliothiggins, @jasooooon, @benjaminjriley, @hypervisible, @amaramarasingam, @carlosmaza, @garymarcus, @shikhadalmia, and @abbierichards. X: @callmeechef

Forums: Hacker News, Beehaw, and Ars OpenForum

Bloomberg:

Analysis: crypto ventures have added at least $620M to President Trump's fortune in months, overshadowing traditional real estate licensing deals — The Trumps have used their name and connections to profit from digital assets at a quicker clip than from their traditional real estate business.

More: The Block, TheStreet, BeInCrypto, New York Post, crypto.news, Coinpedia Fintech News, Benzinga, and Cointelegraph

Bluesky: @jtsteine, @smullins3000, @zonecrypto, @spanglismexico, and @ronfilipkowski. Mastodon: @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social. X: @crewcrew

Bloomberg:

Baidu overhauls its search engine with AI features and a voice function in its most sweeping revamp in years, and rolls out its first image-to-video model — The Beijing-based company said it wants to make its mobile app more like an AI chatbot that can help users with writing, drawing and trip planning tasks.

More: Reuters, International Business Times, Stocktwits, MediaPost, and South China Morning Post

Thomas Seal / Bloomberg:

Uber drivers in British Columbia joined a union, seeking to negotiate Canada's first bargaining agreement for rideshare drivers; Uber has agreed to meet — Uber drivers in Greater Victoria, the province's capital, joined UFCW 1518 before they kick off talks with the San Francisco-based platform …

More: Global News

Boone Ashworth / Wired:

A look at the ~$377 TranscribeGlass smart glasses that use AI to subtitle conversations in nearly real time, built for the deaf or hard-of-hearing — TranscribeGlass can subtitle conversations in nearly real time and will soon be able to translate languages and tell you when the person you're talking …

More: TranscribeGlass and XR Today

Bluesky: @thiccreese and @wired.com. X: @transcribeglass

Peiyue Wu / Rest of World:

Some Chinese universities are using AI detection tools to screen papers, but false positives force students to “dumb down” content or pay for rewriting services — As Chinese universities crack down on AI use, some students report false positives — and a booming industry of work-around tools is emerging.

More: The Atlantic and Unite.AI

X: @peiyue_jess. LinkedIn: Peiyue Wu

Financial Times:

Sources: CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd said Bumble's “centre of gravity” would move to the US where the “talent pool is right now”; 70% of Bumble's staff are UK-based — CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd warns ‘dating apps are feeling like a thing of the past’

Bluesky: @davelee.me and @mims. LinkedIn: Kieran Smith

Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:

Perplexity launches a $200/month Max plan with unlimited Labs access, early access to features like Comet browser, and priority use of models like o3-pro — Perplexity is launching a $200-per-month subscription plan for its power users, the company announced in a blog post Tuesday.

More: Perplexity, SiliconANGLE, Engadget, WinBuzzer, and The Verge

Bluesky: @hrbrmstr.dev, @edzitron.com, and @cptjinglepants

X: @aravsrinivas, @aravsrinivas, @aravsrinivas, @aravsrinivas, @prudent_ai, and @jowanza. Forums: r/technology

Molly Taft / Wired:

xAI has been granted a permit to operate 15 gas turbines at its Memphis campus until 2027, despite protests and a potential NAACP lawsuit over air pollution — xAI's gas turbines get official approval from Memphis, Tennessee, even as civil rights groups prepare to sue over alleged Clean Air Act violations.

Bluesky: @wired.com, @charleswlogan, @darthfos, @mollytaft.com, and @wired.com. Forums: r/TrueReddit

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From Mediagazer

April Roach / CNBC:

Bill Ackman's Pershing Square proposes to acquire Amsterdam-listed Universal Music Group for €56B in cash and stock, form a merged company, and list on the NYSE

George Grylls / The Times:

A profile of Aaron Rupar, who manages a social media news operation monitoring Trump across 12 TV channels simultaneously, supported by a $50/year Substack

New York Times:

Journalist Shelly Kittleson, abducted in Iraq by an Iranian-aligned militia, has been freed after a week in captivity, per the militia and two Iraqi officials

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More News

Mackenzie Hawkins / Bloomberg:

Siemens says it has restored full access to its chip design software for its Chinese clients after the Trump admin lifted export curbs, initially imposed in May

More: Nikkei Asia, South China Morning Post, CNBC, Reuters, Synopsys, and Bloomberg Law. Bluesky: @garyrlundberg

Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Netflix has held talks with Spotify about partnering on projects such as a music awards show, as it adds content that was core to the cable bundle

More: BMI, The Information, Barron's Online, Adweek, CNBC, The Olympian, Digital Music News, Investing.com, The Verge, What's on Netflix, and Proactive. LinkedIn: Adi T.

Earlier Picks

Johana Bhuiyan / The Guardian:

A report finds Google undercounted its carbon emissions, which rose 65% from 2019 to 2024, not 51% as claimed; the largest YoY jump was 26%, from 2023 to 2024

More: AI News, The Keyword, ESG Dive, WinBuzzer, and SupplyChainBrain

Bluesky: @tega, @climateone.org, @tamigraph, and @jmbooyah

X: @shanumathew93 and @ben_inskeep. Forums: Slashdot

Bloomberg:

Sources: Foxconn recalled 300+ Chinese engineers from its Indian iPhone factories over the past two months, a blow for Apple as it ramps up iPhone 17 production

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:

A US judge rules that Huawei must face criminal charges in an indictment alleging racketeering, stealing trade secrets, and bank fraud tied to Iran sanctions

More: PhoneArena, American Banker, JURISTnews, The Register, TelecomTV, and Associated Press

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:

X says it will start to publish Community Notes written by AI agents and developers will soon be able to submit their own AI agents for the company to review

More: The Guardian, Adweek, Ars Technica, MediaPost, eWeek, Gizmodo, Tom's Guide, Moneycontrol, KnowTechie, PCMag, Livemint, and arXiv.org

Bluesky: @mantzarlis.com, @quinnypig.com, @mantzarlis.com, and @mantzarlis.com

Threads: @cult_papa, @renee.diresta, and @renee.diresta

X: @communitynotes, @nomadxx333, @_jaybaxter_, @_jaybaxter_, @_jaybaxter_, @rejuvenatedrex, @kcoleman, @lindayax, and @communitynotes. LinkedIn: Kendra Barnett. Forums: r/technology