Matthias Bastian / The Decoder: Meta launches MusicGen, an open-source AI model to generate short pieces of music using text prompts that can optionally be aligned to an existing melody  —  Meta’s MusicGen can generate short new pieces of music based on text prompts, which can optionally be aligned to an existing melody. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Newley Purnell / Wall Street Journal: Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft haven’t rolled out their AI chatbots in Hong Kong, adding to a slow creep of tech companies treating the city like mainland China  —  Google and OpenAI haven’t rolled out AI chatbots to city, putting it alongside mainland China and North Korea Lees verder op Tech Meme

Cecilia D’Anastasio / Bloomberg: Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer says he does not “feel an imperative” from users to release a major Xbox upgrade, preferring instead the “hardware we have”  —  Microsoft Corp.’s video gaming chief Phil Spencer said he doesn’t “feel an imperative” to come out with a major upgrade of its Xbox game console. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Benj Edwards / Ars Technica: A tech reporter on why he bought a 2023 World Book Encyclopedia printed set: nostalgia, permanence, and no AI or human tampering, link rot, or stealth edits  —  The still-updated World Book Encyclopedia is my antidote to the information apocalypse.  —  These days, many of us live online … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Guy Chazan / Financial Times: Germany’s finance minister says there is no money in the country’s budget to meet Intel’s demand for €10B in subsidies for its €17B plant in Magdeburg, Germany  —  Christian Lindner’s refusal to meet US chipmaker’s financial demands causes split within government Lees verder op Tech Meme

Guy Chazan / Financial Times: Germany’s finance minister says there is no money in the country’s budget to meet Intel’s demand for €10B in subsidies for its €17B plant in Magdeburg, Germany  —  Christian Lindner’s refusal to meet US chipmaker’s financial demands causes split within government Lees verder op Tech Meme

Simon Parkin / The Guardian: An interview with Philip Rosedale, who launched the online world Second Life in 2003 and says his vision predates Neal Stephenson’s 1992 coinage of “metaverse”  —  Mark Zuckerberg’s grand vision for an online existence has been laughed off as a corporate folly. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Guy Chazan / Financial Times: Germany’s finance minister says there is no money in the country’s budget to meet Intel’s demand for €10B in subsidies for its €17B plant in Magdeburg, Germany  —  Christian Lindner’s refusal to meet US chipmaker’s financial demands causes split within government Lees verder op Tech Meme