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| Hey Insiders, Welcome to Inside Tech. Today's lineup includes stories on the first memo sent by Twitter's new CEO, Nothing's second smartphone launch, and Apple's new 15-inch Macbook Air. As you scroll down, you'll also find our upcoming events, followed by the Knowledge Hub. Your feedback and input are invaluable, so don't hesitate to share what topics you'd like to see more of in future issues. Happy reading, Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | Twitter's new CEO, Linda Yaccarino, aims to make Twitter the "most accurate real-time information source" and transform it into an open dialogue town square, according to her first employee memo. Yaccarino, a former NBCUniversal advertising executive, became CEO last week, replacing Elon Musk.. More: - Yaccarino's memo outlines her vision for "Twitter 2.0" and her aim to turn the platform into a "global town square," aligning with Musk's previous remarks.
- She stressed the need for a "transformation" of the town square to drive civilization forward through an unfiltered exchange of information.
- Yaccarino praised Musk for his impact on industries like space exploration and electric vehicles.
- Musk, who bought the platform for $44B in October, will continue to lead Twitter as executive chair and CTO, overseeing product, software, and system operations
Zoom out: - Within the first 25 days of Musk leading Twitter, half of the top 100 accounts left the platform.
- Revenue in December 2022 reportedly saw a 40% year-over-year decline.
- Musk said that most advertisers that left have returned. However, leaked internal documents obtained by The New York Times revealed a 59% annual drop in ad revenue for a recent five-week period, suggesting Yaccarino faces a challenging task ahead.
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| 2 | | The news: Nothing, the consumer tech startup led by Oppo co-founder Carl Pei, is set to reveal its second smartphone on July 11. Why it matters: The Phone (2) will be the first Nothing smartphone to reach the U.S. without limited beta programs or imports. Nothing, based in London, has recognized the U.S. as its top priority market per Pei. Quotable: Though it never got an official U.S. release, Nothing's Phone (1) "successfully entered the smartphone market and proved that there was an appetite for such a new alternative, especially among younger users," Pei said. Brands that should care: With the launch of the Phone (2), Nothing aims to provide American consumers with an alternative to iPhones, which currently dominate in the U.S. To back this up, Nothing claims high iOS to Android switch rates. However, Nothing will face a significant challenge in the highly competitive U.S. market, where Apple and Samsung hold the reins, while Google, Motorola, and Oppo's partner OnePlus lag noticeably far behind. 
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| 3 | | The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is seeking a court order to temporarily block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard while its antitrust challenge plays out. In the complaint filed Monday, the FTC says Microsoft and Activision want to close the deal soon despite legal opposition in the U.S. and the U.K. More: - The FTC initially sued in December to block the deal, citing concerns about Microsoft's control over consumer access to Activision's games and potential harm to competition
- It's latest filing seeks a temporary restraining order and injunction to prevent the $69B deal from closing before the case is heard.
- Microsoft aims to close the acquisition before the July 18 deadline, while the FTC seeks to prevent it to avoid complications post-closing.
- An evidentiary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 2.
Zoom out: - The timing of the complaint coincides with Microsoft's appeal against U.K. regulators' decision to block the merger.
- European regulators have already approved the merger.
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| 4 | | Embracer Group, a Swedish gaming conglomerate, is undergoing a restructuring that may involve studio closures and game cancellations. The decision will also result in an undisclosed number of layoffs at Embracer, which owns popular IPs such as "Tomb Raider" and "Lord of the Rings." More: - Embracer Group will undergo a three-phase restructuring until March 2023 to reduce debt and streamline operations.
- As part of the changes, Matthew Karch and Phil Rogers have been appointed interim chief operating officer and interim chief strategy officer, respectively.
- The company's workforce of 17,000 employees will be reduced but no specific numbers were given.
What's next: - Embracer Group plans to capitalize on its "Lord of the Rings" IP, aligning with Amazon's "The Rings of Power" and Warner Bros. Discovery's new movie projects.
- Facing setbacks including the cancellation of a $2B partnership, as well as development delays and weaker demand, Embracer's stock value plummeted by 40% in late May.
- Embracer Group said that anticipated releases like the upcoming "Tomb Raider" game will proceed as planned.
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| 5 | | Apple's new 15-inch MacBook Air officially hits stores today, June 13. The laptop, announced at last week's WWDC, features a 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display, M2 processor, MagSafe charging, and Thunderbolt ports. It has up to 18 hours of battery life and is up to 12x faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Air.2 More: - According to Apple, it's the world's thinnest 15-inch laptop and comes in four finishes, midnight, starlight, space gray, and silver.
- It has the largest display of its kind, as previous MacBook Air models were available in 11-inch and 13-inch sizes.
- The larger size could improve Mac sales, which have been declining recently.
- The base model starts at $1,299. Prices go up to $2,499 with upgraded RAM and storage.
- Amazon is offering a $49 discount on both the 256GB and 512GB models.
Zoom out: - The Mac Studio and Mac Pro are also available as of today.
- According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is already working on 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models with the M3 chip, which could launch in 2024.
Apple's new 15-inch MacBook Air. Credit: Apple | | | |
| 6 | | Meta released MusicGen, an open-source AI music generator that's described as "ChatGPT for audio." Trained on 20,000 hours of licensed music and more, MusicGen can create new songs from text or melody prompts. More: - MusicGen allows users to describe their desired music style, optionally provide a tune, and click "generate" for about 12 seconds of audio.
- While it can't produce vocals, it specializes in instrumentals, though the generations tend to fall short of professional quality.
- A demo is now available on Facebook's Hugging Face AI site.
Zoom out: - The release comes about a month after Google made its text-to-music AI, MusicLM, available for testing.
- The model generates a 20-second music sample based on a text prompt, with some samples including "wawawa" vocals.
- The global market for generative AI in music was valued at $229M in 2022. By 2032, it is projected to generate revenue of over $2.6B.
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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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