ByteDance confirms laying off hundreds of TikTok content moderators in Malaysia and plans to invest $2B in 2024 on trust and safety; sources: 700 were laid off (Norman Goh/Nikkei Asia)

Norman Goh / Nikkei Asia:
ByteDance confirms laying off hundreds of TikTok content moderators in Malaysia and plans to invest $2B in 2024 on trust and safety; sources: 700 were laid off  —  KUALA LUMPUR — ByteDance, the parent company of social media platform TikTok, confirmed on Friday that it will be laying off hundreds …

How Google plans to deflect and delay the US breakup threat; legal timelines may let it avoid changes for years, and a ruling on remedies may come in mid-2025 (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
How Google plans to deflect and delay the US breakup threat; legal timelines may let it avoid changes for years, and a ruling on remedies may come in mid-2025  —  Search group claims regulators are overreaching just as foreign and domestic rivals are gaining ground

Automattic demanding an 8% cut of WP Engine's revenue is a wanton violation of general open source ideals, and the damage could extend far beyond WordPress (David Heinemeier Hansson/HEY)

David Heinemeier Hansson / HEY:
Automattic demanding an 8% cut of WP Engine's revenue is a wanton violation of general open source ideals, and the damage could extend far beyond WordPress  —  Automattic demanding 8% of WP Engine's revenues because they're not “giving back enough” to WordPress is a wanton violation …

ByteDance launches its first earbuds, the open-ear wearables called Ola Friend, designed as an audio assistant, shipping on October 17 in China for ~$170 (Coco Feng/South China Morning Post)

Coco Feng / South China Morning Post:
ByteDance launches its first earbuds, the open-ear wearables called Ola Friend, designed as an audio assistant, shipping on October 17 in China for ~$170  —  The Ola Friend earphones are linked to ByteDance's self-developed chatbot, Doubao, currently China's most popular GenAI app

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to David Baker for "computational protein design" and Demis Hassabis and John Jumper (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to David Baker for “computational protein design” and Demis Hassabis and John Jumper  —  - Demis Hassabis, John Jumper share half the $1.1 million award  — Remainder goes to David Baker for building new proteins

CamScanner app maker Intsig is the best-performing China IPO stock in 2024 for $100M+ listings, after a euphoric market response to Beijing's stimulus measures (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
CamScanner app maker Intsig is the best-performing China IPO stock in 2024 for $100M+ listings, after a euphoric market response to Beijing's stimulus measures  —  - Intsig Chairman Zhen Lixin's net worth hits $876 million  — Shanghai-listed firm has surged since Sept. 26 debut