Techmeme
April 27, 2023, 5:10 PM

Top News

BBC:
Microsoft's Brad Smith says the UK CMA's move to block the Activision deal is “bad for Britain” and “is probably the darkest day in our four decades in Britain”  —  Microsoft's president has attacked the UK after it was blocked from buying US gaming firm Activision …
Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg:
The UK CMA's block of Microsoft's Activision deal focuses on the nascent cloud gaming market, confusing analysts as regulators typically focus on mature markets  —  UK regulators blocked Microsoft Corp.'s $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard Inc. over concerns it would harm competition …
Wayne Ma / The Information:
Sources detail how organizational dysfunction and a lack of ambition bogged down Apple's AI and ML efforts, including the work of the group responsible for Siri  —  Late last year, a trio of engineers who had just helped Apple modernize its search technology began working on the type …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
IDC:
Global smartphone shipments fell 14.6% YoY to 268.6M in Q1 2023, the seventh consecutive quarter of decline; Samsung fell 18.9%, Apple 2.3%, and Xiaomi 23.5%  —  NEEDHAM, Mass., April 27th, 2023 - Worldwide smartphone shipments declined 14.6% year over year to 268.6 million units in the first quarter of 2023 …
Ellen Huet / Bloomberg:
Clubhouse plans to lay off 50%+ of its employees as it “resets” the company despite claiming to have “years of runway”; Clubhouse had ~100 staff in October 2022  —  Clubhouse, the pandemic-era social media sensation, is cutting more than half of its employees, the company said in a blog post on Thursday.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
The Guardian:
Interviews with 70+ sources describe how Facebook and Instagram have become major child trafficking platforms and how they slow down prosecutors' investigations  —  Our two-year investigation suggests that the tech giant Meta is struggling to prevent criminals from using its platforms to buy and sell children for sex
Reuters:
A California judge tentatively rules Elon Musk must testify about his Autopilot statements, after his lawyers argued he is the subject of many deepfake videos  —  A California judge on Wednesday ordered Tesla CEO Elon Musk to be interviewed under oath about whether he made certain statements regarding …
Chris Stokel-Walker / Wired:
Legal experts say Twitter may be breaching US laws prohibiting false advertising or endorsement by implying that some celebrities paid for Blue when they didn't  —  The law says you can't falsely claim that celebrities are paying for Twitter Blue.  —  Twitter's verification system debacle …
CNBC:
Coinbase offers a fiery response to the SEC's Wells notice from March 2023, saying enforcement action would present “major” risks to the SEC's regulatory model  —  - Crypto exchange Coinbase told the SEC that any enforcement action against the exchange would “fail on the merits” …
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
YouTube Music adds podcasts on Android, iOS, and the web, supporting listening offline, in the background, and casting for all US users, with or without Premium  —  YouTube Music is officially adding podcasts to its platform in the United States on Android, iOS and the web.
Jeffrey Knockel / The Citizen Lab:
An analysis of Baidu, Bilibili, Bing, Douyin, Sogou, Weibo, and other search platforms in China finds 60K+ censorship rules, applied differently by each service  —  This report has an accompanying FAQ.  —  Key findings  — Across eight China-accessible search platforms analyzed …
Bloomberg:
A profile of ASML, Europe's most valuable tech company, as the US-China chip war escalates; ASML's next studio apartment-sized machine ships in 2025 for $380M+  —  In 1984, Martin van den Brink, a young Dutch engineer, joined a newly created venture in a quiet corner of the Netherlands.
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
Snap reports Q1 revenue down 7% to $989M, vs. $1.01B est., global DAUs up 15% YoY to 383M, vs. 384M est., and a $329M net loss, vs. $360M YoY; SNAP drops 20%+  —  - Snap came in light on revenue and ARPU in its first-quarter earnings report.  — The company said its “internal forecast” …
Reuters:
Samsung reports Q1 operating profit down 95% YoY to ~$478.6M, its lowest since Q1 2009, revenue down 18% YoY to ~$47.6B, and a ~$3.4B loss for its chip division  —  Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) flagged a gradual recovery for chips in the second half of the year …
Andrea Vittorio / Bloomberg Law:
Washington becomes the first US state to adopt sweeping safeguards for consumer health data, including location records that could reveal abortion clinic visits  —  Washington has adopted a first-of-its-kind state law with sweeping safeguards for consumer health data collected by companies …
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Intel reports Q1 revenue down 36% YoY to $11.7B, vs. $11.04B est., its largest ever quarterly loss, and Data Center and AI revenue down 39% YoY to $3.7B  —  - Intel reported first-quarter results on Wednesday that showed a staggering 133% annual reduction in earnings per share.

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