Techmeme
January 10, 2024, 6:45 PM

Top News

Reuters:
The US SEC approves spot bitcoin ETFs from BlackRock, Grayscale, ARK 21Shares, Bitwise, WisdomTree, Fidelity, VanEck, Invesco, Valkyrie, Hashdex, and Franklin  —  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved 11 spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, including those of Grayscale …
Jesse Hamilton / CoinDesk:
US SEC Chair Gary Gensler concedes that losing in court after rejecting Grayscale's spot bitcoin ETF left the agency with little choice but to approve such ETFs  —  The SEC chair said a court forced his hand and that the agency's decision to greenlight a spot bitcoin ETF doesn't signal support of that or any other digital asset.
Rachel Metz / Bloomberg:
OpenAI debuts a GPT Store for paid users to share and find custom chatbots and plans to start sharing revenue in Q1; users have already made 3M+ chatbots so far  —  The store will feature a bot leaderboard, and will eventually introduce payments.  —  OpenAI has launched an online store …
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
OpenAI launches ChatGPT Team, a new subscription plan for teams of up to 149 people, for $30 per user per month, or $25 per user per month billed annually  —  OpenAI is launching a new subscription plan for ChatGPT, its viral AI-powered chatbot, aimed at smaller, self-service-oriented teams.
The Verge:
Twitch CEO Dan Clancy confirms plans to cut 500+ jobs, or ~35% of its staff, and says its workforce was oversized for its business' size, after March 2023 cuts  —  Twitch is laying off more than 500 employees, or around 35 percent of its staff, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy announced this morning.
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Memo: Amazon Studios SVP Mike Hopkins says the company would cut “several hundred roles” in its Prime Video and MGM Studios units; both had cuts in early 2023  —  Division leader Mike Hopkins said “we've identified opportunities to reduce or discontinue investments in certain areas” in a memo to staff on Wednesday.
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
X has quietly removed the ability for paying subscribers to set an NFT as a profile picture, a feature Twitter launched in early 2022  —  On Tuesday, Elon Musk's X wrote about a grand vision for the company in 2024, which includes launching peer-to-peer payments and more AI-powered tools.
Kat Bailey / IGN:
New York Times:
How RISC-V, the US-developed, open-source chip instruction set architecture, became a central tool for Chinese companies and governments, leading to US concerns  —  A U.S.-born chip technology called RISC-V has become critical to China's ambitions.  Washington is debating whether and how to limit the technology.
More: New.blicio.us.  Threads: @sung.kim.mw.  X: @anaswanson, @bgurley, @basche42, @donal888, and @om.  Forums: Slashdot
Politico:
Sources: Amazon won't offer concessions to the European Commission in a bid to garner approval for its planned $1.4B takeover of iRobot  —  Amazon won't offer concessions to the European Commission in a bid to garner approval for its planned $1.4 billion takeover of robot vacuum cleaner maker iRobot …
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
The US ITC files its opposition to Apple's motion for the Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 sales ban to be paused for the duration of Apple's appeal  —  In mid-December, Apple briefly paused sales of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 in the U.S. due to a patent dispute …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Sensor Tower: Netflix Games downloads rose 180% YoY to 81.2M globally across the App Store and Google Play in 2023, with Q4 accounting for 53% of downloads  —  Just over two years ago, Netflix announced it would enter a new business: gaming.  Amid a mobile gaming market dominated by free …
Karen Gilchrist / CNBC:
With half of the world's adults set to vote in 2024, the WEF's Global Risks Report 2024 ranks AI mis- and disinformation ahead of war, climate change, and more  —  - Concern over the impact of artificial intelligence in disrupting election outcomes has topped the list of the biggest risks for 2024, according to a new report.
Sarah Wynn / The Block:
The US SEC is working with the FBI to investigate the false X post on January 9 about approving spot bitcoin ETFs; the agency approved 11 of them on January 10  —  - The SEC spokesperson said the agency will provide updates as appropriate and said any agency action on exchange rule filings will be posted on the agency's website.
CNBC:
Gene Maddaus / Variety:
SAG-AFTRA signs a deal with AI voiceover company Replica Studios, requiring consent to create voice replicas for use in video games and safe storage of assets  —  The union announced the deal with Replica Studios on Tuesday at CES in Las Vegas.  Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union's executive director …

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