Techmeme
July 15, 2023, 4:20 PM

Top News

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Microsoft's disclosures about Chinese government hackers accessing US government email accounts try to obscure the role of the company's zero-days in the breach  —  Critics also decry Microsoft's “pay-to-play” monitoring that detected intrusions.  —  On Friday, Microsoft attempted to explain …
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denies the FTC's motion for an injunctive relief to stop Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition from closing  —  In a victory for Microsoft, the U.S. Appeals Court for the Ninth Circuit late on Friday denied the Federal Trade Commission's appeal …
Tim Bradshaw / Financial Times:
The UK CMA pushes back a deadline to block Microsoft's Activision deal from July 18 to August 29, which could let Microsoft complete the merger within weeks  —  New timetable from Competition and Markets Authority means $75bn transaction could be closed within weeks
Jahnavi Nidumolu / Reuters:
Elon Musk says a ~50% ad revenue drop and a heavy debt load kept Twitter cash flow negative; he said in March 2023 the company could be cash flow positive in Q2  —  Elon Musk said Twitter's cash flow remains negative because of a nearly 50% drop in advertising revenue and a heavy debt load.
Matt Binder / Mashable:
Reddit users report their private messages from before 2023 disappeared; Reddit points to a June 22 changelog announcing the change would take effect on June 30  —  Many Redditors were caught off guard by the removal of their chat and message history.  —  The Reddit blackout protests …
Rhiannon Williams / MIT Technology Review:
Study: ChatGPT helped writers complete tasks, such as writing press releases or reports, 40% faster and produce work that assessors scored 18% higher in quality  —  People who use ChatGPT to help with writing tasks are more productive and produce higher-quality work than those who don't, a study found.
Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:
Twitter could become irrelevant if the trends driving Threads' success, like network effects, Elon Musk's self-inflicted wounds, and a different vibe, persist  —  Threads, from Instagram, has many distinct qualities that make it the first credible threat to Elon Musk's vision of what a social network should be
Sohee Kim / Bloomberg:
A look at Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which has 100M+ registered members, including 11M paid subscribers, as the anime streaming service looks to India for growth  —  - President says new anime markets like India will drive growth  — Global expansion helps owner Sony boost entertainment content
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget:
Bluesky adds the N-word to a “reserved” words list, after users reported that some usernames include the slur, highlighting the site's ongoing moderation issues  —  The oversight highlighted an ongoing moderation issue at the platform.  —  Before this week, Bluesky …
Brendan Pierson / Reuters:
A US appeals court temporarily blocks a lower July 6 court order sharply limiting US government officials' and agencies' contacts with social media companies  —  A U.S. appeals court on Friday temporarily blocked a lower court order that had sharply limited certain Biden administration officials …
Sky News:
Some Etsy sellers say the platform imposed a 45-day reserve on 75% of their income with no warning, as part of its Purchase Protection program to cover refunds  —  Sellers say the online marketplace is imposing a temporary reserve on their sales under its new ‘purchase protection programme’ …
Matt Levine / Bloomberg:
Tom Hals / Reuters:

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Earlier Picks

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