Techmeme: A look at the flood of near-identical YouTube obituary videos, in which men read obituaries scraped from authorized publishers like funeral homes and newspapers (Kate Knibbs/Wired)

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September 24, 2023, 3:25 PM

Top News

Sanket Vijayasarathy / 91mobiles:

A leaked Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro promo video reveals new camera features: an Audio Eraser, the ability to swap faces, full manual controls like ISO, and more — - A new promo video focuses on the many camera features of the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. — Both the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro will get a 50MP primary camera.

More: 9to5Google, MySmartPrice, PCMag, Forbes, Android Police, TechRadar, Neowin, SPARROWS NEWS, PhoneArena, Droid Life, Laptop Mag, Tom's Guide, BigTechWire, TechEBlog, The Verge, Android Headlines, TweakTown, Wccftech, Notebookcheck, The Mobile Report, GSMArena.com, and Android Authority

Mastodon: @rolle@mementomori.social and @grumpasaurus@fosstodon.org

X: @evowizz, @boringstein, @neilcybart, @u_m_a_m_i, @nexusben, @zachhazard, @broderick, @parkerortolani, and @za_raczke

Forums: r/GooglePixel and r/Android

Reuters:

A look at Scattered Spider, which experts say is a group of 17- to 22-year-old native English speakers likely behind MGM and 52+ other hacks since March 2022 — About a year ago, the U.S. security firm Palo Alto Networks began to hear from a flurry of companies that had been hacked in ways that weren't the norm for cybercriminals.

More: Washington Post, Dark Reading, CyberScoop, and DeviceSecurity.io

Bluesky: @nohomers.bsky.social. X: @mattjay, @mattjay, @nicastronaut, @menendezrand, @darrennesbitt, @mattjay, @jldastin, @aselawaid, @vchampain, and @ericgeller. LinkedIn: Thomas O'Malley. Forums: Beehaw

Washington Post:

Academics and US agencies are overhauling or ending online misinformation research due to Representative Jim Jordan and other Republicans' escalating campaign — An escalating campaign, led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and other Republicans, has cast a pall over programs that study political disinformation …

Abhirup Roy / Reuters:

California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoes a bill that would have required a human safety operator in heavy-duty self-driving trucks on public roads in the state — California Governor Gavin Newsom late on Friday vetoed a bill to prevent heavy-duty driverless trucks from operating in the state …

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Meta plans to release AI chatbots with personalities, internally called Gen AI Personas, across its apps at this week's Connect, to attract young users — Facebook parent is developing bots with personalities, including a ‘sassmaster general’ robot that answers questions

More: PCMag, The Messenger, Analytics Insight, and BigTechWire

Bluesky: @simonlester.bsky.social, @2xaught7.bsky.social, @hunterwalk.com, @cheron.bsky.social, and @simli.bsky.social. X: @zamaan_qureshi

Kate Knibbs / Wired:

A look at the flood of near-identical YouTube obituary videos, in which men read obituaries scraped from authorized publishers like funeral homes and newspapers — If you Google someone who recently died, you might see a flood of near-identical videos of men reading obits. Here's why.

X: @pearlriverflow, @waterslicer, @mattsreynolds1, @nicklucchesi, and @knibbs. Forums: r/privacy

PTI:

Sources: Apple to increase its production in India over 5x to $40B in the next four to five years, and start making AirPods, in addition to iPhones, in 2024 — iPhone maker Apple has plans to scale up production in India by over five-fold to around $40 billion, or about Rs 3.32 lakh crore …

More: Bloomberg

Dave Lee / Bloomberg:

Q&A with outgoing Amazon SVP of Devices and Services Dave Limp on using generative AI for Alexa, a possible Alexa subscription, advice for Panos Panay, and more — The departing executive in charge of Amazon's voice assistant has a conversation about its future in the age of AI.

More: Cryptopolitan. X: @daveleebbg

Zheping Huang / Bloomberg:

A look at the role of pro gaming in Tencent's long-term strategy as China hosts the Hangzhou Asian Games, the first event where esports are eligible for medals — - Hundreds of pro players will compete at Hangzhou Asian Games — Tencent places esports at the heart of its online media empire

More: Tech Xplore, The Korea Herald, Tom's Guide, ChinaTechNews.com, and Nikkei Asia. X: @tsegerblom

Vauhini Vara / Wired:

A writer whose AI-assisted essay went viral reflects on testing GPT-3 early, Sudowrite's novel generator, and whether AI is good for writers and literature — Despite my success with AI-generated stories, I'm not sure they are good for writers—or writing itself.

Mastodon: @AthenaHelivoy@mastodon.world. X: @englishoer, @srhm_ca, @dan_jeffries1, @aldaily, @notoriousrel, @vauhinivara, @porcupinesquill, and @chameauleon

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:25 PM ET, September 24, 2023.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

David Folkenflik / NPR:

Kari Lake says OAN will provide its newsfeed and video service “free-of-charge” to USAGM networks, including VOA, OCB, and Radio Martí

Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:

In a letter, nine US senators urge Shari Redstone not to settle Trump's $20B lawsuit, saying it will only embolden him to “extort” CBS and other outlets

Katie Robertson / New York Times:

The NYT reports adding 250K digital-only subscribers in Q1, taking its total subscribers to 11.6M+; digital ad revenue rose 12.4% YoY to $70.9M

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More News

Malathi Nayak / Bloomberg:

In a countersuit, chip startup Rivos and six ex-Apple staff claim Apple intimidates those who “dare to leave”; Apple sued Rivos over trade secrets theft in 2022

Forums: r/hardware

Sean Lyngaas / CNN:

Three major US voting equipment makers let some researchers stress-test their software and hardware, to take on conspiracy theories with greater transparency

X: @vote_mfg_qa, @knash99, and @benadida

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Walmart-backed PhonePe, which leads India's UPI-based payments market, launches the Indus AppStore on Android and promises no platform fees or IAP commission

More: MSPoweruser and Moneycontrol

X: @ashishdogradir, @rahulchari9, @tsuvik, @phonepe, @tsuvik, @indusappstore, @pushkar_dongare, and @upadhyay_harsh1. LinkedIn: Hari Padmanabhan

Reuters:

Sources: India plans to delay its import license requirement for laptops and tablets by a year and propose a simpler import registration process from November

More: Apple Must. X: @adityakalra

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:

A look at chip equipment makers, like Applied Materials, that push the boundaries of sculpting materials at the atomic level, in a quest to make chips faster

X: @akwyz. Forums: Hacker News

Ed Bott / ZDNet:

A look at Microsoft's Surface business as device revenue plunged in FY 2023 after growing steadily since FY 2014, as a major correction hits the wider PC market

X: @edbott and @mukund. Forums: r/Surface

Earlier Picks

Javier Espinoza / Financial Times:

Doc: Booking accuses EU officials of using “misleading” and “selective” facts to block its €1.63B Etraveli acquisition and plans to challenge any ban in court

More: Reuters and Skift

Paresh Dave / Wired:

A look at the antitrust activists attending the DOJ's Google antitrust trial every day and documenting their observations via social media and daily newsletters

More: The Verge. X: @matthewstoller, @ddayen, @william_fitz, and @lutherlowe

LinkedIn: Rafael Brown and Paresh Dave