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February 8, 2024, 3:00 PM
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David Pierce / The Verge:
Google debuts Gemini Ultra 1.0, its largest and most capable LLM, renames Bard as Gemini, debuts a dedicated Android app, and plans to add Gemini to its iOS app  —  Google is famous for having a million similar products with confusingly different names and seemingly nothing in common.
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google adds a $20-per-month AI Premium plan to Google One, offering Gemini Advanced powered by the Ultra 1.0 model, and rebrands Duet AI as Gemini for Workspace  —  Sundar Pichai announced last week that Google One is about to cross 100 million subscribers.  Google One is now getting a new AI Premium plan that costs $19.99.
Ethan Mollick / One Useful Thing:
Google Gemini Advanced hands-on: clearly a GPT-4 class model, but doesn't obviously blow away GPT-4 in benchmarks; Gemini is better than GPT-4 at explanations  —  And then there were two.  —  Right around the time you are getting this email, Google finally released their long-awaited powerful AI …
Lauren Goode / Wired:
An interview with Sundar Pichai on the evolving web, training Gemini to be a multimodal AI, future paid and ad-supported generative AI, hallucinations, and more
David Shepardson / Reuters:
The US says 200+ companies, like OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Meta, Google, Apple, Amazon, Nvidia, and Palantir, are joining the AI Safety Institute Consortium  —  The Biden administration on Thursday said leading artificial intelligence companies are among more than 200 entities joining …
Josh Boak / Associated Press:
The Biden administration names White House economic adviser Elizabeth Kelly to lead the NIST's newly formed AI Safety Institute to develop AI testing standards
Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
LastPass warns users about a fake copy of its app on Apple's App Store, with a similar name and logo, likely used as a phishing app to steal users' credentials  —  LastPass is warning that a fake copy of its app is being distributed on the Apple App Store, likely used as a phishing app to steal users' credentials.
Leah Nylen / Bloomberg:
Filing: Microsoft says Activision had planned layoffs before the merger, responding to the FTC's claims that the layoffs contradict Microsoft's court statements  —  - Xbox maker cutting 1,900 workers, including at Activision  — Tech giant responds to Federal Trade Commission over layoffs
Thomas Claburn / The Register:
In iOS 17.4 Beta 2, Apple demotes PWAs in the EU from standalone apps to shortcuts that open in the default browser, to comply with the DMA's browser rules  —  PWAs demoted to OWB: Operating Within Browser  —  Apple has argued for years that developers who don't want to abide by its rules …
Diane Brady / Fortune:
Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker steps down to focus on AI and internet safety as the chair of the nonprofit; board member Laura Chambers will step in as interim CEO  —  Mozilla has named a new CEO effective immediately.  —  Mozilla Corp., which manages the open-source Firefox browser …
Molly White / Citation Needed:
In his new book, a16z GP Chris Dixon fails to identify a single blockchain project that has successfully provided a non-speculative service at any kind of scale  —  Prominent crypto venture capitalist Chris Dixon provides an unconvincing bible for blockchain solutionists.  —  1×
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
Meta challenges the EU's DSA supervisory fee of 0.05% of Meta's annual net income meant to cover regulators' costs, disagreeing with how the fees are calculated
Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
The Danish data protection authority orders schools to stop sending student data to Google via Chromebooks and Workspace, after an over four-year investigation  —  The Danish data protection authority (Datatilsynet) has issued an injunction regarding student data being funneled to Google through …
Brian Fung / CNN:
The FCC outlaws scam robocalls featuring fake, AI-created voices, giving state AGs more legal tools to pursue illegal robocallers that use such voices  —  The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday it is immediately outlawing scam robocalls featuring fake, artificial intelligence-created voices …
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
A leaked image allegedly shows the Google Pixel Fold 2, including a narrower cover screen, a squarer inner screen aspect ratio, and redesigned camera bump  —  Here's a very early look at what could be Google's second-generation foldable phone.  —  •  —  TL;DR
Martin Young / Cointelegraph:
SEC filing: NYSE-listed Bakkt, a crypto trading platform backed by the Intercontinental Exchange, warns that it might not be able to stay in business in a year  —  The institutional digital asset trading platform unveiled in 2018 amid huge fanfare has just disclosed it “might not be able to continue as a going concern.”
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Battle for the Bird book excerpt: how Jack Dorsey's plan to get Elon Musk to save Twitter failed, as Musk dismantled the company after taking over, and more  —  An excerpt from Battle for the Bird shows how Twitter's two most prominent leaders contributed to its current dilemma.
Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
TikTok quietly removed view counts for hashtags in January, after researchers used them to show the disparity in views of pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian videos  —  The change came after researchers cited TikTok's video-view counts to discuss the relative prominence of pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian videos on the app.
Adnan Aamir / Nikkei Asia:
Pakistan suspended mobile services across the country as voters went to the polls on February 8; the Interior Ministry cited a deteriorating security situation  —  Outages in name of security fuel suspicion over polls' legitimacy  —  Poll workers walk past police officers outside a voting station in Peshawar on Feb. 8.

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More News

Reed Albergotti / Semafor:
Q&A with Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine on Medium expecting to turn a profit in 2024, distribution, training LLMs, AI-generated content, media layoffs, and more
Kara Swisher / New York Magazine:
An excerpt from Kara Swisher's upcoming book, Burn Book: covering digital media in the '90s, Facebook and Google becoming information gatekeepers, and more

Earlier Picks

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Google debuts a pilot program in Singapore to prevent users from sideloading certain apps that abuse Android app permissions to read one-time passwords
Bloomberg:
SoftBank reports Q3 net profit of $6.4B, after four quarters of losses, lifted by a T-Mobile US shares windfall; the Vision Fund unit reported a ~$2.85B gain
Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
Disney plans to invest $1.5B for a stake in Epic Games and collaborate on a new “universe” connected to Fortnite with content from Disney, Pixar, and more
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