Techmeme
August 27, 2024, 1:40 PM

Top News

New York Times:
A profile of Pavel Durov, a devout techno-optimist who trolled authorities online, started social network VKontakte in 2006, and left Russia in 2014 for Dubai  —  Pavel Durov's anti-establishment streak helped him create one of the world's biggest online platforms, which emphasizes free speech.
New York Times:
French prosecutors: Pavel Durov's arrest is part of a probe “against person unnamed” into CSAM, drug sales, and more on the app and not working with authorities  —  A case was opened last month to investigate child pornography, drug sales, fraud and other criminal activities on the platform.
Politico:
Telegram is avidly used within political and media circles in France, including by President Emmanuel Macron, who has used the messaging app for nearly a decade  —  PARIS — Open the Telegram chat of anyone in the French political orbit and you'll notice lawmakers, cabinet members and presidential advisers online or recently connected.
Victor Goury-Laffont / Politico:
Joseph Menn / Washington Post:
Sources: China-linked hackers penetrated deep into two big US ISPs and several smaller ones in recent months, using a zero-day flaw in Versa Networks software  —  Beijing's hacking effort has “dramatically stepped up from where it used to be,” says former top U.S cybersecurity official.
Stephanie Palazzolo / The Information:
Source: OpenAI demoed a breakthrough called Strawberry to US natsec officials; one of its top uses is to make training data for a flagship LLM codenamed Orion  —  In case you were wondering why Sam Altman cryptically posted a picture of strawberries earlier this month, the answer almost certainly …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Meta says it will shut down Meta Spark, its third-party AR tools and content platform that launched in 2017, effective January 14, 2025, angering some creators  —  Creators are unhappy with Meta's decision on Tuesday to shut down its Spark platform, which allowed third parties to build augmented reality (AR) effects.
Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:
Snap rolls out a native Snapchat app for iPadOS, 13 years after launching on iOS; the app can only run in portrait mode  —  Snapchat was launched for iOS in 2011, but since then the app has only had iPhone support. iPad users, on the other hand, could only run the iPhone app …
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Android 14 downgrade OTA release notes confirm Google has delayed the Android 15 roll out to Pixel devices from September to October; a source says mid-October  —  - The Android Beta Exit update screen has been updated to mention that the Android 15 update will be available in October.
Mike Wheatley / SiliconANGLE:
Cerebras launches the “world's fastest” AI inference service with “GPU-impossible performance”, costing 10+ cents per million tokens, to rival Nvidia  —  Ambitious artificial intelligence computing startup Cerebras Systems Inc. is raising the stakes in its battle against Nvidia Corp. …
Siobhan Hughes / Wall Street Journal:
In a letter to Rep. Jim Jordan, Mark Zuckerberg says he regrets Meta wasn't more outspoken about Biden administration pressure to restrict some COVID-19 content  —  Meta CEO also says he won't repeat 2020 efforts to fund local elections, which Republicans criticized as ‘Zuckerbucks’
Max A. Cherney / Reuters:
Sources: ex-Intel board member Lip-Bu Tan, an industry veteran, left over what he considered a bloated workforce, risk-averse culture, and lagging AI strategy  —  The sudden resignation of a high-profile Intel (INTC.O) board member came after differences with CEO Pat Gelsinger and other directors …
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Kim Eun-jin / Businesskorea:
Samsung plans to offer seven years of free Tizen OS updates for its AI TVs, including March 2024 and some 2023 models, to extend its lead over Chinese rivals  —  Samsung Electronics has announced a significant move to solidify its leadership in the AI TV market by offering a seven-year free upgrade …
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
nOps, which helps companies optimize AWS spend, raised a $30M Series A led by Headlight Partners and says its customer base grew 450% over the past 18 months  —  Companies don't necessarily have to produce breakthrough technology to gain market traction.  Undercutting rivals on price …

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More News

Takashi Mochizuki / Bloomberg:
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

Earlier Picks

Elon Musk / @elonmusk:
Caroline O'Donovan / Washington Post:
Apple:
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Jesse Hamilton / CoinDesk:
Juli Clover / MacRumors: