Techmeme
January 19, 2023, 1:40 AM

Top News

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Memo: Microsoft plans to lay off 10,000 employees through March 31, reducing its headcount by less than 5%, and take a $1.2B charge tied to severance and more  —  Citing a need to “align our cost structure with our revenue and where we see customer demand,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees Wednesday …
Reuters:
The US Treasury's FinCEN unit labels crypto exchange Bitzlato as a “money laundering concern” related to Russian illicit finance; French police seize Bitzlato  —  The U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network on Wednesday said it has identified virtual …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on an iPad-based smart display with smart home controls, video, and FaceTime and on a new Apple TV for H1 2024 with a faster processor  —  Apple Inc. is working on a slate of devices aimed at challenging Amazon.com Inc. and Google in the smart-home market …
The Block:
Sources: Genesis creditors are negotiating a bankruptcy plan with the firm and weighing a one to two-year forbearance period in exchange for cash and DCG equity  —  - Genesis creditors are negotiating the terms of a possible Chapter 11 filing, according to sources close to the matter.
Erin Woo / The Information:
Addy Bink / The Hill:
Amazon plans to close AmazonSmile, a program launched in 2013 to let customers donate 0.5% of eligible items' purchase prices to a charity, on February 20, 2023  —  (NEXSTAR) - Amazon will be closing its charity program, AmazonSmile, in the coming weeks in order to “focus its philanthropic giving to programs with greater impact.”
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Apple announces a second-generation HomePod with a similar design to the original from 2018, Matter support, S7 chip, and more, shipping on February 3 for $299  —  It will be sold alongside the HomePod Mini, the smaller version of the speaker introduced in 2020, and features support …
Hartley Charlton / MacRumors:
Financial Times:
Sources: Founders Fund sold off most of its cryptocurrency portfolio by the end of March 2022, before the crypto market crash, generating ~$1.8B in returns  —  Billionaire was early mainstream investor in the digital currency but VC fund no longer has significant exposure
Billy Perrigo / TIME:
Investigation: starting in November 2021, OpenAI contracted Kenya-based Sama workers to label violent, toxic, and sexual content for ~$2/hour to improve ChatGPT  —  Content warning: this story contains descriptions of sexual abuse  —  ChatGPT was hailed as one of 2022's …
Digiday:
Similarweb: Twitter referral traffic to 12 major news outlets fell 12% on average from November 2022 to December 2022; only traffic to NY Post and Fox News grew  —  Under the leadership of Elon Musk, Twitter's role as a traffic referral source to publishers' sites is largely declining.
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Mailchimp says a hacker accessed data about 133 accounts via a staff social engineering attack, first detected on January 11 and its second breach in six months  —  Email marketing and newsletter giant Mailchimp says it was hacked and that dozens of customers' data was exposed.
Jennifer Gollan / ProPublica:
An analysis of 11 online pharmacies selling abortion pills: at least nine use third-party trackers such as Google Analytics to collect and share sensitive data  —  Some sites selling abortion pills use technology that shares information with third parties like Google.
Katie Notopoulos / BuzzFeed News:
Andrew Bosworth talks about Meta's decision to discontinue the Portal and how it nearly made a deal to license Portal's tech and platform to Amazon in 2020  —  Meta's CTO Andrew Bosworth told BuzzFeed News how a deal to keep the Portal software going almost happened.
Alexandra Wexler / Wall Street Journal:
FTX posed as a haven from tumbling currencies and inflation in Africa, where the company recruited users via glitzy events, $5 sign-up bonuses, and giveaways  —  Cryptocurrency exchange's ambassadors recruited new customers through glitzy events, $5 sign-up bonuses and giveaways
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Samsung Galaxy S23, S23 Plus, and S23 Ultra specs allegedly leak: 6.1-, 6.6-, and 6.8-inch displays, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, a 200MP sensor for the Ultra, and more  —  Spec sheets for all three devices in Samsung's upcoming flagship smartphone lineup, the Galaxy S23 series, appear to have leaked online.
Wall Street Journal:
Investigation: 600+ US law enforcement agencies can access a database of 150M+ money transfers between the US and 20+ countries via Western Union and others  —  Law-enforcement agencies across the U.S. have direct access to over 150 million transactions housed at an Arizona nonprofit

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Earlier Picks

Helen Thomas / Financial Times:
Abha Bhattarai / Washington Post:
Richard Lawler / The Verge:
Patrick McGee / Financial Times:
Bloomberg:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: