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☆ At Shanghai show, auto rivals lure drivers with in-car karaoke, crystal balls
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Casey Hall | Thomson Reuters | Casey Has Reported On China'S Consumer Culture Her Base In Shanghai For More Than A Decade | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] A Zeekr X is displayed at the Auto Shanghai show, in Shanghai, China April 18, 2023. REUTERS/Aly SongSHANGHAI, April 20 (Reuters) - Automakers keen to make a splash at the Shanghai auto show showed off vehicles boasting features from crystal balls to in-car karaoke systems and 3D dashboards, as competition to attract drivers heats up in the world's largest auto market. Chinese automakers have been grabbing market share from foreign rivals in recent years in part by courting drivers with tailored lifestyle services and by releasing new models more quickly. "So many new vehicles, so many new Chinese vehicles looking very good," said Patrick Koller, chief executive of French auto parts supplier Faurecia (EPED.PA). This costs a fortune and it doesn't give you the time to really mature innovations and technology," Koller said.

BuzzFeed wasn't the only digital media company to announce layoffs Thursday. Miller added that going public is probably not the best strategy for digital media companies like Buzzfeed. The news comes during a tough period for digital media companies as publishers are cutting staff as advertisers reduce spending. BuzzFeed will lay off 15% of staff and shut down its news unit, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti wrote in an email to staff Thursday. The digital media company scaled back its news operation in an attempt to make BuzzFeed News profitable, resulting in the departure of several editors.

☆ Elon Musk threatens to sue Microsoft over using Twitter data for its A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Twitter CEO Elon Musk threatened to sue Microsoft on Wednesday, accusing the software giant of illegally using the social media company's data to train its artificial intelligence model. "They trained illegally using Twitter data," Musk tweeted. Microsoft develops its own so-called large language models (LLMs) and sells access to OpenAI's models. Training data from social networks is valuable because it captures informal, back-and-forth conversations. As these new AI models move from research labs and universities into the corporate world, the owners of the data are starting to make demands.

The tech company will begin its latest round of layoffs today, in its Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Reality Labs units, according to Vox, with up to 4,000 positions possibly set to go. Disney will cut thousands of jobs next week, as part of the C.E.O. Commentators and investors said the moves were a long-awaited recognition that Goldman should focus on its strengths. The online chatboard company told The Times that it would start making others pay to use its application programming interface, the method that allows outside entities to download its vast offering of user discussions. projects by tech giants — which must be trained on huge amounts of data — as a reason for the move.

Samsung's S95C 4K TV is the company's latest top-of-the-line OLED TV. Samsung 65-inch S95C 4K OLED TV The S95C is Samsung’s flagship OLED TV for 2023. And best of all, we get that increased brightness while maintaining the perfect black levels that OLED TVs are known for. Samsung S95C 65-inch OLED 4K TV: SpecsSpec Samsung 65-inch S95C 4K OLED TV Resolution 3840x2160p HDR formats HDR10, HDR10+, HLG Panel type QD-OLED (OLED with quantum dots) Refresh rate 120Hz (up to 144Hz PC gaming) Gaming features NVIDIA G-Sync, FreeSync Premium, VRR, ALLM HDMI ports Four HDMI 2.1 ports Remote SolarCell remote with Bixby and Alexa support Dimensions 56.8" (W) x 32.7" (H) x 0.4" (D) without stand Weight 41.7 pounds without standShould you buy the Samsung S95C 4K OLED TV? Steven Cohen/InsiderIf budget isn't a concern and you want the absolute best picture quality on the market, the Samsung S95C should be high on your shopping list.

☆ Reddit to AI companies: Pay up if you're using our content
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Reddit said it plans to start charging companies for access to its data that is used to train AI. Major players in the AI race like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google train AI models using Reddit's data, NYT reported. "The Reddit corpus of data is really valuable," Steve Huffman, cofounder and CEO of Reddit, told The Times. Huffman told The Times that Reddit's API will still be free for developers building applications to help people with using Reddit. Most developers and third parties who use Reddit's API have been notified by email, the company said.

☆ This startup that automates SME invoices with AI just raised $8 million. Check out the 10-slide pitch deck Triver used to raise the fresh funds.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The startup was founded by former Funding Circle executive Jerome Le Luel and is backed by Stride.vc. A London-based startup that will provide instant working capital to SMEs has emerged from stealth with an $8 million funding round. Like most forms of short-term working capital, financing solutions for the SME market are often expensive and time-consuming. Most providers run checks based on e-commerce data, but Le Luel believes that Open Banking data allows for better risk and analytics modeling. The company wants to launch its platform within this quarter and said that it had a "line-of-sight" to a very profitable business by 2027.

☆ Activist investor urges Getty to partner with Meta, Microsoft to grow revenue
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Meta Platforms Inc's logo is seen on a smartphone in this illustration picture taken October 28, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationApril 17 (Reuters) - Activist investor Trillium Capital said on Monday stock-photo company Getty Images Holdings Inc (GETY.N) should expand and create partnerships with technology firms and publishers to grow its revenue. Last week, Trillium asked Getty for a board seat and urged the company to evaluate strategic options including a sale. The investor, which holds more than 500,000 shares of Getty, said the platform should expand its library of generic stock photos to special events including religious functions, weddings, graduations and family celebrations. Trillium also listed Nvidia, Microsoft, Adobe and Meta as potential takeover suitors for the company.

☆ Tencent says its self-developed video transcoding chip enters mass production
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HONG KONG, April 17 (Reuters) - Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) said on Monday its self-developed video transcoding chip Canghai has entered mass production and is currently supporting services from cloud gaming to video live streaming. The Canghai chip "focuses on solving the impossible triangle of high image quality, low latency, and low cost in video encoding and decoding", the company said in the post. Besides Canghai, Tencent has also designed an artificial intelligence chip named Zixiao and a network interface controller chip called Xuanling. The company said its AI inference chip Zixiao, which aims to accelerate computing efficiency, has been deployed in handling internal businesses. Meanwhile, its Xuanling chip is now helping the company “build the next generation of high-performance network infrastructure".

☆ How to deal with a difficult manager and move up at work, according to Ancestry CEO Deb Liu
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Deb Liu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

I have been a difficult manager to more than one person in my career, and I have also worked under more than one difficult manager. Some of the managers I found the most difficult to work with were people who others found to be amazing mentors and sponsors. When you've recently changed managers, setting a strong foundation for your working relationship should always be the first thing you do. Many times, you will see a broken manager-direct report relationship due to extremely different work styles. Difficult manager relationships are difficult because they are a meeting of two people who come from entirely different points of view.

☆ Elon Musk edges closer to his 'everything app' dream as Twitter enables trading via eToro
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Twitter has partnered with brokerage firm eToro to give users more financial data. The collaboration is a step toward Musk's plans to create an "everything app." The new feature will begin appearing in the app on Thursday, eToro disclosed to CNBC. Twitter's new trading feature comes after Musk merged Twitter under the X Corp this week and filed for regulatory licenses that would facilitate in-app payments. Musk has plans to create a go-to app for a variety of services, and in October, he tweeted, "Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app."

☆ Twitter partners with eToro to let users trade stocks, crypto as Musk pushes app into finance
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk told a Morgan Stanley conference last month he wants Twitter to become "the biggest financial institution in the world." Twitter will let its users access stocks, cryptocurrencies and other financial assets through a partnership with eToro, a social trading company. With the eToro partnership, Twitter cashtags will be expanded to cover far more instruments and asset classes, an eToro spokesperson told CNBC. We believe this partnership will enable us to reach those new audiences [and] connect better the brands of Twitter and eToro." Founded in Israel in 2007, eToro is an online brokerage that lets users buy and sell stocks, cryptocurrencies and index funds.

☆ Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has recovered $7.3 bln in assets
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

April 12 (Reuters) - Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has recovered over $7.3 billion in cash and liquid crypto assets, an increase of more than $800 million since January, the company's attorney said on Wednesday at a U.S. bankruptcy court hearing in Delaware. FTX's new CEO John Ray has detailed improper fund transfers and poor accounting at the collapsed crypto exchange, describing it as a "complete failure" of controls. He offered few details on what a reboot might mean for FTX customers whose crypto deposits have been locked up during the bankruptcy case. FTX would need significant capital to restart its crypto exchange, because the existing customer interface had little connection to the movement of money behind the scenes, the lawyer said. It is not clear whether FTX should use its own funds to re-start the exchange, rather than using the money to repay customers, Dietderich said.

☆ India's PhonePe raises another $100 mln from General Atlantic, other investors
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, April 12 (Reuters) - Walmart Inc (WMT.N)-owned Indian payments firm PhonePe on Wednesday said it had raised an additional $100 million from General Atlantic and other investors as part of its ongoing $1 billion fundraise to expand into the lucrative lending space. With the latest round, PhonePe, India's most valuable payments firm with an estimated value of $12 billion, has raised $650 million across four tranches from its backers, including Tiger Global. General Atlantic had invested $350 million in the fintech during the same funding round in January. At over 46%, PhonePe in March had the largest market share among applications running the unified payments interface (UPI) digital payments system, per data from the National Payments Corporation of India. Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Sohini GoswamiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ A gaming historian talked to us about the last 2 decades of the industry. Here's what he's seen change.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Insider Studios With Dell Technologies | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

From the beginning, said Goyanes — an official Alienware brand historian — "our founders were gamers" who "took insights from gamers very, very seriously." Yet when Goyanes began working for Alienware, social media was in its infancy. But mostly, he stresses, gamers today are a diverse community. "What you can do with lighting, I think it's certainly the best thing we've ever released on a gaming laptop in our entire history," Goyanes said. Learn more about the new Alienware x16 Gaming Laptop.

☆ Elon Musk said he dresses his Shiba Inu, who he says is the CEO of Twitter, like Elizabeth Holmes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Aditi Bharade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk insisted multiple times during a BBC interview that his dog is Twitter's CEO. Musk quipped that his Shiba Inu, Floki, is the one in charge of the company. During a live interview on Twitter Spaces with BBC journalist James Clayton, Musk kept correcting Clayton when the latter called Musk Twitter's CEO. The BBC interview was one of several occasions that Musk has joked about his dog being Twitter CEO. On April 3, Musk replaced Twitter's bird logo with the Shiba Inu — or doge — meme.

☆ Warner Bros. Discovery unveils 'Max' super-streaming service
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The new service, announced by CEO David Zaslav at a press event Wednesday, will launch May 23 and give consumers access to a large library of programming across Warner Bros. Discovery’s sprawling portfolio: Warner Bros., HBO, HGTV, Food Network, Cartoon Network, TLC and others. The ad-free version will cost $15.99, the price of the company’s existing HBO Max service. Warner Bros. Discovery's forthcoming "Max" streaming service Courtesy of Max“We are a global leader in sports and we are a global leader in news,” Zaslav said. Warner Bros.

☆ Google TV gets 800 free channels
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Google announced that starting Tuesday it's adding more than 800 free channels to its Google TV app on the Chromecast streaming device and select TVs made by Sony, CL, Hisense and Philips. Google's aggregation of several existing free TV services like Fox's Tubi, Paramount Global's Pluto TV and Haystack News is a move to differentiate its streaming operating interface from competitors, including Roku , Apple and Amazon . The Alphabet unit said it is integrating free channels into the "Live" tab where users will see content from channels like NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX. The service is launching in the U.S. on all Google TV devices. Eligible Android TV devices will be able to access the new TV guide and free channels later this year.

☆ Elon Musk further teased his ambition to turn Twitter into an 'everything app' with a cryptic tweet a week after the company merged into X Corp
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk simply tweeted "X" a week after Twitter Inc merged into his X Corp Holdings. Musk has said X will be an "everything app," and has applied for financial licenses for Twitter. "Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app," the billionaire tweeted three weeks before his acquisition went through last October. The Twitter chief developed an affinity for the letter back in the 1990s, founding the company "X.com" which later became PayPal. That seems to include a payment service, as Twitter applied for regulatory licenses after his takeover, per the Financial Times.

☆ YouTube has revealed its NFL Sunday Ticket pricing — and it won't come cheap
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Will Gendron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Last year, YouTube secured the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket. Pricing will begin at $249 for YouTube TV subscribers and go up to $489 for non-subscribers. In a press release, YouTube announced that it is offering pre-sale packages to Sunday Ticket starting at $249 for YouTube TV subscribers and going up to $349 for non-subscribers. Afterwards, the price jumps up by $50 for YouTube TV subscribers and $100 for non-subscribers. Here is a breakdown of the pricing structure:Sunday Ticket via YouTube TV: $349/season ($249 presale)Sunday Ticket + NFL RedZone via YouTube TV: $389/season ($289 presale)Sunday Ticket via YouTube Primetime Channels: $449/season ($349 presale)Sunday Ticket + NFL RedZone via YouTube Primetime Channels: $489/season ($389 presale)YouTube TV subscribers can also get access to RedZone through the Sports Plus add-on, which costs $10.99 per month.

☆ Alphabet's A.I. frenzy hits startup scene as CapitalG unit leads $100 million investment in AlphaSense
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Google's hefty investment in artificial intelligence and the latest boom in generative AI doesn't end with its homegrown products. Alphabet's late-stage venture capital arm, CapitalG, told CNBC that it just led a $100 million investment in corporate data firm AlphaSense, valuing the company at $1.8 billion. Generative AI wasn't a talking point in the prior two rounds because the term hadn't yet jumped into the popular lexicon. Generative AI has been the one bright spot this year, turning rather frothy in some corners. He said the money will also help AlphaSense improve its technology, taking advantage of advances in generative AI.

☆ Elon Musk painted over the 'w' on Twitter's sign at its San Francisco headquarters, changing it to 'Titter'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Aditi Bharade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk painted over the "w" in Twitter's name on the sign outside its San Francisco headquarters. He said Twitter's landlord told the company that the sign was legally required to read as "Twitter." In a tweet on Sunday, the social media platform's CEO posted a picture of the sign with the "w" painted over in white to blend in with the background. "Elon Musk, in a remarkable show of maturity, has removed the "w" from Twitter's logo outside their San Francisco HQ," LeGate's caption read. Musk has made several drastic changes to the company's San Francisco headquarters since he took over Twitter.

The Roku Plus Series QLED 4K TV is the flagship model in Roku's first lineup of in-house TVs. Now the company is taking on those same partners by building its own in-house Roku TVs, including the new flagship Roku Plus Series QLED. As you might guess, Roku's Plus Series feels strikingly familiar inside and out. Roku 65-inch Plus Series 4K QLED TV Roku's new Plus Series is one of the company's first in-house smart TVs. The Roku Plus Series TV delivers solid performance, but it's not worth buying at full price.

☆ TikTok is quietly rolling out affiliate commissions for US creators in its shopping program
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Dan Whateley | Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

TikTok is in the early stages of testing an affiliate program for US creators via its Shop product. TikTok is beginning to pay US creators a commission for promoting products on its app through its new TikTok Shop program, a company spokesperson confirmed to Insider. Meta-owned Instagram, for instance, has scaled back some of its shopping efforts including its own native affiliate program for creators and live shopping. TikTok is offering various incentives to promote TikTok Shop in the US. TikTok is fully or partially subsidizing these discounts as it seeks to promote its TikTok Shop program, two sellers in the marketplace told Insider.

☆ Walmart's new website design might look familiar to Amazon users
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Ben Tobin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The redesign offers a "product-focused experience," according to Walmart's e-commerce lead. Walmart's new website and app represent its latest move to try to gain ground on rival Amazon. At the end of the company's second quarter in 2020, it reported e-commerce year-over-year sales growth of 97%. For comparison, Walmart's e-commerce sales grew a healthy, but not as remarkable, 17% year-over-year in the most recent quarter. What do you think of Walmart's redesign?

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