Techmeme
October 16, 2024, 12:40 PM

Top News

David Pierce / The Verge:
Amazon unveils the $280 Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition, its first color e-reader with a Paperwhite-like design and color E Ink display, shipping October 30  —  For years, Kindle users have asked Amazon to make a color version of its e-reader. … The Colorsoft costs $279.99 and starts shipping on October 30th.
Sheena Vasani / The Verge:
Amazon updates Kindle Paperwhite, adding a larger, brighter 7" display and faster page turns for $160+, and Kindle, adding color options and speed improvements  —  Amazon introduced updated versions of the Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite on Wednesday, only a few hours after inadvertently leaking them both.
Tony Polanco / Tom's Guide:
Kindle Colorsoft hands-on: bold and sharp color on a 7" display, wireless charging, and comfortable, lightweight design, but pricier than other Kindles at $280  —  The Kindle Colorsoft is shaping up to be a winner  —  Early Verdict … The Kindle Colorsoft ($279) is the first color Kindle and something I've been waiting years for.
David Pierce / The Verge:
Amazon updates the Kindle Scribe to add modest design improvements like white bezels, a new stylus, and a more paper-like feel, shipping December 4 for $400  —  Ever since Amazon launched the Kindle Scribe in 2022, the company has been noticing some unusual ways people are using the device.
Emma Roth / The Verge:
The US FTC adopts its final “click-to-cancel” rule requiring businesses to make canceling a subscription as easy as signing up, after proposing the rule in 2023  —  The US Federal Trade Commission is taking action against subscriptions that are difficult to get rid of.
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Mistral releases Les Ministraux AI models in 3B and 8B sizes with 128K context windows, aimed at on-device translation, internet-less smart assistants, and more  —  French AI startup Mistral has released its first generative AI models designed to be run on edge devices, like laptops and phones.
Bloomberg:
ASML's stock falls the most since 1998 after projecting sluggish 2025 sales, erasing €50B from its market cap and causing Nvidia and other chip stocks to fall  —  - Magnitude of ASML's forecast cut was a surprise, Citi says  — Peer Tokyo Electron among worst hit stocks in Asia, down 10%
Qianer Liu / The Information:
Sources detail how Nvidia and TSMC's lucrative AI alliance is showing signs of stress as AI booms; sources say Nvidia found flaws in TSMC-made Blackwell chips  —  The most successful and lucrative partnership in the artificial intelligence business is showing signs of strain.
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
The EU declines to designate X as a DMA gatekeeper after an investigation found that “X is not an important gateway for business users to reach end users”  —  Elon Musk's X won't be regulated under the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) the Commission decided Wednesday …
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Dane Stuckey, the former CISO of Palantir, joins OpenAI as its CISO and will serve alongside OpenAI head of security Matt Knight  —  Dane Stuckey, the former CISO of analytics firm Palantir, has joined OpenAI as its newest CISO, serving alongside OpenAI head of security Matt Knight.
Diana Olick / CNBC:
Amazon signs three deals to help develop small modular nuclear reactors in the US, with Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund leading a $500M Series C-1 for X-energy  —  WATCH NOW  —  Amazon Web Services is investing more than $500 million in nuclear power, announcing three projects from Virginia to Washington state.
The Citizen Lab:
An analysis of WeChat's network protocol MMTLS finds that it is a modified version of TLS 1.3 and WeChat developers' changes to its cryptography add weaknesses  —  Key contributions  — We performed the first public analysis of the security and privacy properties of MMTLS …
Umar Shakir / The Verge:
YouTube rolls out a new “captured with a camera” label, using the C2PA standard to detect if the video came from a real camera with unaltered footage and sound  —  YouTube is rolling out new labels that tell if uploaded videos come from a real camera with unaltered footage and sound.
Jessica Piper / Politico:
FTC data: three crypto super PACs have spent $82M in 19 races, including $40M in Ohio and $10M in Arizona; the ads focus on candidates and rarely mention crypto  —  Super PACs funded by the crypto industry are pouring massive amounts into congressional races, and not a single ad actually mentions crypto.
Michael Nuñez / VentureBeat:
Anthropic updates its Responsible Scaling Policy, setting benchmarks for when an AI model's abilities reach a point where additional safeguards are necessary  —  Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company behind the popular Claude chatbot, today announced a sweeping update …
Bloomberg:
Filing: Elon Musk poured ~$75M into his pro-Trump America PAC, making seven donations between July 3 and September 5; Musk was the PAC's only donor  —  - Disclosure is first look into Musks' donations to Trump group  — Super PAC spent $69 million to bolster Trump's ground game
Wired:
A review of Character.AI finds several instances of AI personas being created without a person's consent, seemingly violating the company's terms of service  —  Character.AI lets users create bots in the likeness of any person—without requiring their consent.

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