Business Insider had a big report out over the weekend about Amazon gutting its Alexa team due to unprofitability. But I’ve been saying for years that the voice assistant never moved beyond its basic functionality. It’s this key limitation, I’d argue, that’s made it harder to monetize Alexa and so contributed to its current woes.
It’s only an investigation for now, but the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has shown it’s got teeth with the recent ruling against Meta that’s forcing it to sell Giphy. Now, the CMA is worried about Google and Apple’s control of mobile browsers and Apple’s restrictions on cloud gaming on iOS. One to watch.
As FIFA announced earlier this year, cameras trained on the pitch track 29 points in players’ bodies, while the ball itself contains a sensor reporting its location 500 times a second. But hey, even referees need a hand figuring out the offside rule sometimes.
The AI copyright wars are coming
I mean, actually in it. The government’s finance ministry, HM Treasury, set up a Discord server today to share news and updates. The server is read-only, of course, but that hasn’t stopped the hoi polloi making their feelings known in, uh, more creative ways.
