Techmeme
May 17, 2023, 6:15 PM

Top News

Yogita Khatri / The Block:
Tether plans to invest up to 15% of its profits in bitcoin, as the stablecoin developer shifts its reserves toward crypto and away from US government debt  —  - Tether is set to purchase bitcoin on a regular basis from its profits.  — It held $1.5 billion in bitcoin as of the end of the first quarter …
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Logitech partners with iFixit to help with DIY repairs, supplying spare parts, batteries, and guides for select Logitech hardware starting this summer in the US  —  / Official spare parts, batteries, and repair guides for select Logitech hardware will be available through iFixit starting ‘this summer.’
Ryan Weeks / The Block:
Ripple acquires Switzerland-based digital asset custody startup Metaco for $250M in cash and stock and plans to keep the brand and founder Adrien Treccani  —  David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images  — Crypto payments firm Ripple shelled out $250 million for Swiss custody startup Metaco.
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
Jennifer Elias / CNBC:
Docs: Google plans to use its AI models for ads, customer service, and to help YouTube creators, and it is working on an internal Stable Diffusion-like product  —  - Google has approved several ad-related artificial intelligence projects to help advertisers and YouTube creators, internal documents show.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Amazon announces the new $40 semi-circle design Echo Pop, updates the $90 Echo Show 5, $100 Echo Show 5 Kids Edition, $50 Echo Buds, expands Echo Auto, and more  —  After last fall's Amazon hardware event which brought us a handful of new Echo devices, like the Dot with the clock and other minor updates …
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
Cybersecurity researchers and IT admins raise concerns over Google's new .zip and .mov TLDs, warning that threat actors could use them for phishing and malware  —  Cybersecurity researchers and IT admins have raised concerns over Google's new ZIP and MOV Internet domains …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Beats Studio Buds+ review: better sound, ANC, battery, and calls, but ANC lags AirPods Pro 2, no wireless charging, and lacks some of Apple's ecosystem tricks  —  With better sound, improved noise cancellation, and a standout translucent design, these are everything the original Beats Studio Buds should've been.
Laura Cooper / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: private equity firms Francisco Partners and TPG are working together on a $5B+ bid to acquire observability software company New Relic  —  Buyout firms Francisco Partners, TPG team up in $5 billion-plus bid  —  Private-equity firms Francisco Partners and TPG are working together …
More: iTnews and Reuters
The Information:
Sources: Snowflake is in advanced talks to buy Neeva and aims to offer AI tools to help companies search internal data; Neeva also shopped itself to Databricks  —  Database software provider Snowflake has been in advanced talks to acquire Neeva, a search startup founded by former top Google …
Jonathan Greig / The Record:
Symantec says the advanced persistent threat Lancefly used custom malware to attack Asian governments, telcos, and other organizations from mid-2022 to Q1 2023  —  A government-backed hacking group known as “Lancefly” has been seen using custom-made malware to attack governments, telecoms and other organizations across Asia.
Stephanie Bodoni / Bloomberg:
Sources: the Irish DPC is set to hand Meta a record EU privacy fine and order the company to stop all data transfers to the US that rely on certain clauses  —  Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. is set to be handed a record European Union privacy fine eclipsing a €746 million ($809 million) penalty doled out to Amazon.com Inc..
Peter Landers / Wall Street Journal:
IBM plans to give $100M and Google plans to give $50M for quantum computing research to the University of Chicago and the University of Tokyo  —  Deal to be announced at Hiroshima G-7 summit seeks to preserve American lead in critical technology  —  TOKYO—IBM and Google are giving $150 million …
Kyle Bradshaw / 9to5Google:
An update to Google's Personal Safety app for Android suggests the company plans to offer a Dashcam recording feature for Pixel phones and other select devices  —  Rather than needing to buy a (sometimes pricey) dedicated gadget, you should soon be able to use your Pixel (and select other Android devices) …
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Instagram adds support for GIFs in comments on posts and Reels, plans to launch a lyrics feature for Reels, and will roll out Instagram Gifts in India  —  On Tuesday, Mark Zuckerberg held a chat with Instagram head Adam Mosseri as part of the company launching collaboration feature on broadcast channels.
Tech Transparency Project:
Researchers find that YouTube recommends videos on guns and school shootings to young gamers, despite the platform's policies against “violent or gory content”  —  YouTube says it delivers ‘responsible’ video recommendations.  But its algorithms steered accounts …

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 6:15 PM ET, May 17, 2023.

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

Heather Kelly / Washington Post:

Earlier Picks

Financial Times:
Kevin Purdy / Ars Technica:
CNBC:
CNBC:
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch: