Techmeme
February 16, 2024, 2:45 PM

Top News

Parmy Olson / Bloomberg:
OpenAI's Sora announcement sparks awe and horror, as the startup continues to be frustratingly secretive about the data used to train the text-to-video model  —  Sam Altman is being secretive in all the wrong places as he barrels toward superintelligent AI.  —  Every new OpenAI announcement sparks some measure of awe and terror.
Steven Levy / Wired:
More: OpenAI, XDA Developers, USA Today, The Verge, Silicon Republic, New York Times, TechCrunch, CNET, MIT Technology Review, ExtremeTech, Tom's Hardware, Tech Xplore, MobileSyrup, Tom's Guide, Tech.co, TIME, The Algorithmic Bridge, New York Post, Redmond Pie, CCN.com, The Guardian, Dexerto, KnowTechie, Tech Monitor, TechCircle, Nairametrics, Towards Data Science, Inc.com, Fortune, InfoQ, The Decoder, CoinGape, TechSpot, Windows Central, Analytics India Magazine, MediaNama, Silicon Canals, PhoneArena, Moss and Fog, MSPoweruser, ZDNet, Cryptopolitan, Business Standard, Tech in Asia, Neowin, Cybernews.com, Reuters, Joan Westenberg, TweakTown, TechRadar, NBC News, Business Today, Hindustan Times, TechStartups, GSMArena.com, Business Post, Digital Scholarship, Ben's Bites, Livemint, Cointelegraph, Axios, The Information, Android Headlines, Business Insider, SiliconANGLE, Gizmodo, and Bloomberg
Washington Post:
Foreign propaganda accounts aiming to influence US elections are flourishing on X, which no longer attends biweekly info-sharing meetings with social platforms  —  X hasn't sent a representative in months to biweekly information-sharing meetings with other social media companies
Bloomberg:
Sources: Sam Altman is working to get US approval for his chip project, as involving the UAE and others risks raising national security and antitrust concerns  —  - Middle East investors, factories may prompt security concerns  — Potential new company could trigger antitrust review
Allison Johnson / The Verge:
Google releases the first developer preview of Android 15, with updates related to Android's Dynamic Performance Framework, privacy, and more  —  Our first official glimpse of Android 15 is here.  It includes a lot of under-the-hood tweaks to strengthen communication between hardware and software …
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
PitchBook: VC investment in crypto rose 2.5% QoQ in Q4 2023 to $1.9B, the first rise since Q1 2022; Q4 2023 saw 12 crypto exits, the lowest number since Q4 2020  —  - PitchBook said in a fourth-quarter update that the level of investment for crypto-related companies in the fourth quarter totaled $1.9 billion …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google Search Labs is testing a “Talk to a Live Representative” feature, which calls a business on the user's behalf and holds until a human becomes available  —  Google Search Labs is testing a “Talk to a Live Representative” feature where it will “help you place the call …
Davey Winder / Forbes:
Google announces the AI Cyber Defense Initiative, which includes launching new AI security training and open sourcing Magika, a tool used to protect Gmail users  —  Google has confirmed a new security scheme which, it says, will help “secure, empower and advance our collective digital future” using AI.
William Gallagher / AppleInsider:
Epic plans to “start developing the Epic Games Store on iOS soon” and launch the store in 2024, thanks to the DMA, after Apple approved its developer account  —  Three years after Apple kicked Epic Games off the App Store for breaking terms of business, it has allowed the firm …
Jamie Tarabay / Bloomberg:
The US and its allies disrupt access by Russia-backed hacking group APT28, or Fancy Bear, to 1,000+ home and small business routers used for criminal purposes  —  The US and its allies have disrupted access by a Russian-state sponsored hacking organization to “well over a thousand home …
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Clubhouse adds texting to group voice chats, letting users train a custom voice and send asynchronous texts that the app will read out in the sender's voice  —  Clubhouse, the once-popular live audio app, announced today that users can now text their friends and they'll hear those texts in the sender's custom voice.
Associated Press:
Adobe, Amazon, Google, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, TikTok, X, and 11 other companies sign a voluntary accord to fight deepfakes that deliberately trick voters  —  Major technology companies signed a pact Friday to voluntarily adopt “reasonable precautions” to prevent artificial intelligence tools …
Rachel Metz / Bloomberg:
The US FTC proposes rules that would make companies liable if they “know or have reason to know” their AI tech is being used to harm consumers via impersonation  —  The US Federal Trade Commission moved to put new rules into place around impersonation, citing the rising threat …
AJ Vicens / CyberScoop:
Ukrainian Vyacheslav Penchukov pleads guilty in the US for his role in the Zeus and IcedID malware groups, which stole millions from victims for over a decade  —  Vyacheslav Igorevich Penchukov pleaded guilty to two counts, each of which carries a possible 20-year prison term.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro is now available, with thinking capabilities, enhanced performance, and improved accuracy.  Try it at no cost in the Gemini app.
UiPath:
UiPath Unveils 10 Innovations that Will Shape the Agentic Future  —  Orchestration engine, API workflows and agentic testing among key features of new UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation, launched at UiPath DevCon 2025
Zoho:
Leveraging design tool extensions in Cliq: A designer's guide to Figma, Lucidchart, and Miro  —  Picture this: you're deep in a pixel-perfect Figma mock-up, bouncing between chats and emails, when someone pings you for feedback on a Lucidchart workflow.
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.

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More News

Mark Sullivan / Fast Company:

Earlier Picks

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Emma Roth / The Verge:
Jon Porter / The Verge: