Techmeme
October 17, 2024, 9:45 AM

Top News

Financial Times:
Sources: last week, Meta fired ~24 staff in LA for using $25 meal credits to buy household items, as it restructures WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs teams  —  The terminations took place last week, just days before the $1.5tn social media company separately began restructuring certain …
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.
Jane Lanhee Lee / Bloomberg:
Joseph Menn / Washington Post:
The US charges two Sudanese brothers with running Anonymous Sudan, a cyberattack-for-hire gang allegedly responsible for 35,000 DDoS attacks in a single year  —  Government says two brothers targeted big U.S. corporations, a hospital and an Israeli defense system in a mostly ideologically driven operation.
Financial Times:
Sources: Uber has explored a possible bid for Expedia as it seeks to grow into a super app; Expedia, valued at nearly $20B, would be Uber's largest acquisition  —  Buying the travel website would be the ride-hailing group's biggest deal as it looks to diversify
Washington Post:
Instagram rolls out new settings to fight sextortion, like hiding teens' follower lists from potential blackmailers; Meta says the crime is becoming more common  —  Scammers are targeting teens by getting hold of their intimate photos.  —  Instagram says it's rolling out a suite of new settings …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Apple's first chief people officer, Carol Surface, who joined in early 2023, is leaving; retail chief Deirdre O'Brien is reassuming oversight of human resources  —  - Carol Surface joined Apple from Medtronic in 2023 for new role  — The short tenure for a senior executive is rare at Apple
The Verge:
Filing: Google asks the US 9th Circuit for an emergency stay on the Epic ruling, saying the short time it was given to make Play Store changes risks user safety  —  The company says the imminent deadline to implement changes gives it little time to try to mitigate ‘serious risks.’
Kevin Purdy / Ars Technica:
Winamp owner Llama Group deletes the GitHub repository of the legacy player's source code posted on September 24, following criticism on the way it was released  —  Winamp, through its Belgian owner Llama Group, posted the source for its “Legacy Player Code” on September 24 so that developers could …
Financial Times:
How machine learning could have transformative effects on Africa's developing economies and societies, as some critics worry over a deepening digital divide  —  Machine learning could have transformative effects on developing economies and societies.  But some fear a deepening digital divide
Reuters:
Robinhood launches its long-awaited desktop platform Robinhood Legend, and plans to add futures and index options trading to its mobile app in the coming months  —  Robinhood (HOOD.O) launched its long-awaited desktop platform and added futures and index options trading features to its mobile app …
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  —  Amazon Web Services is investing more than $500 million in nuclear power, announcing three projects from Virginia to Washington state.
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Accel expects 2024 VC funding for cloud startups in the US, Europe, and Israel to rise 27% YoY to $79.2B, with 40% of the money going to generative AI startups  —  Generative artificial intelligence startups are getting 40% of all the venture capital funding that flows into cloud companies, according to venture investors Accel.
More: Accel, Accel, Accel, Reuters, Benzinga, and Tech Startups
X: @ryan_browne_ and @pbotteriLinkedIn: Accel
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Apple expands Apple Business Connect to let businesses, including those without a physical location, manage their presence in Mail, Phone, and Tap to Pay  —  Apple on Wednesday announced an expanded series of tools that will allow businesses to increase their visibility on Apple's platforms via its free service, Apple Business Connect.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Amazon discontinues the Kindle Oasis, which was the only Kindle still available with physical page-turn buttons, introduced in 2016 and last refreshed in 2019  —  Amazon has discontinued the Kindle Oasis, which was the only Kindle still available with physical page-turn buttons.
Sheena Vasani / The Verge:
Jessie Yeung / CNN:
Hong Kong police arrested 24+ members of an alleged pig butchering crime ring, which they say used deepfake AI to lure its victims across Asia and raked in $46M  —  Hong Kong CNN —  She appeared to be a beautiful woman and in the minds of men across Asia, the video calls they spoke on confirmed their newfound love was real.
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
Brazilian authorities have arrested a hacker, known as USDoD, who they allege is linked to breaches of National Public Data, the FBI's InfraGard, and others  —  A notorious hacker named USDoD, who is linked to the National Public Data and InfraGard breaches, has been arrested …

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