Note: Techmeme is hiring part-time editors. Go here to apply, or tell a friend!
Techmeme
April 16, 2024, 11:55 AM

Top News

Financial Times:
Microsoft invests $1.5B in Abu Dhabi-based AI startup G42 for a minority stake, after G42 severed ties with Chinese suppliers; Brad Smith will join G42's board  —  Agreement is latest move by US tech group to extend its reach into fast-growing sector  —  Microsoft has agreed to invest $1.5bn …
Bloomberg:
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Connor Jones / The Register:
UnitedHealth says the February ransomware attack on Change Healthcare cost the company $872M in Q1; another ransomware group appears to be extorting the company  —  First glimpse at attack financials reveals huge pain  —  UnitedHealth, parent company of ransomware-besieged Change Healthcare …
Benjamin Sandofsky / Sandofsky:
A look at the failure of Humane's Ai Pin, which took six years to ship after raising $230M, including building the device “the Apple way” and raising too much  —  Why You Can't Build Apple with Venture Capital  —  An ex-Apple designer who went on to startup success once told me …
Raphael Satter / Reuters:
The Open Source Security Foundation and the OpenJS Foundation say the attempt to insert a secret backdoor into XZ Utils “may not be an isolated incident”  —  The recent attempt by an unknown actor to sabotage a widely used software program may have been one of several attempts …
Vittoria Elliott / Wired:
Meta's Oversight Board plans to investigate two deepfake porn cases involving unnamed US celebrities who had their images altered to create explicit content  —  Social platforms have struggled to quickly remove deepfake porn depicting celebrities.  —  As AI tools become increasingly sophisticated …
Paul Alcorn / Tom's Hardware:
AMD unveils Ryzen Pro 8040 series for commercial laptops and mobile workstations and Ryzen Pro 8000 series for desktops, adding a neural processing unit for AI  —  AMD is the first with a Pro desktop PC chip with an NPU for AI workloads.  —  AMD announced its Ryzen Pro portfolio today …
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Mozilla and CheckFirst: Apple, Google, Meta, and others' ad transparency efforts are a work in progress, months after the EU's DSA mandated a searchable library  —  Efforts by tech giants to be more transparent about the ads they run are — at very best — still a work in progress …
Jennifer A. Kingson / Axios:
Meta plans to launch a new education product for Quest that will let teachers access education apps for students ages 13+ and manage multiple headsets at once  —  - In time for the fall semester, it'll make available a suite of visually engrossing education apps that teachers can use with students ages 13+.
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
EU antitrust regulators are questioning Broadcom about changes to VMware's licensing conditions, following complaints from EU business users and a trade group  —  U.S. chipmaker Broadcom (AVGO.O) is being asked by EU antitrust regulators about changes to newly acquired cloud computing company …
David Pierce / The Verge:
Limitless launches the $99 Limitless Pendant, a wearable AI gadget that transcribes meetings and provides real-time notes and summaries, shipping in August 2024  —  The Limitless Pendant doesn't exactly scream “AI.”  As Dan Siroker, the CEO of the company behind the new device …
The Guardian:
The UK announces legislation to outlaw making sexually explicit deepfake photos without consent, regardless of whether the creator intended to share the image  —  Offenders could face jail if image is widely shared under proposed amendment to criminal justice bill
Artificial Intelligence Index:
Stanford's AI Index report: training top AI models is way more expensive, AI still trails humans on complex tasks, people are more nervous about AI, and more  —  Welcome to the seventh edition of the AI Index report.  The 2024 Index is our most comprehensive to date and arrives …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Generate videos with Veo 3 in Google Gemini  —  Create high-quality, 8-second videos with Veo 3, our state-of-the-art AI video generator.  Try it with a Google AI Pro plan or get the highest access with the Ultra plan.
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:
New in Zoho Payroll USA: Multi-state payroll and more  —  Running payroll shouldn't get harder as your business grows.  Whether you've expanded into new states or built a team with unique needs …
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.

Featured Podcasts

The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'Sewing Machine Repair Shop', With Patrick McGee
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Somebody Knows Victoria's Secrets
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
How private equity kills companies and communities
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Jordan Bramble from Antares
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
How to Reinvent a Magazine, with Wired's Katie Drummond
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Azeem Azhar's Exponential View:
GitHub CEO on what AI means for developer salaries, SaaS, and more
Azeem Azhar explores how AI and exponential technologies are shaping our future.
Subscribe to Azeem Azhar's Exponential View.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:55 AM ET, April 16, 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.

More News

Earlier Picks

Billy Perrigo / TIME:
Fred Lambert / Electrek:
Peter Kafka / Business Insider:
Vittoria Elliott / Wired:
Stephen Nellis / Reuters: