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Techmeme
November 13, 2024, 7:25 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Polymarket says the FBI seized CEO Shayne Coplan's phone and electronics; source: the DOJ is investigating Polymarket for allegedly accepting bets from US users  —  - Polymarket says FBI agents seized CEO's phone, electronics  — Platform has taken recent measures to weed out US traders
Ramish Zafar / Wccftech:
AMD says it will lay off ~4% of its global staff to align “resources with our largest growth opportunities”; SEC filing: AMD had 26,000 employees at 2023's end  —  According to a spokesperson, chip designer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., is laying off a portion of its global workforce.
Jody Godoy / Reuters:
A US judge rules that Meta must face trial in a US FTC lawsuit seeking its breakup over claims that it acquired Instagram and WhatsApp to crush its competitors  —  Facebook owner Meta Platforms (META.O) must face trial in a U.S. Federal Trade Commission lawsuit seeking its break up over claims …
The Information:
Sources: Instagram's ad unit plans to launch ads on Threads in early 2025; Meta's public statements imply any ad rollout for Threads next year will be slow  —  Meta Platforms plans to introduce advertisements to its text app, Threads, early next year, hoping to cash in on the app's rapid growth …
Bloomberg:
Sources: OpenAI plans to launch a new AI agent codenamed Operator, which can use a computer to take actions on a person's behalf, in January  —  The new software, codenamed “Operator,” is set to be released in January.  —  OpenAI is preparing to launch a new artificial intelligence agent codenamed …
Bloomberg:
Sources: OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic are seeing diminishing returns from costly efforts to build new AI models; a new Gemini model is missing internal targets  —  Three of the leading artificial intelligence companies are seeing diminishing returns from their costly efforts to develop newer models.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon debuts Amazon Haul, a storefront in its app offering “crazy low prices” on a range of items, with free shipping on $25+ orders, to take on Temu and Shein  —  Amazon has rolled out a new storefront featuring apparel, home goods, electronics and other items priced below $20 …
Charles Daly / Bloomberg:
Klarna files for a US IPO; analysts put Klarna's implied valuation at ~$14.6B in October 2024 after shareholder Chrysalis upped the value of its stake to ~$154M  —  Swedish payments firm Klarna Group Plc has filed for an initial public offering in the US, ending months of speculation …
Theodore Schleifer / New York Times:
Sources detail Elon Musk's role in Trump's transition: Mar-a-Lago meetings, calls with world leaders, voicing support for Brendan Carr at the FCC, and more  —  He's on the patio.  He's on the golf course.  Everywhere Donald Trump looks, there is the world's richest man.
Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Google announces new features for the Fitbit Ace LTE, its smartwatch for kids, including family group chats, messaging for siblings, and a new mini-game  —  Fitbit's Ace LTE, the smartwatch designed for ages 7+, is introducing new features to help families stay connected and get active together.
Dina Bass / Bloomberg:
Callie Holtermann / New York Times:
Bluesky says it gained 1M+ users in the week since the US election, mostly in the US, the UK, and Canada, and crossed 15M users; Bluesky had 6M users in August  —  With one million new accounts added since the U.S. elections, Bluesky has solidified itself as an option for people looking to change their social media service.
Michael Nuñez / VentureBeat:
Google DeepMind releases AlphaFold 3's source code and model weights for academic use, which could accelerate scientific discovery and drug development  —  Google DeepMind has unexpectedly released the source code and model weights of AlphaFold 3 for academic use, marking a significant advance …
Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:
Spotify plans to pay incentives to video creators who hit certain viewing thresholds and, in January, to let Premium subscribers view podcast videos without ads  —  Audio-streaming giant plans to pay hosts to make podcast videos and allow premium subscribers to watch them without ads
Jamie Crawley / CoinDesk:
Toronto-based Zero Gravity Labs, which is building a decentralized AI operating system, raised a $40M seed and secured a $250M “token purchase commitment”  —  The seed round included contributions from Hack VC, Delphi Digital, OKX Ventures, Polygon and Animoca Brands
Bloomberg:
How gambling apps are indebting Brazilians, after legalization; Nubank reassured investors in September 2024 that it had limited exposure to troubled bettors  —  The boom shocked policy makers who are now scrambling to control it  —  At the headquarters of the United Nations …
Emma Roth / The Verge:
YouTube is testing a feature that will let a small group of creators use AI to “restyle” licensed songs for their Shorts using text prompts to change elements  —  YouTube is testing a new feature that will let creators use AI to “restyle” licensed songs for their shorts.

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