Techmeme
December 5, 2023, 9:25 PM

Top News

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Beeper debuts Beeper Mini for Android, which lets users send iMessages using E2EE, without having to use a new number or log in with an Apple ID, for $2/month  —  Earlier this year, a developer slid into Eric Migicovsky's DMs with a spectacular claim: that he had reverse engineered Apple's iMessage …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft updates Copilot with DALL-E 3 and says GPT-4 Turbo support and a Code Interpreter feature are coming soon; Bing will get “Deep Search” functionality  —  Microsoft is detailing a number of new features coming to its Copilot service soon, including OpenAI's latest models.
Andrew Cunningham / Ars Technica:
Microsoft plans to offer three additional years of monthly Windows 10 security updates, paid for annually, after the OS' end-of-support date on October 14, 2025  —  Windows 10 gets a version of the program that extended updates for Windows 7.  —  Windows 10's end-of-support date is October 14, 2025.
Emanuel Maiberg / 404 Media:
Leaked docs show concern at OctoML about helping its customer Civitai make AI images; OctoML co-founder Thierry Moreau said some “could be categorized as” CSAM  —  Content warning: This story covers synthetic child sexual abuse images.  —  OctoML, a Seattle-based startup …
Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
ESET researchers have found 18 “SpyLoan” malicious loan Android apps, which have been downloaded 12M+ times from the Google Play store alone, in 2023 so far  —  More than a dozen malicious loan apps, which are generically named SpyLoan, have been downloaded more than 12 million times …
Hayden Field / CNBC:
Elon Musk's xAI files with the US SEC to raise up to $1B in an equity offering, saying the startup has raised nearly $135M from four investors since November 29  —  - X.AI, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup, has filed with the SEC to raise up to $1 billion in an equity offering.
Sarah Fielding / Engadget:
Discord redesigns its mobile app, offering separate messages and server tabs, new messaging features, a Midnight theme, and speed and data usage improvements  —  It also introduced a Midnight theme for a pure black background.  —  Discord bluntly describes the mobile app it launched in 2015 …
Samantha Cole / 404 Media:
Alibaba's paper on its Animate Anyone AI model goes viral after videos show the model can replace TikTok influencers after being trained on TikTokers' videos  —  A team of researchers from Chinese retail and technology giant Alibaba released a paper this week detailing a new model, which they call “Animate Anyone.”
Bloomberg:
AT&T chooses Ericsson to modernize its wireless network with an architecture utilizing open standards, a ~$14B project over five years; ERICB closes up 6.08%  —  - Infrastructure deal aims to modernize network over five years  — Deal is a blow to Nokia, which will delay profit targets
Alexandra Barinka / Bloomberg:
Meta, IBM, and over 50 other companies and organizations form the AI Alliance, a coalition to work on open-source AI, including to share tech and reduce risks  —  Meta Platforms Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. are joining more than 40 companies and organizations to create …
Natasha Mascarenhas / The Information:
Source: VC firm OpenView laid off most of its staff and does not plan to make new investments, after several partners recently left the firm  —  OpenView Venture Partners, a Boston-based venture capital firm that has backed enterprise software firms such as Calendly and Expensify …
Reuters:
Docs: Apple warned India that its EU-style charger rules will lower local production targets and on November 28 asked to exempt or delay existing iPhone models  —  Apple (AAPL.O) has told India its local production targets will be hit if New Delhi follows the European Union and requires existing iPhones …
Financial Times:
Bruce Schneier / Schneier on Security:
AI chatbots' conversational nature makes them more trustworthy, which could cause problems, like “hidden exploitation”, outright fraud, and mistaken expertise  —  I trusted a lot today.  I trusted my phone to wake me on time.  I trusted Uber to arrange a taxi for me, and the driver to get me to the airport safely.
Hannah Lang / Reuters:
OpenSecrets: crypto companies spent $18.96M on US lobbying in Q1 2023 to Q3 2023, up from $16.1M during the same period in 2022; Coinbase spent $2.16M, the most  —  The cryptocurrency industry was on track to hit a new record for federal lobbying spending, after a year in which firms scrambled …
Vishal Chawla / The Block:
Web3 developer platform thirdweb discloses a major vulnerability in an open-source library used by several NFT collections; thirdweb became aware on November 20  —  - Thirdweb, a web3 developer platform, disclosed a security vulnerability in its open-source library.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro (experimental) is now available, with thinking capabilities, enhanced performance, and improved accuracy.  Try it at no cost in the Gemini app.
UiPath:
UiPath Unveils 10 Innovations that Will Shape the Agentic Future  —  Orchestration engine, API workflows and agentic testing among key features of new UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation, launched at UiPath DevCon 2025
Zoho:
Zoho CRM for Everyone - No More Missed Customers  —  Evolution is the secret of survival; everything that thrives in the world operates by that principle.  Animals, people, technology, products, businesses—and software, too.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Great Chat:
Are VC jobs truly AI Proof? (Marc thinks so)
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Techmeme Ride Home:
(Bonus) World Cup Of Entrepreneurs Part 1
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Lenny's Podcast:
How Revolut trains world-class product managers: The "local CEO" model, raw intellect over experience, and a cultural obsession with building wow products | Dmitry Zlokazov (Head of Product)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Qasar Younis from Applied Intuition
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Azeem Azhar's Exponential View:
China's catching up to US AI... Here's why it won't matter
Azeem Azhar explores how AI and exponential technologies are shaping our future.
Subscribe to Azeem Azhar's Exponential View.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:25 PM ET, December 5, 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

Jon Porter / The Verge:
New York Times:

Earlier Picks

BBC:
Jake Kanter / Deadline:
Jane Lanhee Lee / Bloomberg:
Wired:
Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg: