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Techmeme
April 20, 2023, 6:55 PM

Top News

Jon Porter / The Verge:
Twitter begins removing blue checkmarks from legacy verified accounts, fulfilling one of Elon Musk's long-stated plans; Musk has called the system “corrupt”  —  The change is apparent on Twitter accounts for several Verge writers and other journalists like LA Times reporter Matt Pearce …
More: PCMag, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Appleosophy, Bloomberg, Engadget, The Hill, Mashable, Insider, Livemint, Mercury News, The Information, TechCrunch, IGN, PhoneArena, 9to5Mac, NBC News, CNBC, SlashGear, MobileSyrup, WeRSM, Deadline, Gizmodo Australia, Variety, The Apple Post, Techlusive, The Shortcut, and Washington Post
The Verge:
Twitter offered LeBron James a complimentary Blue subscription after he said he wouldn't pay for one; Musk says he's paying for “a few” subscriptions personally  —  / After saying he wouldn't pay, James was offered a complimentary subscription ‘on behalf of Elon Musk.’
Miles Kruppa / Wall Street Journal:
Google announces Google DeepMind, a unit combining DeepMind's team and Google Research's Brain team, to be led by DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis as its CEO  —  Search giant merges AI resources to accelerate progress in technology that is reshaping business
David Pierce / The Verge:
A look at ActivityPub, the open, decentralized social network protocol finalized in 2018 that is gaining prominence powering Twitter alternatives like Mastodon  —  The tech industry is abuzz about a new standard for social networking that is more open, more user-centric, and potentially more powerful than Twitter and Facebook.
Bloomberg:
The EU Parliament approves the Markets in Cryptoassets, or MiCA, regulation for the crypto industry, including rules for stablecoins set to apply from July 2024  —  European lawmakers on Thursday gave their final blessing to an ambitious law that will give the European Union its first rules to govern the crypto industry.
Christopher Dring / GamesIndustry.biz:
Sony acquires Firewalk Studios, an AAA multiplayer developer working on a live service PS5 and PC game and now the 20th developer to join PlayStation Studios  —  It will be the 20th PlayStation Studios team  —  News by Christopher Dring Head of Games B2B  —  PlayStation has agreed …
Financial Times:
Aaron Tilley / Wall Street Journal:
Over 24 executives, inventors, investors, and lawyers who discussed partnerships with Apple or adding their tech into its products say Apple copied their ideas  —  Aspiring partners accuse tech giant of copying their ideas; Apple says it plays by the rules  —  It sounded like a dream partnership …
Jillian Deutsch / Bloomberg:
The EU is taking a pragmatic approach to TikTok, treating the Chinese company like its US rivals, in contrast to the “theatrical” approach that the US is taking  —  Europe is taking a different approach from the US toward TikTok.  But first...  • Instagram will cut or relocate its London employees
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Meta's Oversight Board issues a report backing Meta's content moderation during the pandemic but asks Meta to assess its public health and human rights impact  —  Meta's Oversight Board — an independent panel the social media giant selected to deliberate its content decisions …
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
CoreWeave, which offers 12+ SKUs of Nvidia GPUs in the cloud, raised a $221M Series B led by Magnetar at a $2B valuation, bringing its total funding to $371M  —  CoreWeave, an NYC-based startup that began as an Ethereum mining venture, has secured a large tranche of funding as it continues …

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More News

Financial Times:
Melissa Heikkilä / MIT Technology Review:
Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:

Earlier Picks

Matt Novak / Forbes:
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Michael Kan / PCMag:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: