| |
| Hey, Insider! Today's issue covers Reddit's ongoing community blackout, a rise in U.S. semiconductor imports, and the indictment of a former Samsung executive. Want to be featured in next week’s newsletter? Answer our weekly question: How often do you prefer to have virtual meetings in a week? Share your response here. Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | More than 7,000 Reddit communities have gone dark as of today to protest against the company's new developer billing structure. The blackout organizers are objecting to Reddit's upcoming hefty fee for API access, which will force many third-party app developers to shut down. More: - As a result of the new fees, Apollo, the most popular third-party app for Reddit, will be shutting down at the end of this month.
- According to Apollo developer Christian Selig, Reddit's new pricing would require him to pay $20M per year for his app.
- As a result of the changes, moderators of many subreddits, including popular ones like r/funny and r/gaming, have restricted access to their communities as of today.
- While some communities are privately protesting for 48 hours, others plan to stay private until the changes are addressed.
- Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has defended the API changes, saying that in order to become a self-sustaining business, the platform can no longer support commercial entities that rely on extensive data usage.
|     | |
| 2 | | The news: The global value of U.S. chip imports has grown nearly 10% compared to the previous year, driven partly by outsourcing chip production to more cost-effective sites in Asia — which claims an 85% share of shipments. Details: India's semiconductor imports to the U.S. rose significantly this year, reaching two-thirds of China's shipments, compared to less than 2% last year. Vietnam and Thailand saw year-over-year growth of 57% and 73% respectively, while Cambodia posted an over 530% increase in chip import value to the U.S. The big picture: India in particular aims to become a competitive alternative to China in the semiconductor sector amid the U.S.-China chip war. A recent memo of understanding between India and the U.S. aims to establish a semiconductor supply chain, reducing global dependence on China. 
| | | |
| A message from our sponsor, Pendulum. |  | | The powerful probiotic Halle Berry swears by to improve her sugar & carb metabolism Meet Metabolic Daily, the multi-strain probiotic blend that helps your body do more with the food you eat. As award-winning actor Halle Berry says, “Metabolic Daily is a probiotic that everyone can take to help maintain healthy blood sugar and curb sugar cravings.” Halle reached out to Pendulum—the company that makes Metabolic Daily—after experiencing life-changing results taking Metabolic Daily which led to her newest role as their Chief Communications Officer. Formulated with the next-generation strain Akkermansia muciniphila, Metabolic Daily optimizes how your body metabolizes sugar and carbs to support a healthy weight. And if that wasn't enough, it also helps break down fiber and supports beneficial postbiotics and hormones, such as butyrate and GLP-1. The result? Less sugar cravings and crashes—just balanced, sustained energy throughout the day. Don’t wait—Inside readers get 20% off the first month of any Pendulum membership with code INSIDE20. Shop Now | |
|
| 3 | | According to a Platformer report, Twitter is reportedly refusing to pay Google for its cloud hosting services, jeopardizing the platform's stability. The social media giant signed a $1B contract with Google Cloud in 2018 but is now scrambling to move its services back to its own infrastructure before the contract expires on June 30. More: - The migration process is running behind schedule, potentially impacting Twitter's ability to combat spam and child sexual abuse material.
- In the meantime, Twitter is reportedly refusing to honor its $1B contract with Google for cloud hosting services..
- Owner Elon Musk has been cutting costs at Twitter since taking over, and the dissatisfaction with Google's infrastructure performance is cited as the reason for withholding payment.
- Details of how the dispute could affect Twitter's trust and safety teams were not provided.
Zoom out: - Earlier this year, Amazon threatened to withhold advertising payments from Twitter due to unpaid bills for cloud computing services.
- Twitter was also sued this year for alleged nonpayment of rent at one of its San Francisco offices.
| | | |
| 4 | | Nasdaq has agreed to acquire software firm Adenza, owned by Thoma Bravo, in a $10.5B deal, marking Nasdaq's largest acquisition to date. The move is part of Nasdaq's strategy to strengthen its software business and shift toward a technology-focused entity with more stable revenue streams. More: - Adenza provides software solutions for trading, risk management, and regulatory reporting to banks and other financial institutions.
- The acquisition is expected to boost Nasdaq's solutions business revenue and help the company diversify beyond its exchange operator role.
- As part of the deal, the private equity firm Thoma Bravo, which owns Adenza, will receive a 14.9% stake in Nasdaq, making it one of the largest shareholders.
- The transaction, subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close within nine months.
Zoom out: - In 2020, Nasdaq bought software company Verafin for $2.75B to enhance anti-crime services.
- The Adenza deal will expand the reach of these services to more banks, according to CEO Adena Friedman.
| | | |
| A message from our sponsor, Notion. |  | | There’s a better way to work. Notion combines project management with your docs and knowledge base, so you can stop jumping between tools and stop paying too much for them too. - Consolidate your work: Track tasks, write specs, and organize team knowledge in one workspace to ship faster.
- Customize your setup: View projects as a timeline, table, or kanban. Filter, sort, and build automations. Notion is infinitely configurable so you can work the way you want.
- Track every detail: Organize sprints, list subtasks, and catch dependencies, so nothing falls through the cracks.
- Powered by AI: Automate tedious work with Notion AI. Write user stories, summarize notes, find action items, and more.
Get free templates | |
|
| 5 | | A former Samsung executive has been indicted in South Korea for allegedly stealing company technology to form a rival China-based chip factory. The individual, who was not identified due to privacy laws, is accused of illegally obtaining proprietary information and engineering secrets from Samsung to set up and operate the new factory. More: - The executive, who was also a VP at memory chip producer SK Hynix, attempted to build the chip-making facility near Samsung's semiconductor factory in Xi'an, China.
- Additionally, the defendant allegedly recruited around 200 employees from local chip producers, including Samsung.
- Prosecutors estimate that the data theft caused losses of at least 300 billion won ($233M) for Samsung.
- Six other individuals, including a Samsung subcontractor, have been indicted in connection with the case.
Zoom out: | | | |
| 6 | | Adobe is opening up access to its Firefly AI image generator to large business customers. The company has also offered to pay any legal fees if users are sued by creators for copyright infringement. More: - Adobe says Firefly is trained on its copyrighted stock images, openly licensed content (like Creative Commons images), and public-domain content, allowing the company to offer full indemnification to businesses for any content created using Firefly.
- If a customer faces infringement lawsuits, for example, Adobe will pay damages and provide legal assistance.
- Enterprise customers will be able to subscribe to company-wide access to the generative AI tools.
- As part of the deal, businesses can customize Firefly by training it to incorporate their own logos and products, making sure content falls within their brand guidelines.
- Adobe's 12,000 enterprise customers include Coca-Cola, Walgreens, Home Depot, General Motors, and U.S. Bank.
| | | |
| 7 | | Community Corner Last week, we asked our tech community, "What's a tech gadget you own that serves no practical purpose, yet you still find yourself absolutely loving it?" Here are some highlighted responses we received: - Andrew Zell (p/andrewzell), Creative Projects at Zoom, answered, "I absolutely love my Govee Glide lights. They're snap-together RGBIC lights that can be mounted to a wall and then individually controlled to show any color(s) you could want. They're a great conversation piece for video calls, and they are just really fun to look at."
- Stan Tomlinson (p/stomlinson), CTO at Quiet Energy, answered, "Slide rules. They were a pinnacle of mathematical technology through the late 70's. The moon landing was built with them, along with almost every project that required more than a few calculations. Fancy ones could handle sin, cos, etc. Large ones hung in many high school rooms. Required for some college finals and real geeks had them on their belts. Then calculators appeared with all the functions. Better precision, less training, usually faster. Overnight, slide rules vanished. Well, except for the one I have in a box somewhere."
Join the conversations at Inside.com, and we may shout out your name and business, or contact you for more! ⭐️ | | | |
| 8 | | QUICK HITS - This ultimate guide covers partnership marketing fundamentals, best practices, and key things to consider when choosing the perfect partnership platform.*
- Crypto exchange Binance's U.S. arm, Binance.US, said it suspended U.S. dollar (USD) deposits as of June 9 amid the increased crackdown on the exchange from the regulators.
- U.S. lawmakers on Thursday proposed two bipartisan bills targeting AI transparency and competitiveness.
- Google has officially made its generative AI services based on Vertex AI widely available.
- Learn why leading investors have called whiskey casks the ultimate safe-haven investment. Start Investing.*
*This is a sponsored post. | | | |
| Upcoming Events | | JUN
14 | | Monthly Meditation guided by Nicholas Whitaker | | | | | | | JUN
15 | | Transform your product roadmap with AI @ A.Team's Generative AI Salon* | | | | | | | JUN
20 | | Contract Negotiations 101 with Mathew Kerbis | | | | | | * This is a sponsored event | | | |
Term of the Day Paid search: Paid search is a form of digital marketing in which advertisers pay per user click on an ad. Paid search ads appear on search engine results pages. Question of the Week What's the most bizarre work-related dream you've ever had? Join the conversation |
INSIDE TECH LEADERBOARD (7 DAYS) |
 | 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 | |
| |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
