Techmeme
March 6, 2024, 5:00 AM

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:
Bloomberg:
OpenAI hits back at Elon Musk's lawsuit, accusing Musk of suing when the company “started making meaningful progress towards OpenAI's mission without him”  —  Musk filed the lawsuit last week against OpenAI, Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman …
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alleged UnitedHealth payment  —  A website used by hackers responsible for a breach at UnitedHealth Group (UNH.N) has been replaced by a notice saying it has been seized by international law enforcement.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 plans to end support for its Android subsystem in Windows 11 on March 5, 2025, and consequently, end support for the Amazon Appstore on Windows too  —  Microsoft is ending support for its Android subsystem in Windows 11 next year.  The software giant first announced …
Paul Sawers / TechCrunch:
Under regulatory pressure on cloud vendor lock-in, AWS follows Google and drops egress fees for moving data out of its ecosystem; Microsoft's Azure 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.
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
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 …
Nitasha Tiku / Washington Post:
More than 100 top AI researchers sign an open letter imploring AI companies to provide a legal and technical safe harbor for researchers to study their products  —  Tech company policies have put a chill on independent AI research, says open letter  —  More than 100 top artificial intelligence …
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.
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, EMARKETER, and Axios
Michael J. Totten / City Journal:
A look at the AI revolution, reminiscent of the industrial revolution but unfolding over years rather than centuries, and the views of AI optimists and doomers  —  Machines can now talk with us in ways that aren't preprogrammed.  They can draw pictures, write passable (if generic) …
Financial Times:
A deep dive into PDD's finances and operations, which are shrouded in secrecy and raise questions about US investors' confidence in Temu's parent company  —  Its finances are a black box and its operations shrouded in secrecy, but PDD's extraordinary growth has made it a darling of Wall Street

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