Techmeme
December 4, 2023, 1:25 PM

Top News

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Spotify lays off ~17% of its workforce, or ~1,500 staff, to “rightsize” its costs, citing slow economic growth and rising capital costs, its third cut in 2023  —  Spotify is eliminating about 17% jobs, its third round of layoffs, as the music streaming looks to become “both productive and efficient.”
Joseph Menn / Washington Post:
Disinformation scholar Joan Donovan claims in a whistleblower filing that her superiors dismissed her after Harvard got Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's $500M gift  —  In a whistleblower complaint, she breaks her silence over events that unsettled other misinformation researchers
Peter Martin / Bloomberg:
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo says her department needs more money to stop China's chip gains and calls out Nvidia for redesigning around the US' curbs  —  - US commerce secretary cites Nvidia designs as case in point  — Tells chip CEOs ‘such is life’ as US security trumps revenue
Louis Columbus / VentureBeat:
Researchers scanned public repos and found 1,681 exposed Hugging Face API tokens belonging to Meta, Microsoft, Google, and others, many with write permissions  —  Further validating how brittle the security of generative AI models and their platforms are, Lasso Security helped Hugging Face dodge …
Financial Times:
IBM announces 10 quantum computing projects, focusing mainly on areas like simulating quantum physics and solving problems in chemistry and materials science  —  Use of technology to solve scientific problems still falls short of commercialisation  —  Quantum computing is starting to fulfil …
WABetaInfo:
WhatsApp updates its iOS app to let users send photos and videos in their original quality files, start voice chats without ringing in large groups, and more  —  WhatsApp has just submitted a new stable update for iOS, available on the App Store: the build number is 23.24.73.  —  What's new in this update?
The Guardian:
Investigation: Russia- and China-linked hackers targeted UK nuclear site Sellafield with sleeper malware as far back as 2015; data loss extent is still unknown  —  Exclusive: Malware may still be present and potential effects have been covered up by staff, investigation reveals
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
AssemblyAI, used by companies to build AI speech models, raised $50M led by Accel, taking its total funding to $115M, and says paying users grew 200% YoY to 4K  —  Companies are betting big on generative AI to gain a competitive edge.  But adoption challenges remain.

Sponsor Posts

TELUS Digital:
Are you ready for the era of agentic AI?  —  Tech leaders are always talking about what's next, and right now, agentic AI is dominating the discourse.  Equip yourself with the info you need in this recorded webinar.
Tribe AI:
State of AI: Adoption, Challenges and Recommendations  —  Examining the current state of AI, the key challenges organizations face, and practical recommendations for utilizing AI integration alongside other best practices.
Zoho:
AI agents: Smart ways to manage work  —  Artificial intelligence is a buzzword you'll hear everywhere today—regardless of the vertical, companies are looking to incorporate it.  At Zoho Cliq, we made AI a part of our platform long before it became a trend.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Techmeme Ride Home:
Mooooaaar Models!
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
How Trump's tariffs actually work on the ground
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Great Chat:
Imposter syndrome is due for a rebrand
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
How to make money in Washington, with Punchbowl's Jake Sherman
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Spotlight On:
*RSA Preview* 1Password's Jeff Shiner on balancing B2B and B2C customers in a rapidly evolving tech landscape
A podcast from Accel about how companies are built, from the people doing the building.
Subscribe to Spotlight On.
Invest Like the Best:
Neil Mehta - Finding Future S&P 500 Companies
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:25 PM ET, December 4, 2023.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks

Bloomberg:
Paresh Dave / Wired: