Tech Meme

Yaling Jiang / Wired: Experts say that China’s mostly government-led metaverse efforts are more about supporting the economy, health care, and industry than about consumer services  —  The government wants the metaverse to be less about having fun and shopping and more about health care and industry. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Competition and Markets Authority: The UK CMA blocks Microsoft’s $68.7B Activision acquisition, citing concerns about competition and innovation in the UK gaming market; Microsoft plans to appeal  —  The CMA has prevented Microsoft’s proposed purchase of Activision over concerns the deal would alter the future … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Brian Fung / CNN: US senators unveil a bipartisan bill that bans kids under 13 from joining social media and requires tech companies to get parental consent for teen accounts  —  A new federal bill unveiled Wednesday would establish a national minimum age for social media use and require tech companies … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Allison Johnson / The Verge: Lenovo announces the $699 Lenovo ThinkPhone by Motorola, with ThinkPad-compatible productivity features, available to enterprises now and unlocked on April 28  —  The Lenovo ThinkPhone by Motorola is available in the US starting today for $699, offering a suite of productivity features designed to work with ThinkPad laptops. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Dan Strumpf / Wall Street Journal: Experts say 5G’s next iteration, 5.5G, could help autonomous cars, drones, factories, and more, but consumers may not see many applications beyond faster speeds  —  Mobile companies say an upgrade is coming in a couple of years that will boost connection speeds amid flagging consumer interest Lees verder op Tech Meme

Madeline Ashby / Wired: How Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith, a fair use case before SCOTUS, could impact how copyright law is applied to what AI tools can do with human-made works  —  The US Supreme Court’s upcoming decision could shift the interpretation of fair use law—and all the people, and tools, that turn to it for protection. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Theo Wayt / The Information: Sources: Andy Jassy picks 14-year Amazon veteran Eric Rimling as his technical adviser, a coveted two-year position; Jassy was Bezos’ adviser in the early 2000s  —  Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has picked Eric Rimling, a 14-year veteran of the company’s fulfillment operation, as his new technical adviser … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Bloomberg: Alibaba Cloud plans to cut its core product costs by 15% to 50% on May 7; Alibaba has 200K+ requests from businesses for the beta of its Tongyi Qianwen AI model  —  Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is cutting the cost of its cloud services by as much as half, a move that could win users from rivals … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Edward Ludlow / Bloomberg: Bosch plans to buy US chipmaker TSI Semiconductors and invest $1.5B+ in its Roseville, California foundry, aiming to make silicon carbide chips there by 2026  —  Robert Bosch GmbH is acquiring US chipmaker TSI Semiconductors and plans to invest more than $1.5 billion in its California foundry … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Angus Loten / Wall Street Journal: PricewaterhouseCoopers plans to invest $1B in generative AI in its US operations over the next three years, working with Microsoft and OpenAI  —  Multiyear investment in U.S. business includes accessing ChatGPT maker OpenAI’s language model, training staff in AI capabilities Lees verder op Tech Meme