U.S. tech companies are fighting back against what they feel are overly oppressive European Union regulations by withholding products from that market. Meta Platforms will not release its next Llama multimodal AI model there, along with future products. Apple last month said certain Apple Intelligence AI features will not be released in the EU. Previously, tech companies would accommodate regional laws by adapting global strategies so they could do business everywhere with the same products. Given the restrictions of the Digital Markets Act and other EU rules, Big Tech is signaling that may no longer be possible. Continue reading Tough EU Laws Prompt Meta, Apple to Withhold New Products

The live event business is making further inroads with social apps, as Shazam pacts with Ticketmaster and TikTok integrates Eventbrite. Ticketmaster says artists can now link live events in Apple’s Shazam app, where they’ll appear when a user Shazams a track. The feature will work in the more than 30 countries where Ticketmaster operates. The Live Nation-owned company also has deals with Snap and TikTok, whose new alliance with Eventbrite allows event producers and TikTok users to embed Eventbrite links in-stream. Now the TikTok community can discover events and purchase tickets “without ever leaving the app.” Continue reading Ticketmaster and Eventbrite Harness the Power of Social Apps

TikTok owner ByteDance lost its court battle challenging the European Union’s classification of it as a “gatekeeper” under the Digital Markets Act. The victory for EU antitrust regulators underscores its seriousness about reining in the power of Big Tech. As a gatekeeper, China’s ByteDance is lumped in with behemoths Google, Apple, Meta and Microsoft, among others. The DMA, which was passed in 2022 and came into effect this year, says gatekeepers must make certain aspects of their apps interoperable with rivals and forbids self-dealing, with stiff fines imposed for those found to fail. Continue reading ByteDance’s DMA Gatekeeper Appeal Dismissed by EU Court

China’s Sneaki Design has a new smartphone camera technology called SwitchLens that makes it possible to use professional-quality interchangeable lenses with existing Android and iOS phones. It does this via a phone-mounting external camera unit that has its own one-inch CMOS sensor and coupling device for lenses built to the Micro Four Thirds (M43) open standard. The pro-sized sensor captures still images as 21MP in either the RAW or JPEG formats, and 60p MOV video at up to 4K. Existing M43 compatible lenses from manufacturers including Panasonic and Olympus work with SwitchLens, according to Sneaki Design. Continue reading SwitchLens Adds 1-Inch Sensor, M43 Lenses to Smartphones

MainFunc Inc. has raised $60 million on the strength of its principal technology — a free, AI-powered search engine called Genspark. The platform responds to queries by writing custom summaries that are presented in a “Sparkpage,” a one-page overview featuring content from around the web. Genspark joins a growing field of generative AI search engines, the best-known of which is Perplexity, which has raised $250 million since its 2022 launch and is currently valued at about $2.5 billion. Reuters says Genspark’s funding values the company at $260 million. Google also offers “AI Overviews” as part of Google search. Continue reading Genspark Joins Collection of GenAI-Powered Search Engines

China’s ByteDance has come out swinging in petition for review against the United States government over the law that would force it to sell TikTok by January 19 or see the app banned in U.S. app stores. The petition challenges the constitutionality of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act that President Biden signed into law on April 24, calling it in the brief “a radical departure from this country’s tradition of championing an open Internet, and sets a dangerous precedent allowing the political branches to target a disfavored speech platform.” Oral argument is scheduled for September 14. Continue reading ByteDance Opening Brief Claims U.S. Ban is Unconstitutional

More U.S. youth are relying on TikTok for news, according to a study by the Pew Research Center, which says young adults increasingly believe the short-form social video platform exposes them to information they don’t see elsewhere, even though they don’t primarily associate it with news. Among those who use TikTok, only 15 percent cite “news” as a major incentive for using the app. The study, which examines American news consumption on social media platforms, found X to be the most popular news source across all demographics, beating Meta’s Facebook and Instagram as well as ByteDance’s TikTok. Continue reading Pew Says Youth Turn to TikTok for News, but X Tops Overall

China’s Kuaishou Technology has a video generator called Kling AI in public beta that is getting great word-of-mouth, with comments from “incredibly realistic” to “Sora killer,” a reference to OpenAI’s still in closed beta video generator. Kuaishou claims that using only text prompts, Kling can generate “AI videos that closely mimic the real world’s complex motion patterns and physical characteristics,” in sequences as long as two minutes at 30 fps and 1080p, while supporting various aspect ratios. Kuaishou is China’s second most popular short-form video app, after ByteDance’s Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. Continue reading ByteDance Rival Kuaishou Creates Kling AI Video Generator

TikTok is experimenting with allowing users to upload 60-minute videos. The feature is being tested among a limited group of users in certain markets, with no immediate plans for a wider rollout, according to reports, which couch it as a move to take on the short-form platform’s biggest competitor, Google’s YouTube. TikTok debuted in 2016 with a native video format of 15-seconds, though the company has been expanding permissible durations over the years. TikTok users have reportedly been requesting the ability to post longer content for areas such tutorials, demos and sketch comedy. Continue reading TikTok Tests Long-Form Video That Could Challenge YouTube

A group of TikTok creators has filed a lawsuit with the intent to block a new law that requires ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of the popular social platform, to divest of the app by mid-January or have it banned from U.S. app stores. The eight petitioners claim that banning the app would be a violation of their First Amendment rights. TikTok and ByteDance filed a similar suit last week and is also paying the legal fees for this latest challenge, according to media reports. The creator lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Continue reading TikTok Creators Sue U.S. Over New Law Forcing Sale or Ban

Short-form video hosting service TikTok and its China-based parent company ByteDance have filed suit against the United States challenging the constitutionality of the law that seeks to force a sale of the popular social media company, or otherwise ban it from use in the United States. The petition seeks to upend the bill President Biden signed into law April 24 as part of a foreign aid package. TikTok faces a ban from U.S. app stores if ByteDance has not been sold to a non-adversarial entity by mid-January 2025. ByteDance has made clear it has no intention of divesting. Continue reading ByteDance Files Suit Against the U.S. Over TikTok Sale or Ban

Responding to a government assessment of recent cyberattacks, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella issued a company-wide memo prioritizing security. “If you’re faced with the tradeoff between security and another priority, your answer is clear: Do security,” the executive wrote. “In some cases, this will mean prioritizing security above other things we do, such as releasing new features or providing ongoing support for legacy systems,” Nadella added. The escalation sees Microsoft expanding the scope of its Secure Future Initiative based on government recommendations and insights gained from breaches linked to state-sponsored Russian hackers. Continue reading Microsoft Doubles Down on Security Following Cyberattacks

Apple revealed its largest quarterly decline in iPhone sales since the July-September period in 2020 during the pandemic, placing additional pressure on the tech giant to step up its artificial intelligence efforts. Apple iPhone sales for January-March dropped 10 percent year-over-year, as its top product faced increased competition from Huawei in China, Apple’s third-largest market. Apple’s quarterly revenue decreased 4 percent from the same period last year to $90.8 billion, marking the fifth dip in the past six quarters for the company. Apple’s $23.64 billion profit for the quarter represents a 2 percent reduction from last year. Still, Apple shares rose in after-market trading. Continue reading Apple’s Revenue Is Impacted by Pressure from Chinese Rivals

Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei Technologies continues to bounce back after taking an initial hit from U.S. sanctions resulting from the company being declared a national security threat in 2019. Year-over-year, net profit surged 564 percent to $2.7 billion in Q1, with revenue up 37 percent to $24.65 billion. It was the company’s fourth consecutive quarterly profit gain. Although Huawei doesn’t breakout performance for individual sectors, analysts estimate the company’s smartphone sales rose 70 percent, leading to further speculation the global firm is taking market share from rivals, particularly Apple in China. Continue reading Huawei Continues Financial Rebound Despite U.S. Sanctions

The Federal Communications Commission voted to reinstate net neutrality rules on Thursday, returning to the Obama-era approach of establishing a level playing field for online platforms, regardless of size. The commissioners voted 3-2 along party lines to reclassify broadband as a Title II telecommunications service, the equivalent of a public utility, which means it can be regulated like power and water. However, the FCC qualified that while it would be treating the Internet as an essential service, it will exercise its authority “in a narrowly tailored fashion.” Continue reading Internet Regulation: FCC Votes to Restore Net Neutrality Rules