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Techmeme
October 17, 2023, 5:35 PM

Top News

Stephen Warwick / iMore:
Apple unveils an “affordable” $79 Apple Pencil that charges via a USB-C cable, shipping in “early November” and compatible with all iPads that have a USB-C port  —  A nice surprise...  Apple has today unveiled a new “affordable” Apple Pencil with USB-C that costs $79.
Wall Street Journal:
The US plans to significantly constrict AI chip exports to China, including by Nvidia and Intel, aiming to close perceived export control loopholes made in 2022  —  New rules make it tougher for Nvidia and Intel to sell advanced semiconductors to the Chinese market
Shaurya Malwa / CoinDesk:
FTX floats an amended proposal to return up to 90% of creditor holdings, divided into three pools, and plans to formally file the plan in court by December 16  —  An amended proposal released early Tuesday will be filed by the FTX Debtors by mid-December if approved.
New York Times:
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Meta Quest 3's better passthrough video means people are again walking in public with face-mounted, video-recording devices, a throwback to Google “glassholes”  —  It's happening: people are once walking into public places wearing a video-recording face computer on their heads.
Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Meta identifies and fixes a bug after thousands of Palestinian supporters say their rule-abiding posts were suppressed or removed from Facebook and Instagram  —  Meta has cautioned that some posts may be temporarily suppressed or suspended as it sifts through millions of posts spreading across its platforms.
New York Times:
Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge:
WhatsApp plans to roll out passkey support to all Android users over the coming months to replace passwords and 2FA; Meta did not share passkey plans for iOS  —  WhatsApp users on Android can say goodbye to insecure and annoying SMS two-factor authentication.
Bloomberg:
Tim Cook makes a rare visit to China, showing up at a contest for Tencent's Honor of Kings game in a Chengdu Apple Store, as the US ramps up its chip sanctions  —  - Cook joined an ‘Honor of Kings’ contest in Chengdu Apple store  — The CEO visits as worries grow about its performance in China
Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:
Qualcomm says it's developing a Snapdragon RISC-V chip for Wear OS in partnership with Google, in what could be the first mass-market RISC-V Android SoC  —  Qualcomm and Google project will enable more RISC-V Android devices in the future.  —  The Android ecosystem is hurtling toward a RISC-V future.
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Google rolls out new accessibility features, like Lens in Maps screen reader options, Google Maps accessible walking routes, and faster Chrome mobile search  —  Google is updating Maps, Search, and Assistant with new accessibility features.  The company is also releasing a new Magnifier app to help users read text in different places.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Similarweb: in September, X's global monthly website traffic fell 14% YoY, US traffic declined 19% YoY, while traffic to Elon Musk's profile page was up 96% YoY  —  Despite proclamations from X CEO Linda Yaccarino that usage of the social network was at an all-time high this summer …
More: PCMag, Gizmodo, and The Messenger
Threads: @technicallymims and @techcrunchMastodon: @scalzi@mastodon.socialForums: r/technology
Bloomberg:
Baidu co-founder Robin Li unveils Ernie 4.0 and claims that the language model is on par with OpenAI's GPT-4 in terms of sophistication and general capabilities  —  - Robin Li says AI model is finally on par with OpenAI's GPT-4  — US and China are locked in a race with profound implications
Sandali Handagama / CoinDesk:
Binance.US updates its terms of use to stop direct withdrawals of USD, saying users must first convert “US dollar funds to stablecoin or other digital assets”  —  U.S. dollar deposits in user wallets are no longer eligible for FDIC insurance protection, according to the updated terms of use.
Scott Chipolina / Financial Times:
Sources: Israel ordered Binance to close 100+ accounts since Hamas' attacks on October 7; Binance confirms that the exchange “blocked” a “small number” of users  —  Authorities close more than 100 accounts on Binance as appeals for donations appear on social media platforms

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More News

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
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Earlier Picks

MK Manoylov / The Block:
Karissa Bell / Engadget:
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Adamya Sharma / Android Authority:
Rachyl Jones / Fortune: