Techmeme
August 29, 2023, 3:20 PM

Top News

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Google announces AI features coming soon to Meet, including expanding Duet AI to take notes, mid-meeting summaries, and “attending” meetings on a user's behalf  —  If Google Meet's new AI tools are as good as advertised, you might never need to pay attention to another meeting again — or even show up at all.
Bloomberg:
Google adds AI tools from others, like Meta's Llama 2 and Anthropic's Claude 2, to Cloud, expands Duet AI in Workspace, partners with Fox Sports, and more  —  Alphabet Inc.'s Google is adding artificial intelligence tools from companies including Meta Platforms Inc. and Anthropic to its cloud platform …
David Pierce / The Verge:
Gerrit De Vynck / Washington Post:
Google unveils SynthID, a tool that can embed an invisible digital “watermark” into AI-generated images, available now to Cloud customers for Imagen-made images  —  The tech giant is among companies pushing out AI tools while promising to build more tools to protect against their misuse
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple announces a September 12 event at 10am PT at Apple Park titled “Wonderlust”, where four iPhone 15 models, the Apple Watch Series 9, and more are expected  —  Apple today announced plans to hold a special event on Tuesday, September 12 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time.
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
The FBI led an effort to dismantle the Qakbot botnet, which ransomware gangs used as an infection vector for years, on August 25 after infiltrating its network  —  Qakbot, one of the largest and longest-running botnets to date, was taken down following a multinational law enforcement operation spearheaded …
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Omdia: Apple shipped 26.5M iPhone 14 Pro Max units in H1 2023, the most out of any model from any manufacturer; Apple makes all four of the top-shipping models  —  - Last year, the iPhone 13 was the bestselling device on the market, indicating consumers were still buying flagship devices but at the entry level rather than the top end.
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Kuo: Apple aims for the iPhone 15 Pro Max to make up 35% to 40% of iPhone 15 shipments, optimistic about its exclusive periscope lens camera as a selling point  —  Apple is aiming for the highest-end iPhone 15 Pro Max to account for roughly 35-40% of initial shipments for the iPhone 15 series …
Sheera Frenkel / New York Times:
Meta removes the largest Chinese influence campaign to date; the campaign spans thousands of accounts, and many are still active on TikTok, X, and Reddit  —  The campaign began at least four years ago and spanned thousands of accounts on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, Substack and Chinese websites, Meta said.
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
WhatsApp launches a new native macOS app via its website, coming soon to the App Store, that lets eight users join video calls and 32 users join audio calls  —  WhatsApp said that it has launched a new native app for Mac today.  The app will allow users to participate in video calls …
CoinDesk:
A US court rules that the SEC must review its rejection of Grayscale's bid to convert the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into an ETF after approving two bitcoin ETPs  —  A federal appeals court ordered the SEC to “vacate” its rejection of the trust issuer's bid to convert the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into an exchange-traded fund.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
TechCrunch acquires Connie Loizos' media startup StrictlyVC and names her as TC's EIC and GM; longtime EIC Matthew Panzarino will remain an adviser through 2023  —  TechCrunch, the digital tech and business publication owned by Yahoo, has acquired StrictlyVC, a media startup, from longtime Silicon Valley journalist Connie Loizos.
Eugene Kim / Insider:
Meeting: Andy Jassy told employees who refuse to return to the office “at least three days a week” that “it's probably not going to work out for you at Amazon”  —  - Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told employees who disagree with the return-to-office mandate that it's “not going to work out for you.”
Alex Heath / The Verge:
Snap rolls out Dreams, Snapchat's take on the generative AI selfies that Lensa and others popularized, charging $1 for an eight-photo pack; the first is free  —  After releasing its My AI chatbot earlier this year, Snapchat is now jumping on the AI selfie bandwagon with a new feature called Dreams.
Washington Post:
Interviews reveal that 34 of 36 Remotasks workers in the Philippines, who annotate data for Scale AI's US clients, faced delayed, reduced, or canceled payments  —  CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines — In a coastal city in the southern Philippines, thousands of young workers log online every …

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