A look at the challenges faced by Apple's $85B/year services business, as the company faces key US court cases and prepares to allow app sideloading in the EU (Michael Acton/Financial Times)

Michael Acton / Financial Times:
A look at the challenges faced by Apple's $85B/year services business, as the company faces key US court cases and prepares to allow app sideloading in the EU  —  Landmark EU regulation and crucial US court cases due in 2024 will test the tech company  —  Apple faces a legal reckoning in 2024 …

A profile of Mario and Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto, who joined Nintendo in the 1970s and says he has no plans to retire as game director at the company (Keza MacDonald/The Guardian)

Keza MacDonald / The Guardian:
A profile of Mario and Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto, who joined Nintendo in the 1970s and says he has no plans to retire as game director at the company  —  Few people have influenced global pop culture as much as the creator of Mario and Zelda, widely considered the father of modern gaming.

Filing: Baidu's $3.6B deal to buy Joyy's Chinese livestreaming business YY Live, announced in 2020, expires as China regulators didn't approve it by December 31 (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Filing: Baidu's $3.6B deal to buy Joyy's Chinese livestreaming business YY Live, announced in 2020, expires as China regulators didn't approve it by December 31  —  - Tech industry's focus has turned to generative AI now … The Beijing-based company said its $3.6 billion deal for Joyy's YY Live …

A profile of Alexander Reben, who will become OpenAI's first artist in residence for three months starting January 2024, amid a debate over the use of AI in art (Leslie Katz/New York Times)

Leslie Katz / New York Times:
A profile of Alexander Reben, who will become OpenAI's first artist in residence for three months starting January 2024, amid a debate over the use of AI in art  —  Alexander Reben is taking his tech-savvy perspective to OpenAI, a company that some in the art world believe is a threat to their future.

The lawsuits against AI companies could shape the future of copyright or may simply serve as leverage for plaintiffs to secure more favorable licensing deals (J. Edward Moreno/New York Times)

J. Edward Moreno / New York Times:
The lawsuits against AI companies could shape the future of copyright or may simply serve as leverage for plaintiffs to secure more favorable licensing deals  —  The use of content from news and information providers to train artificial intelligence systems may force a reassessment of where to draw legal lines.

The scale of layoffs in the gaming industry in 2023 was far beyond a typical year, with an estimated 9,000+ workers losing their jobs globally (Ash Parrish/The Verge)

Ash Parrish / The Verge:
The scale of layoffs in the gaming industry in 2023 was far beyond a typical year, with an estimated 9,000+ workers losing their jobs globally  —  Layoffs are an unfortunate reality of any industry, but the scope and scale of video game layoffs in 2023 are far beyond a typical year.

With its emphasis on user privacy, Apple is one of the few tech companies that can develop new AI data usage paradigms, setting much-needed industry standards (Joan Westenberg)

Joan Westenberg:
With its emphasis on user privacy, Apple is one of the few tech companies that can develop new AI data usage paradigms, setting much-needed industry standards  —  Apple has carved out a prestigious position in the consumer tech market through sleek designs, user-friendly interfaces, and a robust ecosystem.

People's Bank of China lists Ant Group's Alipay as having no controller, as Ant finished removing controlling stakeholders almost a year after Jack Ma's promise (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
People's Bank of China lists Ant Group's Alipay as having no controller, as Ant finished removing controlling stakeholders almost a year after Jack Ma's promise  —  The bank now lists Ant's Alipay as a firm without an actual controller.  —  Ma, co-founder of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. …

How Figma is adding AI into its products, including launching FigJam AI in public beta in November to help improve meetings with summaries, next steps, and more (Ryan McCarthy/Fast Company)

Ryan McCarthy / Fast Company:
How Figma is adding AI into its products, including launching FigJam AI in public beta in November to help improve meetings with summaries, next steps, and more  —  By now, we've all heard the worries about artificial intelligence replacing workers and laying siege to entire industries (if not the world at large).

A look at Australia's maturing tech sector, which faces challenges like a shortage of late-stage capital and a scarcity of executives with scaling experience (Rebecca Bellan/TechCrunch)

Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch:
A look at Australia's maturing tech sector, which faces challenges like a shortage of late-stage capital and a scarcity of executives with scaling experience  —  The country has punched above its weight on a global scale for years.  Can it attract the funding and talent, and become inclusive enough, to play at the top?

IVC: Israeli startups raised ~$1.5B in Q4 2023, down 15% QoQ, despite increased foreign investor participation, and ~$7B in all of 2023, vs. nearly $16B in 2022 (Steven Scheer/Reuters)

Steven Scheer / Reuters:
IVC: Israeli startups raised ~$1.5B in Q4 2023, down 15% QoQ, despite increased foreign investor participation, and ~$7B in all of 2023, vs. nearly $16B in 2022  —  Israeli high tech firms raised $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023, preliminary data showed on Thursday …

Huawei says its full-year sales for 2023 would be more than $99B, up 9% YoY but down 20% from 2020 peak; Chairman Ken Hu says "we're pretty much back on track" (Edward White/Financial Times)

Edward White / Financial Times:
Huawei says its full-year sales for 2023 would be more than $99B, up 9% YoY but down 20% from 2020 peak; Chairman Ken Hu says “we're pretty much back on track”  —  Sanctions-hit telecoms group records highest revenues in three years but still below 2020 levels

JD.com says a Beijing court fined Alibaba ~$141M after finding that Alibaba's Tmall adopted monopolistic practices known as "choosing one from two" (Reuters)

Reuters:
JD.com says a Beijing court fined Alibaba ~$141M after finding that Alibaba's Tmall adopted monopolistic practices known as “choosing one from two”  —  Chinese online retailer JD.com (9618.HK) said on Friday that it won a lawsuit against rival Alibaba (9988.HK) …

Financial Intelligence Unit India (FIU IND) issues compliance Show Cause Notices to nine offshore Virtual Digital Assets Service Providers (VDA SPs) (Press Information Bureau)

Press Information Bureau:
Financial Intelligence Unit India (FIU IND) issues compliance Show Cause Notices to nine offshore Virtual Digital Assets Service Providers (VDA SPs)  —  FIU IND writes to Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to block URLs of the nine entities operating illegally without complying with the provisions of PML Act in India

Affirm stock grew 430% in 2023, outperforming all US tech companies worth $5B+ and rebounding from 2022's 90% fall, thanks to partnerships with Amazon, others (Annie Palmer/CNBC)

Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Affirm stock grew 430% in 2023, outperforming all US tech companies worth $5B+ and rebounding from 2022's 90% fall, thanks to partnerships with Amazon, others  —  - Affirm shares have skyrocketed more than 400% this year, outperforming all U.S. tech companies worth $5 billion or more.