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February 3, 2023, 5:30 PM
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Top News

BuzzFeed News:
Twitter ending free API access could have the unfortunate side effect of killing many useful bots, like @MakeItAQuote, @BigTechAlert, @_weather_bot_, and more  —  “I'm not paying a dime to Elon lol.”  —  Pranav Dixit  —  One of the most popular bots on Twitter is @MakeItAQuote, which has more than 565,000 followers.
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Twitter cuts off API access to Movetodon, a useful tool for finding and following one's Twitter followers on Mastodon; it's unclear if the tool broke any rule  —  from the trying-to-lock-the-barn-doors dept  —  People keep claiming that Mastodon isn't scaring Elon Musk …
Financial Times:
Sources: Google invested ~$300M in Anthropic for a ~10% stake, making the generative AI startup use the money on Google Cloud, echoing Microsoft's OpenAI deal  —  Cash-for-computing deal shows how large tech groups are investing in companies at the vanguard of generative AI
Kevin Roose / New York Times:
Inside ChatGPT's rushed launch, as some OpenAI executives feared rivals upstaging them; Sam Altman worries about a regulatory backlash and inflated expectations  —  Even inside the company, the chatbot's popularity has come as something of a shock.  —  One day in mid-November …
Forbes:
Q&A with Sam Altman on AI systems replacing search engines, Microsoft's OpenAI investments, how artificial general intelligence may “break capitalism”, and more
Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
Elon Musk says Twitter will start sharing revenue from reply-thread ads with users who pay for Twitter Blue, starting on February 3, but doesn't give details  —  Elon Musk says that Twitter will start sharing revenue from reply-thread ads with creators who are subscribed to Twitter Blue Verified.
Rohan Goswami / CNBC:
Activision Blizzard settles with the SEC for $35M, over claims of violating federal whistleblower protections and not maintaining adequate disclosure standards  —  - Activision Blizzard will settle with the SEC for $35 million, over claims that the company violated federal whistleblower protections …
Matt Richtel / New York Times:
Some US emergency services operators say they are inundated with false, automated calls by the Apple Watches or iPhone 14s of skiers and fitness enthusiasts  —  911 dispatchers are buried under an avalanche of false, automated distress calls from skiers and other Apple device owners who are very much alive.
Harmeet Singh Walia / Counterpoint Research:
Global smartphone shipments declined 12% YoY to 1.2B units in 2022, the lowest since 2013; Apple took 18% share, 48% revenue, and 85% operating profit growth  —  - The global smartphone market declined by 18% YoY to reach 304 million units in Q4 2022.  — Apple replaced Samsung …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: the FTC is preparing an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, though the timing remains in flux, and is also scrutinizing Amazon Prime's bundling practices  —  Federal Trade Commission considers challenge to array of practices by Amazon, a target of criticism from Chair Lina Khan
Dave Lee / Financial Times:
Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, and Microsoft will collectively incur $10B+ in charges related to 50,000 job cuts, real estate changes, and other cost saving measures  —  Amazon, Meta, Alphabet and Microsoft reveal hefty price tag as they rein in spending  —  Amazon, Meta, Alphabet and Microsoft …
Amitoj Singh / CoinDesk:
As the spat between Binance and WazirX escalates, Binance invites the Indian crypto exchange to withdraw its assets held in Binance wallets after February 3  —  The solution ostensibly ends worries about what would happen to customer funds if Binance and WazirX end their collaboration.
Amazon:
Amazon Q4: revenue up 9% YoY to $149.2B, net income down 98% YoY to $278M, AWS revenue up 20% YoY to $21.4B, and employees down 4% to 1.54M; stock is down 5%+
Thomas Maxwell / Insider:
Sundar Pichai says YouTube Shorts passed 50B daily views, up from 30B in April 2022; YouTube began sharing ad revenue with Shorts creators on February 1  —  - YouTube Shorts now sees more than 50 billion daily views, up from 30 billion the year prior.  — The short-form video format was launched in 2021 as a response to TikTok.
Davey Alba / Bloomberg:
Sundar Pichai says Google will make LLMs like LaMDA available “in the coming weeks and months”, which users will be able to use “as a companion to search”

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:30 PM ET, February 3, 2023.

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.

From Mediagazer

Kate Knibbs / Wired:
The Freedom of the Press Foundation, a shareholder in Paramount, is threatening legal action against the company if it settles with President Trump

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Redbird Capital Partners buys the Telegraph at a £500M valuation, ending nearly two years of ownership limbo; IMI will take a minority investment

Variety:
A24 is shutting down its documentary filmmaking department, laying off five staffers, as sources say the market is too challenging to support an entire division

More News

Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
Sports Illustrated publisher Arena Group is working with AI startups Jasper and Nota to help produce articles from its own content library and pitch journalists
Wall Street Journal:
Documents offer a look at the four men, including a former child actor, who once owned ~86% of Tether Holdings, incorporated in 2014, and their ties to Bitfinex

Earlier Picks

Jennifer Rankin / The Guardian:
A group of MEPs launches a website for European parliament staff and EU officials to warn about “shady lobbying” by Big Tech companies and other interest groups
Rita Liao / TechCrunch:
Two days after approving decentralized social network Damus, Apple complies with China's ask to remove the app from the App Store in China for “illegal” content
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
A former employee of IoT manufacturer Ubiquiti pleads guilty to stealing gigabytes of confidential data in December 2020 and trying to extort a 50 BTC ransom
Aaron Tilley / Wall Street Journal:
Tim Cook estimates iPhone revenue would have grown “absent the supply constraints”, currency fluctuations were a challenge, and that layoffs are a “last resort”
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