Techmeme
January 8, 2024, 12:55 AM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
A look at Apple's preparations for the Vision Pro's US launch and main challenges in 2024, like lagging in generative AI, reviving revenue growth, and antitrust  —  Apple has a big year ahead for new products, but also faces challenges ranging from trying to catch up in AI to dealing with changes to the App Store.
Connie Loizos / TechCrunch:
Linear's CEO, who uses Carta to manage its cap table, says Carta tried to sell Linear shares without its consent; Carta CEO blames a rogue employee  —  “This might be the end of Carta as the trusted platform for startups”  —  Carta, an ambitious 12-year-old Silicon Valley outfit …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: some executives and board members fear that Elon Musk's use of LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, mushrooms, ketamine, and other drugs could harm his companies  —  Some executives and board members fear the billionaire's use of drugs—including LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, mushrooms and ketamine—could harm his companies
IEEE Spectrum:
How Midjourney v6 and DALL-E 3 produce “plagiaristic outputs”, even when not directly asked to do so, which could expose users to copyright infringement claims  —  This is a guest post.  The views expressed here are solely those of the authors and do not represent positions of IEEE Spectrum or the IEEE.
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Xreal unveils the $699 Air 2 Ultra AR glasses, adding dual 3D cameras to map the wearer's environment and enable features like hand tracking, shipping in March  —  Augmented reality company Xreal has revealed a new entry in its Air glasses lineup: the $699 Air 2 Ultra.
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Music industry insiders reflect on the waning influence of popular, human-curated Spotify playlists, as the company shifts towards AI-driven personalization  —  The streaming giant's shift to automation is impacting the supremacy of curated music selections  —  Welcome back to Soundbite, and happy New Year!
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
TRM Labs: North Korea-affiliated hackers were responsible for almost a third of all crypto thefts in 2023, stealing $600M+, which is ~30% less than in 2022  —  U.S. national security officials have raised concerns about North Korea's use of stolen crypto to develop nuclear weapons.  —  Register Now
Steven Levy / Wired:
A defense of AI hallucinations, which can spur creativity and, by requiring fact-checks, act as a firewall in the transition to coexist with superintelligent AI  —  It's a big problem when chatbots spew untruths.  But we should also celebrate these hallucinations as prompts for human creativity and a barrier to machines taking over.
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
DeepMind spinout Isomorphic Labs partners with Eli Lilly and Novartis on AI-based drug discovery, for $82.5M paid upfront and $2.9B in performance incentives  —  Isomorphic Labs, the London-based, drug discovery-focused spin-out of Google AI R&D division DeepMind, today announced that it's entered …
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Acer announces Intel Core Ultra-based Swift laptops, including the Swift X 14 with Nvidia RTX 4070 and 120Hz OLED display, starting at $1,399  —  Acer is rolling out new laptops based on Intel Core Ultra including the Acer Swift X 14, a powerhouse PC with Intel Core Ultra, RTX 4070, a 120Hz OLED display, and more.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro (experimental) is now available, with thinking capabilities, enhanced performance, and improved accuracy.  Try it at no cost in the Gemini app.
UiPath:
Introducing the UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation  —  UiPath's new platform empowers enterprises to experience the full power of AI to transform industries
Zoho:
Automate recurring activities with Zoho One's RPA addition  —  Robotic Process Automation (RPA) automates manual and routine tasks for businesses by using digital robots that replicate human behaviour.
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

Lenny's Podcast:
Inside Devin: The world's first autonomous AI engineer that's set to write 50% of its company's code by end of year | Scott Wu (CEO and co-founder of Cognition)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Omnibus Week Of 04/28
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Hard Fork:
The Dangers of A.I. Flattery + Kevin Meets the Orb + Group Chat Chat
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
The Logan Bartlett Show:
Ben Lamm (Founder & CEO, Colossal Biosciences) On The Breakthroughs Making De-Extinction Actually Possible
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
Subscribe to The Logan Bartlett Show.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Josh Kopelman from First Round Capital
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.

More News

Benj Edwards / Ars Technica:
More: New.blicio.us, The Decoder, and Watcher Guru
Threads: @luokai and @luokaiMastodon: @Luk@mamot.frX: @nickfloatsForums: Ars OpenForum
Ann Carrns / New York Times:
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
Jay Peters / The Verge:

Earlier Picks

Financial Times:
Daniel Stenberg / daniel.haxx.se:
Washington Post:
The Verge: