Techmeme
May 8, 2024, 6:45 PM

Top News

Michael Peel / Financial Times:
Google DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs detail AlphaFold 3, an AI model to predict interactions and structures of proteins, DNA, RNA, more, beating many top methods  —  AlphaFold 3 aims to reveal biological secrets and boost drug search efforts  —  Google DeepMind has unveiled …
Tom Dotan / Wall Street Journal:
Microsoft plans to invest $3.3B to build a data center in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, and train locals, alongside investing in a University of Wisconsin AI lab  —  Company has been on a global spending spree, trying to build infrastructure and goodwill for artificial intelligence
Carl Franzen / VentureBeat:
OpenAI publishes Model Spec, which specifies how its models should behave, including objectives, rules, and default behaviors, and asks the public for feedback  —  OpenAI isn't done trying to live up to the “open” in its name.  —  While not making any of its new models open source …
William Gallagher / AppleInsider:
Apple's iPad Pro ad “Crush”, which shows paints, toys, guitars, sculptures, and more being crushed to reveal the thin device, draws criticism on social media  —  The minute-long Apple ad showing art equipment and materials being crushed down into the new iPad Pro is being called heartbreaking, wanton, and creepy.
More: Apple on YouTube, The Atlantic, TechCrunch, Axios, Sandhill Report, Washington Post, The Verge, The Information, NBC News, Fast Company, Deadline, MobileSyrup, Cult of Mac Today, MacRumors, Inc.com, The Independent, Mashable, Yahoo Entertainment, The Hollywood Reporter, Daring Fireball, The Daily Dot, Mind Matters, Variety, NME, Vulture, MacDailyNews, iMore, XDA Developers, PCMag, VentureBeat, Ad Age, BGR, The Mac Observer, Cult of Mac, SWAMY WORLD, Business Insider, The Drum, Patently Apple, Kotaku, iClarified, and The Verge
Ashley Capoot / CNBC:
Airbnb reports Q1 revenue up 18% YoY to $2.14B, vs. $2.06B est., Nights and Experiences Booked up 9.5% to 132.6M, and forecasts Q2 revenue below expectations  —  In this photo illustration, the Airbnb logo is displayed on a computer monitor and cell phone on February 13, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
Demetri Sevastopulo / Financial Times:
The US Commerce Department revokes some export licenses that let companies ship chips and other goods to Huawei, affecting Intel and Qualcomm  —  Move marks latest effort by Biden administration to target the country's tech sector  —  The Biden administration has revoked export licences …
Lynn Doan / Bloomberg:
Reuters:
Sources: US prosecutors are examining if Tesla committed securities or wire fraud by misleading investors and consumers about Autopilot and Full Self-Driving  —  U.S. prosecutors are examining whether Tesla (TSLA.O) committed securities or wire fraud by misleading investors and consumers …
BBC:
Ofcom proposes new rules requiring tech companies to change their algorithms to hide “toxic” material from children, have more robust age checks, and more  —  Ofcom has warned social media sites they could be named and shamed - and banned for under-18s - if they fail to comply with new online safety rules.
Spencer Soper / Bloomberg:
Shopify reports Q1 revenue up 23% YoY to $1.9B, GMV up 23% YoY to $60.9B, and expects gross margins to drop by ~50 basis points YoY in Q2; SHOP plummets 18%+  —  - Gross margins in current quarter are expected to narrow  — President: ‘This is how you achieve long-term durable growth’
Natalie Lung / Bloomberg:
Uber reports Q1 revenue up 15% YoY to $10.1B, Gross Bookings up 20% YoY to $37.7B, below $38B est., and adjusted EBITDA up 82% YoY to $1.4B; UBER falls 5%+  —  - Bookings growth still tops 20% on rides, order frequency gains  — Operating profit falls on anticipated legal fees, settlements
Jesse Pound / CNBC:
Robinhood reports Q1 revenue up 40% YoY to $618M, vs. $549M est., crypto transaction revenue up 232% to $126M, net income of $157M, vs. a net loss of $511M YoY  —  Shares of Robinhood rose in extended trading Wednesday afternoon after the retail brokerage announced stronger-than-expected first-quarter results.
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge:
The Connectivity Standards Alliance releases Matter 1.3, adding support for more appliances, energy and water management, and new casting protocol features  —  The latest Matter spec brings a number of improvements to the smart home standard founded by Apple, Google, Amazon, and Samsung.
Maggie Harrison / Futurism:
An investigation into AdVon, the company behind Sports Illustrated's fake writers, finds its AI content and fake authors at the LA Times, Miami Herald, and more  —  Remember that AI company behind Sports Illustrated's fake writers?  We did some digging — and it's got tendrils into other surprisingly prominent publications.
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Disney and WBD announce a streaming bundle of Disney+, Hulu, and Max, with ad-supported and ad-free plans, beginning this summer in the US, with pricing to come  —  Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are breaking ground in streaming with a bundled offering featuring Disney+, Hulu and Max in a single package.
Georgia Butler / DatacenterDynamics:
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Bluesky details its product roadmap: an off-protocol DM system to facilitate one-on-one chats, improved custom feeds, anti-harassment tools, and video support  —  Bluesky has launched a new product roadmap for the coming months.  The decentralized social network said on Tuesday that it is planning …
Kylie Robison / The Verge:
Sources: OpenAI has been aggressively trying to poach Google employees for a team working on a ChatGPT feature to search the web and show results with citations  —  OpenAI is developing a search engine for ChatGPT, giving users the ability to crawl the web for answers to their questions, Bloomberg reports.

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