Tech Meme

Mercedes Ruehl / Financial Times: Letters: the US and EU warn Malaysia over national security and foreign investment risks if the government gives Huawei a role in the country’s 5G network  —  Kuala Lumpur’s review of tender tests ability to juggle relations with the west and China  —  The EU and US have warned Malaysia … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Chris Welch / The Verge: Sources detail Amazon’s canceled plan to make Halo a success; the sophisticated AI-based fitness service was undone due to “significant headwinds” and low sales  —  A redesigned Halo service was due this fall with an AI-powered personal trainer, celebrity-led fitness classes, and even Apple Watch support. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Preetika Rana / Wall Street Journal: Uber reports Q1 revenue up 29% YoY to $8.82B, gross bookings up 19% YoY to $31.4B, $761M in adjusted EBITDA, up from $593M in Q1 2022, and a $157M loss  —  Ride-hailing leader predicts continuing growth for current quarter  —  Continued demand for Uber Technologies ‘ ride-share … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Lucas Ropek / Gizmodo: The Writers Guild of America calls for a strike after negotiations with Netflix, Apple, Amazon, and others over pay and AI issues failed; around 12K may strike  —  The entertainment industry is in the throes of a labor dispute and more than a few of the sticking points involve recent technological changes. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Mia Sato / The Verge: Music labels are taking down AI voice clone songs from streaming services by citing copyright infringement, an approach experts say is not so straightforward  —  Major record labels are going after AI-generated songs, arguing copyright infringement.  Legal experts say the approach is far from straightforward. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Tage Kene-Okafor / TechCrunch: Nigerian payment service provider Nomba raised a $30M pre-Series B led by Base 10 Partners at a $150M+ valuation, per YC, following a $5M Series A in 2019  —  Nigerian payment service provider Nomba has raised $30 million in a pre-Series B investment to support the delivery of bespoke payment solutions for African businesses. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Lizette Chapman / Bloomberg: Bolt co-founder Ryan Breslow launches Love.com, a marketplace with 600+ health supplements that raised $15M+; Breslow famously attacked Stripe’s founders  —  Wellness startup Love, the latest company co-founded by Silicon Valley’s favorite provocateur Ryan Breslow, is open for business. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Will Douglas Heaven / MIT Technology Review: A profile and interview of Geoffrey Hinton, who laid the foundations for LLMs via backpropagation, worked with OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, and more  —  “I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us.” Lees verder op Tech Meme

Kris Holt / Engadget: BeReal rolls out RealPeople, a curated timeline of “the world’s most interesting people”, first to the UK, as the startup seeks to reverse slowing growth  —  Days after it started offering users the option to post more than once per day, BeReal is rolling out another new feature. Lees verder op Tech Meme

New York Times: An Amnesty report details Israel’s Red Wolf facial recognition system at checkpoints in Hebron and East Jerusalem, helping restrict Palestinians’ movements  —  The Israeli government is using computer vision to monitor Palestinian travel across checkpoints, according to the report. Lees verder op Tech Meme