Techmeme
January 31, 2023, 11:50 AM

Top News

Takashi Mochizuki / Bloomberg:
Sources: Sony halves its Q1 PlayStation VR2 shipment forecast to around 1M units after disappointing early preorders; the headset launches on February 22  —  Sony Group Corp. reduced projections for the initial launch of its PlayStation VR2 headset dramatically after early pre-orders disappointed …
Jack Schickler / CoinDesk:
Independent examiner: Celsius misled investors and sometimes used new customer funds to pay for withdrawals, CEO Alex Mashinsky made false claims, and more  —  Shoba Pillay was appointed by a New York bankruptcy court to look at whether the crypto lender operated as a Ponzi scheme
The Verge:
Apple HomePod (second-gen) review: great sound quality, useful sensors, speedy Siri, and deep Apple integration, but pricey and best experience needs two units  —  Apple's second take on the HomePod doesn't stray far from the original, but it's better all around.
Kat Bailey / IGN:
Sources: Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony do not plan to attend E3 2023, to be held in-person from June 13 to June 16; E3 2022 was canceled due to the pandemic  —  All three of gaming's first-party console manufacturers appear poised to skip E3's big return.  —  E3's first physical event …
Anna Nicolaou / Financial Times:
Spotify reports Q4 revenue up 18% YoY to €3.2B and a €270M loss, up from €39M YoY, as operating costs rose 44% YoY; paying subscribers were up 10M to 205M  —  Music streaming group adds subscribers but is hit by rise in operating expenses  —  Spotify's losses ballooned …
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger announce a venture to explore social apps, the first being Artifact, a TikTok-like app for news articles  —  EXCLUSIVE: Meet Artifact, a kind of TikTok for text  —  Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger are back.
Sharon Goldman / VentureBeat:
More: The EconomistTweets: @shashj, @shashj, @hardmaru, and @shashj
Kim Jaewon / Nikkei Asia:
Samsung reports Q4 operating profit down 69% YoY to ~$3.5B, its lowest since Q3 2014, and revenue down 8% YoY to ~$57.3B, citing weak chip and smartphone demand  —  South Korean tech giant's slump expected to continue in first half of this year  —  SEOUL — Samsung Electronics said Tuesday …
Reuters:
Jillian Deutsch / Bloomberg:
A draft EU proposal details plans to ask Netflix, Alphabet, and other “large traffic generators” to help pay for next-generation internet infrastructure  —  The European Union is weighing a proposal to make technology companies that use the most bandwidth, like Netflix Inc. and Alphabet Inc. …
Parmy Olson / Bloomberg:
EU Commission changes, triggered by human rights group ICCL, mean regulators in Ireland and elsewhere will report six times a year on GDPR, violations, and more  —  It's well established that the European Union has some of the strictest privacy laws in the world, threatening fines of up to 4% of a company's annual turnover.
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
A US judge allows the names of the two people who posted SBF's $250M bail to be made public, but stays the ruling until at least February 7, expecting an appeal  —  A U.S. judge on Monday said the names of two people who helped guarantee bail for indicted FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried …
New York Times:
Sources: Stripe is aiming to raise ~$2.5B at a $55B to $60B valuation, led by Thrive Capital, which has committed $1B; Stripe was valued at ~$95B in March 2021  —  Thrive has committed $1 billion, which would value the payments provider Stripe at about $55 billion to $60 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Matt Tamanini / The Streamable:
Paramount Global plans to merge its Showtime streaming service with Paramount+'s ad-free tier later in 2023 and call the new offering Paramount+ with SHOWTIME  —  It's been a long time coming, but later this year, Paramount Global will finally fully integrate the streaming arm …
AJ Vicens / CyberScoop:
Kaspersky: from January 2020 to June 2022, hacker groups offered salaries from six figures to $1.2M, bonuses, and paid leave to attract talent on the dark web  —  Despite the obvious risks, tech jobs with hacking groups can be alluring for those who need the money or want to do the work.

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