Techmeme
March 8, 2023, 4:10 PM

Top News

Barbara Ortutay / Associated Press:
Elon Musk apologizes after mocking laid-off, disabled Twitter employee Haraldur Thorleifsson, who joined in January 2021 after Twitter acquired his startup Ueno  —  If you're not told you are fired, are you really fired?  At Twitter, probably.  And then, sometimes, you get your job back — if you want it.
More: BBC, BBC, Ars Technica, Ethan Zuckerman, TechCrunch, Daring Fireball, Washington Post, New York Times, Associated Press, San Francisco Business Journal, New York Post, Forbes, Insider, Axios, Mashable, TechSpot, CNBC, RTÉ, Gizmodo, Newser, TweakTown, Bloomberg, Fortune, and CNN
David Pierce / The Verge:
Spotify redesigns its app's core homescreen with album and playlist covers above and a TikTok-like vertical scroll of playlists, video podcasts, and more  —  Spotify is redesigning the core homescreen of its app, trying to make it easier for users to find new stuff to listen to — and watch.
Bloomberg:
A look at Google scrambling to add generative AI to its products, reminding some alumni of the mandate to infuse Google+ into every key service starting in 2011  —  Artificial intelligence was supposed to be Google's thing.  The company has cultivated a reputation for making long-term bets …
Wall Street Journal:
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google adds its VPN service to all Google One plans in 22 countries, starting at $1.99 per month, and dark web monitoring for stolen personal info to Google One  —  After adding Magic Eraser last month, Google One is significantly expanding the availability of its VPN and introducing dark web monitoring for stolen information.
Politico:
TikTok announces Project Clover, its plan to charm European regulators, including keeping more users' data on servers in Europe and allowing a security audit  —  BRUSSELS — TikTok has launched its European counteroffensive to assuage politicians' fears over Chinese surveillance.
Thomas Germain / Gizmodo:
DuckDuckGo launches DuckAssist in beta, an OpenAI- and Anthropic-powered tool that generates answers using Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannica, and other sources  —  The new DuckAssist tool will source answers from Wikipedia for quick, conversational responses to some questions.
James Hunt / The Block:
Coinbase unveils a “Wallet-as-a-Service” product, offering APIs to help companies create customizable onchain wallets with simple user onboarding in their apps  —  - Coinbase has announced a product called Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS), designed to let companies build web3 experiences that have simple wallet onboarding.
Aaron Tilley / Wall Street Journal:
Humane, founded by two former Apple executives, raised a $100M Series C and partners with OpenAI and Microsoft; patents suggest plans to build a wearable device  —  Humane to launch its first product this spring, with patents suggesting it may be a wearable device
Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
YouTube plans to ease its restrictions on swearing in videos after finding that its November 2022 rules “resulted in a stricter approach than we intended”  —  YouTube will ease its restrictions on swearing in videos after an update it rolled out in November sparked backlash from several creators …
Eric Newcomer / Newcomer:
Sources: Stripe is raising $6B at a $50B valuation from Thrive Capital, General Catalyst, a16z, and Founders Fund, plus Goldman Sachs' private wealth clients  —  Thrive Capital, General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz, and Founders Fund are participating in the round along with Goldman Sachs private wealth clients.
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Twitter lets the certificate for its Tor onion site expire, effectively killing off the privacy-preserving and speech-protecting service launched in March 2022  —  Twitter has allowed the certificate for its Tor onion site to expire, effectively killing off a privacy- and speech-protecting service that it introduced last year.
Harry McCracken / Fast Company:
An oral history of LinkedIn, which turns 20 in May, told by co-founders including Reid Hoffman, current executives, Satya Nadella, Richard Branson, and others  —  Social media, for work?  The world was skeptical.  But 20 years and a few white-knuckle moments later, LinkedIn has become synonymous …
Benj Edwards / Ars Technica:
Google and the Technical University of Berlin unveil PaLM-E, a visual language model with 562B parameters that integrates vision and language for robot controls  —  ChatGPT-style AI model adds vision to guide a robot without special training.  —  On Monday, a group of AI researchers …
More: PaLM-ETweets: @dannydriess, @dergnz, @_akhaliq, and @suhail
Tom McKay / Rolling Stone:
At CPAC 2023, which had a repeal Section 230 panel, Google, Meta, Twitter, and other tech giants remained central villains; Truth Social and Gettr were absent  —  CPAC showed how the MAGA movement still can't decide whether its problem is too much Silicon Valley or not enough faves

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Earlier Picks

Ellen Huet / Bloomberg:
Bloomberg:
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
CoinDesk:
Todd Spangler / Variety: