Techmeme
December 18, 2024, 8:00 AM

Top News

Jez Corden / Windows Central:
A look at Microsoft's risky Xbox strategy, where exclusives are the exception; sources say Microsoft is working on cross-platform Xbox interface Project Rainway  —  Microsoft's strategy has Xbox's core fans upset about the future of console hardware.  Today, we're going to analyze the strategy …
Avram Piltch / Tom's Hardware:
Nvidia unveils Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit, a $249 compact AI development board that promises 67 TOPS, compared to 40 TOPS of the $499 last-gen kit  —  The Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit will be available later this month and comes with 8GB of RAM.
Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:
Apple updates Apple Maps on the web to add support for Look Around, which is Apple's version of Google Street View  —  Apple in June introduced a beta version of Apple Maps on the web, allowing users of other platforms such as Windows PCs to access its map service directly from a web browser.
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
OpenAI adds o1 to its API, but only for certain developers to start, announces new versions of GPT-4o and GPT-4o mini as part of its Realtime API, and more  —  OpenAI is bringing o1, its “reasoning” AI model, to its API — but only for certain developers, to start.
Ernie Smith / Tedium:
Bluesky using domains to verify users has led to cybersquatting and impersonation, as domains don't offer enough social proof for the average person  —  An apparent extortion scheme involving famous writers and entrepreneurs lit up Bluesky the other night.  It raises some important questions …
Eliot Brown / Wall Street Journal:
Masayoshi Son's $100B AI investment pledge to Trump would require a massive fundraising effort, new debt, or selling some of SoftBank's holdings to raise cash  —  Following through will require some combination of a massive fundraising effort, new debt or selling chunks of his company's holdings to raise cash
Google DeepMind:
Google introduces FACTS Grounding benchmark for evaluating the factuality of LLMs, and announces a leaderboard that ranks Gemini 2.0 Flash Experimental on top  —  Our comprehensive benchmark and online leaderboard offer a much-needed measure of how accurately LLMs ground their responses …
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Salesforce says it will hire 2,000 people to sell AI agent software, a month after saying it would hire 1,000 for the task and two years after laying off 7,000+  —  Salesforce will hire 2,000 people to sell artificial intelligence software to clients, CEO Marc Benioff said on Tuesday …
Myles McCormick / Financial Times:
The NERC, overseen by the FERC, warns soaring US electricity demand from data centers to power AI could strain US and Canadian grids, risking blackouts  —  Surging demand from tech sector could overwhelm generation capacity, report says  —  North America's electricity grid faces …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
CAA partners with YouTube to help CAA clients identify and remove AI-generated content that features their likeness, with a wider rollout planned in early 2025  —  In what's being touted as the first partnership of its kind, CAA is collaborating with YouTube on a program promising to let actors …
Bloomberg:
Analysis: as uncertainty looms over Japan's China-dependent chipmaking stocks, Sony, Nintendo, and Capcom have seen double-digit returns since Trump's victory  —  Japanese gaming stocks are emerging as unlikely winners from Donald Trump's election, as tech investors seek less exposure …
Aisha Counts / Bloomberg:
eMarketer expects Instagram to hit $32B in US ad revenue in 2025, or 50% of Meta's ad sales; filings: Instagram was ~30% of Meta's global business in early 2022  —  - Video-sharing app estimated to reach $32 billion in ad revenue  — Instagram users spend majority of their time watching videos
More: Reuters
Bloomberg:
SandboxAQ, which aims to apply quantum tech and techniques to AI, raised $300M from Alger, Yann LeCun, and others at a $5.6B valuation to recruit more engineers  —  - Former Alphabet division focuses on quantum and AI tech  — CEO Jack Hidary staffing up with more Ph.D.s and engineers
John Voorhees / MacStories:
Game emulator Delta adds an in-app link to pay outside of the App Store, via Patreon, likely the first US app to use Apple's External Purchase Link Entitlement  —  Delta, the MacStories Selects App of the Year, received an important update today that allows users of the game emulator to support …
Yvonne Lau / Rest of World:
Experts say national security and immigration policies could deprive US companies of AI talent from China, which had 47% of the top AI researchers in 2022  —  The West may lose out in the talent race amid U.S. national security and immigration hurdles  — The U.S. and China …

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Jody Godoy / Reuters:

Earlier Picks

New York Times:
Paayal Zaveri / Bloomberg:
Leo Schwartz / Fortune:
Financial Times:
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: