Instagram expands Subscriptions feature to more countries

Instagram is expanding its Subscription feature to 10 new countries including Canada, UK, France, Japan, and Mexico. Creators can charge a monthly fee for subscriber-only content, use story stickers and go live with their paid users. Instagram has also launched a new feature which will enable users to create Reels with templates. Users can search through various templates and sort by category, popularity and recommendation. Templates or audio saved by users will also show up. The browser can be accessed through the Reels tab or by clicking on the create button and selecting the Reel option. https://ift.tt/H5tEBY3

OneTrust, which offers enterprise privacy and data governance tools, raised $150M led by Al Gore's GIM at a $4.5B valuation, down 18% from its 2021 valuation (Lizette Chapman/Bloomberg)

Lizette Chapman / Bloomberg:
OneTrust, which offers enterprise privacy and data governance tools, raised $150M led by Al Gore's GIM at a $4.5B valuation, down 18% from its 2021 valuation  —  The privacy software startup's valuation fell to $4.5 billion as private market malaise lingers.

Spotify confirms raising US Premium to $10.99/month, up from $9.99, the first increase since its US launch in 2011; Duo rises by $2, Family and Student by $1 (Jon Porter/The Verge)

Jon Porter / The Verge:
Spotify confirms raising US Premium to $10.99/month, up from $9.99, the first increase since its US launch in 2011; Duo rises by $2, Family and Student by $1  —  After 12 years, the price of Spotify Premium is increasing in the US.  The subscription will now cost $10.99 a month, the company announced today.

A look at the Boston Fed's Project Hamilton, launched in 2020 to research how to design a US CBDC but ended in 2022 amid opposition from anti-CBDC legislators (Mike Orcutt/MIT Technology Review)

Mike Orcutt / MIT Technology Review:
A look at the Boston Fed's Project Hamilton, launched in 2020 to research how to design a US CBDC but ended in 2022 amid opposition from anti-CBDC legislators  —  Prominent politicians want to make sure a central bank digital currency never happens in the US—just as we've learned the basics of how one might work.

Sources: IAC, News Corp, the NYT, and other publishers are forming a coalition to push for AI laws and lead a lawsuit against AI firms who trained on their data (Ben Smith/Semafor)

Ben Smith / Semafor:
Sources: IAC, News Corp, the NYT, and other publishers are forming a coalition to push for AI laws and lead a lawsuit against AI firms who trained on their data  —  Barry Diller fired publishers' opening shot at artificial intelligence platforms in a Semafor interview this April …

A profile of Munich-based Helsing, which uses AI to build real-time battlefield maps by combining data from weapons systems and sensors like infrared and sonar (Morgan Meaker/Wired)

Morgan Meaker / Wired:
A profile of Munich-based Helsing, which uses AI to build real-time battlefield maps by combining data from weapons systems and sensors like infrared and sonar  —  Helsing AI is building an operating system for warfare and says it'll only ever sell to democracies.  —  On the screen in front of me is a mountain range.

Nearly 200 US school districts have joined lawsuits against Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube, alleging their apps cause disciplinary and mental health issues (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal:
Nearly 200 US school districts have joined lawsuits against Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube, alleging their apps cause disciplinary and mental health issues  —  Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube seek to dismiss federal suits, citing internet liability shield

Why the Vision Pro app store may get more traction than the Apple Watch or TV app stores did, despite the headset's small user base for the first few years (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Why the Vision Pro app store may get more traction than the Apple Watch or TV app stores did, despite the headset's small user base for the first few years  —  Third-party apps will be crucial to the success of the Vision Pro, but the pricey and niche nature of the device means that developers may not quickly flock to it.

Studio executives embraced Silicon Valley's magical thinking of hypergrowth and disruption for the past 10 years, only to slash worker pay as the boom times end (Brian Merchant/Los Angeles Times)

Brian Merchant / Los Angeles Times:
Studio executives embraced Silicon Valley's magical thinking of hypergrowth and disruption for the past 10 years, only to slash worker pay as the boom times end  —  In one respect, the actors and writers of Hollywood uniting on the picket lines in a historic, industry-shaking strike is a tale as old as time …

Byjus employees reportedly call of protest after 'emergency meeting'

Byju's employees have withdrawn plans to protest the company’s management after India head, Mrinal Mohit, called an emergency meeting and assured staff no further layoffs would take place. The strike had been planned for Tuesday 25 July and was expected to involve 9,000 staff members. Employees had not received variable pay since the last three quarters and incentives had not been paid for 12 months, according to sources. The town hall meeting was planned to mark the completion of one year of the business unit, according to a company spokesperson. https://ift.tt/oZxjzsr

Reddit and Bluesky are contrasting examples on how not to moderate, one centralizing in the worst way possible and the other decentralizing catastrophically (Katherine Alejandra Cross/Wired)

Katherine Alejandra Cross / Wired:
Reddit and Bluesky are contrasting examples on how not to moderate, one centralizing in the worst way possible and the other decentralizing catastrophically  —  Moderating a site isn't easy—just ask Elon.  But Bluesky and Reddit are contrasting examples of how not to do it.

Centre has important advisory for states on e-cigarettes

The Indian government has advised states to report the availability of e-cigarettes on online shopping sites and stores on the portal https://ift.tt/rzuZdNk. The Union government in India had banned the sale and use of e-cigarettes in 2019, and the portal aims to collect information on violations of the ban. The health ministry has directed producers, manufacturers, and retailers not to manufacture, sell, or distribute e-cigarettes in any form or capacity. Notices have been issued to 15 websites selling e-cigarettes, and the ministry is said to monitor advertisements and sales on social media. https://ift.tt/jS8oivy

A look at a proposed Massachusetts bill letting police use face recognition for image matching but not face surveillance, which could set the standard in the US (Tate Ryan-Mosley/MIT Technology Review)

Tate Ryan-Mosley / MIT Technology Review:
A look at a proposed Massachusetts bill letting police use face recognition for image matching but not face surveillance, which could set the standard in the US  —  A Massachusetts bill restricting police use could set the standard for how the technology is regulated in America.

Norwegian robotics company AutoStore agrees to pay £200M to UK supermarket giant Ocado to settle a global dispute over warehouse patent infringements (Alastair Reed/Bloomberg)

Alastair Reed / Bloomberg:
Norwegian robotics company AutoStore agrees to pay £200M to UK supermarket giant Ocado to settle a global dispute over warehouse patent infringements  —  As part of the agreement, the companies will withdraw their actions against each other, Autostore and Ocado said in separate statements on Saturday.

Coinbase will fully close its bitcoin-backed loan program Borrow for retail customers and says loan holders have to pay outstanding dues by November 20, 2023 (Yogita Khatri/The Block)

Yogita Khatri / The Block:
Coinbase will fully close its bitcoin-backed loan program Borrow for retail customers and says loan holders have to pay outstanding dues by November 20, 2023  —  - Coinbase will fully sunset its Borrow program for retail customers, effective November 20.  —  Coinbase will shut …