Techmeme
July 21, 2022, 8:35 AM

Top News

Minecraft:
Mojang Studios will not support or allow NFTs, as they “create models of scarcity and exclusion that conflict with our Guidelines and the spirit of Minecraft”  —  Hello everyone!  Recently, we've received some feedback from members of the community asking for clarification …
Stacy Elliott / Decrypt:
Tesla says a “bitcoin impairment” negatively impacted its Q2 profitability and that it sold 75% of its bitcoin, worth approximately $936M, in the quarter  —  “Bitcoin impairment” prompted the sale, the company said.  —  Tesla sold 75% of its Bitcoin, worth approximately $936 million, according to its Q2 earnings report.
Dan Milmo / The Guardian:
Ofcom: TikTok is the fastest growing news source among UK adults, being used by 7%, up from 1% in 2020; 32% use Facebook, 17% use Twitter, and 16% use Instagram  —  App is used by 7% of adults for news with nearly half turning to TikTokers rather than conventional outlets for updates
Andrew Myrick / Android Central:
Qualcomm unveils the Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 and W5+ Gen 1 chips for wearables, based on 4nm process and debuting in watches from Oppo and Mobvoi  —  The upgrade we've been waiting for is here.  —  What you need to know  — Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon W5 platform for wearables.
Erin Woo / The Information:
Google says it will pause hiring for two weeks, except for offers that have already been made, after saying last week it would slow hiring for the rest of 2022  —  Google said it will pause hiring for two weeks, after saying last week it would slow its pace of hiring for the rest of the year.
Dylan Patel / SemiAnalysis:
A chip teardown shows that China's SMIC is quietly shipping 7nm chips; SMIC is rapidly approaching as the world's third largest foundry, behind TSMC and Samsung  —  The Most Advanced Foundry In The World After TSMC And Samsung  —  SMIC, China's largest foundry has slowly been catching up to TSMC …
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge:
An interview with Alexa smart home director Marja Koopmans on how embracing the Matter standard can help Amazon realize its vision of ambient intelligence  —  The director of Alexa smart home explains how Matter can help realize Amazon's vision of ambient intelligence
Bloomberg:
Amazon spent a record $4.98M on lobbying in Q2 2022, up 2.5% YoY, Google spent $2.77M, up 32% YoY, Microsoft $2.41M, down 2.4% YoY and Apple $1.9M  —  Amazon.com Inc. spent a record $4.98 million on lobbying during the second quarter of this year as momentum intensified in Congress …
More: 9to5Mac
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
OpenAI makes DALL-E 2 widely available in beta through a credit-based fee structure; users will get free credits every month and can buy more in $15 increments  —  Today, DALL-E 2, OpenAI's AI system that can generate images given a prompt or edit and refine existing images, is becoming more widely available.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
15Five, which builds HR software used at Spotify, Credit Karma, and other companies, has raised a $52M Series C led by Quad Partners  —  15Five — an early mover in the world of building technology to help motivate teams, and to improve performance management for execs overseeing those teams …
Bloomberg:
Jason Calacanis says litigation, and possibly criminal charges, await the companies and “grifting” VCs that knowingly flipped crypto tokens to retail investors  —  Watch out venture capital, the regulators are coming.  —  That's the warning from long-time angel investor Jason Calacanis …
Jasmine Hicks / The Verge:
The new Google Wallet rolls out to all users with Android 5.2+, available as a separate app in the US and Singapore and as a Google Pay update for others  —  Google Wallet will be a separate app for US and Singapore users and a simple Google Pay update for others
Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:
Meta and Google's content rules are restrictive for many abortion-rights groups worldwide, while abortion ads on Google aren't permitted in dozens of countries  —  Poland's biggest protests since the fall of communism broke out in October 2020, after a court decision rendered nearly all abortions in the country illegal.
Alexandra Alper / Reuters:
Sources: US is probing Huawei over concerns that gear in cell towers could capture sensitive info from military bases and missile silos and transmit it to China  —  The Biden administration is investigating Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei over concerns that U.S. cell towers fitted …

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More News

Rebecca Klar / The Hill:

Earlier Picks

José Adorno / 9to5Mac:
Kevin McLaughlin / The Information:
The Verge:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: