Q&A with Bose CEO Lila Snyder on the brand and its history, running a private company, building software, Bluetooth, competing with Apple and Google, and more (Nilay Patel/The Verge)

Pranob Mehrotra / XDA Developers:
Qualcomm announces the Qualcomm S3 Gen 2 and Qualcomm S5 Gen 2 for wireless audio gear with support for spatial audio, improved ANC, lossless music, and more  —  The new SoCs are optimized for Bluetooth LE Audio and unlock several premium audio experiences

Vikas SN / Moneycontrol:
Meta confirms WhatsApp India head Abhijit Bose and India’s public policy head Rajiv Aggarwal have stepped down; sources say the exits are not layoff related  —  Shivnath Thukral, who is currently serving as the director of public policy at WhatsApp India, has been appointed the director …

Lucy Harley-McKeown / The Block:
Web3 gaming and VC firm Animoca Brands raised $110M via convertible notes led by Temasek, Boyu Capital, and GGV, after raising $434M in 2022  —  – Animoca Brands confirmed earlier reports it had raised a fresh funding round of $110 million.  — Temasek, Boyu Capital and CGV Capital are now backing the firm.

Benj Edwards / Ars Technica:
Meta AI researchers unveil Encodec, a neural network trained to compress audio at a ~10x rate compared with the MP3 format at 64Kbps, without a loss in quality  —  Technique could allow high-quality calls and music on low-quality connections.  —  Last week, Meta announced …

Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with Arm CEO Rene Haas on the company’s business, customers, IPO plans, corporate structure, working with TSMC and Apple, building chips for cars, and more  —  Arm’s chips are in your iPhone — but what exactly does Arm do? … One of the more interesting quirks of the modern tech world …

Chris Welch / The Verge:
Apple AirPods Pro (second-gen) review: improved ANC, sound quality, and clarity, but an unchanged design, Lightning connector, and no major software update  —  Redesigned inside but not out, the new AirPods Pro are destined to be another hit — even if the magic is waning