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| Hey Insiders, Welcome to the Inside Tech newsletter! Here are today's top stories: - Meta to remove news from its platforms in Canada following new legislation.
- Ford and SK On secure historic $9.2B loan for three EV battery plants from U.S. Department of Energy.
- Tech Zity to invest €100M in Europe's largest tech campus in Lithuania.
- Uncertainty looms over the future of E3 in Los Angeles.
Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | Facebook's parent company, Meta, will pull news on its platforms in Canada in response to new legislation passed by the Canadian government. As a result, Canadians will no longer be able to share news content on Facebook and Instagram. Google opposes the law, deeming it unworkable, and warns that it may limit news links for Canadian users, as it did in a test run in February. More: - The new law, approved by Canada's Parliament on Thursday, requires digital companies to pay domestic news publishers for stories that appear on their respective tech platforms.
- Under the Online News Act, tech companies will need to broker compensation agreements with news organizations, and if negotiations fail, binding arbitration will determine the appropriate compensation.
- It aims to address the news industry's shrinking ad revenue as media has shifted to the digital realm.
- The law will be enforced six months after receiving royal assent.
Zoom out: - Meta's response mirrors its actions in Australia, where it initially blocked news content in 2021 but later reached a deal with Australian news outlets.
- California is also considering similar legislation.
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| 2 | | What happened: Ford Motor and its battery manufacturing partner, SK On, were granted a record $9.2B loan by the U.S. Department of Energy to help build three electric vehicle battery plants in Kentucky and Tennessee. The factories, operated by the joint venture BlueOval SK, will produce batteries for Ford and Lincoln EVs, creating an estimated 7,500 operating jobs. Why it matters: The loan, the largest government backing for a U.S. automaker since the 2009 financial crisis, represents a significant commitment by the Biden administration toward creating an American EV manufacturing network. The credit comes from the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office, which offers loans and guarantees for clean-energy projects and has doled out nearly $33B over the past 14 years. Ford's loan is one of the biggest to come out of that department. What the numbers say: President Biden's goal of having 50% of new vehicle sales be electric by 2030 has faced skepticism. However, current trends suggest that the target may be within reach. While estimates from EVAdoption and the International Energy Agency project lower EV market shares, actual sales have consistently surpassed predictions. In Q1 2023, EVs accounted for 7.1% of U.S. vehicle sales, while the number of EVs sold was over five times higher than just three years ago. 
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| 3 | | Lithuanian co-working company Tech Zity will invest €100M ($100M) to build Europe's largest tech campus in the capital of Vilnius. The campus, set to open in 2024, will provide private workspace for 5,000 tech workers, meeting and event spaces, co-living spaces, and restaurants. More: - Spanning the size of 10 football fields, the private project will be two-thirds larger than Paris' Station F, currently Europe's largest startup campus.
- The campus, dubbed a "Lithuanian Silicon Valley," will operate 24/7 to accommodate the growing number of hybrid workers.
- Tech Zity aims to transform Vilnius' old sewing factories into workspaces while preserving their historical identity.
- Its project draws inspiration from British renovations like Battersea Power Station and Tate Modern art gallery.
- Vilnius, the second-largest city in the Baltic state, is emerging as the fastest-growing tech ecosystem in central and eastern Europe, with notable unicorns like Vinted and Nord Security (NordVPN).
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| 4 | | A document from the Los Angeles City Tourism Commission suggests that the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in 2024 and 2025 may be canceled or relocated. However, organizer Electronic Software Association (ESA) says that no final decisions have been made and it's currently discussing the future of E3 beyond 2023. More: - E3 was canceled in 2023, 2022, and 2020, and had an online-only event in 2021
- The annual gaming trade show was previously held at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
- A recent LA Commission report projected future sales results based on the cancellations of the next two trade shows at the center. It's unclear if it could take place elsewhere.
- Remarking on this year's cancellation, ESA President and CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis told GamesIndustry that E3 may need to change to meet the needs of companies.
- Gaming enthusiasts have been turning to the Summer Game Fest, Xbox Games Showcase, and Ubisoft Forward as replacements.
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| 5 | | Sony has announced a multi-year agreement with Qualcomm to continue using Snapdragon chips in its Xperia smartphones. Despite the Xperia lineup's lack of popularity and higher prices, Sony remains committed to releasing new Android phones. More: - Under the deal terms, Qualcomm and Sony have agreed to collaborate on future premium, high, and mid-tier smartphones.
- Sony recently launched its flagship Xperia 1 V, powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset.
- Starting at $1,400, the phone is geared toward vloggers and photographers.
Zoom out: - While Sony's presence in the smartphone market, particularly in the U.S., has been limited, the partnership with Qualcomm would set the stage for future Xperia devices.
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| 6 | | U.S. job postings related to generative AI, the technology behind ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion, surged by 20% last month, according to Indeed. The data revealed that there were 204 GA-related job postings per million listings, more than double the figure from 2021. More: - Searches for generative AI jobs also increased significantly, reaching 147 per million in May, up from almost none in 2022.
- Among the AI job postings, data scientist roles accounted for 5%, while positions such as software engineer, machine learning engineer, and data engineer were also in high demand.
- Companies like Meta Platforms, Apple, TikTok, Pinterest, and Amazon.com are among those advertising AI positions on Indeed.
- Indeed also noted that tech jobs in the U.S. have plummeted by 43.6% since June 2022.
- The number of available AI jobs is failing to match the enthusiastic interest of job seekers, the platform added.
Credit: Reuters | | | |
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 | AI and technology writer | | Beth is a writer and editor at Inside.com covering artificial intelligence and daily technology news. She has written the Inside AI newsletter since 2019. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@inside.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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