Vodafone and Microsoft agree to a 10-year, $1.5B deal to develop AI, digital payments, IoT, and other businesses; Vodafone will use OpenAI for customer service (Thomas Seal/Bloomberg)

Thomas Seal / Bloomberg:
Vodafone and Microsoft agree to a 10-year, $1.5B deal to develop AI, digital payments, IoT, and other businesses; Vodafone will use OpenAI for customer service  —  - Microsoft also plans to invest in Vodafone's IoT spinout  — Vodafone will also use OpenAI technology in $1.5 billion deal

After NFT sales dropped 63% YoY to $8.7B in 2023, OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer talks OpenSea 2.0, set to offer improved differentiation between NFT categories (Hannah Miller/Bloomberg)

Hannah Miller / Bloomberg:
After NFT sales dropped 63% YoY to $8.7B in 2023, OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer talks OpenSea 2.0, set to offer improved differentiation between NFT categories  —  - NFTs have lagged behind Bitcoin in crypto resurgence  — OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer said more use cases for NFTs are here

Apple's September 2023 change to how its Podcasts app automatically downloaded episodes has dramatically curtailed download numbers for some podcasts (Max Tani/Semafor)

Max Tani / Semafor:
Apple's September 2023 change to how its Podcasts app automatically downloaded episodes has dramatically curtailed download numbers for some podcasts  —  Apple has quietly tightened its reporting of how many people listen to podcasts, sending shock waves through an embattled audio industry still reeling …

Switzerland-based SoftwareOne, which advises companies on cloud strategies, rejects Bain's $3.5B takeover, ending months of back-and-forth; SWON.SW drops 10%+ (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Switzerland-based SoftwareOne, which advises companies on cloud strategies, rejects Bain's $3.5B takeover, ending months of back-and-forth; SWON.SW drops 10%+  —  - Bain had offered the equivalent of 18.8 Swiss francs per share  — Company has been in negotiations with Bain for several months

How some artists are incorporating Dall-E, Midjourney, and other AI tools into their work, while others remain anxious about AI's impact on their livelihoods (Emma Park/Financial Times)

Emma Park / Financial Times:
How some artists are incorporating Dall-E, Midjourney, and other AI tools into their work, while others remain anxious about AI's impact on their livelihoods  —  Forward-thinking designers are willing to embrace the technology — without relinquishing human creativity's central role

How dye-sensitized solar cells, which are lightweight, bendable, and manufactured cheaply, can capture light indoors to charge small gadgets like headphones (Christopher Mims/Wall Street Journal)

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:
How dye-sensitized solar cells, which are lightweight, bendable, and manufactured cheaply, can capture light indoors to charge small gadgets like headphones  —  Indoor solar power technology is finally becoming available; Some devices no longer need batteries at all