To comply with a state law requiring that school library books be “age appropriate”, an Iowa school district used ChatGPT to find books depicting “a sex act”
Faced with new legislation, Iowa's Mason City Community School District asked ChatGPT if certain books 'contain …
X added five-second delays, some now removed, on t.co links to Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Bluesky, Substack, the NYT, Reuters, and other sites Musk attacks
The site formerly known as Twitter has added a five-second delay when a user clicks on a shortened link to the New York Times …
Coinbase says the exchange received regulatory approval from the CFTC-backed National Futures Association to offer futures trading services to eligible US users
- Coinbase is now allowed to operate as a futures commission merchant and offer eligible U.S. customers access to crypto futures from its platforms, the company said.
Sources: Foxconn's Tamil Nadu plant in India plans to deliver new iPhone 15s only weeks after Chinese factories; previously, output lagged China by 6-9 months
- Apple is diversifying iPhone supply chain away from China — India's push to become a manufacturing hub is bearing fruit
Apple backtracks and moves the “end call” button back to the middle of the screen, from the bottom-right corner, in the latest iOS 17 beta
- Apple has moved the end call button back to the middle of the screen in the the newest developer version of iOS 17 released on Tuesday.
Intel ends its $5.4B deal to buy Israeli company Tower Semiconductor after failing to win Chinese regulatory approval; Intel announced the deal in February 2022
- Deal for Tower Semiconductor needed Chinese antitrust approval — Intel Corp. walked away from its attempt …
Users of X Pro, previously TweetDeck, report encountering X Blue paywalls to use the service; X said on July 3 that “in 30 days” X Pro would be subscriber-only
X, the social network formally known as Twitter, appears to be finally following through on its promise to make TweetDeck a paid service.
Internal documents: India accounts for $10B of Foxconn's annual revenue, or 4.6% of its 2022 revenue, as its India push shows the limits of “China plus one”
Financial Times : X: @birdyword , @financialtimes , @rmantri , @sushantsin , @pstasiatech , @chadbown , and @conradkbarwa X: Mike Bird / @birdyword : “Liu has said China accounts for 75 per cent of F...
Documents: Google DeepMind has been working with generative AI to perform at least 21 different types of personal and professional tasks, including life advice
The tech giant is evaluating tools that would use artificial intelligence to perform tasks that some of its researchers have said should be avoided.
The Authors Guild, American Booksellers Association, and Open Markets Institute urge the DOJ and the FTC to investigate Amazon's “monopoly” in the book market
The online retailer's size and sway affects the free exchange of ideas, the groups argue.
As San Francisco opens to 24/7 robotaxis, a look at Cruise and Waymo cars causing traffic jams and obstructing emergency vehicles, unraveling the public's trust
The day after California regulators handed driverless car companies a major victory, allowing them to expand …
Tencent reports Q2 revenue up 11% YoY to ~$20.5B, below ~$20.8B est., and operating profit up 37% YoY to ~$6.9B, as cost-cutting helps boost its core units
- Tencent on Wednesday reported a surge in profit for the second quarter, but missed expectations.
Crypto key startup BitGo raised $100M at a $1.75B valuation from undisclosed US and Asian investors; Galaxy Digital scrapped a $1.2B BitGo acquisition in 2022
The crypto company raised $100 million from new investors, emphasizing its focus on following rules and regulations.
JD.com reports Q2 revenue up 7.6% YoY to ~$39.7B, beating ~$38.27B est., as retail sales rose just 2.5% YoY, below analyst estimates of 4.5% YoY; JD drops 4.5%+
Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com (9618.HK), beat Wall Street estimates for second-quarter revenue on Wednesday …
Xbox debuts a strike-based enforcement program, to improve “player transparency” and clear up confusion; eight strikes over six months results in a one-year ban
Ash Parrish / The Verge :
Southeast Asian giant Sea's stock fell 29%, its largest single-day drop, wiping out nearly $10B to hit a $23B market cap, down ~$180B from a November 2021 peak
- Singapore e-commerce stock drops to lowest ever as sales slow — Competition intensifies as Alibaba, TikTok gain shopping users
Sama CEO Wendy Gonzalez says the company will no longer take on harmful content moderation work from Meta and she regrets the work, after staff sue the company
A firm which was contracted to moderate Facebook posts in East Africa has said with hindsight it should not have taken on the job.
OpenAI says the company has been using GPT-4 to enforce its content policies and says some of its customers are already using the LLM for content moderation
Can ChatGPT become a content moderator? Semafor https://www.semafor.com/... X: @openai : We've seen great results using GPT-4 for content policy development and content moderation, enabling more cons...
Epic Games expands its Epic Online Services crossplay tools from PC to PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch, helping developers more easily add crossplay multiplayer
The change could mean that developers will be able to more easily bring crossplay multiplayer to their games.
PayPal plans to “temporarily pause” letting UK users buy crypto from October 1, to work on complying with new regulations, and restart support in “early 2024”
Payments giant PayPal (PYPL.O) will stop allowing UK customers to buy cryptocurrencies through its platform …
Google adds an experimental browsing feature that summarizes page content to Search Generative Experience, first in the Google mobile app for Search Labs users
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch :
At a White House roundtable, the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau touts Fair Credit Reporting Act rules to crack down on harmful data broker practices
like payment history or criminal history — as a consumer report under the FCRA. That would trigger new accountability requirements. Tonya Riley / @tonyajoriley : The 2nd proposed rule would clarify ex...
Two directors quit Nextdoor after the DOJ raised concerns over also serving on Pinterest's board; filing says Leslie Kilgore and Andrea Wishom left on August 1
- DOJ is cracking down on directors serving on rival companies
An OSHA investigation and 11 interviews: Amazon's in-house first aid clinics put warehouse staff at risk by keeping them working and not referring them to care
A WIRED investigation and federal citations show how first aid clinics in Amazon warehouses sometimes direct injured employees … X: @tonyajoriley , @lfelizleon , and @jbarab X: Tonya Riley / @tonyajor...
The US Commerce Department forms a team of financiers from Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, KKR, and other Wall Street firms to help allocate $39B in chip subsidies
Talent from Goldman Sachs, KKR and Blackstone will help determine how $39 billion in semiconductor chip subsidies are allocated
GOP House Financial Services Committee lawmakers demand that SEC Chair Gary Gensler explain how Prometheum won its unique approval as a broker-dealer for crypto
Jesse Hamilton / CoinDesk :
Sources: UK PM Rishi Sunak is planning an AI summit later in 2023 to host G7 leaders and tech executives; the historic Bletchley Park is a possible venue
- Premier mulls WWII code-breaking site to gather CEOs, leaders — Wants global approach to establish ‘guardrails’ around AI X: @bloomberguk and @ellenamilligan X: @bloomberguk : Rishi Sunak has spent...
Binance plans to shut down its fiat-to-crypto service Binance Connect, formerly known as Bifinity, that supported payment methods including Visa and Mastercard
Helene Braun / CoinDesk :
YouTube updates YouTube Music on iOS and Android with Samples, a music discovery feed featuring vertically cropped, 30-second clips uploaded directly by artists
Abner Li / 9to5Google :
WhatsApp beta for Android now lets a limited group of testers use generative AI to create custom stickers; inappropriate stickers can be reported to Meta
and doing a better job with it, too Omer Dursun / Neowin : WhatsApp is testing a new feature that let users create stickers with AI via text prompts Arol Wright / Android Police : WhatsApp is testing ...
Nielsen: in July, linear TV made up less than 50% of all US TV usage, a first in over two years of tracking, and streaming hit a record 38.7% high of TV usage
Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter :
YouTube starts mass removing videos promoting “cancer treatments proven to be harmful or ineffective” or discouraging “seeking professional medical treatment”
Netflix begins a “limited beta test” of its cloud-streamed games on the web, TVs, and streaming devices from Roku, LG, Amazon, and more, in Canada and the UK
Hollywood, Florida-based ClassWallet, which offers a digital wallet-based purchasing and reimbursement service for public funds, raised $95M led by Guidepost
PYMNTS.com :
Setapp, known for its Mac and iOS app subscription service, plans to open an alternative iOS and iPadOS app store in 2024 in the EU, taking advantage of the DMA
Filing: Samsung sold ~3.55M ASML shares from April to June 2023, more than halving its holding from 1.6% to 0.7%, or 2.75M shares, and reportedly raising ~$2.2B
Bloomberg :
Drones, cameras, apps, robots, and ML are helping speed up huge construction projects; one company expects to cut up to 5% off a UK railroad project's $11B cost
an industry stereotypically known for clipboards and Excel spreadsheets — the rapid embrace of the technology may change how quickly projects... @dustyrobotics : We're thrilled to be in @nytimes today...
Layer 1 blockchain startup ZetaChain raised $27M from Blockchain.com and others and plans to launch its mainnet soon; ZetaChain has 27K+ dApp contracts deployed
Ryan Weeks / The Block :
Comcast launches the Xfinity Storm-Ready WiFi, a cellular backup internet device to weather storms and power outages, for $252, or $7 per month for 36 months
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge :
By the end of August, the EU plans to use the DSA to force online platforms with 45M+ EU users to prove they are ensuring their products aren't harming children
Glazed eyes. One syllable responses. The steady tinkle of beeps and buzzes coming out of a smartphone's speakers.
Filing: BAM Trading, which runs Binance.US, seeks a protective order limiting the US SEC to four depositions and accusing the agency of “a fishing expedition”
GOP Representative Don Bacon says the FBI told him on August 14 that Chinese spies hacked into his email accounts when other Microsoft accounts were breached
Ampere: in 2023, console video game players will spend $21B on in-game items and subscriptions, as “live service games” make the market more akin to mobile
Tim Bradshaw / Financial Times : X: @eleanorolcott X: Eleanor Olcott / @eleanorolcott : Always amazes me how many gamers spend more money dressing their avatar than themselves. Interesting piece from...
Sources: as part of the US DOJ's two-year Visa investigation, officials are looking at the company charging merchants more for not using its “tokenization” tool
Bloomberg :
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Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control
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Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.