Techmeme
February 9, 2024, 12:15 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Sam Altman is talking to investors, including the UAE government, to raise as much as $5T to $7T for an AI chip project  —  Sam Altman was already trying to lead the development of human-level artificial intelligence.  Now he has another great ambition: raising trillions of dollars …
Reuters:
Sources: Nvidia plans to build a new business unit focused on designing custom chips, including AI chips, for cloud companies; custom chips are a $30B market  —  Nvidia (NVDA.O) is building a new business unit focused on designing bespoke chips for cloud computing firms and others …
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge:
Ring plans to raise the price of its cheapest subscription by 25% to $5 a month or $50 a year from March 11, 2024  —  In what is fast becoming a trend, another security camera company is raising the price of its subscription plan. … The Basic is Ring's cheapest plan and gives you access …
Steven Sinofsky / @stevesi:
John Walker, a computer programmer and co-founder of 3D design software maker Autodesk, died on February 2 at the age of 75  —  Very sad news on the passing on John Walker, programmer and co-founder of AutoDesk. His contributions to our industry, the rise of the PC, and the modern industrialization of nearly everything were incredibly significant. I thought I would use some of John's own words to show the... [image]
Vera Bergengruen / TIME:
How Palantir embedded itself in the day-to-day work of Ukraine's wartime government in an unprecedented way, as Ukraine becomes a laboratory for military tech  —  Early on the morning of June 1, 2022, Alex Karp, the CEO of the data-analytics firm Palantir Technologies, crossed the border between Poland …
Financial Times:
Carlyle Group agrees to sell UK game publisher Jagex, which develops RuneScape, to CVC Capital, sources say for £900M, after acquiring it in 2021 for $530M+  —  Europe's CVC Capital Partners and US-based Haveli Investments agree to buy ‘RuneScape’ developer
France 24:
Meta removes the Facebook and Instagram accounts of Iran's supreme leader for repeatedly violating its Dangerous Organizations & Individuals policy  —  Meta on Thursday said it had removed the Facebook and Instagram accounts of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for violating its content policy.
Cory Weinberg / The Information:
Source: Disney's $1.5B investment in Epic Games will give Disney a 9% stake in Epic at a valuation of $22.5B, down ~29% from its 2022 valuation of $31.5B  —  Disney's $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games values the Fortnite maker at $22.5 billion, a person familiar with the matter said.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Meta says it will not “proactively recommend political content from accounts you don't follow” on Threads, the same policy it uses on Facebook and Instagram  —  Meta will not “proactively recommend political content from accounts you don't follow” on Threads, the company said in a statement provided to Axios.
William Turton / Wired:
Epik, a domain registrar serving far-right and extremist websites, has been acquired by Registered Agents, whose services allow companies to operate anonymously  —  Known for doing business with far-right extremist websites, Epik has been acquired by a company that specializes in helping businesses keep their operations secret.
Washington Post:
Sources: Meta considers flagging more uses of the term “Zionist” as antisemitic, a move some say could suppress legitimate debate about the Israel-Hamas war  —  Meta could start flagging more uses of the term ‘Zionist’ as antisemitic, a move some say could suppress legitimate debate about the Israel-Gaza war
Jordan Pearson / VICE:
Chris Dixon's book becomes an NYT Best Seller but with a dagger icon denoting bulk orders; a16z and some startups linked to it gave the book to staff and others  —  Motherboard found that firms linked to a16z and general partner Chris Dixon bought numerous copies of his new book promoting cryptocurrencies …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Transform ML Experimentation with Tangle  —  Save months of compute time with Tangle, built by Shopify.  Try this open-source platform to simplify ML workflows, ensure reproducibility, and seamlessly share with collaborators.
Zoho:
Contract Signed.  Project Ready.  Tasks Created.  —  Every project begins with a promise; a contract that outlines the deliverables, the timelines, and the terms.  But for most businesses …
Bitrix24:
Bitrix24 powers the next generation of high-performing businesses  —  Chat, projects, CRM, and automation — all in one place.  Replace dozens of tools so your team moves faster, collaborates smarter, and grows effortlessly.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Access:
Is Roblox making the internet better or worse? We asked the CEO
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Lenny's Podcast:
Why LinkedIn is turning PMs into AI-powered "full stack builders" | Tomer Cohen (LinkedIn CPO)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Great Chat:
Code red: our favorite tech rivalries
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Big Technology Podcast:
How An AI Model Learned To Be Bad — With Evan Hubinger And Monte MacDiarmid
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
PBS Lost a Billion Dollars. Now what? With CEO Paula Kerger
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 12:15 PM ET, February 9, 2024.

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.

More News

Shauneen Miranda / Axios:
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

Earlier Picks

CNBC:
Thomas Claburn / The Register:
Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
Brian Fung / CNN:
David Pierce / The Verge:
Martin Young / Cointelegraph: