| Hey Insiders, Welcome to Inside Tech! Here are today's top stories: - Amazon has reported record sales for this week's Prime Day.
- Professors are suing Texas over the state's TikTok ban.
- The FTC is appealing a court loss over Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard.
- The founder of crypto lender Celsius Network was charged with fraud.
And more... Scroll down for some "Quick Hits" and our "Knowledge Hub," and please let us know of any topics you'd like to see covered in future issues. Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | What happened: Amazon says its two-day Prime Day event was its biggest ever, with the first 24 hours hailed as the "single largest sales day in company history." What the numbers say: U.S. online sales during Prime Day surged by 6.1% to reach $12.7B, as reported by Adobe Analytics. While these results set a new record, they fell short of the 9.5% growth expected by Adobe. Details: Amazon said shoppers purchased more than 375 million items over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday, compared to 300 million last year. Notably, appliances, electronics, apparel, and office supplies saw significant sales boosts. Numerator data also revealed that the average order size was $54.05, up from $52.26 during last year's Prime Day event. New trends: Smartphones accounted for 44.8% of sales on the second day, showing an increase from 41.5% the previous year. Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) was used in 6.5% of orders, driving $927M in revenue, which represents a 20% year-over-year increase. 
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| 2 | | Elon Musk announced xAI, his artificial intelligence company that aims "to understand the true nature of the universe." The xAI team will be available for a Twitter Spaces chat on Friday, July 14. More: - xAI, led by Musk, aims to explore deep learning mathematics and develop the "theory of everything" for large neural networks, according to co-founder Greg Yang.
- Its team includes former engineers from Google, DeepMind, Twitter, Tesla, Microsoft, and OpenAI, who have worked on breakthrough projects like AlphaCode and GPT models powering ChatGPT.
- Dan Hendrycks, director of the Center for AI Safety, will be an adviser.
- Although operating independently, xAI will collaborate with Musk's X Corp., which includes Twitter and Tesla.
Zoom out: - Musk incorporated X.AI Corp. in Nevada on March 9.
- The CEO previously said he would launch "TruthGPT," which he referred to as a "maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe."
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| 3 | | A group representing Texas college professors is suing the state for banning TikTok on government-issued devices and networks. The suit specifically challenges Texas' TikTok ban on faculty phones and campus WiFi networks at public universities, arguing that it hinders teaching and research in areas like disinformation and data collection. More: - In February, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced the ban of TikTok on state government devices and networks, citing security concerns and data harvesting by the app's Chinese owners.
- Abbott and 14 other officials are named as defendants in the new lawsuit.
- The complaint argues that the ban at Texas public university campuses infringes on the academic freedoms and constitutional rights of faculty members, restricting their use of the platform for educational purposes.
- The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed the suit on behalf of the Coalition for Independent Technology Research, an academic research advocacy group that counts Texas professors as members.
Zoom out: - The U.S. government and more than 30 states have banned TikTok on government phones and systems.
- Montana recently banned any use of TikTok in the state.
- TikTok is funding two lawsuits in Montana challenging the state's ban, claiming violations of free speech rights. However, the company is not involved in the Texas lawsuit.
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| 4 | | The FTC has decided to appeal a court ruling that cleared the way for Microsoft to purchase Activision Blizzard for $68.7B. A judge ruled earlier this week that the FTC failed to demonstrate that the merger would substantially harm competition in gaming markets. More: - In her decision Tuesday, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley rejected the FTC's request to block the mega-deal through a preliminary injunction.
- The ruling gave Microsoft the green light to potentially finalize the acquisition in a few days, becoming the third-largest video game publisher.
- However, the FTC remains determined to pursue the case and has filed a notice to appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
- The agency hasn't provided details about why it plans to appeal.
Zoom out: - Microsoft and Activision could still finalize the merger before their July 18 contractural deadline.
- Failure to close the deal by then could result in a $3B termination fee for Microsoft, or it could request an extension.
- Talks between Microsoft and the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) continue. The company may need to divest some assets to address the watchdog's concerns about cloud gaming.
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| 5 | | The U.K.'s competition watchdog has opened a detailed investigation into Adobe's $20B acquisition of Figma, a cloud-based designer platform. Adobe and Figma declined to make concessions to address the U.K.'s antitrust concerns, resulting in the "phase 2" probe. More: - The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is concerned that the deal would reduce competition and choice for digital designers and competition in screen design software.
- The CMA gave Adobe a deadline of early July to submit proposals to address the concerns, but the company chose not to do so.
- Independent experts will now determine if the merger reduces competition in design software.
- The investigation is expected to conclude by Dec. 27.
- The deal also faces scrutiny in the U.S. and the EU, which is expected to issue its decision by Aug. 7.
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| 6 | | Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO and founder of bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network, has been arrested and charged with fraud by U.S. prosecutors. Mashinsky faces seven criminal charges, including securities fraud, commodities fraud, and wire fraud. More: - Mashinsky was accused by prosecutors of leading a scheme to deceive customers and manipulate cryptocurrency prices for personal gain
- The indictment, unsealed on Thursday, also reveals that Roni Cohen-Pavon, Celsius' former chief revenue officer, was charged with four criminal counts.
- Additionally, three federal regulatory agencies have filed lawsuits against Mashinsky and/or Celsius, accusing them of defrauding investors.
- The FTC also announced a $4.7B settlement with the exchange, which will be held until creditors and investors are repaid in bankruptcy proceedings.
- Celsius Network filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection almost exactly a year ago. Launched in 2017, it offered customers as much as 18% interest on crypto deposits.
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| 7 | | QUICK HITS - Combine traditional project management with your docs, knowledge base, and AI.*
- Apple's iOS 17, the latest iPhone operating system, is now in public beta and free for iPhone owners to test out. It will help Apple find and fix bugs before its official release this fall.
- Chipmaker Nvidia has invested $50M in Recursion Pharmaceuticals to accelerate the development of the biotech firm's AI models for drug discovery.
- Shopify, the e-commerce giant, will introduce an AI assistant called "Sidekick" to answer merchants' questions on the platform.
- Meta's CTO, Andrew Bosworth, likened the confusion surrounding the term "metaverse" to the ambiguity with which the internet was initially received. Despite billions of dollars invested and a company rebrand, Meta's metaverse has not gained the traction initially anticipated.
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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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