Techmeme
January 24, 2024, 12:50 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Apple plans to add new fees and restrictions after allowing EU users to download apps from outside the App Store, including reviewing sideloaded apps  —  Meta, Spotify and other companies are weighing new options for customers as Apple makes changes to comply with new European law
Ariel Shapiro / The Verge:
Ahead of the EU's DMA, Spotify shares iOS app mockups with full in-app payments, rolling out in part on March 7; Apple hasn't yet shared its changes for the DMA  —  For years, Apple's App Store policies have made it impossible for apps to sell digital services and goods on their own terms.
Michael Acton / Financial Times:
Apple's acquisitions, job postings, and academic papers detail the company's AI plans; PitchBook says Apple acquired 21 AI startups since the start of 2017  —  Acquisitions, job postings and academic papers suggest tech company is preparing to run AI through its devices
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
eBay plans to cut ~1,000 full-time jobs, or ~9% of its workforce, and scale back the number of contracts within its “alternate workforce” over the coming months  —  - EBay said Tuesday it's laying off 1,000 full-time employees.  — CEO Jamie Iannone told employees the company will …
Toby Sterling / Reuters:
ASML reports Q4 revenue up 13% YoY to €7.2B, net profit up 9% YoY to €2B, both above est., orders up 3x QoQ to €9B+, and expects 2024 net sales to be flat YoY  —  ASML Holding NV (ASML.AS), Europe's biggest technology company by market value, on Wednesday reported better …
Kate Knibbs / Wired:
Originality AI: 88%+ of the top US news outlets now block AI companies' web crawlers; leading right-wing outlets, like Breitbart and Newsmax, mostly permit them  —  Nearly 90 percent of top news outlets like The New York Times now block AI data collection bots from OpenAI and others.
Richard Nieva / Forbes:
The US National Science Foundation partners with OpenAI, Meta, Nvidia, and others to launch NAIRR, a pilot program to increase researchers' access to AI tools  —  The pilot program, called the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource, follows President Biden's executive order mandating lower entry to AI infrastructure.
Alexander Martin / The Record:
The UK NCSC's all-source intelligence assessment: ransomware attacks will almost certainly increase in both volume and impact over the next two years due to AI  —  Ransomware attacks will increase in both volume and impact over the next two years due to artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, British intelligence has warned.
Matthew Ball / MatthewBall.co:
A look at some long-term issues facing the gaming industry, including deep layoffs, weak revenue growth, growing development costs, and declining VC investments  —  To players and outside observers, 2023 looks like one of the 70-year-old gaming industry's greatest-ever years.
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Google releases a Gemini-powered chat-based tool in beta for building Search ad campaigns in Google Ads to all English language advertisers in the US and the UK  —  Google announced today that Gemini, its family of multimodal large language models, now powers the conversational experience within the Google Ads platform.
Tim Bradshaw / Financial Times:
London- and Tallinn-based VC firm Plural, led by some of Europe's best known startup founders, raised a €400M fund to invest in early-stage “deep tech” startups  —  The firm offers a Silicon-Valley approach to backing start-ups as an alternative to the traditional VC model
Noam Cohen / Bloomberg:
As Wikimedia Russia shuts down, a look at the Kremlin-compliant Wikipedia alternative Ruwiki, which recently went live, led by an ex-Wikimedia Russia director  —  A campaign to replace the country's Wikipedia with a more pliant alternative seems near completion.
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
BeReal plans to let brands and celebrities join, starting on February 6, and says the app now has 23M DAUs, up from 20M DAUs in August 2023  —  BeReal, a rising social media app that emphasizes authenticity, is making its first outreach to brands and celebrities.
More: BeReal
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple pivots to a less ambitious design for its upcoming EV, from Level 4 autonomy to Level 2+, and pushes back its launch from 2026 to 2028 or later  —  - After board meetings, car downgraded to Level 2+ autonomy  — Company pushes back launch from 2026 to 2028 at the earliest
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Netflix plans to to retire its ad-free Basic plan in some countries where ad-supported plans are available, starting with Canada and the UK in Q2 2024  —  Although Netflix no longer allows new or returning members to sign up for the ad-free Basic subscription that costs $11.99 per month …
Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
X adds support for passkeys for US-based iOS users; the announcement comes shortly after the hack of the US SEC's X account  —  X, formerly Twitter, today announced support for passkeys, a new and more secure login method than traditional passwords, which will become an option for U.S. users on iOS devices.
Bloomberg:
Oppo and Nokia sign a patent cross-licensing deal, ending a years-long dispute, letting the Chinese smartphone maker sell in key European markets like Germany  —  - Patent cross-licensing agreement ends years-long dispute  — Chinese brand is the No.4 smartphone maker in the world
Basith Rahman P P / MySmartPrice:
Alleged renders of Google's Pixel 9 Pro show a ~6.5-inch display, smaller than the Pixel 8 Pro, a refreshed camera island with three cameras, and a flat frame  —  The upcoming Google Pixel 9 Pro might feature a smaller flat display compared to the Pixel 8 Pro.  —  HIGHLIGHTS

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