Techmeme: Letter and sources: nearly 200 workers at Google DeepMind, or ~5% of its overall headcount, signed a letter dated May 16 calling to drop its military contracts (Billy Perrigo/TIME)

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August 22, 2024, 8:00 PM

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Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:

Apple unveils iOS changes to comply with the EU's DMA: browser choice screen updates, more default app settings, and the ability to delete certain system apps — Apple has announced another set of changes to its App Store and iPhone changes in the European Union.

More: Apple Developer, MacRumors, PYMNTS.com, How-To Geek, OSnews, Android Headlines, The Verge, BGR, MacStories, iPhone Hacks, Business Standard, Anadolu Ajansı …, PocketGamer.biz, Forbes, TechCrunch, Neowin, Spyglass, Computerworld, Cult of Mac, iClarified, mjtsai.com, iMore, Thurrott, Wall Street Journal, AppleInsider, Apple Must, and Macworld

Threads: @mgsiegler, @markgurman, @benedictevans, and @viticci. Mastodon: @nicoreese@mastodon.social

X: @rjonesy, @luciascarlet, @dimillian, @mrwhosetheboss, @dylanmcd8, @mysk_co, and @timsweeneyepic. Forums: r/apple

Financial Times:

Italian officials: divers recover UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch's body from the wreckage of superyacht Bayesian, which sank three days ago off Sicily's coast — Christopher Morvillo, Jonathan Bloomer and their wives died after vessel sank on Monday — The bodies of UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch …

More: SiliconANGLE, Reuters, CNBC, The Guardian, Bloomberg, CNN, Fortune, New York Times, ComputerWeekly.com, TNW, Forbes, Telegraph, Wired, Business Insider, Sky News, UPI, London Evening Standard, The Verge, New York Times, The Sun, and The Indian Express

X: @lordjohnbrowne, @davidyelland, @iankingsky, and @adamnflanagan. Forums: r/uknews

Financial Times:

Mike Lynch experienced some of the most extreme career highs and lows of any UK tech entrepreneur, selling Autonomy for $11B to HP before a 12-year legal ordeal

More: iTnews, Washington Post, Associated Press, Business Insider, The Independent, London Evening Standard, The Economist, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, TNW, CNBC, Engadget, The Stack, and TechCrunch

X: @johnrentoul, @tabizel, and @arthistorynews

MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:

Donald Trump promotes his family's forthcoming crypto platform, The DeFiant Ones, in a post on Truth Social, mentioning a Telegram channel but few other details — Former President Donald Trump on Thursday promoted a soon-to-launch, Trump Organization crypto platform, “The DeFiant Ones” to his 7.5 million followers on Truth Social.

More: The Verge, PCMag, Gizmodo, Blockworks, Cryptonews, The Daily Hodl, Bitcoin Insider, New York Post, CryptoGlobe, CoinGape, NBC News, and Decrypt

Mastodon: @andy@social.seattle.wa.us, @MikeElgan@mastodon.social, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, and @AnnemarieBridy@mastodon …

X: @erictrump, @donaldjtrumpjr, and @adamscochran. Forums: r/Buttcoin

Bloomberg:

Ex-FTX exec Ryan Salame's romantic partner is charged with campaign finance violations, a day after he said the US reneged on his plea deal by investigating her — Google Taps AI to Revamp Costly Health-Care Push Marred by Flops … Hello World

Trisha Thadani / Washington Post:

Court filing: the unsealed list of X Holdings shareholders names nearly 100 entities, such as 8VC, Italy-based UnipolSai, and a fund tied to Sean “Diddy” Combs — A court filing obtained by The Post lists which firms and individuals have a financial stake in the platform.

Hayden Field / CNBC:

In a pitch deck, AI search engine Perplexity told advertisers it plans to start running ads in Q4; a source says Perplexity's CPM prices will be $50+ — Perplexity AI, the artificial intelligence startup that's been embroiled in controversy due to accusations of plagiarizing content from media outlets …

More: PYMNTS.com, Adweek, Reuters, and TVNewsCheck

X: @haydenfield, @kyliebytes, and @kyliebytes

See also Mediagazer

Billy Perrigo / TIME:

Letter and sources: nearly 200 workers at Google DeepMind, or ~5% of its overall headcount, signed a letter dated May 16 calling to drop its military contracts — Nearly 200 workers inside Google DeepMind, the company's AI division, signed a letter calling on the tech giant to drop its contracts …

More: The Verge, TechCrunch, Android Headlines, Engadget, and Baseline

X: @verambergen and @billyperrigo

Jody Godoy / Reuters:

An appeals court revived Washington, DC's antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, saying it plausibly claimed Amazon's pricing policies illegally stifle competition — An appeals court in Washington, D.C. revived the district's lawsuit against Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) on Thursday …

More: Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Tom's Guide, The Verge, Associated Press, Engadget, Android Headlines, and The Register

X: @dcattorneygen and @dcattorneygen

Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:

The US charges Deniss Zolotarjovs, a member of the Russian Karakurt ransomware group that has ties to Conti, with money laundering, wire fraud, and extortion — A member of the Russian Karakurt ransomware group has been charged in the U.S. for money laundering, wire fraud, and extortion crimes.

More: US Department of Justice, The Record, and The Verge

Olga Kharif / Bloomberg:

NFT marketplace Magic Eden launches a mobile wallet app and will begin using a token to be issued by a foundation that supports the Magic Eden ecosystem — - Platform will now allow token swapping from a mobile app — App will enable swapping of assets across five blockchains

More: ME Foundation, Decrypt, Blockworks, Bitcoin Insider, GlobeNewswire News Room, CoinGape, NFTgators, DL News, CryptoGlobe, Cryptonews, and Cointelegraph. X: @mefndn

Sarah McBride / Bloomberg:

Neuralink says its second human implant surgery “went well” and that the patient, who has a spinal cord injury, can design 3D objects and play Counter-Strike 2 — Google Taps AI to Revamp Costly Health-Care Push Marred by Flops … Hello World

More: Neuralink Blog, Wall Street Journal, Hackaday, ExtremeTech, Tom's Hardware, Digital Trends, HotHardware, VICE, Livemint, Gizmodo, PC Gamer, iPhone in Canada Blog, Dexerto, Business Insider, TweakTown, London Evening Standard, and PCMag

X: @elonmusk, @ajtourville, @iterintellectus, @nickadobos, and @sawyermerritt. LinkedIn: Emil Protalinski

Forums: r/technology, r/OptimistsUnite, and r/Neuralink

David Shepardson / Reuters:

The FCC says Lingo Telecom agreed to pay a $1M fine after the FCC said Lingo made fake robocalls imitating President Biden in New Hampshire to dissuade voting — Lingo Telecom agreed to pay a $1 million fine after the agency said it transmitted fake robocalls imitating President Joe Biden seeking …

Mia Sato / The Verge:

Instagram announces a Myspace-like feature to let users add 30 seconds of a song to their profile from Instagram's library of music; the songs won't autoplay — A new feature announced by Instagram today will allow users to add a song on their profile — much like Myspace in the early 2000s.

More: The Sun, PCMag, Business Insider, TechCrunch, Engadget, Social Media Today, USA Today, Mashable, iPhone in Canada Blog, The Hollywood Reporter, Trusted Reviews, Tubefilter, Android Headlines, and UPROXX

Threads: @mgsiegler. X: @metanewsroom. Forums: r/technews and Slashdot

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:

Meta confirms users can now cross-post from Instagram and Facebook to Threads globally, after rolling out Instagram and Facebook cross-posting in 2021 — Meta for months has been experimenting with letting people cross-post from Instagram and Facebook to Threads, its social networking platform competing …

More: PCMag, Social Media Today, 9to5Mac, and Thurrott

Cory Weinberg / The Information:

Sources: Stripe plans a tender offer to buy back shares held by current employees with its own cash; Stripe is offering $27.51/share, implying a $70B valuation — Stripe is planning a new tender offer to buy back shares held by employees, but it will finance this one entirely with its own cash, unlike in previous employee tenders.

More: Bloomberg. Mastodon: @Jeremiah@alpaca.gold. X: @jasonlk, @jessicalessin, @levie, and @coryweinberg

Erin Woo / The Information:

Internal memo: Noam Shazeer, the ex-CEO of Character.AI who joined Google this month, will be Gemini co-technical lead and work with Jeff Dean and Oriol Vinyals — Noam Shazeer, the former CEO of Character.AI who rejoined Google this month, will be the co-technical lead on Google's Gemini …

X: @erinkwoo and @amir

Michael Gwilliam / Dexerto:

Twitch plans to raise its new Tier 1 sub and gift sub prices on mobile in 40+ countries on October 1; in an email, Twitch says Tier 1 will rise by $2 to $7.99 — Twitch has announced yet another increase to the price of subs after already raising the cost earlier in the summer.

More: The Verge, 9to5Mac, PCMag, Tubefilter, TalkAndroid.com, Neowin, Android Authority, PhoneArena, Engadget, Game Rant, and Dot Esports

X: @twitchsupport. Forums: r/Twitch and r/LivestreamFail

Forbes:

Silverbear, an investor named in Bolt's financial docs for a $450M raise, says it was “never in this deal”, as some investors consider legal action against Bolt — The former billionaire stunned investors with a plan to raise $450 million for his payments startup at a $14 billion valuation.

More: Axios, Inc.com, Newcomer, TechCrunch, Axios, Cautious Optimism, and TechCrunch

X: @ali_lev, @bayareawriter, @ashleymayer, @zeffmax, @sarahnemerson, @_iainmartin, @ericnewcomer, @anmolm_, @garrytan, @callmegillette, @bayareawriter, @danprimack, and @tomaxwell

Makena Kelly / Wired:

The Kamala Harris campaign launches a Twitch channel, and plans to stream her DNC address there; the campaign has hired 175+ staff to work across digital — Kamala Harris has launched a new Twitch channel as a part of the Democratic campaign's broader strategy for engaging young voters online.

More: The Hill, The Verge, Dexerto, Adweek, and Dot Esports

X: @michaelslinden. Forums: r/inthenews, r/KamalaHarris, r/politics, and r/democrats

Caroline Haskins / Wired:

A look at the facial recognition systems now common at major league sporting venues, like MLB's Go-Ahead Entry, as privacy advocates protest and raise concerns — Protesters took to Citi Field Wednesday to raise awareness of the facial recognition systems that have become common at major league sporting venues.

More: NBC News and Reuters

Forums: r/technews and r/technology

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Dublin, California-based Opkey, which provides AI-based ERP testing software, raised a $47M Series B led by PeakSpan Capital — Companies are experimenting with services like ChatGPT to help workers write memos, answer questions, and much more. Yet, one of the clearest signs of how much traction AI …

More: SiliconANGLE, FinSMEs, VC News Daily, and VCCircle. Threads: @crumbler

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From Mediagazer

Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:

Internal memo: Hearst Magazines president announces layoffs as part of a decision to “reallocate resources” to “continue our focus on digital innovation”

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced she will leave the agency on January 20; she was the first woman to be confirmed to lead the agency

Lachlan Cartwright / The Ankler:

Sources: MSNBC renewed Rachel Maddow's contract early this fall, but with a pay cut; MSNBC bosses' plan to shake up daytime and weekend programming

Upcoming Tech Events

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Camilla Hodgson / Financial Times:

Uber and Cruise sign a “multiyear strategic partnership” to make Cruise's self-driving vehicles available to riders on Uber from 2025 in an undisclosed city

More: San Francisco Business Times, Barron's Online, Uber, The Verge, Bloomberg, and BetaNews. X: @cruise

Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:

India's Open Network for Digital Commerce expands into financial services, starting with APIs for digital lending, and adds nine lending service providers

More: Inc42 Media

Gillian Tan / Bloomberg:

Ticketing service TickPick raised $250M from Brighton Park, which now has a majority stake, and Symphony; the app has 2M MAUs and processes nearly $1B annually

More: Front Office Sports. LinkedIn: Christopher O'Brien

Akash Sriram / Reuters:

The US NHTSA closes a preliminary probe into Cruise's hard-braking and immobilization issues in 1,194 autonomous ride-hailing cars, after Cruise made updates

More: CNBC, Engadget, TechCrunch, Fast Company, Ars Technica, Silicon Republic, WZZM-TV, TechSpot, Self Drive News, Benzinga, Reuters, BusinessLIVE, and The Verge

CNBC:

Chinese self-driving startup WeRide delays its planned IPO in the US, citing its need for more time to complete documents, after filing for an IPO in July 2024

More: Bloomberg, TechCrunch, Axios, South China Morning Post, and Benzinga

James Mayger / Bloomberg:

Chinese government data: Chinese companies imported $25.9B of chip machinery from January to July 2024, vs. $23.8B in 2021, $21.6B in 2022, and $18B in 2023

More: BNN Bloomberg and Tom's Hardware

Reuters:

Interviews with dozens of Byju's staff and other sources show a growing sense of desperation, as its insolvency proceeds; some staff weigh their legal options

More: Livemint, The Economic Times, Tech Startups, and Moneycontrol

X: @ashwinm_, @munsifv, @ashwinm_, @dhanyatweets, @ashwinm_, and @ashwinm_

Camilla Hodgson / Financial Times:

Microsoft, Amazon, and others plan to turn old power stations and industrial sites into data centers, as land and power in many markets are heavily constrained

More: Ars Technica and The Information

Earlier Picks

Bloomberg:

Walmart's China business is booming, driven by its Sam's Club memberships; Walmart says e-commerce orders delivered within one hour rose 28% to 59M last quarter

More: Reuters, Tech Startups, TechNode, The Register, and New York Times

Reuters:

Baidu reports Q2 revenue flat YoY to ~$4.67B, vs. ~$4.7B est., net income down 8% YoY to ~$1B, vs. ~$900M est., online marketing revenue down 2% YoY to ~$2.7B

More: Bloomberg, Baidu Inc, Cryptopolitan, South China Morning Post, Investor's Business Daily, Tech Xplore, and Benzinga

Wall Street Journal:

Researchers: a network of 200+ Russia-linked X accounts shows how Russian trolls are trying to go viral, including low-quality, high-volume replies to Elon Musk

More: Platformer. Threads: @crumbler. X: @mathewjschwartz and @dnvolz

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:

A look at the interoperability challenges to the adoption of the C2PA's authentication and attribution standard, including few cameras supporting C2PA metadata

Threads: @reckless1280. X: @slyon66 and @truepic

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:

LiteSpeed Cache, the top WordPress site acceleration plugin, had a critical flaw that left sites open to takeover attacks; 2M+ sites are likely still vulnerable

More: Patchstack, Wordfence, SC Media, TechRadar, Tech Monitor, SecurityWeek, The Hacker News, and Infosecurity

X: @wordfence and @darius_fx

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft says Recall will be available to Windows Insiders in October 2024, after delaying the AI feature's launch in June over security and privacy concerns

Brendan Pedersen / Punchbowl News:

Public Citizen: crypto companies spent $119M+ in the 2024 election cycle through Q2, or 48% of all corporate money, an “unprecedented” election spending spree

More: Public Citizen, DL News, Decrypt, Axios, The Hill, CryptoSlate, CoinDesk, crypto.news, Cointelegraph, Washington Times, and CryptoGlobe

X: @public_citizen, @maxasteele, and @brendanpedersen

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:

Samsung unveils a new Odyssey gaming monitor lineup that uses eye-tracking tech to convert 2D visuals into glasses-free 3D, set for release “within this year”