Tech Meme

Takashi Mochizuki / Bloomberg: Ahead of the Switch 2, Nintendo is branching out to use its characters in cinema, theme parks, and merch in a Disney-like way to create more consistent revenue  —  Tech Across the Globe … Sequoia Capital and Spark Capital are in talks to co-lead the round.  —  Revalued Lees verder op Tech Meme

Financial Times: The Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s flagship AI agency, plans to focus on defense, environment, and health, after staff criticized its leadership in December  —  Chief of Britain’s flagship AI agency says ‘big strategic’ shift is needed  —  Britain’s flagship artificial intelligence agency … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Megan Specia / New York Times: How some UK parents created a “Smartphone Free Childhood” pledge, signed by 124K+ people, after the UK government watered down a bill banning phones in schools  —  In Britain, amid growing evidence of harm to young people from extreme content online, a “Smartphone Free Childhood” campaign is going viral. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Stephen Nellis / Reuters: Lightmatter, which uses silicon photonics to move data in chips via light, unveils an interposer and chiplet for AI chips; the startup has raised $850M so far  —  Lightmatter, a startup valued at $4.4 billion, on Monday released two pieces of technology aimed at speeding up the connections between artificial intelligence chips. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg: Samsung says TM Roh, who oversees mobile, will temporarily step into a broader role overseeing its consumer electronics, after the death of co-CEO Han Jong-Hee  —  Roh will fill the vacancy at the top of Samsung’s Device Experience group until the company’s board approves a formal successor to Han … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch: OpenAI’s new GPT-4o-powered image generator is now available to all users; Sam Altman last week mentioned a limit of three images per day for free-tier users  —  OpenAI’s new image generator, powered by its GPT-4o model, is now available to all users, CEO Sam Altman said in a post on X … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Wency Chen / South China Morning Post: Microsoft closes its IoT & AI Insider Lab in Shanghai, opened in May 2019, reflecting a broader pullback from China amid geopolitical tensions with the US  —  The IoT & AI Insider Lab in the Zhangjiang hi-tech zone likely closed in January or February, nearby workers say Lees verder op Tech Meme

Washington Post: Uncertainty around high-skilled visas is unsettling Silicon Valley’s immigrant tech community, as tech companies tell employees on visas not to leave the US  —  Uncertainty around high-skilled visas is rattling the immigrant tech community in Silicon Valley long viewed as one of the key pillars of U.S. innovation. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Bloomberg: With the Switch 2, Nintendo must do what it has rarely done before: follow one hit console with another; Nintendo sold 150M+ Switch units since its 2017 launch  —  The Japanese gaming giant is about to release its latest console.  The stakes have never been higher to end the boom-bust cycle that’s plagued the company for years. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Lam Le / Rest of World: A look at Shanghai municipal government-backed SpaceSail, a satellite internet company that has launched ~90 satellites so far and plans to have 15,000 by 2030  —  The Shanghai satellite company is launching deals in countries where Starlink, X or Tesla are creating friction. Lees verder op Tech Meme