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July 21, 2023, 6:35 PM

Top News

Makena Kelly / The Verge:

OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta, Google, Amazon, Anthropic, and Inflection make voluntary AI promises to the White House, like cybersecurity investment and watermarking — The White House is bringing in AI's top seven companies Friday to make a series of voluntary promises to protect users.

More: The White House, Microsoft On the Issues, The Keyword, OpenAI, New York Times, Ars Technica, Reuters, TechCrunch, CNBC, New York Times, Wired, Financial Times, Insider, NPR, Tom's Hardware, Tech Monitor, Variety, New York Post, Bloomberg, Associated Press, AppleInsider, The Verge, Tech.co, SiliconANGLE, Decrypt, PCWorld, Wall Street Journal, DeviceSecurity.io, WinBuzzer, Cybersecurity Dive, Dark Reading, Beyond Search, Tech Startups, Washington Post, FedScoop, Silicon Republic, VentureBeat, PetaPixel, SecurityWeek, The Guardian, The Decoder, 24/7 Wall St., Cryptopolitan, SlashGear, Android Headlines, Forbes, Observer, Silicon Valley Business …, PC Gamer, Gizmodo, Roll Call, The Hill, insideBIGDATA, GeekWire, and Bloomberg Law

LinkedIn: Vasu Jakkal, Eric Horvitz, Roderick Mann, Eric Horvitz, Tanya Dua, Sathish Muthukrishnan, Rachel Gruner, Karan Bhatia, Simon Mehdian-Staffell, Rajesh Kandaswamy, Mike Rayo, PhD, and Mavanee Anderson

Mastodon: @emilymbender@dair …, @GW@newsie.social, and @danielnazer@mastodon.social

Threads: @oliverdarcy and @tomwarrenuk

See also Mediagazer

Jay Peters / The Verge:

Reddit removes three moderators and takes charge of r/malefashionadvice, one of the biggest subreddits to close in protest of the platform's API pricing changes — Reddit is now in charge of r/malefashionadvice, which for a time was the biggest subreddit still closed in protest of the platform's API pricing changes.

More: ZDNet, The Verge, Social Media Today, Engadget, Gizmodo, Mashable, TweakTown, iPhone in Canada Blog, The Messenger, Forbes, 9to5Mac, The Messenger, The Verge, and Kotaku

Bluesky: @romitmehta.com. Mastodon: @dangillmor@mastodon.social, @webframp@hachyderm.io, @paparatti@phire.place, and @carnage4life@mas.to. Twitter: @trevin. Threads: @carnage4life

Forums: r/RedditAlternatives and r/technology

Rich Stanton / PC Gamer:

Troy Hunt: the sensitive info of almost 4,000 Roblox Developer Conference attendees from 2017 to 2020 was leaked in 2021; Roblox disclosed the leak this week — This may cost the company a few Robux. — The major gaming platform Roblox has suffered a major data breach …

More: HackRead, The Verge, Video Games Chronicle, TheGamer, GamesIndustry.biz, IGN, PC Games Insider, and Kotaku Australia

Twitter: @troyhunt, @troyhunt, @troyhunt, and @matpiscatella

Forums: Hacker News and r/pcgaming

Kevin Collier / NBC News:

NYC's MTA used AI-powered surveillance software at seven subway stations in May 2023 to track fare evaders, and plans to expand to ~12 more by the end of 2023 — An MTA spokesperson said the software doesn't flag fare evaders to New York police but declined to comment on whether that policy could change.

More: The Verge, GovTech, New York Post, S.T.O.P., and Gizmodo

Mastodon: @kevincollier@mastodon.social. Twitter: @paul__armstrong, @patrickspauster, @bienmaspreciado, and @mr_bellis

Forums: r/news, r/technews, and r/nyc

Julie Coleman / CNBC:

Digital World Acquisition Corp., which is seeking to take Truth Social public via a SPAC merger, settles fraud charges with the US SEC for $18M; DWAC is up 50%+ — - Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp. soared more than 50% on Friday after the company reached an $18 million dollar fraud settlement with the SEC.

More: U.S. Securities …, CBS News, CNN, The Hill, Crowdfund Insider, Reuters, Bloomberg, Wccftech, Financial Times, and Washington Post

Bluesky: @caseynewton.bsky.social. Forums: r/TRUTHsocialWatch and r/DWAC

Richard Lawler / The Verge:

OpenAI plans to release ChatGPT for Android next week, after launching an iOS app in May 2023 — / OpenAI is releasing the Android version of the app for ChatGPT next week after launching on iOS in May. … Since launching in November, OpenAI's ChatGPT tool has reached a number of users …

More: 9to5Google, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Decoder, Android Headlines, BGR, nextpit, Windows Central, and Pocket-lint

Twitter: @openai, @kylebrussell, @therealadamg, and @tomaxwell

Steve Dent / Engadget:

Telegram launches Stories, initially for its Premium subscribers, letting users control who can see their stories and how long they last before disappearing — You can display them forever or make them disappear at various times up to 48 hours. — Telegram's new Stories feature is here as promised …

More: The Verge, 9to5Mac, Android Central, Gizchina, Neowin, Android Headlines, Android Authority, iPhone in Canada Blog, TechCrunch, PhoneArena, Droid Life, Sammy Fans, Techlusive, and MySmartPrice. Twitter: @telegram

Spencer Soper / Bloomberg:

Sources: Amazon plans to force some remote corporate employees to relocate as part of a mandate requiring workers to be in the office three days a week — - Requirement comes amid souring morale in wake of layoffs — Company requires workers to be in office three days a week

More: Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, The Information, Insider, and Engadget

Luc Cohen / Reuters:

Court filing: Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan and Ilya Lichtenstein reach a plea deal over allegedly laundering billions in cryptocurrency from Bitfinex's 2016 hack — An American couple accused of laundering billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency stolen from the 2016 hacking …

Reuters:

OpenAI's head of trust and safety Dave Willner leaves the company, citing the job's pressures on his family life and saying he'd be available for advisory work — OpenAI's head of trust and safety Dave Willner is leaving the company, he said in a LinkedIn post on Friday …

More: The Verge, Engadget, CNN, Insider, Neowin, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, The Decoder, and Tech in Asia

Katie Tarasov / CNBC:

A look at Samsung's $17B and Texas Instruments' $30B chip fabs in Texas, as the state becomes a US chipmaking hub with six projects expected to create 8K+ jobs — WATCH NOW — How Texas became the center of U.S. chipmaking — On a 1,200-acre plot of land in a small town 30 miles north of Austin …

More: Tom's Hardware, The Register, and Ars Technica. LinkedIn: Nancy Kelly

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:35 PM ET, July 21, 2023.

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

Bloomberg:

How Paramount's David Ellison deployed financial backing and political lobbying, including his well-connected chief legal adviser, to beat Netflix and win WBD

CNN:

CNN employees and viewers have serious concerns about whether Ellison will uphold CNN's editorial independence amid severe political pressure

Jeremy Barr / The Guardian:

Memo: another CBS News producer leaves, after 46 years, and says, “We've been told to aim our reporting at a particular part of the political spectrum”

More News

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:

How Vietnam-based 1Byte, which sells TheTruthSpy stalkerware, created networks of fake sellers with forged US passports to evade detection and funnel payments

Bluesky: @evacide.bsky.social. Mastodon: @JosephMenn@infosec.exchange, @campuscodi@mastodon.social, and @zackwhittaker@mastodon.social

Twitter: @lorenzofb, @lainie, and @lorenzofb

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:

Amazon settles with the US DOJ and the FTC for $25M over not complying with parents' requests to delete their kids' Alexa voice recordings and geolocation data

More: Variety and Insider. Bluesky: @cgerrish.bsky.social

Erin Woo / The Information:

Letter: the US SEC subpoenaed Bolt and sent a notice to former CEO Ryan Breslow in 2022 over their past misleading statements to current and potential investors

More: TechCrunch and The Block

Bluesky: @hunterwalk.com. Twitter: @amir, @stevenbward, @amir, @anothercohen, @kateclarktweets, and @kylebrussell

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Tiger Global, Peak XV, and other investors ask India to reconsider its new 28% online gaming tax that they say would lead to a $2.5B write-off and 1M jobs lost

More: Livemint, Tech in Asia, The Economic Times, Pocket Gamer.biz, Entrackr, and Reuters

Jordan Robertson / Bloomberg:

A study based on open-source data estimates that 30K+ workers at European tech companies have moved to China in the past 20 years; China rejects the findings

Forums: r/economy

Charmaine Jacob / CNBC:

Canalys: after three quarters of decline, smartphone shipments in India have stabilized with 36.1M units in Q2 2023, down 1% YoY; Samsung led with an 18% share

More: PhoneArena and Canalys

Ash Parrish / The Verge:

Activision Blizzard lays off ~50 esports employees and asks Overwatch League teams to vote on an updated operating agreement, and to decide the league's future

More: Gameranx, Activision Blizzard, GoNintendo, and Game Rant

LinkedIn: Tamara Henderson. Forums: r/real_China_irl

Dylan Tokar / Wall Street Journal:

The US DOJ merges its crypto enforcement team, formed in 2021, into the department investigating computer-related crimes, giving crypto crimes more resources

More: SC Media, US Department of Justice, Bitcoinist.com, Cointelegraph, CryptoPotato, Watcher Guru, Blockworks, crypto.news, Cryptonews, The Block, and Nextgov/FCW

LinkedIn: Nikhil Bhagat. Twitter: @drogon_dracarys

Earlier Picks

Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch:

Autonomous trucking company Aurora Innovation raised $600M in a private placement of its stock, at $2.70/share, and plans a ~$220M public offering, at $3/share

More: Silicon Valley Business …, Aurora, SiliconANGLE, FreightWaves, Technical.ly, Electrek, Pittsburgh Business Journal, Business Wire, Aurora Innovation, Inc., and Reuters

David Heaney / UploadVR:

Meta rolls out Quest v56, featuring Hand Tracking 2.2, which the company claims reduces latency by up to 40% in typical usage and up to 75% during fast movement

More: Meta, TechRadar, VRScout, Road to VR, The Verge, WABetaInfo, Android Central, Android Central, BGR, and BigTechWire

Twitter: @boztank, @metaquestvr, @battleaxevr, @joelbasson, @benz145, @unhedgedchatter, @piotarboa, @lunayian, @benz145, @joelbasson, and @lunayian

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: in recent months, Sergey Brin increased his Google visits to three to four days a week, working with researchers on Gemini, an AI model to rival GPT-4

More: PYMNTS.com, Fast Company, Insider, SlashGear, The Week, iPhone in Canada Blog, San Francisco Business Journal, Android Authority, Android Headlines, Android Police, AI News, Thurrott, Silicon Valley Business …, Associated Press, The Verge, and 9to5Google

Twitter: @themanmiketan, @0interestrates, and @davecbenoit

Forums: r/ChatGPT and r/singularity

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:

FTX sues Sam Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh for the $1B+ they allegedly misappropriated for “pet projects” before FTX's bankruptcy

David Pierce / The Verge:

OpenAI adds opt-in “custom instructions”, or a user's details that ChatGPT should remember, in beta for ChatGPT Plus subscribers everywhere but the UK and EU

More: OpenAI, Fast Company, BGR, OpenAI Help Center, PCMag, TechRadar, Techpoint Africa, nft now, Tech.co, Tom's Guide, Dexerto, CryptoSlate, Tech Monitor, gHacks Technology News, The Sun, The Economic Times, Tech News Outlet, SiliconANGLE, MobileSyrup, Decrypt, Cointelegraph, SlashGear, The Decoder, Search Engine Journal, VentureBeat, Engadget, and TechCrunch

LinkedIn: Dazza Greenwood. Twitter: @sama, @openai, @karpathy, @alexrpigman, and @gdb

Forums: r/OpenAI, r/ChatGPTPro, and r/ChatGPT

Annie Palmer / CNBC:

Amazon plans to roll out its Amazon One palm scanning payment tech to all 500+ US Whole Foods stores by the end of 2023; 200+ locations already have Amazon One

More: About Amazon, HotHardware, TechCrunch, ExtremeTech, Reclaim The Net, Payments Dive, KnowTechie, Digital Trends, Engadget, Forbes, BGR, Gizmodo, PYMNTS.com, Neowin, WRAL TechWire, The Verge, and GeekWire

LinkedIn: Leandro Balbinot, Dilip Kumar, and Andy Jassy

Twitter: @melissa_repko, @richard_b_tech, and @jyarow

Forums: r/Futurology, r/technews, and r/technology

Hannah Lang / Reuters:

The US Federal Reserve launches FedNow, its long-awaited real-time payments system that will eventually let individuals and businesses transfer money in seconds

Nikkei Asia:

TSMC reports Q2 revenue down 10% YoY to ~$15.68B and net income down 23.3% YoY to ~$5.9B, the first quarterly decline since 2019, as all non-AI chip sales slump

More: O'Grady's PowerPage, Fortune, Reuters, Bloomberg, TSMC, The Verge, Constellation Research, Investor's Business Daily, HPCwire, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and Tech in Asia

LinkedIn: Robert Ehlers. Twitter: @dnystedt, @iancutress, @savvytrader, @dnystedt, @thetranscript_, @sashayanshin, @eugeneng_vcap, and @briantycangco

Forums: Hacker News, r/Sino, and r/anime_titties