Techmeme: Nightshade, a free tool that lets artists “poison” AI models being trained on their artwork without permission, is now available to download for Mac and PC (Carl Franzen/VentureBeat)

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January 21, 2024, 12:45 PM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Four reasons for the less-than-expected developer enthusiasm for Apple's Vision Pro, including an uncertain ROI and anger at Apple for its App Store policies — Apple's new Vision Pro will lack some key apps when it debuts, renewing concerns about an already-tense relationship with certain developers.

More: The Verge, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, TechCrunch, Cult of Mac, and MacRumors

Mastodon: @carnage4life@mas.to and @spidermedic@techhub.social

X: @rsgnl, @rakeshlobster, @patrickwayte, @markgurman, @stevesi, and @sdw. Forums: r/apple

Steven Levy / Wired:

As the Mac turns 40, a look at its evolution and interviews with Alan Dye and other Apple executives about its future, its influence on the Vision Pro, and more — The pioneering PC revolutionized how people interact with computers. As the Mac enters its fifth decade, Apple says it will continue to evolve.

More: iPhone in Canada Blog and MacSecurity.net

Mastodon: @davemark@mastodon.social. X: @stevenlevy. LinkedIn: Steven Levy

Bloomberg:

Microsoft says Russia-linked group Midnight Blizzard hacked some employee emails beginning in November 2023; the same group breached SolarWinds as early as 2019 — - Nation-state spies previously conducted cyber-espionage on US — Targeted breaches hit Microsoft executives, cyber team

More: TechCrunch, Ars Technica, Microsoft Security …, Hackread, CNBC, CNN, BleepingComputer, Business Insider, The Verge, iTnews, HotHardware, PCMag, The Information, Newser, Washington Post, Reuters, DataBreaches.net, Wall Street Journal, Seattle Business Journal, NBC News, PC Gamer, CRN, and Fortune

Threads: @mnownews, @andy_jabbour, @barrebull, @georgescriban, and @alex.stamos

Mastodon: @j_opdenakker@infosec.exchange, @marcel@waldvogel.family, @SteveBellovin@mastodon …, @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social, @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social, @reverseics@infosec.exchange, and @simontsui@infosec.exchange

X: @tomwarren, @swiftonsecurity, @klrgrz, @schwartzonsec, @jeremymoskowitz, @bushidotoken, @munster_gene, @lorenzofb, @kylealspach, @ericgeller, @bdsams, @debugprivilege, and @matthew_pines

LinkedIn: Vishal Masih, Dan Lorenc, Andrew Thompson, and Ann Johnson. Forums: Hacker News

Juliette Perreard / Nikkei Asia:

Generative AI and how to regulate the tech dominated the discussions at the 2024 World Economic Forum; the UN Secretary-General said AI poses risks to societies — Finding common language with China will be difficult, European Commission official says — One of the many signs in Davos …

Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:

BreachForums admin Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, aka “Pompompurin”, is sentenced to 20 years of supervised release for his role in running the cybercrime forum — Conor Brian Fitzpatrick was sentenced to 20 years of supervised release today in the Eastern District of Virginia …

More: DataBreachToday.com, Security Affairs, DocumentCloud, CyberScoop, and DataBreaches.net

Mastodon: @taylorparizo@infosec.exchange. X: @vxunderground and @vxunderground

Bloomberg:

Sources: Canva generated $2B+ in annualized revenue in 2023 and is nearing a $1.5B+ share sale at a ~$26B valuation, roughly the same as in its previous round — - Sale of existing shares would maintain $26 billion valuation — Australian firm saw over $2 billion annualized revenue in 2023

Harry McCracken / Technologizer:

In an unpublished manuscript, David Bunnell, co-founder of PC Magazine, PC World, and Macworld, details the origins of the enduring media brands in the 1980s — In an unpublished manuscript, the cofounder of three enduring media brands looks back. … “But Flying Upside Down is more than that.

X: @harrymccracken. LinkedIn: Harry McCracken

Carl Franzen / VentureBeat:

Nightshade, a free tool that lets artists “poison” AI models being trained on their artwork without permission, is now available to download for Mac and PC — It's here: months after it was first announced, Nightshade, a new, free software tool allowing artists to “poison” …

More: The Register, Nightshade, Glaze, AI Agenda, The Decoder, and IGN

Mastodon: @seanb@mstdn.ca and @grammargirl@zirk.us

LinkedIn: Emil Protalinski and Natalie Edwards

Forums: Hacker News, Hacker News, Hacker News, r/technology, and Lobsters

Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post:

OpenAI bans the developer of a chatbot mimicking presidential hopeful Dean Phillips, the company's first action against use of its tech in political campaigns — It's the ChatGPT maker's first known action against the use of its technology in a political campaign

More: Axios, The Verge, Reuters, The Decoder, and Cryptopolitan

Mastodon: @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social. X: @basedtorba

Sean Hollister / The Verge:

A look at Nvidia and Convai's AI-powered video game NPCs, which are effectively generative AI chatbots that interact with the players — What if you could just... speak... to video game characters? Ask your own questions, with your own voice, instead of picking from preset phrases?

More: Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Dataconomy, VentureBeat, Kotaku, Gizmodo, The Decoder, and Forbes

X: @kylebrussell, @purn3ndu, @convaitech, and @culturalgeek. Forums: Hacker News

Sam Potter / Bloomberg:

An interview with crypto skeptic James Block, whose damning critique of Signature Bank on his newsletter, Dirty Bubble Media, became the best short call of 2023 — - Doctor whose hobby is debunking crypto made top bearish call — Report on Signature Bank appeared two months before collapse

X: @mcelarier

Ash Parrish / The Verge:

A September 2023 survey of 3,000+ game developers: 84% were somewhat or very concerned about the ethics of using generative AI and 35% were impacted by layoffs — Game developers are overwhelmingly concerned about the ethics of using AI. The organizers of the Game Developers Conference …

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From Mediagazer

The Wrap:

Trump says he authorized the Commerce Department to impose a “100% Tariff” on movies “produced in Foreign Lands,” saying they are a “National Security” threat

Washington Post:

After VOA director said staff can begin a “phased return”, an appeals court stays the preliminary injunction that allowed VOA and USAGM staffers to go back

CPB:

In response to Trump's EO, CPB CEO says CPB is “not a federal executive agency subject to the President's authority” but a private nonprofit corporation

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More News

Chris Metinko / Crunchbase News:

Cybersecurity startups raised $8.2B in 692 deals in 2023, down from $16.3B in 941 deals in 2022 and the lowest total since 2018; Q4 funding was just $1.3B

Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios:

After two failed attempts, a bipartisan effort is being made to remedy the issues caused by US tax law Section 174, which forces amortization of software labor

Eric Benjamin Seufert / Mobile Dev Memo:

Apple and Google reducing their app store fees by just 3%-4% for external payment methods simply makes alternative options non-viable for app developers

More: BBC, Cord Cutters News, and Daring Fireball

Threads: @eric_seufert. X: @eric_seufert

Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan / Financial Times:

How AI has been helping criminals who use deepfakes and voice cloning for financial scams, forcing banks and fintechs to invest in AI to counter fraud

X: @svr13. LinkedIn: Anne-Marie Edmonds

Amy Or / Bloomberg:

Kaspi.kz, which runs two super apps in Kazakhstan, raised $1B+ in its US IPO, with the stock rising 4.3% on its debut, giving the company a market cap of ~$18B

More: Investing.com and Reuters

Sean Michael Kerner / VentureBeat:

Stability AI releases Stable LM 2 1.6B, which the company says outperforms other small AI language models on most benchmarks, including Microsoft's Phi-2

More: Thurrott, Stability AI, and Hugging Face

X: @emostaque, @gblazex, @rikelhood, and @stabilityai

Earlier Picks

Canalys:

Indian smartphone shipments in Q4 2023 grew 20% YoY to 38.9M units, after five quarters of declines; total shipments for 2023 declined 2% YoY to 148.6M units

More: SamMobile, PhoneArena, GSMArena.com, and TechCrunch

Joy Lo Dico / Financial Times:

How urban planners in Barcelona and others are using supercomputers and AI to create digital twins of their cities to address issues like traffic congestion

Benj Edwards / Ars Technica:

Dave Mills, who created the Network Time Protocol in 1985 to synchronize time across different computer systems and networks, died at age 85 on January 17

More: Vint Cerf on Google Docs, Pixel Envy, and CircleID

Mastodon: @unicorndeburgh@hachyderm.io, @nonsequitur@mastodon.ie, and @zebpalmer@syringa.social

X: @ccwu, @6502_ftw, @wsv_guy, @om, and @joedevon. LinkedIn: Michael Lammerding

Forums: Hacker News, Beehaw, and Ars OpenForum

Bloomberg:

Sources: Elon Musk's xAI secured $500M in commitments out of $1B and is aiming for a $15B to $20B valuation; source: X investors are invited to invest in xAI

More: Cointelegraph, The Messenger, Decrypt, The Decoder, Cryptopolitan, CNBC, CoinGape, Watcher Guru, and Reuters

Bluesky: @andrewkjennings.com. X: @elonmusk, @kyliebytes, @walterisaacson, @danprimack, and @tweettsp

Theo Wayt / The Information:

Flexport raised $260M from Shopify, one of its biggest shareholders; Shopify sold its money-losing logistics unit to Flexport in exchange for equity in May 2023

More: FreightWaves and Crunchbase News

Threads: @ranreichman. X: @austin_rief, @bucknsf, @trace_cohen, @2112power, @blader, @lessin, @tobi, @typesfast, @lessin, @asanwal, @benf92, @typesfast, @typesfast, @typesfast, @clark_al, @rogoswami, and @theo_wayt