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Techmeme
June 20, 2023, 5:15 PM
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Top News

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Source: Spotify plans a more expensive “Supremium” tier with HiFi audio, audiobooks, and more, launching outside the US later in 2023; Premium costs $9.99/month  —  Spotify Technology SA is planning a more expensive subscription option that's expected to include high-fidelity audio …
Billy Perrigo / TIME:
Documents show OpenAI lobbied for parts of the EU's AI Act to be watered down, including successfully avoiding deeming general purpose AI systems as “high risk”  —  The CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, has spent the last month touring world capitals where, at talks to sold-out crowds …
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Apple expands Self Service Repair to the iPhone 14 lineup, 13-inch M2 MacBook Air, and 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Pro and Max, starting on June 21  —  Apple today announced that its self-service repair program will be expanding to the iPhone 14 lineup, 13-inch MacBook Air with the M2 chip …
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
The Anti-Meta Fedi Pact, circulated on Mastodon, pledges to block Meta's planned ActivityPub service, a petty and insular move that would keep Mastodon small  —  The Anti-Meta Fedi Pact: … Yours truly, on Bluesky a month ago (which, ironically, is not yet open itself, so here's an open preview):
Alexander Osipovich / Wall Street Journal:
Crypto exchange EDX Markets, backed by Citadel, Fidelity, and Charles Schwab, quietly began executing trades via its “noncustodial” service in recent weeks  —  EDX Markets won't directly handle customers' digital assets or directly serve individual investors
Jane Zhang / Bloomberg:
In a surprise shakeup, Alibaba names Eddie Wu as its CEO, replacing Daniel Zhang, effective September 10; Zhang will remain CEO of Alibaba Cloud  —  Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is replacing eight-year veteran chief Daniel Zhang at the helm of a Chinese e-commerce leader bleeding market share …
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma betas automatically generate Apple ID passkeys; Apple․com and iCloud․com add passkey support so users can sign in without a password  —  You can now forgo entering your password on icloud.com and apple.com domains thanks to newly added passkey support.
Mark Bergen / Bloomberg:
Twitter says CEO Linda Yaccarino and Elon Musk won't attend the Cannes Lions ad festival, despite the company's new “brand safety and suitability controls” push  —  Elon Musk and Twitter Inc.'s new Chief Executive Officer Linda Yaccarino won't be at the advertising industry's biggest annual event …
Frank Chaparro / The Block:
Binance begins running Bitcoin Lightning Network nodes, as part of its plan to use the service for deposits and withdrawals, in response to network congestion  —  - Binance confirmed Tuesday it has started the process of integrating the Lightning Network.  — They would join rivals Kraken …
Tabby Kinder / Financial Times:
a16z, Sequoia, and others are increasingly investing in defense tech startups; PitchBook: US VCs invested $33B in the sector in 2022, up from below $16B in 2019  —  War in Ukraine and geopolitical tensions leads to belief that fledgling companies will get a share of US Pentagon budget
New York Times:
In a legal campaign, GOP lawmakers accuse Wikimedia, Graphika, universities, and others of colluding with the government to suppress conservative speech online  —  A legal campaign against universities and think tanks seeks to undermine the fight against false claims about elections, vaccines and other hot political topics.
Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
Experts warn about pedophiles using generative AI to create CSAM, leading to thousands of images on dark web forums; some question whether laws cover the images  —  Investigators say the disturbing images could undermine efforts to find real-world victims  —  The revolution in artificial intelligence …

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:15 PM ET, June 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.

From Mediagazer

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Memo: Business Insider is cutting staff by 21% to “endure extreme traffic drops outside of our control” and “exiting the majority of our Commerce business”

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Paramount offers $15M to settle with President Trump, whose team wants $25M+, is seeking an apology from CBS News, and threatened another lawsuit

Ben Johansen / Politico:
Sources: all 800 full-time VOA staff are expected to receive reduction-in-force notices this week, after ~600 VOA contractors were dismissed earlier in May

More News

Neesha A. Tambe / TechCrunch:
Render, which provides developers cloud-based services for hosting code, deploying web apps, and more, raised a $50M Series B led by Bessemer Venture Partners
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
USA Today publisher Gannett sues Google over an alleged ad tech monopoly, echoing the US DOJ's arguments and saying audiences have grown but ad spending is down

Earlier Picks

Dan Seifert / The Verge:
Google Pixel Tablet review: a good screen, audio, and performance, and a useful speaker dock, but below average battery life and some apps don't display well
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
After Indian users complained about increasing spam, WhatsApp adds the ability to automatically silence calls from unknown numbers and a Privacy Checkup feature
Sabrina Ortiz / ZDNet:
Vimeo announces AI tools, coming on July 17, to automate parts of the video creation process: a script generator, a teleprompter, and a text-based video editor
Frank Chaparro / The Block:
Filings: FTX paid $121.8M in legal, consulting, and financial services fees between February 1 and April 30, as some former clients push to reboot the exchange
Tracy Qu / South China Morning Post:
Alibaba and JD.com did not share 2023 GMV figures for 618, China's second largest shopping festival; the companies previously used GMV to trumpet their wins
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