|
January 29, 2024, 1:50 PM
|
Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Bloomberg: |
Amazon drops its $1.4B acquisition of Roomba maker iRobot after clashing with EU regulators and will pay a $94M fee; iRobot has ~$500M in net losses since 2021 — - IRobot CEO steps down and company cuts workforce by 31% — Tech giant to pay $94 million to iRobot over deal termination
More: The Verge, About Amazon, The Messenger, The Information, NBC News, Thurrott, TechCrunch, Engadget, TechSpot, TechRadar, New York Times, Associated Press, Axios, Chain Store Age, Financial Times, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Android Headlines, and TechStartups
Threads: @firstadopter. X: @mattturck, @pitdesi, @ttoboyle, @progresschamber, @theo_wayt, @visu, @jamestitcomb, @bongcapital, @marketsneil, @pat_hedger, @jcbcp, @sarthakgh, @adamkovac, @edludlow, @linakhanftc, @matthewstoller, @laz_radic, @lewis_crofts, @diane_alter, and @bhalligan. LinkedIn: Emil Protalinski
| Rohan Goswami / CNBC: |
After Amazon ended its acquisition, iRobot plans to lay off 31% of its staff, or ~350 people, and says chair and CEO Colin Angle would step down; IRBT drops 5%+ — - Amazon and iRobot mutually agreed to call off their planned acquisition, writing that there was “no path” to regulatory approval and sending iRobot shares down 15%.
More: Ars Technica, PCMag, iRobot, The Guardian, Gizmodo, eeNews Europe, Fortune, Seattle Business Journal, TechCrunch, Tech Monitor, SiliconANGLE, Business Post, GeekWire, PYMNTS.com, Reuters, The Register, TechHive, The Boston Globe, Investor's Business Daily, New York Post, Tech Xplore, Techaeris, MobileSyrup, Neowin, The Robot Report, and NBC Bay Area
X: @geoffmanne, @geoffmanne, @bongcapital, @carnage4life, and @mattmday
Forums: Hacker News and r/technology
| Emanuel Maiberg / 404 Media: |
Microsoft adds safeguards to its AI text-to-image tool Designer, after fake AI images of Taylor Swift went viral and a report of 4chan users misusing the tool — Following 404 Media's reporting, Microsoft has made changes to a tool people were using to make AI nudes of celebrities.
More: VentureBeat, NBC News, Thurrott, Windows Central, Ars Technica, New York Post, Gizmodo, Futurism, Gizmochina, NBC News on YouTube, Engadget, Neowin, Fortune, and Variety
| Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: |
Zoom announces an app for the Apple Vision Pro, featuring digital personas, 3D file sharing, “real-world pinning” of meeting participants, and more — As promised, Zoom will be available on Apple Vision Pro from day one. Ahead of Vision Pro's launch on Friday …
More: Zoom, TechCrunch, AppleInsider, Engadget, PCMag, The Verge, and The Apple Post
| Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal: |
Amazon expects Prime Video's average hourly ad load to be 2 to 3.5 minutes, below traditional TV and most streaming services, and to reach 159M monthly viewers — Move prompts longtime subscribers to cancel Prime altogether, forgoing free shipping; ‘There is only one way to show them that this is not OK’
More: Washington Post, 9to5Mac, PCMag, Thurrott, Neowin, Fast Company, Gizmochina, KnowTechie, TechRadar, The Streamable, GameSpot, Gizmodo, TechHive, Bloomberg, TweakTown, The Verge, and Making Television Easy Again!. Forums: Hacker News
| Dawn Lim / Bloomberg: |
How Blackstone is building a ~$25B US data center empire after acquiring QTS, estimated to use 6GW of electricity when complete, equal to the needs of ~5M homes — The private equity giant says landlord QTS could be one of its best investments ever — but the resources needed for growth are vast.| Allison Johnson / The Verge: |
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review: bright screen, anti-glare, Circle to Search, great camera, and seven years of updates, but pricey, heavy, and AI is a mixed bag — The Galaxy S24 Ultra is packed with top-tier hardware, but its highly touted AI features are hit-or-miss — and the price is higher than ever.
More: MacRumors, CNET, XDA Developers, IGN, Forbes, PCMag, MakeUseOf, Tom's Guide, GSMArena.com, TechSpot, and The Shortcut
| New York Times: |
How Google, Meta, Microsoft, and others balance developing specialized AI chips with their relationship with Nvidia, which has an estimated 70% of AI chip sales — In September, Amazon said it would invest up to $4 billion in Anthropic, a San Francisco start-up working on artificial intelligence.| Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch: |
Meta partners with the Center for Open Science to share data for researching online well-being, before Wednesday's Congressional hearing on kids' online safety — Ahead of a major Congressional hearing about children's online safety, Meta has announced a collaboration with the Center for Open Science …
More: Engadget and Center for Open Science
| Priya Anand / Bloomberg: |
Sema4.ai, a three-month-old startup led by ex-Cloudera CEO Rob Bearden aiming to automate business tasks with AI, raised $30.5M and acquires AI startup Robocorp — Investors in Sema4.ai's funding round included Benchmark and Mayfield. — Sema4.ai, a startup that makes artificial intelligence tools … | Oliver Haslam / iMore: |
Apple updates Shazam to add support for identifying songs from other apps while listening via wired or Bluetooth headphones — Apple's Shazam is now better than ever. — Shazam has long been the go-to app for people who want to know what song they're listening to but now it's better than ever thanks to a new version 17.3 update.
More: MacRumors, MobileSyrup, and iClarified
| Josh Ye / Reuters: |
Chinese state media: China has approved more than 40 LLMs for public use since authorities began the approval process in August 2023; 14 were approved last week — China has approved more than 40 artificial intelligence (AI) models for public use in the first six months since authorities began …
More: ITPro, The Decoder, Neowin, Computerworld, and South China Morning Post
| Bloomberg: |
The US ODNI appointed cyber expert Jason Barrett in October 2023 to help the intel community harness open-source intel, an area US agencies have struggled with — Scouring open-source intelligence may not have the same cachet as undercover work, but it's become a new priority for the US intelligence agencies.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.
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:
Introducing the UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation — UiPath's new platform empowers enterprises to experience the full power of AI to transform industries
Introducing the UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation — UiPath's new platform empowers enterprises to experience the full power of AI to transform industries
Zoho:
The power of asynchronous communication: Striking the right balance in the workplace — Asynchronous communication may have surged during the transition to remote work, but as the years passed and teams returned …
The power of asynchronous communication: Striking the right balance in the workplace — Asynchronous communication may have surged during the transition to remote work, but as the years passed and teams returned …
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.
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:
OpenAI Backtracks
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
How to fight Apple and (maybe) win, with Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney
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.
Invest Like the Best:
David Senra - The Focused Few
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Grit:
HubSpot CEO on the Future of SaaS, AI, & Leading Through Change
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
Inside Devin: The world's first autonomous AI engineer that's set to write 50% of its company's code by end of year | Scott Wu (CEO and co-founder of Cognition)
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.
Hard Fork:
The Dangers of A.I. Flattery + Kevin Meets the Orb + Group Chat Chat
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.
About This Page
This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:50 PM ET, January 29, 2024.
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
New York Times:Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Upcoming Tech Events
Earlier Picks
| David Pierce / The Verge: |
More: TechCrunch, App Store, Arc from The Browser Company, Inc.com, ZDNet, Thurrott, Engadget, TestingCatalog, TechRadar, Spyglass, MacStories, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, The Dent, and iPhone in Canada Blog
Threads: @crumbler, @shanselman, @anildash, @gruber, and @imdavidpierce. Mastodon: @matt@worldkey.io
Forums: r/ArcBrowser and MacRumors Forums
| Jennifer Maas / Variety: |
More: Game Developer and PC Games Insider
| Salvador Rodriguez / Wall Street Journal: |
More: Apple on YouTube, Gizmodo, Axios, TechCrunch, Livemint, MIXED Reality News, MacRumors, TechRadar, Wccftech, Notebookcheck, and 9to5Mac
Threads: @kbode. X: @amaldorai, @lunayian, @benz145, @edzitron, @benz145, @arian_ghashghai, @iamdcinvestor, @iamdcinvestor, @zgftech, @cixliv, and @benz145. Forums: MacRumors Forums