Techmeme
January 16, 2024, 8:15 AM

Top News

IDC:
Global smartphone shipments declined 3.2% YoY to 1.17B units in 2023; in a first, Apple gained the top spot with 234.6M units, followed by Samsung with 226.6M  —  The last time a company not named Samsung was at the top of the smartphone market was 2010, and for 2023 it is now Apple.
Christopher Dring / GamesIndustry.biz:
Ubisoft rebrands its $18/month tier as Ubisoft+ Premium and adds Ubisoft+ Classics on PC; executive Philippe Tremblay says there are “millions” of subscribers  —  Ubisoft introduces its Classic service to PC; and ‘more to come’ on Activision Blizzard  —  Feature by Christopher Dring Head of Games B2B
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:
Microsoft debuts Copilot Pro for $20/month/user, offering access to the latest models and features, including custom Copilot GPTs and integration into Office  —  Copilot Pro, the most advanced and fastest version of Copilot, has been released today by Microsoft.
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Filing: as part of the Masimo patent fight, the US CBP decides that Apple can avoid a ban and sell the Watch Series 9 by removing its pulse oximetry features  —  The U.S. Customs agency has handed down its decision on whether Apple's proposed redesign of the Apple Watch Series 9 …
OpenAI:
OpenAI shares its plans ahead of 2024 elections, including image provenance tools and not letting users make tools for impersonation or political campaigning  —  We're working to prevent abuse, provide transparency on AI-generated content, and improve access to accurate voting information.  —  Authors
Zheping Huang / Bloomberg:
HashKey, which runs a licensed Hong Kong crypto exchange, raised a ~$100M Series A at a $1.2B+ valuation; sources say OKX Ventures is among the lead investors  —  - The company says its valuation now exceeds $1.2 billion  — HashKey operates a licensed Hong Kong crypto exchange
Sam Becker / BBC:
After investing in self-checkout kiosks, Target, Walmart, and more reverse course, removing tills and adding staff after theft concerns and customer frustration  —  Unstaffed tills were supposed to revolutionise shopping.  Now, both retailers and customers are bagging many self-checkout kiosks.
Forums: Hacker News
Will Nelson / PCGamesN:
Ned Luke, who voiced Michael De Santa in GTA 5, calls out WAME over using his voice in an AI chatbot, saying there is “nothing cool about ripping people off”  —  GTA 5 star Ned Luke has called out the use of his voice as part of an unofficial and now-removed Grand Theft Auto 5 AI chatbot from WAME.
Bloomberg:
Elon Musk says he would rather build AI products outside of Tesla if he doesn't have ~25% voting control in the company; Musk currently owns 12%+ of Tesla  —  - CEO suggests he'll build products elsewhere without 25% stake  — He sold almost $40 billion of stock in 2022 to buy Twitter
Sam Fleming / Financial Times:
A PwC survey of 4,702 CEOs ahead of Davos: 25% expect generative AI to lead to up to 5% headcount cuts, 46% expect GenAI to boost profits in 12 months, and more  —  Impact of cutting-edge AI tools on work and society set to dominate discussions at World Economic Forum in Davos
Hartley Charlton / MacRumors:
Gurman: Apple prepares to split its App Store in two to serve the EU, as the deadline for the DMA, which mandates sideloading support, looms on March 7  —  Apple is preparing to split the App Store “in two” in the coming weeks ahead of European Union requirements that will force Apple …

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Earlier Picks

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