Techmeme
January 29, 2025, 8:15 AM

Top News

Financial Times:
Jackie Davalos / Bloomberg:
Bloomberg:
Sources: Microsoft and OpenAI are investigating whether data output from OpenAI's API was obtained in an unauthorized manner by a group linked to DeepSeek  —  Microsoft's security researchers in the fall observed individuals they believe may be linked to DeepSeek exfiltrating a large amount …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple has been working with SpaceX and T-Mobile to add Starlink support in iOS 18.3; T-Mobile is testing with some users, only for texting initially  —  - T-Mobile begins pushing offering in limited beta test to users  —  Apple Inc. has been secretly working with SpaceX …
Vittoria Elliott / Wired:
Sources: the US Office of Personnel Management's highest ranks now include former employees of Elon Musk's companies, including xAI and the Boring Company  —  Sources tell WIRED that the OPM's top layers of management now include individuals linked to xAI, Neuralink, the Boring Company, and Palantir.
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Researchers detail two Apple silicon side-channel attacks that could leak secrets: SLAP, affecting M2, A15, and newer chips, and FLOP, affecting M3, M4, and A17  —  Apple-designed chips powering Macs, iPhones, and iPads contain two newly discovered vulnerabilities that leak credit card information …
Jennifer Elias / CNBC:
Google's maps unit reclassified the US as a “sensitive country”, reserved for states with strict governments or border disputes, after Trump's map changes  —  Google's maps division on Monday reclassified the U.S. as a “sensitive country,” a designation it reserves for states …
Eduardo Baptista / Reuters:
Alibaba releases Qwen 2.5-Max, an AI model that the company claims “outperforms” GPT-4o, DeepSeek-V3, and Llama-3.1-405B “almost across the board”  —  Chinese tech company Alibaba (9988.HK) on Wednesday released a new version of its Qwen 2.5 artificial intelligence model …
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Sony names CFO Hiroki Totoki as CEO, succeeding Kenichiro Yoshida, and PlayStation co-CEO Hideaki Nishino as CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, from April 1  —  The corporate shuffle, effective April 1, was approved late Tuesday by the electronics and entertainment giant's board of directors in Tokyo.
Hayden Field / CNBC:
The US Navy instructs its members to avoid using DeepSeek “in any capacity” due to “potential security and ethical concerns”  —  The U.S. Navy has instructed its members to avoid using artificial intelligence technology from China's DeepSeek, CNBC has learned.
Radhika Rajkumar / ZDNET:
Block introduces an on-device, open-source AI agent called Goose, which allows developers to choose their preferred LLM to automate engineering tasks  —  Whether for developer needs or mundane tasks, the artificial intelligence (AI) tide appears to be turning in favor of open-source solutions.
Jyoti Mann / Business Insider:
In an internal memo, Andrew Bosworth says Meta's Reality Labs beat nearly all its sales and user targets for 2024, growing sales “>40% YoY overall”  —  - Meta's Reality Labs exceeded nearly all its 2024 sales and user targets, an internal memo said.
bellingcat:
A look at MrDeepFakes, a site with obscure ownership that hosts non-consensual deepfake porn, has close to 650K members, and gets millions of visits per month  —  This article is the result of a collaboration with German YouTube channel STRG_F.  You can watch their documentary here.
Ryan Gallagher / Bloomberg:
The UK National Audit Office says the government was operating at least 228 “legacy” computer systems as of March 2024, increasing the risk of a disruptive hack  —  - More than 200 outdated computer systems used, auditors find  — Vacancies exceeded 50% in some central government departments
Nami Matsuura / Nikkei Asia:
Samsung and LG unveil new OLED tech, including stretchable and transparent screens, to counter Chinese rivals, which held a 33% market share in 2024, per DSCC  —  SEOUL — South Korea's Samsung and LG are putting out new OLED technologies like stretchable and transparent screens as they try to stave off rising Chinese competition.
More: Mashable and How-To Geek
Wall Street Journal:
US officials and Google researchers: China, Iran, and 18+ others are using AI, including Gemini, to bolster their cyberattacks against US and global targets  —  A cyber-threat report from Google is shedding light on how foreign actors are leveraging generative AI to boost their hacking prowess.

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More News

Ryan Knappenberger / Courthouse News Service:
More: 9to5Mac, MediaPost, and MLex
Bluesky: @quinnypig.comX: @balancecrafting, @jason_kint, and @vidushi_lawForums: r/apple

Earlier Picks

Dan Milmo / The Guardian:
Victoria Song / The Verge:
Tim De Chant / TechCrunch:
Hugh Son / CNBC: