In The News

• 
  Disarray in Silicon Valley as Sam Altman is ousted, and most of the pioneering company's staff threatens to follow him to Microsoft.
• Sony's PlayStation Access controller offers a new social lifeline for gamers with disabilities
  Grant Stoner said that he has loved playing video games his entire life, and that his earliest memory is of playing Super Nintendo in his parents' bedroom at roughly 3 years old.
• Elon Musk's X is testing an annual fee for unverified accounts
  After Elon Musk hinted last month that X could start charging all users, the company (formerly known as Twitter) announced a test of such a system.
• Taiwan's Foxconn to build 'AI factories' with Nvidia
  Taiwan's Foxconn says it plans to build artificial intelligence (AI) data factories with technology from American chip giant Nvidia, as the electronics maker ramps up efforts to become a major global player in electric car manufacturing.
• US escalates tech battle by cutting China off from AI chips
  The Biden administration is reducing the types of semiconductors that American companies will be able to sell to China, citing the desire to close loopholes in existing regulations announced last year.
• Apple continues its sweep to roll out USB-C to more devices
  Apple quietly announced its next-generation Pencil that works with iPads and now includes USB-C charging.
• Nokia says it will cut up to 14,000 jobs
  Nokia will slash up to 14,000 jobs in a major cost-cutting drive, it said in a statement on Thursday.
• EU asks Meta for more details on efforts to stop illegal and inaccurate content on Israel-Hamas war
  The European Union has told Meta it has a week to explain in greater detail how it is fighting the spread of illegal content and disinformation on its Facebook and Instagram platforms following the attacks across Israel by Hamas.
• Snapchat isn't just for teens anymore. Now it needs to make some real money
  When Snapchat announced last month that it had reached 5 million paying subscribers for its Snapchat+ service, it seemed like a stunning achievement. The milestone marked the halfway point to the 10 million subscriber number that CEO Evan Spiegel had just months earlier identified as a "medium-term" goal.
• New York AG accuses crypto firms of deceiving investors in $1 billion fraud
  On Thursday, New York's attorney general filed a lawsuit against three digital asset firms that were caught up in the collapse of Bankman-Fried's empire last fall — Gemini Trust, Genesis Global Capital and Digital Currency Group, parent company of Genesis.
• Dozens of states sue Instagram-parent Meta over 'addictive' features and youth mental health harms
  Dozens of states sued Instagram-parent Meta on Tuesday, accusing the social media giant of harming young users' mental health through allegedly addictive features such as infinite news feeds and frequent notifications that demand users' constant attention.
• 
  Amy Webb joins The Lead.
• Google Maps and Waze temporarily disable live traffic data in Israel
  Google is temporarily disabling live traffic conditions on its mapping service apps, Google Maps and Waze, in Israel, the tech company confirmed Monday, as the country prepares for a potential ground invasion into Gaza.
• Apple announces 'scary fast' October event
  Apple announced its second product event of the season, a month after introducing its new iPhone 15 lineup. New iMacs are likely.
• Fake placenames with anti-Israel messages flood Google Maps' depiction of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt
  When Google Maps users navigated to the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Tuesday, they might have seen placenames that included, "F**k Israel," and "May god curse Israel's Jerusalem."
• Microsoft, Google post strong quarterly sales growth as Big Tech continues its comeback
  Big tech companies are continuing a turnaround from last year, as Alphabet, Microsoft and Snap kicked off earnings season with strong sales results for the quarter ended in September.
• 
  Scandal erupted at a New Jersey high school after a male student used AI to make fake nude photos of female students. One of the victims tells CNN's Michael Smerconish, "I shouldn't be sad, I should be mad."
• 
  CNN's Donie O'Sullivan reports.
• 
  Hate groups are leveraging advances in artificial intelligence to stoke antisemitism in the US amid tensions surrounding the Israel-Hamas war. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan reports.
• Lina Khan's rise was heralded as an antitrust revolution. Now she has to pull it off
  When the Federal Trade Commission and 17 states sued Amazon last month in a landmark antitrust case, Lina Khan, chair of the FTC, described it as a "cutting-edge" lawsuit that captures "state-of-the-art thinking" about modern monopolies in the tech industry.