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☆ Microsoft's stock hits record after executives predict $10 billion in annual A.I. revenue
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft shares climbed to a record Thursday after analysts at JPMorgan Chase touted the software maker's growth prospects in artificial intelligence. AI has been a hot topic all year, after Microsoft-backed OpenAI in November released the ChatGPT chatbot, which quickly went viral. In the past four quarters, Microsoft has generated almost $208 billion in total revenue. Negative sentiment around cloud growth and a contracting PC market led to pessimism on Wall Street last year. But the excitement around AI in addition to the cost-cutting measures that tech companies implemented produced a renewed bullishness.

Persons: Bing Chatbot, Satya Nadella, Amy Hood, Kevin Scott, Hood, Scott, MSFT Organizations: Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase, Nasdaq, Tech, JPMorgan, Security Locations: OpenAI

☆ Oil prices dip after unexpected rise in US crude stocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SummarySummary Companies U.S. crude oil stocks rise by 1 mln barrels last week -APIMarkets watching Federal Reserve meetingOPEC+ grants Russia slightly higher oil production baselineComing up: EIA data on U.S. stockpiles at 1430 GMTJune 14(Reuters) - Oil prices inched lower on Wednesday after industry data showed an unexpected rise in U.S. crude stocks, signalling weak demand to markets already worried about recession and disappointing Chinese economic data. Prices fell by 4% on Monday on concerns about the Chinese economy after disappointing economic data last week. U.S. crude oil stocks rose by about 1 million barrels in the week ended June 9, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday, contrary to the average estimate for a 510,000 million barrel decline according to analysts polled by Reuters. Market participants were also closely watching a Federal Reserve meeting, which has no pre-determined interest rate hike on the table. Meanwhile, OPEC+ has granted Russia a slightly higher oil production baseline, meaning Russia can produce more under the latest quotas than previously agreed.

Persons: Arathy Somasekhar, Stephen Coates Organizations: Brent, . West Texas, American Petroleum Institute, Reuters, Government, Federal Reserve, Bank of Canada, European Central Bank, Bank of Japan, Thomson Locations: Russia, U.S, OPEC

☆ The Reddit blackout shows no signs of stopping
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A widespread Reddit blackout affecting some of the site’s largest communities has continued into its third day with no signs of stopping, as a number of groups on the site vowed to remain closed off indefinitely to protest changes to the platform’s data policies. The blackout includes popular forums such as r/aww, r/videos and r/music, each of which claims more than 25 million subscribers on the platform. For Reddit, the stakes are also high to grow revenue, as the company reportedly looks to go public later this year. Huffman reportedly dismissed the blackout in a leaked internal memo obtained by The Verge. As of Wednesday morning, many groups participating in the blackout had lifted their self-imposed restrictions.

Persons: didn’t, Reddit, Steve Huffman, ” Huffman, Elon Musk, Huffman Organizations: CNN Locations: Reddit

☆ Reddit CEO warns employees not to wear Reddit swag in public as users revolt
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Paul Squire | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Reddit's CEO is warning employees not to wear branded gear in public as users stage a mass revolt. "Like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well," Huffman told employees. In an internal memo obtained by The Verge, Huffman told employees to "please be mindful" of wearing Reddit gear. The developer of Apollo, a hugely popular third-party app, said the changes would cost them millions and force them to shut down. The loss of third-party apps would force users onto the official Reddit app, where they'd have to deal with advertisements.

Persons: Steve Huffman shrugged, Huffman, Steve Huffman, Reddit, they'd, hasn't Organizations: Morning, Wall Street Journal

☆ Reddit users are going on a 48-hour blackout. Here are the biggest subreddits that won't be available during this time.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Lina Batarags | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Reddit users are going on a 48-hour blackout starting today, June 12. Twenty-four subreddits with more than 20 million users a piece are currently affected. Reddit users are going on a 48-hour blackout starting today, June 12, and it's affecting some of the site's most popular subreddits. In total, 7,266 subreddits are going to be taking part in the blackout, per the Reddit post. They range in size from fewer than 5,000 users to more than 40 million users.

Persons: Reddit, Insider's Jyoti Mann, Mann Organizations: BBC Locations: Reddit

☆ Explainer: Reddit protest: Why are thousands of subreddits going dark?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Subreddits such as r/Music, r/gaming, r/science and r/todayilearned - all with more than 30 million subscribers - are participating. Unlike most other social media platforms, Reddit is heavily dependent on community moderators, "or mods", who police their subreddits for free to weed out offensive or illegal content. What are third-party app developers saying? Elon Musk's Twitter in January restricted all third-party clients and apps and updated their rules for developers accessing its APIs. Reporting by Tiyashi Datta, Akash Sriram and Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika SyamnathOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Reddit, Steve Huffman, Christian Selig, Huffman, Elon, Tiyashi Datta, Akash Sriram, Jaspreet Singh, Devika Organizations: Apple Inc, Microsoft, New York Times, Elon Musk's Twitter, Twitter, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Reddit API charges spark community outrage, dayslong blackout
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Steve Huffman, CEO of Reddit, delivers remarks on 'Redesigning Reddit' during the Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, Nov. 8, 2017. More than 6,000 Reddit communities have gone dark and are restricting access to protest the changes to the company's developer billing structure, beginning Monday morning. The blackout comes after Reddit told developers that it would begin to charge thousands of dollars for access to an application programming interface, or API. Among the concerns for the blackout organizers is allowing third-party apps to run advertising for the third-party developer's benefit. Developers use APIs to communicate directly with a website's software or infrastructure, and they allow Reddit's third-party developer ecosystem to build applications and services for users.

Persons: Steve Huffman, Reddit, Condé Nast, Elon Musk, Christian Selig Organizations: Advance Publications, Charter Communications, Warner Bros ., Twitter Locations: Lisbon, Portugal

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Amazon's AI scramble
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Hallam Bullock | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The OpenAI CEO says he is losing sleep over the fear that "we already have done something really bad by launching ChatGPT." When ChatGPT launched, Amazon managers asked staff for ideas on how to leverage the chatbot at work. "Amazon must be really scared about being late on all of this," an Amazon employee told Insider. Odds and ends:Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, showed off his guitar skills at Apple's WWDC conference this year. During the company's Worldwide Developers Conference, Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, stole the show with a guitar solo.

Persons: Hallam Bullock, Victor Frankenstein, Sam Altman, ChatGPT, Eugene Kim, Insider's Ben Bergman, We've, we've, Thrasio, doesn't, Read, Craig Federighi, Apple’s, Apple's, Dad, Jack Sommers Organizations: Amazon, ChatGPT, Getty, Elon, SpaceX, SpaceX's Starlink, Tech, LA Tech, The Washington Post, Netflix, Apple, Conference Locations: London

☆ What you need to know about the 48-hour Reddit user blackout, which kicks off today and affects more than 7,000 subreddits
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Nidhi Pandurangi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

As of press time, the moderators of 7,266 subreddits are expected to stage a blackout on Monday, according to a Reddit post. Why are Reddit users protesting right now? According to the ELI5 post, these third-party apps scraped Reddit posts by using something called the Application Programming Interface, or API. How are Reddit users protesting? Reddit users are protesting by making certain subreddits inaccessible to users for 48 hours.

Persons: —, Reddit's, Reddit Organizations: BBC

☆ Thousands of Reddit communities go dark to protest company’s controversial new policy
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Thousands of Reddit forums are going dark Monday in one of the largest user-driven protests ever to hit the social media platform. For years, Reddit users could browse posts, write comments and share pictures and video on Reddit from third-party apps. Some users have said they were not even aware it is possible to access Reddit from third-party apps. Twitter’s move prompted an outcry from third-party app makers, misinformation researchers and public service account-holders who said the move would harm transparency and accessibility. For Reddit and its future shareholders, the company’s value derives from the infrastructure the site provides for conversation.

Persons: Reddit, Christian Selig, Selig, Steve Huffman, ” Huffman, Elon Musk, Twitter’s, reddit, “ I’ve Organizations: CNN, Twitter Locations: Reddit

☆ Opinion | America Has a Chance to Make Farming More Climate Friendly
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Robert B. Semple Jr. | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +14 min

Why, when we think of climate change, do we think of big oil, not big ag; Exxon and not Tyson? It’s time you met the big ag lobby, one of the most powerful influences on policy in America. But when we started digging into the big ag lobby, we discovered it’s basically — “The most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. So the big ag lobby has one key aim — block environmental regulation. I absolutely envy how good these lobbyists are at their job.” It’s outrageous what the big ag lobby has gotten away with.

Persons: “, Peter Lehner, He’s, I’m, It’s, Tyson, Jennifer Jacquet, She’s, Peter, she’s, ”, Zippy Duvall, “ —, John Boehner, —, You’ve, Waxman, Markey, Obama, American Farm Bureau Federation didn’t, ” —, JBS, don’t, they’re, Chuck Schumer, Cory Booker, I’ve, they’ve Organizations: Agriculture, ExxonMobil, Shell, Exxon, Washington , D.C, American Farm Bureau Federation, Capitol, U.S . Farmers, Tyson, New York Times, Republican, Senate’s Agriculture, pharma Locations: America, United States, Lake Erie, U.S, China, Washington ,, Kyoto, Senate’s

☆ Reddit users are planning a 48-hour blackout to protest its new pricing policy
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Users are protesting Reddit's new pricing policy that charges third-party apps for using its API. Nearly 3,500 subreddit forums are set to go private for 48 hours on Monday to protest Reddit's new pricing policy, BBC News reported. The user also wrote that if Reddit didn't "fix what they've broken" then the community would take further action. Its developer, Christian Selig, said in a Reddit post that it's being asked by the platform to pay $0.24 for every 1,000 requests to its API. The pricing policy will take effect from July 1.

Persons: Steve Huffman, Reddit, Toptomcat, aren't, Huffman, Christian Selig, Reddit didn't Organizations: BBC News, Google, Microsoft, New York Times

☆ Popular Reddit client Apollo will shut down after talks over new developer fees got 'ugly,' with allegations of blackmail
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Apollo, a popular third-party app for accessing Reddit, announced it will shut down June 30. The creator of Apollo said the new pricing policy would cost his app $20 million a year. The Apollo app has been swept up in this battle, which technically revolves around access to Reddit's application programming interface. Elon Musk has cracked down on API access, tooReddit is not the only company that's had enough of this. Twitter began clamping down on API access after Elon Musk acquired the company for $44 billion.

Persons: Reddit, Apollo, Steve Huffman, Christian Selig, Selig, Huffman, Elon Musk, that's Organizations: The New York Times, Google, Street, Twitter, Elon, Microsoft, Apollo

☆ Banking-as-a-service fintech Griffin just raised $13.5 million. Check out the 15-slide pitch deck it used to land the fresh funds.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Banking-as-a-service startup Griffin just raised $13.5 million in fresh funds. The startup enables businesses to skip the process of finding a banking partner. Check out the 15-slide pitch deck Griffin used to raise the Series A round below. British fintech startup Griffin has raised $13.5 million in fresh funds just months after it secured a UK banking license. Griffin has raised $35.7 million to date, including a $15.5 million raise in July 2022.

Persons: Griffin, David Jarvis, Allen Rohner, we've, Maria Campbell, Campbell Organizations: Financial, MassMutual Ventures, EQT Ventures Locations: London

☆ Instagram's algorithms are promoting accounts that share child sex abuse content, researchers find
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Instagram's recommendation algorithms have been connecting and promoting accounts that facilitate and sell child sexual abuse content, according to an investigation published Wednesday. Meta's photo-sharing service stands out from other social media platforms and "appears to have a particularly severe problem" with accounts showing self-generated child sexual abuse material, or SG-CSAM, Stanford University researchers wrote in an accompanying study. Stamos, who is now director of the Stanford Internet Observatory, said the problem has persisted after Elon Musk acquired Twitter late last year. "They then cut off our API access," he added, referring to the software that lets researchers access Twitter data to conduct their studies. Earlier this year, NBC News reported multiple Twitter accounts that offer or sell CSAM have remained available for months, even after Musk pledged to address problems with child exploitation on the social messaging service.

Persons: Instagram, Alex Stamos, Stamos, Elon Musk, CSAM, Musk Organizations: Stanford University, Wall Street Journal, Stanford, Policy Center, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Stanford Internet Observatory, Elon, Twitter, NBC News, YouTube

Prices rose on Monday after Saudi Arabia said over the weekend it would cut output to around 9 million barrels per day (bpd) in July from about 10 million bpd in May. A stronger dollar can weigh on oil demand by making the fuel more expensive for holders of other currencies. Higher interest rates boost borrowing costs, which can slow the economy and reduce oil demand. EIA also projected U.S. petroleum demand would rise from 20.3 million bpd in 2022 to 20.4 million bpd in 2023 and 20.7 million bpd in 2024. That compares with a record 20.8 million bpd in 2005, according to EIA data going back to 1973.

Persons: Brent, Edward Moya, Scott DiSavino, Rowena Edwards, Arathy, Trixie Yap, David Goodman, Matthew Lewis, Chizu Nomiyama, Richard Chang Organizations: EIA, Saudi, U.S, West Texas, Citi, U.S . Federal Reserve, Bank, Energy Information Administration, American Petroleum Institute, Thomson Locations: Saudi Arabia, Saudi, OPEC, China, U.S, Europe, New York, London, Houston, Singapore

☆ Keeta, a startup aiming to be the Venmo of international payments, just raised $17 million in a round backed by ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt with this 13-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Cross-border payments startup Keeta has raised $17 million in fresh funds. The seed round was backed by an array of investors including ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Cross-border payments startup Keeta has raised $17 million in a seed funding round backed by an array of investors including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. We want to make it just as easy for a manufacturer in Indiana to send $200,000 to a vendor in Germany," Keeta CEO and founder Ty Schenk told Insider. The company's $17 million in funding partially comes from former Google CEO Schmidt alongside other, unnamed investors.

Persons: Eric Schmidt, Ty Schenk, Wise, Schmidt, Schenk, We've Organizations: European Union Locations: The California, Indiana, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, United Kingdom

☆ OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is privately reassuring developers using the company's tech that it won't compete with them beyond ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A blog post detailing Sam Altman's meeting with developers in London reveals some OpenAI secrets. Altman says OpenAI won't release any products beyond ChatGPT that would compete with developers. The original blog post has since been taken down, but that hasn't stopped people from passing around a copy on an internet archiving site. Among other things on the mind of Altman are the worrying lack of GPUs, the specialized computer chips that help power AI software, according to Habib's blog post. It makes a smart writing assistant, powered by OpenAI's large language model, which Jasper customers pay a monthly fee to use.

Persons: Sam Altman's, Altman, OpenAI, Sam Altman, Raza Habib, hasn't, Fortune, Habib, Sam, Jasper Organizations: Morning, Software, Amazon, Services Locations: London, OpenAI

☆ KKR built a new client portal on AWS that helped the PE giant cut costs by 50%. An exec breaks down 3 things he wishes he knew ahead of time.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

KKR built a new client portal to replace a legacy one built using vendor tech. KKR had a problem with its client portal. When clients faced issues with the portal, KKR had no visibility into what was causing the problem and could only open a ticket with the vendor, he said. In 2020, KKR embarked on a total rebuild of its client portal, which eventually launched in the summer of 2021. The new portal was built on AWS, where KKR has already moved much of its technology and infrastructure.

Persons: Leo Bogdanov, KKR's, Bogdanov, Serverless, it's, Axel Springer Organizations: KKR, Amazon Web Services, AWS Locations: Axel

U.S. Federal Reserve officials on Wednesday suggested interest rates could be kept on hold this month and the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill suspending the government's debt ceiling, improving the chance of averting a disastrous default. "Oil markets may have been oversold in the last two trading days," said CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng. "Sentiment rebounded amid the debt bill's passage in the House and (the) Fed's rate hike pause signal." Mixed demand indications from China, the world's biggest oil importer, have nonetheless weighed on the market, as has industry data showing a rise in U.S. crude inventories. Market sources citing American Petroleum Institute (API) figures on Wednesday said that U.S. crude inventories rose by about 5.2 million barrels last week.

Persons: Tina Teng, Tamas Varga, Alex Lawler, Rowena Edwards, Arathy Somasekhar, Andrew Hayley, David Goodman Organizations: Representatives U.S, U.S . Federal, U.S . House, Brent, West Texas, American Petroleum Institute, of, Petroleum, Reuters, Thomson Locations: China, OPEC, Russia, London, Houston, Beijing

BEIJING, June 1 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Thursday, reversing earlier losses, as a potential pause in U.S. interest rate hikes and the debt ceiling bill passing a crucial vote renewed optimism about further fuel demand growth in the world's biggest oil consumer. U.S. Federal Reserve officials on Wednesday pointed towards a potential rate hike "skip" in June that reversed market expectations of an imminent hike that could slow economic growth and weaken oil demand. "Oil markets may have been oversold in the last two trading days due to the sluggish Chinese data and debt ceiling concerns. Sentiment rebounded amid the debt bill’s passage in the House, and (the) Fed’s rate hike pause signal also offered a rebounding opportunity," said Tina Teng, a markets analyst at CMC Markets in Auckland. U.S. crude oil inventories rose by about 5.2 million barrels last week, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute (API) figures on Wednesday.

Persons: Brent, Tina Teng, Goldman Sachs, Arathy Somasekhar, Andrew Hayley, Sonali Paul, Christian Organizations: Brent, U.S, West Texas, . Federal, U.S . House, CMC Markets, P Global, American Petroleum Institute, Organization of, Petroleum, HSBC, Thomson Locations: BEIJING, Auckland, China, P Global China, U.S, Russia, Houston, Beijing

☆ Oil falls after large surprise build in US crude stocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

U.S. crude oil inventories rose by about 5.2 million barrels last week, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Wednesday. That compared with estimates in a Reuters poll for a drawdown of 1.4 million barrels. Market participants now await government data on U.S. crude stocks due later on Thursday. Meanwhile, Chinese data showed manufacturing activity contracted faster than expected in May, worrying markets about demand in the world's second-largest oil consumer. Analysts at HSBC and Goldman Sachs have said they do not expect OPEC+ to announce further cuts at this meeting.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Arathy Somasekhar, Sonali Paul Organizations: Brent, U.S, West Texas, American Petroleum Institute, Investors, Organization of, Petroleum, HSBC, Thomson Locations: U.S, Russia

☆ Reddit sparks outrage after a popular app developer said it wants him to pay $20 million a year for data access
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Now, a similar revolt against Reddit may be gaining steam after a popular app developer said Wednesday the social media company wants to charge him $20 million a year to continue offering software that lets Reddit users view and interact with the platform. Reddit’s API is what allows Reddit content to be displayed to the Apollo app’s 900,000 daily active users. Reddit’s initial announcement had been light on pricing details, leaving many to speculate about the future of third-party access to Reddit. According to Selig’s post Wednesday, Reddit intends to charge $12,000 for every 50 million attempts to access the company’s data. Selig isn’t the only app developer crying foul.

Persons: ”, Christian Selig, Reddit, “, Tim Rathschmidt, Selig, Selig’s, Rebecca Wright, CNN “, ” Selig, Wednesdsay, Selig didn’t, Selig isn’t, Steve Huffman Organizations: Washington CNN, Twitter, CNN, New York Times

☆ Reddit will charge hefty fees to the many third-party apps that access its data
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Application programming interfaces (APIs) have long been the way that third parties access the data from large internet companies and connect to their apps. Reddit has a thriving ecosystem of apps, plugins, and services created by amateur and professional developers. Users and developers were outraged when Twitter said it would charge $42,000 for 50 million requests. Apollo said it paid about $166 for the same number of API requests from the online-image sharing service Imgur. While many companies charge for API use, Reddit has historically derived the bulk of its income from advertising.

Persons: Baumgartner, Reddit, Conde Nast, Elon Musk, Twitter, Reddit didn't Organizations: Advance Publications, Charter Communications, Warner Bros ., Twitter

☆ A TikTok Shop exec breaks down the company's vision for the product and how it's wooing brands and creators
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Marta Biino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

With Shop, TikTok wants to replicate the success of commerce on its Chinese sister app Douyin. Patrick Nommensen, TikTok GM of UK ecommerce, discussed some of the details for brands and creators. TikTok has big ambitions for shopping and has been investing heavily in it — from developing a logistics business to powering in-app purchases through TikTok Shop. Overseeing TikTok Shop has been one of Nommensen's focuses. Nommensen said TikTok has been working with some high-tier creators and celebrities on a strategic basis to spread awareness around TikTok Shop, pairing them with merchants.

Persons: TikTok, Patrick Nommensen, It's, Nommensen, Nommensen's, livestreaming, Sellers, it's Organizations: TikTok, ByteDance, Street Journal, Facebook, Insider Intelligence Locations: Asia, TikTok, Musical.ly, Spain, Brazil, Southeast Asia, China

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