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Microsoft to Meet with FTC Chair Lina Khan on Activision Deal

Published

2 months ago

December 6, 2022

Harry Miller

(Bloomberg) — Microsoft Corp. executives are set to meet with US Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan and other commissioners Wednesday to make its final case in favor of its deal to buy gaming studio Activision Blizzard Inc., a person familiar with the meetings said.

The antitrust agency is nearing a decision on the $69 billion deal, which would make Xbox-maker Microsoft into the No. 3 gaming company globally. A so-called last rites meeting between the companies and the FTC’s commissioners –- who make the final call and vote on any agency actions -– is often one of the last steps before either a lawsuit or a settlement are filed.

Microsoft President Brad Smith and other company executives are expected to attend the meetings, the person said, asking not to be named discussing the confidential probe.

FTC spokesman Douglas Farrar and a Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment.

Microsoft announced in January it planned to buy game publisher Activision Blizzard, which has developed popular franchises like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. The acquisition would be the software maker’s largest ever and one of the 30 biggest deals of all time.

Khan, a progressive former Columbia University Law School professor who took the helm of the FTC last year, has taken a more aggressive approach to merger enforcement during her tenure. She declined to discuss the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal at a conference Tuesday, citing the ongoing probe. But Khan denied that the FTC is opposed to mergers and said preserving innovation in emerging markets is a top priority.

“I think there can be this misperception that the FTC is somehow anti-deals,” she said at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Summit. But “when you have increased consolidation, increased concentration and declining competition, that can have a real adverse effect on innovation,” she said. “Incumbents and monopolists are not going to be incentivized to innovate and to really push the boundaries in the way that they are when they’re facing robust competition.”

The deal also requires antitrust approval from officials in the UK and the European Union, who have raised concerns that Microsoft could withhold popular game titles from rival systems, particularly from Sony Group Corp.’s Playstation.

European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager said Tuesday on the sidelines of a conference in Washington that the EU hasn’t started negotiating with the company over a possible remedy.

The New York Post earlier reported on the meetings.

–With assistance from Dina Bass.

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Google's AI generated music is unsurprisingly great – MobileSyrup

Published

4 hours ago

January 28, 2023

Harry Miller

Google has shared a new AI research project called MusicLM that uses AI to make music, and it’s the latest AI to make artists scared for their jobs.

You can’t use this tool publically like ChatGDP, but Google has shared a ton of samples attached to a research document. These range from small ten-second snippets to full-length five-minute songs.

This tool takes simple text inputs or a person humming and turns that into beautiful music. You can even use a sequence of text prompts to write a song that changes over time. After listening to a couple, the AI doesn’t recreate human music perfectly since it can’t do voices well, but the beats are always interesting and melodic, to say the least. I’d also expect Google to make this much better at human singing soon.

MusicLM really shines by recreating soft beats like melodic techno and relaxing jazz. There are five-minute samples of each genre near the top of the research paper’s sample zone, and they are worth a listen.

There’s no word when or how Google will release this fully, but as we extend further into the AI world, it seems like no creative pursuits are safe.

Source: Google Research

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Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Launch Date, Specs And Twitter Reactions – AugustMan HongKong

Published

5 hours ago

January 28, 2023

Harry Miller

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Specialized shutters pioneering women's apparel brand – Canadian Cycling Magazine

Published

6 hours ago

January 28, 2023

Harry Miller

Specialized is shutting down the pioneering women’s apparel brand, Machine For Freedom. MFF, founded by Jenn Kriske in 2013, built a strong following for promoting a more inclusive vision of the women’s cycling community.

MFF was one of the first brands to seriously develop women’s riding clothing outside of the traditional, race-focused sizing of most apparel lines. In the years since, other brands have broadened their lines to match the example set by Machined For Freedom.

The boutique California-based apparel brand was bought by Specialized in 2018. Going into the fifth year of partnership, the global bike brand is now disbanding MFF. The news was met with an outpouring of support from riders as well as other women’s clothing brands that have followed in MFF’s tire tracks.

The end of Machines For Freedom is the latest in a series of big changes for Specialized. Specialized also announced significant layoffs earlier this year as well as shutting down most of its long-running ambassador program.

MFF founder Jenn Kriske posted this note to the brand’s community on Instagram:

“It is with a heavy heart that I make this announcement. After eight incredible years, the difficult decision was made to shutter the Machines For Freedom brand.

I am tremendously grateful for everything this brand and this community has accomplished in that time. Our influence in the industry is undeniable, and our industry-leading fit process changed the game for women riders in all shapes and sizes. While the brand will no longer exist, the community – and what we built together – will. What we built is bigger than any single brand or company, and I am eternally grateful to be a part of it.

Machines For Freedom is bigger than cycling.

Always has been.

Always will be.”

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