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Techmeme
April 21, 2023, 2:00 PM

Top News

Paul Sawers / TechCrunch:
Email: Twitter tells advertisers that they must have “a verified checkmark or subscribe to either Twitter Blue or Verified Organizations” to keep running ads  —  As Twitter's legacy blue check mark system finally comes to an end, the social network's new paid-for verification system …
Jahnavi Nidumolu / Reuters:
Twitter dropped the “Government-funded” and “China state-affiliated” labels from accounts of media organizations and journalists, including NPR, BBC, and Xinhua  —  Twitter dropped the “Government-funded” and “China state-affiliated” labels, which implies government involvement …
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  —  Twitter has started getting rid of legacy blue checks for those who don't pay up.  Well, unless you're LeBron James and a couple of other celebrities.
Jon Porter / The Verge:
More: BBC, Bloomberg, New York Times, BBC, The Register, The Hill, NBC News, PCWorld, Protos, Social Media Today, New York Post, Bloomberg, TweakTown, The Guardian, Tech.co, Coinspeaker, The Economic Times, Newser, Mashable, Insider, Instagram - Kara Swisher, Deadline, TechCrunch, Variety, and Washington Post
Tweets: @stephenking, @jsrailton, @jonathanmayer, @alexeheath, @elmo, @halleberry, @finallevel, @mrseanhaines, @eladnehorai, @uscpsc, @timjhogan, @halleberry, @masonmount, @mattbinder, @catturd2, @jason, @spenolpalinusa, @scotusblog, @ciara, @billbrasky2620, @johnbiggs, @josephmenn, @donswaynos, @benstiller, @danprimack, @alexeheath, @taylorlorenz, @mkbhd, @doctorow, @harddrivemag, @modestproposal1, @dicebourbon, @keyawnce3, @theregister, @shayan86, @oliverdarcy, @mer__edith, @mattbinder, @goldman, @k8em0, @rdrv3, @alexvtunzelmann, @atrupar, @plasticmartyr, @tonyatamanuik, @atrupar, @ow, @steinkobbe, @danprimack, @zhang_heqing, @tmz, @euan_macdonald, @refsrc, @bromojumbo, @bbcworld, @profgalloway, @elonmusk, @benfrubinstein, @paulg, @danrather, @superpixels, @kashprime, @rnaudbertrand, @carolinebano, @astridwilde1, @sukiwaterhouse, @nikitabier, @natalieegenolf, @golikehellmachi, @hmfaigen, @willoremus, @jamestitcomb, @rvawonk, @thor_benson, @howelloneill, @zsk, @tomcoates, @tomcoates, @eve6, @mattrosoff, @fmanjoo, @saeeddicaprio, @ashleyfeinberg, @_cingraham, @saeeddicaprio, @phillipspobrien, @brandyzadrozny, @vladsavov, @teroterotero, @arictoler, @sorayadarabi, @nmsonline, @digiphile, @internethippo, @teroterotero, @kendrickperkins, @tomwarren, @leokelion, @oneunderscore__, @eve6, @teroterotero, @kurtwagner8, @tnkgrl, @matthew_d_green, @mattgertz, @ashleyfeinberg, @evanhill, @jamieeast, @jperlow, @waltmossberg, @johnbiggs, @digiphile, @jamiewiikinson, @shaneharris, @rsgnl, @cwarzel, @panzer, @rdrv3, @mattnavarra, @dogfather, @edzitron, @edzitron, @arictoler, @fredericl, @willoremus, @jamesrbuk, @kalhanr, @yoda, @jonathanchait, @sherman4949, @shiringhaffary, @willoremus, @sjvn, @inafried, @scottnover, @kattenbarge, @adamsinger, @pbump, @lorakolodny, @wongmjane, @schillingc, @joannastern, @jbrodkin, @film_girl, @taylorlorenz, @strngwys, @strngwys, @isaach, @rustybrick, @kurtwagner8, @tomwarren, and @sifill_
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Lyft plans to lay off 1,200+, or 30%+ of its 4,000+ staff, days after its new CEO took over, aiming to cut its costs by 50%; Lyft cut ~700 jobs in 2022  —  Latest cuts could impact 30% or more of company's over 4,000 employees  —  Lyft Inc. plans to cut 1,200 or more jobs …
Mariella Moon / Engadget:
Google gives Bard the ability to generate, debug, and explain code in 20+ languages, including C++, JavaScript, and Python, and export code to Google's Colab  —  Google's Bard chatbot now has the capability to help you with programming tasks.  The tech giant said that coding …
Aaron Tilley / Wall Street Journal:
Docs: Apple plans an iPhone journaling app to let users compile their daily activities in an expansion of its efforts in the mental and physical health space  —  Daily activities log is set to compete with existing software  —  Apple Inc. is planning an iPhone app to let users compile …
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Humane co-founder Imran Chaudhri demoed an AI-powered screenless wearable with a projector to display info, voice and gestures for input, and no phone required  —  Humane, the startup founded by ex-Apple employees Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, has given a first live demo of its new device …
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
After YouTube pulls Heart On My Sleeve due to a UMG copyright notice, a look at the legal dilemma for Google, which claims scraping data to train AI is fair use  —  If young Metro don't trust you, I'm gonna... tie you up in a decade of fair use litigation.  —  The AI Drake track …
Paresh Dave / Wired:
Stack Overflow's CEO says the company plans to charge large AI developers for access to the 50M questions and answers on its service as soon as mid-2023  —  The programmer Q&A site joins Reddit in demanding compensation when its data is used to train algorithms and ChatGPT-style bots

Sponsor Posts

Google:
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UiPath:
UiPath Unveils 10 Innovations that Will Shape the Agentic Future  —  Orchestration engine, API workflows and agentic testing among key features of new UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation, launched at UiPath DevCon 2025
Zoho:
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IDrive:
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Wall Street Journal:

Earlier Picks

Christopher Dring / GamesIndustry.biz:
Harry McCracken / Fast Company:
More: MakeUseOf and Music Ally
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Bloomberg:
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