Techmeme
October 3, 2023, 4:45 PM

Top News

Sam Schechner / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: in September, Meta pitched EU regulators a plan to charge Facebook and Instagram users a subscription to avoid ads, starting at ~€10/month for desktop  —  European users would have option to pay fee or agree to personalized ads, according to company's pitch to regulators
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Netflix plans to raise the price of its ad-free service a few months after the Hollywood actors strike ends, likely starting with the US and Canada  —  Company to become latest streamer to lift fees; Disney weighs launching new live-sports tier abroad
Molly White:
David Yaffe-Bellany / New York Times:
Michael Lewis' new book, Going Infinite, depicts SBF as delusional, but says his FTX collapse explanations have “remained irritatingly difficult to disprove”  —  “Going Infinite,” by Michael Lewis, offers a behind-the-scenes account of Mr. Bankman-Fried's rise and fall.
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Josh Ye / Reuters:
Apple starts requiring a Chinese government license to publish new apps on its China App Store, after China tightened its mobile app oversight in August 2023  —  Apple (AAPL.O) has started requiring new apps to show proof of a Chinese government licence before their release on its China App Store …
Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
Oligo Security finds since-patched RCE flaws in open-source AI model-serving tool TorchServe and vulnerable instances at tens of thousands of IP addresses  —  A set of critical vulnerabilities dubbed ‘ShellTorch’ in the open-source TorchServe AI model-serving tool impact tens of thousands …
Brody Ford / Bloomberg:
Zoom unveils collaborative document editing, featuring the ability to include information and AI-generated summaries from Zoom meetings, set to arrive in 2024  —  - AI tools will be bundled for free, product chief says  — Company files patents on ‘nonverbal cues,’ product placement
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Memo: Meta VP of Media Partnerships Campbell Brown says she's stepping down from the role in the fall but staying as a consultant, as Meta backs away from news  —  Campbell Brown, the veteran TV anchor who led Meta's foray into news, is leaving the company, according to an internal note obtained by Axios.
Imran Rahman-Jones / BBC:
The FCC fines Dish Network $150K for failing to move its old EchoStar-7 satellite far enough away from others in use, marking the agency's first space junk fine  —  The US government has issued its first ever fine to a company for leaving space junk orbiting the Earth.
Monica Chin / The Verge:
Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 review: gorgeous build, a 120Hz display, an adaptive touchpad, and a unique hinge, but a poor battery and expensive at $2,000  —  Microsoft's new Surface Laptop Studio 2 has new chips, a new touchpad, and a very, very high price tag.
Nikki Ekstein / Bloomberg:
An interview with Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky on affordable prices, reliability, proper customer support, using AI for quality control, a loyalty program, and more  —  “We never fully built the foundation,” Brian Chesky says in a revelatory interview.  “It had four pillars when we needed to have 10.”
New York Times:
Spotify says Premium subscribers will get 15 hours of audiobook streaming per month across 150K+ titles, first in the UK and Australia, and the US this winter  —  A year after adding à la carte sales of audiobooks, Spotify is offering paying subscribers 15 hours of books a month.
Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post:
A US appeals court rules the CISA likely violated the First Amendment by encouraging social networks to reduce the spread of posts, expanding a September order  —  The 5th circuit order could have sweeping implications for government efforts to protect elections from disinformation campaigns
Andrew Webster / The Verge:
Epic Games plans to add IARC age ratings to Fortnite's “first- and third-party playable content” on November 14; creators can start the process on October 16  —  The company says that ‘this is a critical step toward building a metaverse that is safe and fun for everyone.’
Todd Spangler / Variety:
TikTok confirms the company is running a limited-scale test of an ad-free subscription plan, but only says the market is not the US and does not share the price  —  TikTok is exploring a new way to make money: The popular video app has kicked off a limited-scale test of a monthly subscription service that eliminates ads.

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Steven Ehrlich / Forbes:
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Wall Street Journal:
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Monica Chin / The Verge:
Ryan Weeks / The Block: