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| Happy Friday! Welcome to Inside Tech. Here are today's top stories: - Microsoft expected to close Activision acquisition by Oct. 13.
- SEC suing Elon Musk to force testimony in Twitter investigation.
- Telltale Games confirms layoffs but no game cancellations.
If you find this newsletter useful, please share it with your friends and colleagues. Thank you! Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | Microsoft aims to close its $69B acquisition of Activision Blizzard on October 13, pending approval from the U.K.'s antitrust regulator, sources told The Verge. Microsoft's purchase of the "Call of Duty" maker is poised to become the largest deal in gaming history. More: - The final date hinges on the decision of the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which had previously blocked Microsoft's proposal but gave its verbal approval last month.
- The deal deadline has been extended to October 18 to accommodate the pending final decision from the CMA, which is expected next week.
- To help secure the regulator's approval, Microsoft has agreed to forfeit its cloud gaming rights for Activision Blizzard games to competitor Ubisoft for 15 years.
Zoom out: - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the U.K. Competition Markets Authority, and the European Union all probed the deal over competition concerns.
- Microsoft won its legal battle against the FTC, gaining approval from a U.S. court to proceed.
- While the deal can still close, FTC is appealing with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, with a decision expected in early December.
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| 2 | | The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is suing Elon Musk in an attempt to force him to testify about his accumulation of shares of Twitter, now X. Musk failed to appear for his scheduled September 15 testimony, despite being served a subpoena in May 2023, according to the SEC lawsuit. More: - Musk quietly acquired Twitter shares from January to April 2022, accumulating a 9% stake in the company, before announcing his plans for a complete takeover.
- The SEC claims that Musk failed to meet the deadline for publicly disclosing his Twitter stock purchases, which is required within 10 days when acquiring over 5% of a company's shares.
- The agency is now asking a San Francisco federal court to force Musk to comply with its subpoena.
Zoom out: - Alex Spiro, an attorney who has represented Musk, claimed the SEC has already taken testimony from Musk "multiple times."
- In an X post, Musk called for a "comprehensive overhaul" of regulatory agencies and the creation of a commission to address abuses of regulatory power "for personal and political gain."
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| 3 | Video game studio Telltale Games confirmed layoffs due to "current market conditions" but reassured that its ongoing projects are safe. The news came to light through tweets from Jonah Huang, a former Telltale cinematic artist, who said that most staff were let go in early September. More: - Telltale has since confirmed the layoffs, citing challenging market conditions, but did not disclose the number of affected employees.
- The layoffs reportedly extended into Telltale Games' newly acquired Flavourworks, a London-based interactive video company.
- Telltale noted that all "projects currently in development are still in production."
Zoom out: - Telltale is known for "The Wolf Among Us" and "The Walking Dead" episodic games.
- The studio recently postponed the release of "The Wolf Among Us 2" to 2024.
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| 4 | | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s revenue decline in Q3 was less than expected, thanks to demand from AI companies, which balanced out declining sales for smartphone and laptop chips, Bloomberg reports. 
What the numbers say: According to Bloomberg, TSMC's Q3 revenue for July through September dropped by 11% compared to the previous year, reaching $17B. The figures, which are preliminary, still exceeded Wall Street's expectations of $16.5B. The bigger picture: TSMC, a leading producer of advanced processors for devices like iPhones and Macs, suffered from plunging demand for consumer electronics after the pandemic, but the demand for AI-related chips, particularly for data centers, has boosted key clients like Nvidia. Investors are watching to see if rising AI chip orders could help overcome supply challenges and revive the chipmaking industry. | | | |
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| 5 | | Chipotle is testing a robot, created with startup Hyphen, to prepare burrito bowls and salads for digital orders. The "cobot" technology, short for "cooperative robotics," automatically dispenses ingredients for the bowls on the bottom makeline. More: - Meanwhile, employees can still use the top makeline to create burritos, tacos, and quesadillas for the same order.
- Chipotle believes the system could help each restaurant process and assemble more than 350 digital order meals an hour.
- According to Curt Garner, Chipotle's chief customer and technology officer, restaurant trials for the system are still "months away."
- Hyphen's automated makeline is now undergoing testing at the Chipotle Cultivate Center in Irvine, California.
Q: Do you think the use of robotic technology in fast-food restaurants is a positive or negative for the industry? Share your thoughts here. | | | |
| 6 | | Spotify is rumored to be launching a new $20-a-month subscription tier with 24-bit lossless audio and up to 30 hours of audiobook listening. According to hashtag creator and product designer Chris Messina, the "Supremium" tier could also feature advanced playlist mixing and AI playlist generation tools. More: - According to Messina, the tier would have a personalized offering dubbed "Your Sound Capsule."
- Users could also filter their music libraries by mood, activity, or genre.
- Spotify plans to brand its higher-priced tier as "Supremium" after it was previously referred to as "HiFi" or high fidelity.
- Spotify's premium tier is currently $10 per month.
Zoom out: -
Apple Music already offers free lossless audio, which preserves the original audio data without compression or quality loss. | | | |
| 7 | | Quick Hits: - LiquidPiston's engines are up to 10x smaller and 30% more fuel efficient. Invest as they disrupt the $400B combustion engine market.*
- Epic Games plans to raise the cost of its Unreal Engine for non-gaming industries as it shifts toward a seat-based enterprise software licensing model starting next year.
- Adobe is set to introduce Project Stardust, an AI-driven photo editor that can automatically recognize objects in images, simplifying the editing process.
- Italian fashion house Prada will help design the spacesuits for NASA's Artemis III moon mission in 2025, which will mark humanity's first return to the lunar surface in over 50 years.
- These are the 5 core strategies for cloud innovation that showcase how digital native businesses are harnessing cloud innovations. Read now.*
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Term of the Day Bottom of funnel: Bottom of funnel (BOF) is a marketing term used to describe the last stage in a marketing funnel. Question of the Week Do you share details about your salary with your coworkers? Join the conversation |
INSIDE TECH LEADERBOARD (7 DAYS) |
 | AI and technology writer | | Beth is an editor and writer of Inside's AI and Tech newsletters, with a career spanning journalism since 2007. She has written for publications including The Arizona Republic and USA Today and authored a book on the solar industry in 2016. Reach her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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