Techmeme
May 20, 2023, 6:05 PM

Top News

Neeva:
Neeva, co-founded by ex-Google executive Sridhar Ramaswamy, plans to shut down its ad-free search engine, citing a “vastly changed search environment” and more  —  We started Neeva with the mission to take search back to its users.  Having worked on search and search ads for over a decade …
Rebekah Valentine / IGN:
China's State Administration approves Microsoft's $69B acquisition of Activision Blizzard, joining a total of 37 regulators globally, including the EU and Japan  —  Thirty-seven total regulators have voiced approval thus far.  —  China's State Administration has approved Microsoft's attempted …
Kellen Browning / New York Times:
Unable to turn a profit amid a fall in views, some US esports organizations are laying off staff, ending player contracts, or even selling their teams at a loss  —  At least two organizations in America's most prominent league for professional video game players are selling their teams, underscoring the industry's uncertain future.
Lia Haberman / ICYMI:
Meta briefed some creators on Instagram's decentralized text-based app that may launch in June 2023 with a Twitter-like design, Mastodon compatibility, and more  —  Meta's hosting secret meetings with select creators to share details  —  [a sneak peek at Instagram's new text-based app]
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Court finds FBI misused a FISA Section 702 database 278K+ times between 2020 and 2021, as the White House seeks to persuade Congress to renew the law in 2023  —  The bureau made changes after the newly revealed violations of rules for querying messages intercepted under an expiring warrantless surveillance law.
Financial Times:
Sources: top shareholder SoftBank demanded compensation from Revolut after UK regulators told the startup to simplify its ownership to obtain a banking license  —  Minister to meet payment group's bosses amid fears UK's biggest tech group will leave the country
Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg:
After Niantic's latest AR game Peridot got negative app store reviews and few downloads, a look at the company's metaverse games struggling to find an audience  —  Just a few years ago, tech evangelists were hailing Niantic Inc., the maker of the hit game Pokémon Go …
Ariana Perez-Castells / Wall Street Journal:
Some doctors, bird watchers, and others still use pagers due to their simplicity; paging company Spok has 800K+ pagers in use in the US, down from 6.6M in 2004  —  Fans, including some doctors and bird watchers, appreciate the simplicity of the once-popular devices, even as others move on

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro (experimental) is now available, with thinking capabilities, enhanced performance, and improved accuracy.  Try it at no cost in the Gemini app.
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:
Recruiters, be that zeroth candidate  —  Welcome again!  Earlier, we looked at how personality assessments are evaluation tools that help look at candidates beyond resumes.  Let's look at how to use …
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

Grit:
From Scaling Cisco to Seeding AI: John T. Chambers on Speed, Strategy, and Reinvention
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
Microsoft CPO: If you aren't prototyping with AI you're doing it wrong | Aparna Chennapragada
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Techmeme Ride Home:
(Bonus) World Cup Of Entrepreneurs Part 2
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:
Ed Helms Answers Your Hard Questions
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.
Great Chat:
Are VC jobs truly AI Proof? (Marc thinks so)
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:05 PM ET, May 20, 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

Leo Schwartz / Fortune:
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:

Earlier Picks

Jon Fingas / Engadget:
Alex Konrad / Forbes:
Cory Weinberg / The Information:
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: