๐ Google Falters, Senate Passes TikTok Ban, Ads Hit Windows 11
Todayโs pick
The Man Who Killed Google Search. This is the story of how Google Search died, and the people responsible for killing it. The story begins on February 5th 2019, when Ben Gomes, Google's head of search, had a problem. Jerry Dischler, then the VP and General Manager of Ads at Google, and Shiv Venkataraman, then the VP of Engineering, Search and Ads on Google properties, had called a โcode yellowโ for search revenue due to, and I quote, โsteady weakness in the daily numbersโ and a likeliness that it would end the quarter significantly behind. By Edward Zitron via Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At
๐: Today's newsletter is the story of how Prabhakar Raghavan, Google's former head of ads - led a coup so that he could run Google Search, and how an email chain from 2019 began a cascade of events that would lead to him running it into the ground. - Ed Zitron (@edzitron)
Senate passes TikTok ban bill, sending it to Biden, who has already committed to signing it. A bill that would force China-based company Bytedance to sell TikTok โ or else face a US ban of the platform โ is all but certain to become law after the Senate passed a foreign aid package including the measure. It now heads to President Joe Biden, who already committed to signing the TikTok legislation should it make it through both chambers of Congress. The House passed the foreign aid package that includes the TikTok bill on Saturday. By Lauren Feiner via The Verge
๐: BREAKING: Bill to force TikTok to divest its US operation passed 79-18 in Senate and just needs Bidenโs signature. After Indiaโs TikTok ban, this is an all out war against Chinese consumer software, with 2 of the biggest markets gone. Are truly global social apps dead? - Deedy (@deedydas)
The best way to reach new readers is through word of mouth. If you click THIS LINK in your inbox, itโll create an easy-to-send pre-written email you can just fire off to some friends.
Microsoft Pushes Start Menu Ads to All Windows 11 Users. After briefly testing the ads, Microsoft is adding them in an update for all Windows 11 devices. Here's how to turn off Start menu ads. Microsoft is pushing out a Windows 11 software update that advertises "recommended" software in your device's Start menu to encourage you to download more apps on your PC and tablet. Earlier this month, Microsoft tested out Start menu ads with selected Windows Insiders in its Beta Channel. Now, it's making those ads visible to all Windows 11 users by default. By Kate Irwin via PCMag
๐: Windows 11 Start menu ads are starting to rollout to everyone this week. Thankfully there's a setting to easily disable these new ads, though. - Tom Warren (@tomwarren)
Jack Dorsey's payments company, Block, is building its own bitcoin mining system. Jack Dorsey says that his payments company, Block (formerly Square), is expanding its bitcoin mining ambitions from designing chips to developing a full bitcoin mining system. In a post Tuesday, the global tech firm announced that it had finishedย the development of its own standalone three-nanometer bitcoin mining chip and was now in the process of working through the design with a "leading global semiconductor foundry." By MacKenzie Sigalos via CNBC
๐: New 3nm bitcoin mining chip incoming. Let's shake up the mining industry and give Bitmain some competition! - โฟ Steve Lee (@moneyball)
Qualcomm is expanding its next-gen laptop chip line with the Snapdragon X Plus. Last fall, Qualcomm revealed a major upgrade for its laptop chips with the Snapdragon X Elite. And while we're still waiting for those processors to make their way into retail devices, today Qualcomm is expanding the line with the Snapdragon X Plus, which I had a chance to test out ahead of its arrival on gadgets later this year. By Sam Rutherford via Engadget
AI news
Metaโs A.I. Assistant Is Fun to Use, but It Canโt Be Trusted
OpenAI shrugs off Metaโs Llama 3 ascent with new enterprise AI features
Why the AI Industryโs Thirst for New Data Centers Canโt Be Satisfied
Ex-Stanford Presidentโs AI Drug Startup Pulls In $1 Billion in Commitments
Artificial intelligence offers an opportunity to improve EV batteries
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