Techmeme: A look at AI's impact on video game actors, as some fear their voices might be misused while others hope to collect extra payments on top of a base minimum (David Smith/The Guardian)

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March 31, 2024, 12:10 PM

Top News

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:

AT&T confirms data dumped online appears to be from 2019 or earlier and has personal data of 7.6M current and 65.4M former account holders, resets passcodes — US telco giant takes action after 2019 data breach — Phone giant AT&T is reseting customer account passcodes after a huge cache …

More: AT&T, BleepingComputer, Washington Post, The Verge, Forbes, AT&T, NPR, CNN, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, New York Times, TIME, CNBC, Tom's Guide, Bloomberg, Research Snipers, InfoRiskToday.com, Laptop Mag, Security Affairs, PC Gamer, USA Today, New York Post, WebProNews, Interesting Engineering, PhoneArena, Neowin, Business Insider, PCMag, NBC News, Engadget, and Gizmochina

Mastodon: @czarbucks@vmst.io, @kennwhite@mastodon.social, @zackwhittaker@mastodon.social, and @HoustonDog@mastodon.world

X: @morningbrew, @lorenzofb, @lorenzofb, and @mattrosoff. LinkedIn: Matt Rosoff

Forums: Hacker News, r/privacy, r/technology, r/ATT, and Slashdot

Mike Larkin / Security Boulevard:

Microsoft engineer Andres Freund accidentally found the malicious code in versions of the XZ Utils compression tool, likely preventing thousands of infections — Yesterday's discovery of the xz backdoor was an accident. But what a fortunate accident it was.

More: Sam James on GitHub, Gist, OSnews, 404 Media, lcamtuf's thing, TechSpot, The Hacker News, openSUSE News, The New Stack, Cybersecurity Explained, Security Affairs, The Register, The Stack, Hackaday, SC Media, Dark Reading, and LWN.net

Mastodon: @AndresFreundTec …, @AndresFreundTec …, @lcamtuf@infosec.exchange, @djlink@mastodon.gamedev.place, @kde@floss.social, @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social, @mhoye@mastodon.social, @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social, @esther@strangeobject.space, @filippo@abyssdomain.expert, @carol@crabby.fyi, @AndresFreundTec …, @AndresFreundTec …, and @AndresFreundTec …. Bluesky: @filippo.abyssdomain.expert

X: @seldo, @vxunderground, @andresfreundtec, @swiftonsecurity, @rauchg, @_saagarjha, @julianor, @pinboard, @thegrugq, @tylerglaiel, @fr0gger_, @eastdakota, @shenetworks, @bakedsec, and @vxunderground

Wall Street Journal:

Discord plans to start showing gaming ads from next week, called Sponsored Quests and offering rewards for in-game tasks; users can turn them off in settings — The chat platform, which has long avoided advertising, is latest tech company to lean into paid promotions

More: TechSpot. Threads: @thekenyeung. Bluesky: @thekenyeung.bsky.social. X: @wsj, @thekenyeung, @wsjbusiness, @joshuaogundu, @antoniogm, @qwik, and @moezulfi

Forums: r/technology and r/discordapp

David Smith / The Guardian:

A look at AI's impact on video game actors, as some fear their voices might be misused while others hope to collect extra payments on top of a base minimum — The increased use of AI to replicate the voice and movements of actors has benefits but some are concerned over how and when it might be used and who might be left short-changed

Threads: @carnage4life

Mariella Moon / Engadget:

X says it is funding a lawsuit filed by Chloe Happe against her ex-employer Block, after being allegedly fired for her X posts about refugees and trans people — Happe accused Block of terminating her for expressing views Block didn't agree with. — X is funding a lawsuit filed by Chloe Happe …

Threads: @carnage4life and @taylorlorenz. Mastodon: @brad@twit.social

X: @xnews, @elonmusk, @florian4gamers, @mattbinder, @francisxwolf, @the_moviebob, @esqueer_, @notcursede, @danker_hank, @gregnus__2024, @mattbinder, @caraesten, and @bigredcelttt

Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post:

MrBeast's “retention editing”, which uses quick cuts and loud sounds, took over social media, but may fade away as the YouTuber shifts to slower, focused videos — The popularity of so-called retention editing made a generation of creators go viral, but when every video looks the same it's harder than ever to stand out

More: Forbes

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Dell, HP, and other US tech firms have asked their Taiwanese suppliers to boost production of AI-related hardware in Mexico to reduce reliance on China — Taiwan-based contract manufacturers step up investment south of the U.S. border for American clients

Forums: Hacker News

Benj Edwards / Ars Technica:

IEEE stops accepting papers with the “Lenna image”, featuring a 1972 Playboy model, after complaints that it makes some women feel unwelcome in computer science — Use of “Lenna” image in computer image processing research stretches back to the 1970s.

More: Women Love Tech. Mastodon: @davemark@mastodon.social and @shivoa@mastodon.gamedev.place

Forums: Hacker News, r/programming, r/worldnews, r/technews, and Ars OpenForum

Pranav Dixit / Engadget:

How WhatsApp became the world's default communication app, including as a political propaganda tool, a business tool, and a private social network — What was once a texting platform now runs the lives, businesses and political machinery of billions. — In 2014, WIRED asked me to write …

More: BGR, The Indian Express, WABetaInfo, Daring Fireball, OTV News, NewsBytes, Trak.in, Redmond Pie, and Android Police

Threads: @documentingmeta, @noise.in.vacuum, @shiraovide, @georgescriban, and @shenanigan.v. Mastodon: @TechDesk@flipboard.social

X: @wavesblog, @pranavdixit, @pranavdixit, and @androideducator

LinkedIn: Sherry Comes and Ankur Gupta

Financial Times:

Sources: Shein had $2B+ of profit and ~$45B of GMV in 2023, ahead of a planned NY or London IPO; documents: Shein had $700M of profit in 2022 and $1.1B in 2021 — Fast-fashion group is seeking Chinese approval for IPO in New York or London — Online fast-fashion giant Shein has more than doubled …

X: @davideborall

Washington Post:

A look at Steven Mnuchin's TikTok plans; sources say his proposal to buy TikTok without its export-blocked algorithm and rebuild it from scratch is far-fetched — His proposal to buy the app without its algorithm from its Chinese owner has drawn skeptical reactions, including from those he's pitched

More: Business Insider and Newsmax

Mastodon: @Nonilex@masto.ai. X: @raypride, @raypride, @anupamchander, and @drewharwell

Podnews:

Survey of Americans aged 12+: 47% of have listened to a podcast in the last month, up 12% YoY, 76% listened to online audio in the past month, and more — The portion of Americans who listen to any kind of online audio, and the portion who listen to podcasts, have both reached new record highs …

More: RADIO ONLINE, Inside Radio, Edison Research, Forbes, Edison Research, RAIN News, On my Om, and The Verge

X: @edisonresearch, @kantrowitz, and @audacycorp. Forums: Hacker News

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 12:10 PM ET, March 31, 2024.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Ted Johnson / Deadline:

After CBS aired two 60 Minutes segments, Trump calls on CBS to lose its license and asks FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to “impose the maximum fines and punishment”

Andrew Marchand / New York Times:

Sources: College GameDay host Rece Davis agreed to a new seven-year deal worth tens of millions to stay with ESPN, after being heavily pursued by Fox Sports

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Less than a week before A Minecraft Movie had a $160M+ opening weekend in the US and Canada, experts projected ~$65M, following four high profile misses in 2024

More News

Ben Cohen / Wall Street Journal:

An interview with Morris Chang on starting TSMC at the age of 55, the company not designing or selling its own chips, returning to Taiwan from the US, and more

X: @rmnth, @angler_deepfish, and @aparanjape

LinkedIn: Michael Clinton, Jim Kyung-Soo Liew, Ph.D., Cameron Dales, Don Capener, Anthony Soohoo, Subra Shankhar, Christopher Versace, Mauricio Vargas, and Ajay Nyamati. Forums: Hacker News

Ellen Huet / Bloomberg:

Some tech CEOs are turning to friendly podcasters like Lex Fridman as a way to “go direct” and avoid traditional media, which they view as unfairly critical

Threads: @parkert. X: @technology, @business, @garrytan, @samidhas, @samidhas, @martyswant, @nikitabier, and @dannygroner

Earlier Picks

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:

Several legal experts say Section 230 will not protect firms from lawsuits over the outputs of generative AI, echoing SCOTUS Justice Gorsuch's 2023 statement

Mastodon: @statesdj@genomic.social and @mimsical@mastodon.social. X: @nathandgregory

LinkedIn: PJ Pereira, Esther Dyson, Christopher Mims, Massimo Donna, and Dr. Jeffrey Funk

Forums: r/aiwars and r/ArtistHate

Frank Landymore / Futurism:

Many of Amazon's Kindles are displaying ads for blatantly AI-generated books on the lock screen, with some appearing to be flagrant copies of existing works

More: PCMag, Mashable, Microsoft Tech Community, and The Verge

Mastodon: @alex_roddie@mastodon.scot and @thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io

X: @i_dont_caroline, @laurab7, and @poet_economist