Techmeme
September 13, 2023, 5:55 PM

Top News

Alex Ivanovs / Stack Diary:
Chrome, Firefox, Brave, and Edge get updates to address an actively exploited flaw in the WebP Codec's library libwebp; many non-browser apps are also affected  —  A significant vulnerability in the WebP Codec has been unearthed, prompting major browser vendors, including Google and Mozilla …
Suzanne Rowan Kelleher / Forbes:
MGM Resorts' website is still down over 60 hours after being hit by a cyberattack; ransomware-as-a-service group ALPHV, aka BlackCat, reportedly took credit  —  The ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware group claimed responsibility for a breach that began, of all places, on LinkedIn.
Reuters:
After France ordered Apple to stop selling the iPhone 12 over its high radiation levels, Apple says multiple bodies certified the device as radiation compliant  —  Apple said on Wednesday its iPhone 12 model was certified by multiple international bodies as compliant with global radiation standards …
Wall Street Journal:
Docs: Starlink reported $1.4B in 2022 revenue, up from $222M in 2021, falling short of projections in 2015, as some question satellite internet's growth options  —  Revenue at satellite-internet business has jumped but fallen short of Elon Musk's financial projections
Tim Starks / Washington Post:
Researchers: the iPhone of Meduza owner Galina Timchenko was infected with Pegasus in Germany, the first known case of the tool being used against a Russian  —  Unclear is who planted the spyware while the founder of the Meduza news outlet was in Germany  —  The iPhone of a prominent Russian …
Bloomberg:
The White House is watching China expand its government ban on iPhones “with concern” and says the move appears to be “aggressive and inappropriate retaliation”  —  - National Security Council is watching issue with concern  — Beijing cites problems with the security of Apple devices
Philip Glamann / Bloomberg:
Ryan Tracy / Wall Street Journal:
The US Senate's AI Insight Forum: Elon Musk warned of AI risks, Mark Zuckerberg defended open source, all guests agreed the US needs to regulate AI, and more  —  Tech leaders debate perils and possibilities of artificial intelligence at closed-door Senate session
Justine Calma / The Verge:
Apple's environmental announcements, including its first carbon-neutral products, show progress but may be a red herring that distracts from its overall impact  —  Apple announced its first-ever carbon-neutral products today, but don't get too excited about what that means for the planet.
Louise Matsakis / Semafor:
Google cuts hundreds from its global recruiting team, saying “the volume of requests for our recruiters has gone down”, but plans to keep a significant majority  —  Google is laying off hundreds of people across its global recruiting team as hiring at the tech giant continues to slow.
Reuters:
The US SEC says the creator of Stoner Cats NFTs, which raised $8.2M, agreed to pay a $1M fine for an unregistered offering and plans to return investors' money  —  The creator of the popular Stoner Cats animated web series will pay a $1 million civil fine to settle U.S. Securities …
Sean Michael Kerner / VentureBeat:
Stability AI announces its text-to-music tool Stable Audio, which can generate 20 45-second tracks per month for free or 500 90-second tracks for $12/month  —  What comes after building generative AI technology for image and code generation?  For Stability AI, it's text-to-audio generation.
Tom Ivan / Video Games Chronicle:
Sony releases a PS5 software update that adds support for Dolby Atmos HDMI devices, assigning a second controller as an “assist controller”, and up to 8TB SSDs  —  Sony has rolled out a major PlayStation 5 system software update globally.  —  It introduces a number of new features …
Jez Corden / Windows Central:
Unity announces fees based on a game's installations and the developer's plan tier, starting on January 1, 2024, joining Unreal Engine, which has similar fees  —  By Jez Corden Contributions from Zachary Boddy last updated  —  Unity joins Unreal Engine with a per-install fee.  —  What you need to know
More: Axios, garry.net, 404 Media, Game Developer, Unity Blog, The Verge, GamesIndustry.biz, Unity Forum, insert credit, Game Developer, Ars Technica, Forbes, Video Games Chronicle, TweakTown, ExtremeTech, GameSpot, DEVCLASS, Nintendo World Report Updates, Marimo, TheGamer, TechSpot, and Neowin
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Amazon announces generative AI tools to help sellers write “captivating product descriptions, titles, and listing details” and add to existing descriptions  —  Amazon today introduced a new set of generative AI tools aimed at sellers which the retailer says will simplify the process of creating product listings.
Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:
Apple hikes the prices of the iPhone 15 lineup in China, Japan, India, and other markets, keeps prices flat in the US, and cuts prices in the UK by £50 to £100  —  - Apple hiked the prices of its latest iPhones in some of its key markets including China, Japan and India, even as it kept them the same in the U.S.
Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:
Apple does not plan to sell its new AirPods Pro USB-C charging case as a standalone product; users instead need to buy a new $249 pair that come with the case  —  Apple on Tuesday made second-generation AirPods Pro with a USB-C charging case available to order, but unlike its move to wireless charging cases …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Xcode 15 RC files show that the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus have 6GB of RAM and the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max have 8GB of RAM, a 2GB increase for the Pro models  —  Apple never publicly advertises the amount of RAM included in iPhones, but MacRumors has confirmed that the iPhone 15 Pro …
Peter Cohen / AppleInsider:
Isaac Schorr / Mediaite:
Bio: Elon Musk told Bari Weiss that Twitter needs to be careful when discussing China due to Tesla's business, and that China's Uyghur repression has two sides  —  A passage in Walter Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk sheds new light on the billionaire's willingness to placate the genocidal Chinese regime.
David Pierce / The Verge:
News sharing app Artifact adds Links, a section where users can post any type of link and discover links through a Following page or an algorithmic For You page  —  Artifact, the algorithmic news-reading app started by Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, was never really meant to just be a news-reading app.

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More News

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Earlier Picks

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