Techmeme
August 7, 2024, 4:45 PM

Top News

Financial Times:
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Ofcom publishes an open letter to social media platforms raising concerns about the use of their tools to incite violence, following days of rioting in the UK  —  The U.K.'s internet regulator, Ofcom, has published an open letter to social media platforms raising concerns about the use of their tools to incite violence.
Natalie Lung / Bloomberg:
Lyft reports Q2 revenue up 41% YoY to $1.4B, Gross Bookings up 17% to $4.02B, vs. $4.07B est., and projects Q3 Gross Bookings below estimates; LYFT drops 12%+  —  - Outlook miss threatens to overshadow progress to grow margins  — Rideshare company posts quarterly profit for first time
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Disney CEO Bob Iger says the company's password sharing crackdown will kick off “in earnest” in September, after announcing paid sharing in February 2024  —  Disney Plus will soon no longer let you share your password with people outside your household.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Spencer Soper / Bloomberg:
Shopify reports Q2 revenue up 21% YoY to $2.05B, vs. $2B est., Gross Merchandise Volume up 22% to $67.2B, and gross profit up 25% YoY to $1B; SHOP jumps 20%+  —  - Results show company is navigating cautious consumer spending  — Revenue outlook for current quarter also beat projections
Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:
Roku plans to launch a free, ad-supported 24/7 sports channel on August 12, with live Sunday MLB games, Originals, and more on its devices, apps, and website  —  The free, ad-supported 24/7 service will stream Major League Baseball games, the ‘The Rich Eisen Show’ talker …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
AMD says its flagship Ryzen 9 9950X with 16 cores will launch on August 15 for $649, or $50 less than the Ryzen 9 7950X, and other new CPUs are $20-$50 cheaper  —  AMD has finally revealed the launch prices for its new range of Ryzen 9000 desktop CPUs, and it's pricing them slightly lower than the Ryzen 7000 launch prices.
The Information:
Sources: Opal, previously Opal Camera, which makes $300 webcams, raised a $60M Series B led by OpenAI Startup Fund and plans to make new OpenAI-powered devices  —  OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has long been interested in building an AI-powered device for consumers, similar to the one featured in Spike Jonze's movie “Her.”
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Sony reports Q1 revenue up 2% YoY to ~$20.5B, vs. ~$19.31B est., operating profit up 10% YoY to ~$1.92B, vs. $1.89B est., and 2.4M PS5 units sold, down 27% YoY  —  Sony on Wednesday reported a 10% jump in operating profit in the fiscal first quarter, beating analyst expectations …
Max A. Cherney / Reuters:
Sources: in 2017 and 2018, Intel and OpenAI executives discussed Intel buying a 15% stake for $1B in cash, but CEO Bob Swan did not go forward with the deal  —  For U.S. chip giant Intel, the darling of the computer age before it fell on harder times in the AI era, things might have been quite different.
The Information:
Sources: Meta is in talks to license its Horizon software to Jio, which would use it to power a VR device  —  Meta Platforms is in talks to license its Horizon virtual reality software to Indian technology company Jio, according to three people with knowledge of the situation …
More: Inc42 Media

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Earlier Picks

Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Jessica Lyons / The Register:
Michelle Pokrass / OpenAI:
Fei-Fei Li / Fortune:
Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
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