Techmeme
July 20, 2022, 7:40 PM

Top News

Minecraft:
Mojang Studios will not support or allow NFTs, as they “create models of scarcity and exclusion that conflict with our Guidelines and the spirit of Minecraft”  —  Hello everyone!  Recently, we've received some feedback from members of the community asking for clarification …
Stacy Elliott / Decrypt:
Tesla says a “bitcoin impairment” negatively impacted its Q2 profitability and that it sold 75% of its bitcoin, worth approximately $936M, in the quarter  —  “Bitcoin impairment” prompted the sale, the company said.  —  Tesla sold 75% of its Bitcoin, worth approximately $936 million, according to its Q2 earnings report.
David Pierce / The Verge:
Amazon announces changes to Alexa, including Routines created and recommended by developers, shopping via skills, coexisting with other assistants, and more  —  A helper that increasingly doesn't need your help  —  Amazon is making a bunch of changes to the Alexa user experience …
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
OpenAI makes DALL-E 2 widely available in beta through a credit-based fee structure; users will get free credits every month and can buy more in $15 increments  —  Today, DALL-E 2, OpenAI's AI system that can generate images given a prompt or edit and refine existing images, is becoming more widely available.
Erin Woo / The Information:
Google says it will pause hiring for two weeks, except for offers that have already been made, after saying last week it would slow hiring for the rest of 2022  —  Google said it will pause hiring for two weeks, after saying last week it would slow its pace of hiring for the rest of the year.
The Verge:
Microsoft tests Discord voice chat integration with select Xbox Insiders, as PlayStation users wait for the deep Discord integration that Sony promised in 2021  —  Your cross-play dreams have come true  —  Discord and Microsoft are bringing Discord voice calls to the Xbox.
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Coinbase says it has no exposure to failed crypto firms Celsius, 3AC, and Voyager but made “non-material investments” in Terraform Labs; stock closes up 14.34%  —  - Coinbase said in a blog post that it had “no financing exposure” to collapsed crypto firms Celsius, Three Arrows Capital and Voyager Digital.
The Block:
Kevin McLaughlin / The Information:
Memo: Dan Wright, CEO of enterprise AI startup DataRobot, resigned after less than 1.5 years, following employee uproar over stock sales by senior executives  —  Dan Wright, CEO of artificial-intelligence software pioneer DataRobot, has resigned less than a year and a half after ascending to the position …
Monica Raymunt / Bloomberg:
Volkswagen's software unit Cariad partners with STMicroelectronics to co-develop semiconductors for its cross-brand single software platform  —  Volkswagen AG's software unit will start designing chips for the first time, partnering with STMicroelectronics NV to co-develop semiconductors for its cross-brand single software platform.
More: Reuters and EEJournal
Dina Bass / Bloomberg:
Microsoft is eliminating many open job listings, including in its Azure and security units, but plans to honor job offers and make exceptions for critical roles  —  Microsoft Corp. is eliminating many open job listings, including in its Azure cloud business and its security software unit, as the economy continues to weaken.
Rebecca Klar / The Hill:
A US House panel votes 53-2 to advance the American Data Privacy and Protection Act, which would set a standard for how tech companies handle Americans' data  —  A House panel advanced a comprehensive data privacy bill in a 53-2 bipartisan vote Wednesday, pushing forward legislation that aims …
Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
Netflix reports Q2 revenue up 8.6% YoY to $7.97B, vs $8.04B est., and a 970K subscriber loss vs an estimated 2M subscriber loss; the stock closes up 7.35%  —  - Netflix only lost around 970,000 subscribers during the second quarter, a smaller loss than the 2 million it had projected last quarter.
Todd Spangler / Variety:

Sponsor Posts

Airtable:
Meet Airtable ProductCentral  —  The unified solution for managing your entire product development process in the AI era.
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Zoho:
Zoho SalesIQ turns 10: Transforming customer experiences since 2014  —  October marked a remarkable milestone for Zoho SalesIQ—our 10th anniversary.  What began in 2014 as a simple live chat tool has evolved …
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Fri. 11/01 - ChatGPT Search
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 7:40 PM ET, July 20, 2022.

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.

More News

Natalie Andrews / Wall Street Journal:

Earlier Picks

Corin Faife / The Verge:
Scott Stein / CNET:
Katyanna Quach / The Register:
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Todd Spangler / Variety: