|
September 24, 2024, 3:45 PM
|
Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Larry Dignan / Constellation Research: |
Google Cloud debuts Gemini 1.5 Flash and 1.5 Pro with a 2M context window, twice as big as before, “grounding” for better Google search accuracy, and new agents — Google Cloud launched a series of updates including new Gemini 1.5 Flash and 1.5 Pro models with a 2 million context window …
More: Google Developers Blog, Reuters, CRN, Google DeepMind, and AIM
| Jess Weatherbed / The Verge: |
Google plans to include the standalone Gemini app as standard in its Workspace Business, Enterprise, and Frontline plans from Q4, replacing the Gemini add-on — Google is making Gemini AI a core part of its Workspace productivity suite, which could see the chatbot adopted by millions more users.| Ryan Browne / CNBC: |
More: Google Cloud, TechHive, Engadget, PCMag, The Verge, TVNewsCheck, Tv Technology, The Wrap, Variety, Quartz, Benzinga, and The Hollywood Reporter. Forums: r/television
| New York Times: |
Sources: Mark Zuckerberg wants to get away from politics, pulling back from charitable causes that may seem partisan, tamping down employee activism, and more — It was only a little more than a decade ago that Mark Zuckerberg had few qualms about airing his politics.
More: Business Insider. X: @argojournal, @nick_field90, @fredbauerblog, and @teddyschleifer. Forums: r/neoliberal
| New York Times: |
Sources describe Meta's efforts to de-emphasize political content across its family of apps, its reduction and reshuffling of election integrity staff, and more — In January 2021, after pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Mark Zuckerberg announced a new priority for Meta …
More: The Wrap
| Gaby Del Valle / The Verge: |
The US DOJ sues Visa, alleging it has an illegal monopoly over debit network markets and has tried to unlawfully crush competitors, including PayPal and Square — The financial service company reportedly tried to ‘smother’ competitors and feared Apple as an ‘existential threat.’| Jess Weatherbed / The Verge: |
Spotify rolls out its AI Playlist feature in beta to Premium subscribers in the US, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand, after launching in the UK and Australia — Spotify is expanding an AI feature that creates customized playlists from your text descriptions to additional English-speaking regions.| Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch: |
WP Engine sends a cease-and-desist letter to Automattic to “retract false, harmful, and disparaging statements”, after Matt Mullenweg called it a “cancer” — WordPress hosting service WP Engine on Monday sent a cease-and-desist letter to Automattic …
More: r/Wordpress, Search Engine Journal, TechSpot, TechRadar, WordPress News, and Sherwood News
Mastodon: @jalefkowit@vmst.io. X: @wpengine, @justinferriman, @rarst, @jacobwolf, @katiekeithbarn2, @mattpaulsonsd, @photomatt, @photomatt, @twentworth12, and @asmartbear
Forums: Hacker News and r/Wordpress
| Jess Weatherbed / The Verge: |
Google updates Google Photos' mobile video editor for Android and iOS, adding editing tools and AI presets that should make trimming and tweaking clips easier — Features coming to Android devices include a new “Speed” tool for creating slo-mo or sped-up videos, a new “Auto enhance” … | Aaron Holmes / The Information: |
Sources: some key staff working on Microsoft's distilled AI models trained on synthetic data, like Phi, have left the Microsoft AI unit led by Mustafa Suleyman — In case you missed it, my colleagues broke news yesterday about Anthropic's attempt to draft off OpenAI's pending fundraising, by looking to do its own funding round.
More: CNBC and New York Times
| Bloomberg: |
Memo: a US arbitrator awards a full severance package to a former Twitter employee who was laid off when Musk took over, a possible precedent for 2K+ complaints — Elon Musk lost a legal fight over unpaid severance to a former Twitter employee who was laid off when he took over the social media platform …
More: Wccftech. Threads: @kurtwag8, @kurtwag8, and @karaswisher. Bluesky: @carljanderson.bsky.social
| Tripp Mickle / New York Times: |
A profile of Jim Covello, Goldman Sachs' head of stock research who has become Wall Street's leading AI skeptic after joining the bank in 2000 as a tech analyst — Jim Covello, Goldman Sachs's head of stock research, warned that building too much of what the world doesn't need “typically ends badly.”
More: Fortune, Australian Financial Review, and The Information
| Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg: |
TikTok says it plans to shut down TikTok Music on November 28 and delete user data; originally called Resso, the app launched in 2019 and was in five countries — TikTok Music will go offline on Nov. 28 and customer data will be deleted, the music division said in a post on its website.| Paul Sawers / TechCrunch: |
GitHub says all enterprise cloud customers will be able to select an EU region for Azure, in the Netherlands or Sweden, to store all their code from October 29 — GitHub will soon allow cloud customers to store their code data in the European Union (EU), part of a growing push in the technology realm …
More: The GitHub Blog, CNBC, WinBuzzer, Neowin, and TechRadar
| Rohan Goswami / CNBC: |
Collaboration software maker Smartsheet agrees to be acquired by Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners for ~$8.4B, or $56.50/share, set to close in January 2025 — Collaboration software maker Smartsheet on Tuesday announced Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners will acquire it in an all-cash deal valuing … | Emma Roth / The Verge: |
Marques Brownlee says “I hear you” after criticism of his new freemium wallpaper app Panels, over privacy concerns, a $50/year price for full access, and more — Marques Brownlee, the YouTuber known as MKBHD, has responded to backlash over the launch of his new wallpaper app, called Panels.
More: POCIT, Benzinga, TechCrunch, Boing Boing, Dexerto, Wavelengths, Digital Trends, and NewsBytes
Threads: @crumbler, @mkbhd, @bernardgatt, @ashjcoronado_, @letterboxd_steve, @eshwarnag, @jonathangarelick, @devyn1989, @tomgehrke, and @ruidamosher
Mastodon: @seb@androiddev.social, @julipuli@mastodon.social, @aulia@mementomori.social, @ljpuk@twit.social, @engravecavedave …, @thomholwerda@exquisite.social, @harshil@mastodon.social, @DJDarren@mendeddrum.org, @harshil@mastodon.social, @harshil@mastodon.social, @TimDuran@twit.social, and @andyn@social.lol. Bluesky: @radiobeartime.com
X: @mkbhd, @mkbhd, @concept_central, @ianzelbo, @mkbhd, @0interestrates, @growing_daniel, @ludyfrfr, @snazzylabs, @imsh4yy, @dylanmcd8, @hahaluastudios, @mkbhd, @gvnsmth, @leakerapple, @lauren_lawls, @sank_alp, @flyosity, @0x, @ilyamiskov, @ashleevance, @vadimyuryev, @parikpatelcfa, @mkbhd, @mkbhd, @bocabola_, @mkbhd, @jordanarnold, @mkbhd, and @hosecollector. Forums: r/technology
| Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch: |
OpenAI adds five voices to Advanced Voice Mode, which is now rolling out to ChatGPT Plus and Teams users and, next week, to enterprise and education users — OpenAI announced it is rolling out Advanced Voice Mode (AVM) to an expanded set of ChatGPT's paying customers on Tuesday.
More: VentureBeat, ZDNET, The Verge, XDA Developers, Fast Company, and Tom's Guide
X: @alexeheath and @sama
| Richard Nieva / Forbes: |
Duolingo unveils an interactive AI feature to “video call” with its Lily mascot, as part of its $30/month Duolingo Max tier; the dialogue is generated by GPT-4o — Luis von Ahn, who grew up with little money in Guatemala, aims to transform the popular language-learning app into an automated AI tutor.
More: CNET, Neowin, PocketGamer.biz, Investor's Business Daily, Digital Trends, PCMag, and VentureBeat
| Steve Dent / Engadget: |
Logitech MX Creative Console review: the $200 control surface for apps like Lightroom is an affordable entry point, but pros may find the controls limiting — The quality and design are solid, but pros may find the controls limiting. — Last year, Logitech leaped into the content creator market … | Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: |
Microsoft debuts Correction in preview as part of the Azure AI Content Safety API; the service tries to find and revise AI-generated text that's factually wrong — AI is a notorious liar, and Microsoft now says it has a fix for that. Understandably, that's going to raise some eyebrows, but there's reason to be skeptical.
More: Microsoft Tech Community and The Decoder
| Gian Volpicelli / Bloomberg: |
Meta says it will not sign the EU's voluntary AI safety pledge that's planned as a stopgap before the EU's AI Act takes full effect in 2027, but may join later — - Company could join at a later date, spokesperson says — EU wants compliance with AI Act rules before they take effect| Katie Roof / Bloomberg: |
Ujet, which uses AI to help businesses with customer support, raised $76M led by Sapphire Ventures, valuing the company at $500M, and promotes its COO to co-CEO — Customer service startup UJET Inc. has raised $76 million from investors and named a new co-chief executive officer.
More: Crunchbase News, UJET, Inc., Tech Funding News, Silicon Canals, and SiliconANGLE
| Nilay Patel / The Verge: |
An interview with The Browser Company CEO Josh Miller on Arc Search being an operating system, competing with Chrome and Safari, monetization, AI, and more — The Browser Company cofounder thinks it's time to modernize the browser and reinvent the web.| Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: |
NYC-based Torq, which helps IT teams automate security workflows, raised a $70M Series C led by Evolution Equity Partners, for $192M in total funding — As the volume of cyberattacks grows, there's increasing interest from the corporate sector in tech to help automate responses to breaches.| David Ingram / NBC News: |
TikTok permanently removes accounts associated with the parent organizations of Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik, citing “covert influence operations” — Social media rivals Meta and YouTube have announced similar suspensions of Russian state media accounts this month.
More: TikTok, The Record, New York Daily News, Sky News, Associated Press, CNN, Tech.co, Engadget, pravda.com.ua, Benzinga, LBC, The Hill, and Anadolu Ajansı …
| Joseph Menn / Washington Post: |
More: PCMag, NBC News, GZERO, Reuters, Cybernews.com, The Crypto Times, Tech.co, NPR, CNN, ODNI, Washington Examiner, USA Today, ABC News, and Cryptopolitan
Sponsor Posts
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter — Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact. We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Build AI products that matter — Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact. We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Zoho:
CIO challenge 6: Can we find an effective solution that also minimizes operational costs? — Welcome to the next and final installment of our CIO series! After what feels like a thousand cups of coffee …
CIO challenge 6: Can we find an effective solution that also minimizes operational costs? — Welcome to the next and final installment of our CIO series! After what feels like a thousand cups of coffee …
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy — Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy — Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more — We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics. Download reports immediately for just $100.
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more — We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics. Download reports immediately for just $100.Who's Hiring In Tech?
Techmeme Ride Home:
Fri. 11/15 - Crypto Ascendant
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via
Apple Podcasts,
Spotify, or
RSS.
About This Page
This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:45 PM ET, September 24, 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
Michael Gold / New York Times:Matthew Keys / The Desk:
Anna Betts / The Guardian:
Upcoming Tech Events
More News
| Chris Welch / The Verge: |
More: Android Authority, ZDNET, The Desk, Android Central, Android Headlines, Trusted Reviews, iPhone in Canada Blog, Light Reading, Media Play News, Neowin, Business Insider, 9to5Google, Streaming Better, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, Engadget, Next TV, Liliputing, The Nerdy, TechHive, Digital Trends, The Streamable, MakeUseOf, How-To Geek, The Shortcut, CNN, Cord Cutters News, MobileSyrup, Bloomberg, and CNET
| Ben Schoon / 9to5Google: |
More: Gizchina.com, Gizmochina, nextpit, Android Police, The Intelligence, Android Headlines, and Huawei Central. Forums: r/Huawei
| Niclas Rolander / Bloomberg: |
More: CSO, The Record, Le Monde.fr, Al Jazeera, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Euractiv, Associated Press, Reuters, and The Times of Israel. Forums: r/europe
| Stephanie Stacey / Financial Times: |
Earlier Picks
| Bloomberg: |
More: Engadget, TechCrunch, Entrepreneur, and Benzinga
Threads: @carnage4life, @carnage4life, @jaymayo_vrtist, @rstephens, @kurtwag8, @barbarosozturk, and @beltzner. X: @eminus
| Digbijay Mishra / The Economic Times: |
More: SiliconANGLE, Entrackr, YourStory.com, VCCircle, Inc42 Media, and AIM
| Ryan McMorrow / Financial Times: |
More: Huawei Central and DigiTimes
| Daniel Kuhn / The Block: |
| Mackenzie Hawkins / Bloomberg: |