Techmeme
July 20, 2022, 6:00 PM

Top News

Minecraft:
Mojang Studios will not support or allow NFTs, as they “create models of scarcity and exclusion that conflict with our Guidelines and the spirit of Minecraft”  —  Hello everyone!  Recently, we've received some feedback from members of the community asking for clarification …
David Pierce / The Verge:
Amazon announces changes to Alexa, including Routines created and recommended by developers, shopping via skills, coexisting with other assistants, and more  —  A helper that increasingly doesn't need your help  —  Amazon is making a bunch of changes to the Alexa user experience …
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
OpenAI makes DALL-E 2 widely available in beta through a credit-based fee structure; users will get free credits every month and can buy more in $15 increments  —  Today, DALL-E 2, OpenAI's AI system that can generate images given a prompt or edit and refine existing images, is becoming more widely available.
Erin Woo / The Information:
Google says it will pause hiring for two weeks, except for offers that have already been made, after saying last week it would slow hiring for the rest of 2022  —  Google said it will pause hiring for two weeks, after saying last week it would slow its pace of hiring for the rest of the year.
The Verge:
Microsoft tests Discord voice chat integration with select Xbox Insiders, as PlayStation users wait for the deep Discord integration that Sony promised in 2021  —  Your cross-play dreams have come true  —  Discord and Microsoft are bringing Discord voice calls to the Xbox.
Stacy Elliott / Decrypt:
Tesla says a “bitcoin impairment” negatively impacted its Q2 profitability and that it sold 75% of its bitcoin, worth approximately $936M, in the quarter  —  “Bitcoin impairment” prompted the sale, the company said.  —  Tesla sold 75% of its Bitcoin, worth approximately $936 million, according to its Q2 earnings report.
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Coinbase says it has no exposure to failed crypto firms Celsius, 3AC, and Voyager but made “non-material investments” in Terraform Labs; stock closes up 14.34%  —  - Coinbase said in a blog post that it had “no financing exposure” to collapsed crypto firms Celsius, Three Arrows Capital and Voyager Digital.
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
The Block:
Kevin McLaughlin / The Information:
Memo: Dan Wright, CEO of enterprise AI startup DataRobot, resigned after less than 1.5 years, following employee uproar over stock sales by senior executives  —  Dan Wright, CEO of artificial-intelligence software pioneer DataRobot, has resigned less than a year and a half after ascending to the position …
Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
Netflix reports Q2 revenue up 8.6% YoY to $7.97B, vs $8.04B est., and a 970K subscriber loss vs an estimated 2M subscriber loss; the stock closes up 7.35%  —  - Netflix only lost around 970,000 subscribers during the second quarter, a smaller loss than the 2 million it had projected last quarter.
Todd Spangler / Variety:

Sponsor Posts

Command Line:
Copilot to autopilot: Why no single safeguard is enough  —  Microsoft designed a layered model that lets an AI agent resolve network incidents on its own within defined boundaries.
Will Reed:
The best sales leaders aren't job hunting.  Here's how to reach them without months of cold outreach.  —  Our team came from Box, Square, and Brex, so we already know the GTM leaders worth meeting.
Zoho:
UK tax compliance with Zoho Books  —  The evolving tax landscape in the UK has added an additional responsibility to business owners, accountants, and bookkeepers to ensure their choice of accounting software supports compliance …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Grit:
The 20-Year Bet to Make Fusion Energy Work | Jeff Lawson
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Acquired:
Seinfeld
Learn the playbooks that built the world's greatest companies - and how you can apply them as a founder, operator, or investor.
Subscribe to Acquired.
Lenny's Podcast:
Inside the black box of AI: How AI models actually think | Emmanuel Ameisen (Anthropic)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
Anthropic IPO Panic, A Spy At OpenAI?, The Great Food Slop Debate
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Great Chat:
What happened to tech's backbone?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
The Upstarts Podcast:
The $7B Startup Mapping Your Health In Just One Hour | Neko's Hjalmar Nilsonne
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:00 PM ET, July 20, 2022.

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

Earlier Picks

Natalie Andrews / Wall Street Journal:
Corin Faife / The Verge:
Scott Stein / CNET:
Katyanna Quach / The Register:
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Todd Spangler / Variety: