Techmeme
October 25, 2023, 5:40 PM

Top News

Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Apple raises the monthly US price of Apple TV+ from $6.99 to $9.99, News+ from $9.99 to $12.99, Arcade from $4.99 to $6.99, and Apple One from $16.95 to $19.95  —  Apple today announced that it is increasing the prices of some of its subscription-based services, including Apple TV+ …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple plans to overhaul its AirPods lineup: AirPods Max and two redesigned fourth gen AirPods with USB-C in 2024, and redesigned AirPods Pro in 2025  —  - Company readies updates to entry-level, Pro and Max models  — After initial skepticism, AirPods are now a critical category
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Researchers reveal an attack forcing iOS and macOS WebKit browsers to divulge secrets, like passwords and email content, of users who visit a malicious website  —  iLeakage is practical and requires minimal resources.  A patch isn't (yet) available.  —  Researchers have devised an attack …
Meta Investor Relations:
Meta reports Q3 revenue up 23% YoY to $34.15B, net income up 164% YoY to $11.58B, and family daily active people up 7% YoY to 3.14B for September 2023  —  Meta Platforms, Inc. (Nasdaq: META) today reported financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2023.
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Amazon launches a generative AI tool in beta that lets advertisers create “lifestyle imagery” backgrounds or scenes around the products they are hoping to sell  —  Amazon is beta testing AI image generation tools for its advertisers, offering an easy way to create backgrounds …
Victoria Song / The Verge:
A look at Apple's double tap gesture rolling out with watchOS 10.1, letting Series 9 and Ultra 2 users interact with their watch without using its touchscreen  —  Swipes and buttons are the norm, but Apple's double tap gesture opens a future where your smartwatch could be even less dependent on your phone.
Bloomberg:
Sam Bankman Fried's lawyers say SBF plans to testify in his own trial when they start their case later this week, after damaging testimony from his inner circle  —  - Former crypto mogul fighting portrayal as criminal mastermind  — Decides to go for risky move often avoided in criminal cases
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Google rolls out “About this image”, a tool that provides background information and context about images in Google Search, to English-language users globally  —  Google is starting to roll out its new “About this image” tool, which aims to provide essential background information and context about images in Google Search.
Jordan Middler / Video Games Chronicle:
Sony's optional PS5 Slim disc drive requires an internet connection to pair with the console for the first time, likely due to the DMCA's piracy prevention rule  —  THE ONLINE REQUIREMENT HAS RAISED PRESERVATION CONCERNS  —  The upcoming optional disc drive for the PlayStation 5 will require …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: one year after lending Elon Musk ~$13B to acquire Twitter, seven US banks still hold the debt and expect to take a 15%+, or ~$2B, hit when they sell  —  Banks have begun preparations to try to unload at least some of the $13 billion of debt they underwrote, at a steep discount
Washington Post:
Sources: a Biden EO on AI is expected on October 30, requiring assessments of AI models before federal worker use, easing highly skilled immigration, and more  —  Tackling immigration and safety, the order would require advanced AI models to undergo assessments before they can be used …
Tim Ingham / Music Business Worldwide:
Sources: Spotify plans major changes to its royalty model in Q1 2024, including a threshold of minimum annual streams before a track starts generating royalties  —  Exclusive: Music Business Worldwide details Spotify's plans to introduce a number of new measures in Q1 2024 - and shift $1 billion towards ‘working artists’.
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Google adds foundation and hair dye options to its AR shopping tool for trying beauty products, and expands the tool to mobile browsers and Google Shopping ads  —  Google is expanding its augmented reality (AR) shopping feature that allows people to virtually wear beauty products before purchasing …
Bloomberg:
How telecoms and media giant Altice, led by billionaire Patrick Drahi, became weighed down by scandals and debt-fueled acquisitions from a low-interest-rate era  —  He built his telecoms empire in an era of low interest rates.  Now, with soaring debt costs and a corruption case in the corporate suite …
Wayne Ma / The Information:
Sources: Apple employees have discussed using Vision Pro to diagnose and treat mental health issues; eye-tracking and cameras could measure a person's “affect”  —  So far, Apple has pitched its upcoming Vision Pro mixed-reality headset as a tool for working and enjoying various forms of entertainment.
Rania Aniftos / Billboard:
TikTok announces TikTok in The Mix, its first live global music event, set for December 10 in Mesa, Arizona, with Cardi B, Niall Horan, Anitta, and Charlie Puth  —  The event will take place on Dec. 10 at Sloan Park in Mesa, Ariz.  —  TikTok is continuing its foray into the music world …
Financial Times:
Microsoft, OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic pick Brookings' Chris Meserole to run their new Frontier Model Forum, which plans to commit $10M to an AI safety fund  —  Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic and Google pick a US think-tank expert to head up their joint forum
Dan Milmo / The Guardian:
The Internet Watch Foundation warns that generative AI is being used to create new types of CSAM, and finds nearly 3,000 AI-made abuse images that break UK law  —  Internet Watch Foundation finds 3,000 AI-made abuse images breaking UK law  —  The “worst nightmares” about artificial …
Bloomberg:
China says its Foxconn probe is “normal law enforcement” activity and urges Taiwanese firms to play a more active role in promoting “peaceful” cross-strait ties  —  - Beijing makes its first comment on inquiry into Apple partner  — China denies it is intervening in Taiwan's presidential race
Supantha Mukherjee / Reuters:
AWS plans to launch a sovereign cloud in Europe for governments and customers in regulated industries, storing data on EU servers and launching first in Germany  —  Amazon (AMZN.O) Web Services (AWS) said on Wednesday it will launch a sovereign cloud in Europe for government and customers in highly regulated industries.

Sponsor Posts

Meta:
Open Source AI: Available to all, not just the few  —  Meta's open source AI enables small businesses, start-ups, students, researchers and more to download and build with our models at no cost.
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Zoho:
5 common accounting mistakes  —  This is a guest post by Yaali Bizappln Solutions.  A lot of businesses manage their customers and finances on separate platforms.  This disconnect often leads to missed invoices …
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Thu. 11/21 - What The DOJ Wants Google To Do
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:40 PM ET, October 25, 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.

More News

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Matt Day / Bloomberg:

Earlier Picks

Rest of World:
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Dr. Ian Cutress / More Than Moore: