Techmeme
March 5, 2024, 8:25 PM

Top News

Niléane / MacStories:
Apple releases iOS 17.4 with new default browser prompts in the EU, support for third-party browser engines, transcripts for Podcasts, 118 new emojis, and more  —  Today, Apple released iOS and iPadOS 17.4, the fourth major updates to the operating systems that launched in September and Federico reviewed on MacStories.
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple says alternative app stores will stop working, and the apps installed from them will stop updating, if a user travels outside of the EU “for too long”  —  Regain clarity with CleanMyPhone by MacPaw — the new AI-powered cleaning app that quickly identifies and removes blurred images …
Emma Roth / The Verge:
In response to the EU's ruling, Spotify submits an app update for the EU to provide pricing info within its iOS app and link users to its subscription options  —  Spotify isn't going to launch the in-app purchases it previously planned for the European Union, at least right now.
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Reuters:
A BlackCat ransomware gang website shows a takedown notice; the UK NCA denies involvement and experts suggest an exit scam after an alleged UnitedHealth payment  —  A website used by hackers responsible for a breach at UnitedHealth Group (UNH.N) has been replaced by a notice saying it has been seized by international law enforcement.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft will end support for its Android subsystem in Windows 11 on March 5, 2025, and consequently, for the Amazon Appstore on Windows as well  —  Microsoft is ending support for its Android subsystem in Windows 11 next year.  The software giant first announced it was bringing Android apps …
Zac Bowden / Windows Central:
Sources: Microsoft plans a March 21 announcement of a Surface Laptop 6 and OLED Surface Pro 10, both offered with Intel Core Ultra or Snapdragon X Elite chips  —  Microsoft's first AI PCs will be unveiled on March 21, ahead of next-gen Windows 11 AI features coming this fall.  —  What you need to know
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Meta confirms a technical issue caused an outage affecting Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Meta Quest logins, and more, for over two hours  —  Facebook, Instagram, and Threads are all experiencing issues.  The three Meta-owned platforms aren't working for many users, with the widespread outage seeming to start around 10AM ET.
David Pierce / The Verge:
Google rolls out updates to its Search ranking, including downranking content that summarizes others' work, to counter the spread of AI content in results  —  Google is rolling out a few new changes to its ranking systems in search, which are designed to help surface good content in your results …
Paul Sawers / TechCrunch:
Amid regulatory pressure around cloud vendor lock-in, AWS follows Google and drops egress fees for moving data out of its ecosystem; Microsoft's fees remain  —  Amazon's cloud computing subsidiary AWS has revealed that it will allow customers to transfer their data out of its ecosystem with no so-called “egress fees” attached.
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
Google outlines updates to comply with the EU's DMA: search changes to prioritize large intermediaries and aggregators, new tools for app developers, and more  —  Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google on Tuesday outlined changes to search results and new tools for apps developers to promote their products …
Financial Times:
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / TechCrunch:
The US Treasury sanctions spyware group Intellexa Consortium's founder and one of his business partners, the first US sanctions on people over spyware misuse  —  The U.S. government announced Tuesday sanctions against the founder of the notorious spyware company Intellexa and one of his business partners.
Counterpoint Research:
Shira Ovide / Washington Post:
Rufus, Amazon's AI shopping assistant currently in testing, is mostly useless, and at best is a slight upgrade on searching manually for product recommendations  —  If AI is so magical, why are so many chatbots dumb as rocks?  —  Amazon is experimenting with an artificial intelligence chatbot to help you figure out what to buy.
More: TechCrunch, Axios, and EMARKETER
CoinDesk:
Bitcoin hit $69K+ on Coinbase, eclipsing its previous all-time high set on November 10, 2021, with US spot bitcoin ETFs a likely catalyst of the latest bull run  —  The success of the spot ETFs which opened for business on January 11 was the catalyst for this latest bull run for the world's largest crypto.
Bobby Borisov / Linuxiac:
StatCounter: Linux hit 4.03% desktop OS market share in February 2024, after taking 30 years to hit 3% in June 2023, as distros adopt more user-friendly designs  —  According to StatCounter's data, by the end of February 2024, Linux has achieved a 4.03% desktop market share.
Rohan Goswami / CNBC:
CrowdStrike reports Q4 revenue up 33% YoY to $845M, vs. $839M est., and agrees to buy cloud security company Flow Security for an undisclosed price; CRWD up 20%  —  CrowdStrike shares surged as much as 17% in after-hours trading Tuesday, after the company reported a beat on the top and bottom lines …

Sponsor Posts

Meta:
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Zoho:
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Hamming:
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