Techmeme
March 18, 2024, 10:00 AM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple and Google are in active talks to use Gemini to power some new iPhone features in 2024; Apple also held talks with OpenAI to use its models  —  - Companies considering AI deal that would build on search pact  — Apple also recently held discussions with OpenAI about deal
Sarah E. Needleman / Wall Street Journal:
A profile of Reddit co-founder Steve Huffman, who blends the personal and professional as CEO and plans to test a tepid IPO market for the unprofitable company  —  Steve Huffman built the social-media platform nearly two decades ago while in college.  Now he's taking it public …
Echo Wang / Reuters:
xAI:
xAI open sources the base model weights and network architecture of Grok-1, a 314B parameter Mixture-of-Experts model, under the Apache 2.0 license  —  We are releasing the base model weights and network architecture of Grok-1, our large language model.  Grok-1 is a 314 billion parameter Mixture …
Paul Tassi / Forbes:
Respawn and EA postpone the North American Finals of Apex Legends, after an unknown user hacked the game and gave pros hacks like aimbots during the event  —  Something rather terrifying has disrupted the North American Finals of Apex Legends, and players are now starting to potentially worry …
Takashi Mochizuki / Bloomberg:
Sources: Sony pauses PlayStation VR2 production, which hit 2M+ since February 2023, to clear unsold inventory; Sony recently confirmed testing PSVR2 PC support  —  - $550 accessory has suffered from lack of compelling content  — Sony testing PC compatibility to expand gadget's appeal
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
A look at issues and monetization options for CarPlay; sources say Apple plans to produce 20M-25M units of the entry and mid-tier AirPods launching in fall 2024  —  Apple's new CarPlay interface was originally designed to fend off Android, but now it's Apple's last hope to conquer the automotive industry.
Allison Johnson / The Verge:
Qualcomm unveils the Snapdragon 8S Gen 3, aiming to bring most 8 Gen 3 features, including on-device AI models, to mid-range smartphones in the “coming months”  —  Qualcomm just launched a new chipset that's designed to sit just below its current flagship in terms of capabilities and price.
Rachel Graf / Bloomberg:
A US judge rules Apple must face a class-action suit over AirTag stalking, as three plaintiffs made sufficient negligence and liability claims under CA law  —  - Judge says three plaintiffs made sufficient negligence claims  — Apple had argued it couldn't be held responsible for misuse
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
At an EU DMA hearing, an Apple lawyer fended off criticism over DMA compliance; Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, ByteDance, and Microsoft will now have similar hearings  —  Apple (AAPL.O) on Monday fended off criticism that it has not done enough to open up its closed eco-system as required under …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google quietly refreshes its Fitbit branding, changing from “Fitbit by Google” to “Google Fitbit”, similar to Google Pixel and Google Nest  —  With the Sense 2 and Versa 4 announcement in August of 2022, the “Fitbit by Google” branding emerged.  That's now going away in favor of just “Google Fitbit.”

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An 86-minute guide to finding PMF | Rob Snyder (Author, The Power of Pull)
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Sources:
Sundar Pichai on what's next for Google Gemini, Waymo, and data centers in space
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
Subscribe to Sources.
 

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