Techmeme
February 14, 2023, 8:20 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
US financial regulators are rapidly closing crypto's key doors to the banking system, pushing the crypto industry to the fringes of finance  —  Crypto's free pass is getting yanked as the most powerful US financial regulators rapidly close key doors to the country's banking system.
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Hyundai and Kia are offering free anti-theft software updates for 8M+ vehicles, after hundreds of car thefts inspired by the viral “Kia Challenge” on TikTok  —  Hyundai and Kia are offering free software updates for millions of their cars in response to a rash of car thefts inspired …
Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
Primate Labs releases Geekbench 6 with new and updated hardware and app tests that use datasets meant to be more representative of real-world workloads  —  According to its developer, Primate Labs, Geekbench 6 has new and updated tests that are meant to fully test modern hardware …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Copilot for Business, GitHub's enterprise AI-powered code completion tool for $19 per month, hits general availability after the beta launch in December 2022  —  GitHub today announced that Copilot for Business, the company's $19/month enterprise version of its AI-powered code completion tool …
Nicole Farley / Search Engine Land:
Meta updates Facebook's “Why am I seeing this ad?” tool to include information about how users' on- and off-platform activity informs its ML models for ads  —  Facebook has just launched an updated version of its “Why am I seeing this ad?” tool which now includes information on how they use machine learning to deliver ads.
Thomas Germain / Gizmodo:
Google launches Privacy Sandbox for Android in beta, starting with a “small percentage” of Android 13 devices, similar to Apple's App Tracking Transparency  —  Here's a preview of the Privacy Sandbox, the newfangled way companies will follow you around the web that's supposed to be better for your privacy.
Chloe Xiang / VICE:
DARPA says its Air Combat Evolution developers used AI to successfully fly a modified F-16 test aircraft multiple times over several days in early December 2022  —  The fighter aircraft that was first introduced in 1978 has now seemingly evolved into an autonomous plane.  —  Chloe Xiang
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker on the company's history, battling Microsoft, working with rivals, generative AI, WebKit, iOS, Chrome, Mastodon, and more  —  Mozilla chair Mitchell Baker on competing — and cooperating — with Google, Apple, and the rest of Big Tech.
New York Times:
Over 30 prominent Chinese dissidents and activists report problems with their Twitter accounts, including disappearing from search or unexplained suspensions  —  As the Elon Musk-owned social media service encounters interruptions and bugs, Chinese dissidents and activists said they feared they were being muzzled.
Varsha Bansal / Wired:
A look at the Modi administration's attempts to strengthen government control over the internet in India and its battle with Big Tech, which keeps giving in  —  The Modi administration keeps giving itself new powers, and Big Tech keeps giving in.  —  Akash Banerjee isn't sure whether he's allowed …
Levi Sumagaysay / MarketWatch:
Airbnb reports Q4 revenue up 24% YoY to $1.9B, vs. $1.86B est., $319M net income, up from $55M YoY, and says 2022 was its first profitable year; ABNB jumps 9%+  —  Record profit in the holiday quarter leads to earnings of nearly $2 billion for the year, but executives also suggest price cuts are coming
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Following Facebook, Instagram plans to shut down live shopping on March 16, 2023, and focus on ads that help users discover businesses and shops on Instagram  —  As Meta gears up for its “year of efficiency,” the company announced today it's exiting the livestream shopping business on Instagram …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
BuzzFeed launches Infinity Quizzes, which asks users questions so that Buzzy the Robot, an AI based on OpenAI's public API, can write a personalized narrative  —  BuzzFeed — the media site that made its name (literally) spinning out viral content — landed in the middle of the buzz itself …
Financial Times:
Sources: Apple's India expansion has been slow due to logistics, tariffs, and infrastructure, as the company tries to replicate its China playbook in India  —  Apple is hitting stumbling blocks in its effort to increase production in India, as the US tech giant faces pressure to cut its manufacturing reliance on China.
Bloomberg:
A look at Vietnam's plans to make Ho Chi Minh City a startup hub; report: Vietnam drew a record $2.6B in VC funding across 233 deals in 2021, up from $700M YoY  —  On a recent morning, Vinnie Lauria found himself weaving through the clogged, narrow streets of Ho Chi Minh City on a motorbike …
Dave Lee / Financial Times:
Shubham Agarwal / Wired:
After a backlash, Spotify removes a clause that let Apple use audiobooks from Findaway Voices to train synthetic voices; Spotify acquired Findaway in June 2022  —  After a backlash, Spotify has removed a clause that allowed Apple to train machine learning models on some audiobook files.
Will Knight / Wired:
A look at the Eric Schmidt-backed startup Istari, which uses ML to virtually assemble and test war machines using computer models of the individual components  —  The former Google CEO is on a mission to rewire the US military with cutting-edge artificial intelligence to take on China.
Alexander Burns / Politico:
During Nancy Pelosi's Taiwan trip, TSMC founder Morris Chang criticized the $52B CHIPS Act, saying a one-time cash infusion won't build chip self-sufficiency  —  Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan like a juggernaut.  She defied threats from the Chinese regime in order to visit the island …

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More News

Yogita Khatri / The Block:
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Peter Blumberg / Bloomberg:
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Earlier Picks

David Klepper / Associated Press:
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Aaron Mok / Insider: