The Information:
Sources: Opal, previously Opal Camera, which makes $300 webcams, raised a $60M Series B led by OpenAI Startup Fund and plans to make new OpenAI-powered devices  —  OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has long been interested in building an AI-powered device for consumers, similar to the one featured in Spike Jonze’s movie “Her.”

Emma Roth / The Verge:
Disney CEO Bob Iger says the company’s password sharing crackdown will kick off “in earnest” in September, after announcing paid sharing in February 2024  —  Disney Plus will soon no longer let you share your password with people outside your household.

Max A. Cherney / Reuters:
Sources: in 2017 and 2018, Intel and OpenAI executives discussed Intel buying a 15% stake for $1B in cash, but CEO Bob Swan did not go forward with the deal  —  For U.S. chip giant Intel, the darling of the computer age before it fell on harder times in the AI era, things might have been quite different.

Parmy Olson / Bloomberg:
The UK Online Safety Bill, set to take effect in 2025, wouldn’t address anti-immigrant lies on X and Telegram that fueled riots, even before it was watered down  —  Even with an ambitious law, Britain can’t do much to get social media platforms to stem the toxic content that helped fuel riots here.

Toby Sterling / Reuters:
Imec, one of the top chip R&D companies, reports several breakthroughs for printing logic and memory chips in a joint ASML lab using ASML’s new High NA tool  —  Belgium’s imec, one of the world’s top semiconductor R&D firms, on Wednesday reported several computer chip-making breakthroughs …

Spencer Soper / Bloomberg:
Shopify reports Q2 revenue up 21% YoY to $2.05B, vs. $2B est., Gross Merchandise Volume up 22% to $67.2B, and gross profit up 25% YoY to $1B; SHOP jumps 17%+  —  – Results show company is navigating cautious consumer spending  — Revenue outlook for current quarter also beat projections

Paul Sawers / TechCrunch:
Automattic launches Write Brief with AI, to help users write and tweak content using text prompts, in beta on Jetpack, after launching an AI assistant in 2023  —  Automattic, the owner of WordPress.com, has launched a new AI tool designed to help bloggers write more clearly and succinctly.

Tom Warren / The Verge:
AMD says its flagship Ryzen 9 9950X with 16 cores will cost $649, or $50 less than the Ryzen 9 7950X, and launches August 15; other new CPUs are $20-$50 cheaper  —  AMD has finally revealed the launch prices for its new range of Ryzen 9000 desktop CPUs, and it’s pricing them slightly lower than the Ryzen 7000 launch prices.

Katharine Gemmell / Bloomberg:
The UK CMA approves HPE’s $14B deal to buy Juniper Networks after finding no competition concerns, following EU regulators approving the deal on August 1  —  The Competition and Markets Authority said Wednesday it had cleared the tie-up after investigating whether it would cause a substantial lessening of competition in the UK.

Reuters:
Sweden’s EQT plans to buy a majority stake in Swiss cybersecurity and data protection company Acronis, sources say valuing Acronis at $4B, up from $3.5B in 2022  —  Sweden’s EQT (EQTAB.ST) said on Wednesday it will acquire a majority stake in Swiss cybersecurity and data protection company Acronis.