Techmeme
January 9, 2024, 10:25 PM

Top News

CoinDesk:
An X post from US SEC Chair Gary Gensler says that the @SECGov's “twitter account was compromised”, and that the agency has not approved spot bitcoin ETFs  —  The X account of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which is deciding whether to approve bitcoin ETFs, “was compromised,” the regulator told CoinDesk.
Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg:
Sources: Twitch could cut ~500 employees, or ~35% of its staff, as soon as January 10 amid concerns over company losses and after several top executives left  —  Move is designed to stem losses after two rounds of layoffs last year.  —  Amazon.com Inc.'s livestreaming site Twitch is poised …
Nelson Aguilar / CNET:
Google and Samsung merge their respective Nearby Share and Quick Share features under the Quick Share name, for a more unified cross-Android sharing experience  —  Apple has AirDrop.  Android now has Quick Share.  —  At CES 2024 today, Google announced Quick Share, a collaboration …
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
HPE plans to acquire Juniper Networks for about $14B, or $40 per share, in an all-cash deal  —  Hewlett Packard Enterprise said in a statement on Tuesday that it plans to buy data center networking hardware maker Juniper Networks for about $14 billion, or $40 per share, in an all-cash deal.
Gene Maddaus / Variety:
SAG-AFTRA signs a deal with AI voiceover company Replica Studios, requiring consent to create voice replicas for use in video games and safe storage of assets  —  The union announced the deal with Replica Studios on Tuesday at CES in Las Vegas.  Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union's executive director …
Julie Jargon / Wall Street Journal:
Meta plans to start automatically restricting teen Instagram and Facebook accounts from harmful content, including posts about self-harm, in the coming weeks  —  Efforts to curb harmful material and reduce unwanted interactions with teen social-media accounts come as states sue parent company Meta
Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Thomas Germain / Gizmodo:
X suspended several journalists and podcasters for hours with no explanation; Elon Musk says that sometimes real accounts get caught up in anti-spam/scam sweeps  —  Elon Musk's “free speech” social media platform banned a number of accounts recently critical of Israel.
Carly Page / TechCrunch:
In a first, the US FTC bans data broker Outlogic, formerly X-Mode Social, from selling phone location data and orders the company to delete all collected data  —  The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has banned the data broker X-Mode Social from sharing or selling users' sensitive location data, the federal regulator said Tuesday.
Alex Heath / The Verge:
Source: Humane laid off 10 employees this week in a cost cutting measure and plans to lower budgets in 2024, as the company reshuffles some executive positions  —  Humane laid off 4 percent of employees this week in a move that was described as a cost cutting measure to those who were impacted …
More: TechCrunchThreads: @carnage4life and @ashzade_
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Amazon announces Matter Casting, an Apple AirPlay-like feature to send videos from Android and iOS to Amazon devices, initially supporting Echo Show devices  —  Amazon.com Inc. introduced a new feature that mimics Apple Inc.'s AirPlay while working across different platforms …
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
The FCC plans shutdown of the two-year-old Affordable Connectivity Program, which currently has 23M enrolled households, as GOP withholds funding  —  FCC must start winding down low-income program as Congress fails to add money.  —  The Federal Communications Commission is about to start winding …
Adam D'Angelo / Quora:
Quora says it raised $75M from Andreessen Horowitz, to be used to accelerate the growth of Poe and pay bot creators through its creator monetization program  —  We are excited to announce that we have raised $75M from Andreessen Horowitz.  This funding will be used to accelerate the growth of Poe …
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
X announces new shows with former CNN host Don Lemon, former Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, and sports commentator Jim Rome, amid a push into video  —  The tech company also announced a 10-show deal with Range Media Partners, and a deal with Tulsi Gabbard.
Bloomberg:
Beijing's judicial bureau says a state-backed institution cracked Apple's AirDrop to identify message senders, and police found multiple suspects via the method  —  - Beijing agency claims to have found way to identify senders  — Declaration follows efforts to crack down on sensitive content
Julian Chokkattu / Wired:
Startup Rabbit Inc. debuts the R1, a $199 handheld AI device meant to be a virtual assistant to complete tasks without a smartphone, shipping in late March  —  The startup has developed a virtual assistant that learns whatever digital errands you teach it.  The interface is extra cute …
Alex Konrad / Forbes:
Keith Rabois is returning to Khosla Ventures as a managing director, after five years at Founders Fund  —  With $3.1 billion in new funds, Khosla Ventures and founder Vinod Khosla are bringing back Keith Rabois, a high-profile former partner and outspoken Miami resident.
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with Adobe General Counsel and Chief Trust Officer Dana Rao on generative AI, IP issues, cloud security, the Figma deal, regulation, antitrust, and more  —  Adobe's top lawyer discusses the future of copyright, why the Figma acquisition fell through, and why he's optimistic AI won't put creatives out of work.
More: PetaPixel
Julie Carr Smyth / Associated Press:
A US federal judge temporarily halts the enforcement of a pending Ohio law that would require children to get parental consent to use social media apps  —  A federal judge issued an order Tuesday temporarily halting enforcement of a pending Ohio law that would require children to get parental consent to use social media apps.
Harry McCracken / Fast Company:
Microsoft finds a material that could replace ~70% of lithium in a battery, by using Azure Quantum Elements HPC resources to run simulations and AI models  —  Recently, Microsoft built a clock.  —  Well, “built” may be overstating things.  Members of the company's quantum computing team found …
Maxwell Zeff / Gizmodo:
Pennsylvania becomes the first US state to use ChatGPT Enterprise in a pilot with OpenAI, in which state employees will use AI tools for daily operations  —  State employees in Pennsylvania will begin using ChatGPT to assist with their work in the coming weeks.

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