Techmeme
April 27, 2023, 3:50 PM

Top News

BBC:
Microsoft's Brad Smith says the UK CMA's move to block the Activision deal is “bad for Britain” and “is probably the darkest day in our four decades in Britain”  —  Microsoft's president has attacked the UK after it was blocked from buying US gaming firm Activision …
Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg:
The UK CMA's block of Microsoft's Activision deal focuses on the nascent cloud gaming market, confusing analysts as regulators typically focus on mature markets  —  UK regulators blocked Microsoft Corp.'s $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard Inc. over concerns it would harm competition …
Wayne Ma / The Information:
Sources detail how organizational dysfunction and a lack of ambition bogged down Apple's AI and ML efforts, including the work of the group responsible for Siri  —  Late last year, a trio of engineers who had just helped Apple modernize its search technology began working on the type …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
IDC:
Global smartphone shipments fell 14.6% YoY to 268.6M in Q1 2023, the seventh consecutive quarter of decline; Samsung fell 18.9%, Apple 2.3%, and Xiaomi 23.5%  —  NEEDHAM, Mass., April 27th, 2023 - Worldwide smartphone shipments declined 14.6% year over year to 268.6 million units in the first quarter of 2023 …
The Guardian:
Interviews with 70+ sources describe how Facebook and Instagram have become major child trafficking platforms and how they slow down prosecutors' investigations  —  Our two-year investigation suggests that the tech giant Meta is struggling to prevent criminals from using its platforms to buy and sell children for sex
Reuters:
A California judge tentatively rules Elon Musk must testify about his Autopilot statements, after his lawyers argued he is the subject of many deepfake videos  —  A California judge on Wednesday ordered Tesla CEO Elon Musk to be interviewed under oath about whether he made certain statements regarding …
Chris Stokel-Walker / Wired:
Legal experts say Twitter may be breaching US laws prohibiting false advertising or endorsement by implying that some celebrities paid for Blue when they didn't  —  The law says you can't falsely claim that celebrities are paying for Twitter Blue.  —  Twitter's verification system debacle …
Andrea Vittorio / Bloomberg Law:
Washington becomes the first US state to adopt sweeping safeguards for consumer health data, including location records that could reveal abortion clinic visits  —  Washington has adopted a first-of-its-kind state law with sweeping safeguards for consumer health data collected by companies …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Reuters:
Samsung reports Q1 operating profit down 95% YoY to ~$478.6M, its lowest since Q1 2009, revenue down 18% YoY to ~$47.6B, and a ~$3.4B loss for its chip division  —  Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) flagged a gradual recovery for chips in the second half of the year …
CNBC:
Coinbase offers a fiery response to the SEC's Wells notice from March 2023, saying enforcement action would present “major” risks to the SEC's regulatory model  —  - Crypto exchange Coinbase told the SEC that any enforcement action against the exchange would “fail on the merits” …
Jeffrey Knockel / The Citizen Lab:
An analysis of Baidu, Bilibili, Bing, Douyin, Sogou, Weibo, and other search platforms in China finds 60K+ censorship rules, applied differently by each service  —  This report has an accompanying FAQ.  —  Key findings  — Across eight China-accessible search platforms analyzed …
Bloomberg:
A profile of ASML, Europe's most valuable tech company, as the US-China chip war escalates; ASML's next studio apartment-sized machine ships in 2025 for $380M+  —  In 1984, Martin van den Brink, a young Dutch engineer, joined a newly created venture in a quiet corner of the Netherlands.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Germany is in talks to limit exports of chemicals used to make advanced chips to China, seeking to work with the US and Europe to close ranks on China  —  Germany is in talks to limit the export of chemicals to China that are used to manufacture semiconductors as Berlin steps …
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Mark Zuckerberg disputes the narrative that Meta abandoned its metaverse vision, saying “we've been focusing on AI and the metaverse, and we will continue to”  —  Things are looking up for Meta.  The company beat revenue expectations, reporting an increase in year-over-year revenue for the first time in three quarters.
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Generate videos with Veo 3 in Google Gemini  —  Create high-quality, 8-second videos with Veo 3, our state-of-the-art AI video generator.  Try it with a Google AI Pro plan or get the highest access with the Ultra plan.
Codegen:
Ship with AI: The Future of Coding is Here  —  Use natural language in Slack to trigger real PRs, docs, dashboards, infra & more.  Codegen connects GitHub, Linear, Notion, and beyond.
Zoho:
Single source of truth: SpringVerify powered background checks in Zoho Recruit  —  Hiring is full of moving parts.  Between sourcing, interviews, documentation, and onboarding, it is easy for things to fall through the cracks …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Techmeme Ride Home:
The Death Of The Blue Screen Of Death
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Hard Fork:
Hard Fork Live, Part 1: Sam Altman and Brad Lightcap of OpenAI
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'Through the Wall Like Kool-Aid Man', With Chance Miller
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Great Chat:
Much ado about acquihires
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Diggnation:
A First Look at Digg iOS
Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht give you their unique, sometimes awkward, and always hilarious take on the edges of the internet.
Subscribe to Diggnation.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
How to become a Substack Star with Emily Sundberg
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:50 PM ET, April 27, 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.

More News

Earlier Picks

Paul Sawers / TechCrunch: