Techmeme
October 26, 2023, 4:35 PM

Top News

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft reorganizes its Xbox teams, promoting Matt Booty to game content president and Sarah Bond to Xbox president; CMO Chris Capossela leaves after 32 years  —  Microsoft is reorganizing its Xbox gaming and marketing leadership, less than two weeks after acquiring Activision Blizzard.
Jon Porter / The Verge:
The UK's controversial Online Safety Bill becomes law, allowing fines of up to £18M or 10% of global turnover; Ofcom now plans to publish its codes of practice  —  The UK's Online Safety Bill, a wide-ranging piece of legislation that aims to make the country “the safest place in the world to be online” …
Nico Grant / New York Times:
Internal docs: Google worked to limit Apple's search ambitions after Spotlight's 2021 update; sources say Google paid Apple ~$18B in 2021 to remain the default  —  Google has worried for years that Apple would one day expand its internet search technology, and has been working on ways to prevent that from happening.
Wall Street Journal:
X's tumultuous first year under Elon Musk: mobile DAUs down 16% from October 2022 to September 2023, app downloads fell after X rebrand, and investor markdowns  —  The platform struggles to attract users and advertisers, third-party data suggest, while Musk has voiced optimism
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Google rolls out new Google Maps features, including updating search to more easily find things nearby and expanding Immersive View for Routes to 15 new cities  —  Google is adding a slew of new updates for Maps, including a few AI-powered features that are designed to make it easier for users to search …
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
OpenAI forms Preparedness, a new team to assess, evaluate, and probe AI models to protect against “catastrophic risks”, including biological and nuclear threats  —  OpenAI today announced that it's created a new team to assess, evaluate and probe AI models to protect against what it describes as “catastrophic risks.”
CNBC:
Uber starts offering rides in fully autonomous Waymo cars in Phoenix, Arizona; users can accept or reject the autonomous option, which includes a 24/7 helpline  —  - Uber users in Phoenix, Arizona, will be able to ride in a fully autonomous car, Uber announced Thursday.
Bloomberg:
A live blog of FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried's testimony at his own criminal fraud trial in NYC over the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange  —  Welcome to TOPLive.  FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried is taking the witness stand at his own fraud trial in New York over the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange.
Hayden Field / CNBC:
Kids are attending virtual pro-Palestinian protests on Roblox in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war; one virtual protest area has been visited 275K+ times  —  - Kids are attending virtual pro-Palestine protests on Roblox in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, and so far, one virtual protest area has been visited more than 275,000 times.
Andrew Tarantola / Engadget:
Leica releases the $9,480 M11-P camera, which watermarks photos with the Content Credentials metadata system, created by advocacy groups to fight misinformation  —  It automatically watermarks photos with Content Credentials metadata.  —  It's getting to the point these days that we can't even trust …
Sarah Fielding / Engadget:
Google expands its bug bounty program to add generative AI, which has unique security issues, like model manipulation and unfair bias, requiring new guidance  —  New guidance outlines what discoveries garner financial rewards.  —  With concerns around generative AI ever-present …
Suvashree Ghosh / Bloomberg:
JPMorgan's Global Head of Payments says the blockchain-based JPM Coin now handles $1B in transactions per day and the bank plans to continue widening its usage  —  - JPM Coin allows blockchain-based payments by wholesale clients  — Token is a rare instance of live blockchain use by a big bank
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Xiaomi unveils the 6.36" Xiaomi 14 and 6.73" Xiaomi 14 Pro, offering the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, 50MP camera sensors, a Leica lens on the Pro, and LTPO 120Hz panels  —  Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 just this week as Android's next flagship chipset, and now Xiaomi is already announcing …
Matthieu Faou / WeLiveSecurity:
Pro-Russia hacking group Winter Vivern is targeting European governmental entities' Roundcube Webmail servers; viewing an email triggers a Roundcube zero-day  —  ESET Research recommends updating Roundcube Webmail to the latest available version as soon as possible
Sheena Vasani / The Verge:
Samsung offers Galaxy smartphone and tablets running One UI 6 a Temporary Cloud Backup feature with unlimited storage for up to 30 days for free, matching Apple  —  Samsung is starting to roll out a “Temporary Cloud Backup” feature to Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablets running on One UI 6, the company announced on Thursday.
Bloomberg:
Meta declines its Oversight Board's advice from August 2023 to tighten its oversight of drug-related posts; the Oversight Board calls the decision “unfortunate”  —  - Board found ‘inconsistent enforcement’ of drug-related posts  — Instagram, Facebook owner may consider a review in 2024
Politico:
UK PM Rishi Sunak announces plans to set up a UK-based AI Safety Institute and an AI research network modeled on the IPCC, ahead of the UK AI Summit in November  —  British PM defended seeking Chinese buy-in for a bevvy of new AI governance initiatives he is set to launch next week.

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