Techmeme
January 3, 2024, 8:25 PM

Top News

Ashley Capoot / CNBC:
Xerox plans to cut 15% of its workforce as part of a restructuring; the company had ~20,500 employees as of December 31, 2022, per an SEC filing; XRX drops 12%+  —  - Xerox announced plans to cut 15% of its workforce as part of a plan to implement a new organizational structure and operating model.
Todd Shields / Bloomberg:
SpaceX launches its first six Starlink satellites capable of offering mobile phone service as part of its Direct to Cell service in partnership with T-Mobile US  —  - Starlink satellites capable of connecting to normal phones  — Companies racing toward service via cell towers in space
Justine Calma / The Verge:
Researchers built three AI models to analyze 2,000TB of maritime satellite imagery and create the first global map of vessel traffic and offshore infrastructure  —  Using satellite imagery and AI, researchers have mapped human activity at sea with more precision than ever before.
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / TechCrunch:
In a letter to a group of victims of its October 2023 breach, 23andMe blames them, saying that “users negligently recycled and failed to update their passwords”  —  Facing more than 30 lawsuits from victims of its massive data breach, 23andMe is now deflecting the blame …
The Information:
TikTok plans to raise TikTok Shop's US seller fees from 2% to 8% over the next few months; a source says TikTok has started reducing some merchant subsidies  —  TikTok powered early growth in its U.S. shopping service by offering low sellers' fees and footing the bill for deep discounts.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Twitch changes its sexual content policies again and says the platform won't allow streamers to “imply or suggest that they are fully or partially nude”  —  Twitch is changing its sexual content policies again, this time to prohibit implied nudity on the platform.
Macauley Peterson / Blockworks:
Etherscan, the leading block explorer for Ethereum that was founded in 2015, acquires Solscan, a block explorer for Solana founded in 2021  —  Solscan and Etherscan “share a vision of providing credibly neutral and equitable access to blockchain data,” the teams say
Noam Scheiber / New York Times:
The US NLRB accuses SpaceX of illegally firing eight employees in 2022 for circulating a letter critical of founder and CEO Elon Musk  —  The National Labor Relations Board said the rocket company had wrongly dismissed eight people for a letter raising concerns about the chief executive.
Fred Wilson / AVC:
2024 predictions: AI will help make Web3 usable in mainstream applications and Web3 will help us trust AI, Web3 regulatory clarity, flat VC investing, and more  —  As we enter 2024, the capital markets have found their footing and are moving higher.  The Fed has taken interest rates as far …
Thomas Germain / Gizmodo:
Facebook rolls out Link History, an opt-out setting that tracks all the links a user clicked in the mobile app, and plans to use the data for targeted ads  —  Facebook introduces a confusing new setting as the walls close in on Zuckerberg's data machine.  —  Facebook recently rolled out a new …
Stephen Nellis / Reuters:
Intel spins out Articul8, an AI company backed by DigitalBridge and others; executives did not share the deal's value or if Intel would retain a majority stake  —  Intel (INTC.O) on Wednesday said it was forming a new independent company around its artificial intelligence software efforts …
Rasmus Nielsen / Financial Times:
Despite the focus on generative AI misinformation, policy discourse ignores that politicians pose the gravest misinformation threat, ahead of big 2024 elections  —  As we head into a big election year, beware the risks of misleading statements from those at very top
Hannah Devlin / The Guardian:
A UK study of 7,000 people aged 16 to 18: 48% agreed with the statement “I think I am addicted to social media”; 57% of girls agreed, compared to 37% of boys  —  Exclusive: Millennium Cohort's finding raises questions about why a large proportion has a difficult relationship with social media
More: The IndependentX: @fromarsetoelbow and @soundmigrationLinkedIn: Blake R.
Forums: Hacker News and Slashdot

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More News

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Earlier Picks

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BBC: