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  • ๐Ÿš€ SO(R)Y But Not SO(N)Y ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿ“‰

๐Ÿš€ SO(R)Y But Not SO(N)Y ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿ“‰

PLUS: Ciao ChatGPT โ€œAgainโ€ ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น

GM. This is Take Off, the Netflix of tech news. We're your go-to source for binge-worthy content that keeps you engaged, entertained, and always craving more.

Here's what we're serving up today:

  • SO(R)Y But Not SO(N)Y ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿ“‰

  • Ciao ChatGPT โ€œAgainโ€ ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น

  • Asteroids โ˜„๏ธ

SO(R)Y But Not SO(N)Y ๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿ“‰

Sony's Q4 report card is in, and it's a bit of a mixed bag, folks! They scored a 35% YoY sales growth, reaching $23.16 billion and beating the $17.55 billion consensus.

Their Game & Network Services (G&NS) revenue grew by 61.3%, all thanks to the mighty PS5! With 19.1 million PS5s sold in the financial year, they're now aiming for 25 million PS5 sales this year!

This success is in part due to Sony ramping up PS5 availability. Remember how you were considering selling your kidney to buy the PS5 at those astronomical rates? Well, we unfortunately do :(

GIF Credits: Tenor

But wait, there's more! Sony's gaming division is only part of the success story. Their image sensor chips had a 36% YoY profit jump, and their music business (featuring the likes of Beyonce and Adele) saw a 24.7% YoY profit increase.

Wait, why did you say their results were a โ€œmixedโ€ bag? All I can see here is growth!

Life's actually not all rainbows and unicorns for Sony. Their COO Hiroki Totoki warns that consumer electronics demand could stay weak due to the broader economic slowdown.

One big issue is that PS users aren't buying new games, and with no major new releases last quarter, PlayStation division's growth was limited.

This has led to the question: Can they keep selling PS5s like hotcakes?

Image Credits: Google Finance

Sony's worried about the European and Chinese economies, and they're keeping a close eye on the US market.

The PS5's delayed adoption is hampering their ability to make bank through software and subscriptions (where the real high profit margins lie).

What's your take on the SONYโ€™s 2023 results and more importantly, which games are you playing right now on your PS5?

Ciao ChatGPT โ€œAgainโ€ ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น

Ladies and Gentlemen, guess who's back in Italy? It's ChatGPT!

OpenAI has managed to woo the Italian data protection authority, Garante, into welcoming the chatbot back with open arms. Now, Italian users can once again enjoy ChatGPT's company while sipping their espressos.

So, what did OpenAI do to win their amore?

  1. A new form for EU users to remove personal data

  2. An age verification tool

  3. A help center article to keep everyone in the loop about how data is collected

While Italy was the first western European country to give ChatGPT the boot, it seems they've kissed and made up.

But don't pop the prosecco just yetโ€”other countries are still keeping a watchful eye on ChatGPT's rapid development.

The only sad outcome of this is for PizzaGPT - the heroic LLM who came to the rescue of the Italian people after the ChatGPT Ban!

โ˜„๏ธ Asteroids โ˜„๏ธ

OpenAI is livin' da life with a whopping $300M share sale, thanks to some big-name VC pals like Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital. It looks like Microsoft's $10B investment earlier this year was just the opening act! With a valuation of $27B-$29B, OpenAI's popularity is soaring higher than a ChatGPT-generated rocket pun! ๐Ÿš€๐Ÿ’ธ

Twitter CEO Elon Musk might be in hot water with the FTC over his blue check "gifts" to celebs! It seems that in trying to be Santa, he may have stumbled into deceptive marketing territory, and let's just say the FTC isn't a fan of that kind of surprise. ๐ŸŽ…๐Ÿšซ๐Ÿ˜ฌ

Reddit is trying chat rooms โ€œagainโ€. Theyโ€™ve released Discord-like channels enabling people to have real-time convos with other users. After failing at chat rooms in 2018 and 2020, Reddit is maybe thinking that 3rd timeโ€™s the charm?๐Ÿคž๐Ÿ—จ๏ธ

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