Techmeme
May 22, 2024, 11:40 AM

Top News

Imran Rahman-Jones / BBC:
The UK ICO is “making enquiries with Microsoft” over the company's Recall feature, which some privacy campaigners have called a potential “privacy nightmare”  —  The UK data watchdog says it is “making enquiries with Microsoft” over a new feature that can take screenshots of your laptop every few seconds.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Humane is seeking a buyer for its business, after the rocky launch of its Ai Pin; a source says the startup, founded in 2018, is seeking $750M to $1B  —  - Humane's AI pin was billed as an alternative to smartphones  — AI hardware product received poor reviews after its launch
Kate Rooney / CNBC:
Sources: Amazon plans to launch a more conversational Alexa later in 2024, adding generative AI features, and will charge a subscription fee to offset the cost  —  WATCH NOW  —  Amazon is upgrading its decade-old Alexa voice assistant with generative artificial intelligence and plans …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft will soon let businesses build custom Copilot AI agents for automating tasks, and unveils Team Copilot to help with tasks in Teams, Loop, and Planner  —  Microsoft will soon allow businesses and developers to build AI-powered Copilots that can work like virtual employees and perform tasks automatically.
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Charlie Warzel / The Atlantic:
OpenAI's Scarlett Johansson debacle is merely a reminder of AI's manifest-destiny philosophy: “This is happening, whether you like it or not”, consent be damned  —  If you're looking to understand the philosophy that underpins Silicon Valley's latest gold rush, look no further than OpenAI's Scarlett Johansson debacle.
Glenn Rifkin / New York Times:
Gordon Bell, who helped design several influential minicomputers at Digital Equipment Corporation, including the 12-bit PDP-8, died on May 17 at age 89  —  It cost $18,000 when it was introduced in 1965, but it bridged the world between room-size mainframes and the modern desktop.
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Spotify begins rolling out Spotify Mix, a new bespoke typeface, replacing the Circular typeface variant on everything from playlists to marketing campaigns  —  Spotify's latest update is visibly changing the audio streaming service to improve the experience for your eyeballs, rather than your ears.
More: Spotify and TechCrunch
Scott Gilbertson / Wired:
A review of privacy-focused /e/OS, a fully “deGoogled” OS based on the Android Open Source Project, that combines Micro G, to handle Google APIs, and LineageOS  —  Even if you aren't technically inclined, this privacy-first mobile operating system helps you escape surveillance capitalism.
Mastodon: @serpicojam@mas.to
Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Link-in-bio startup Linktree passes 50M users, up from 41M in December 2023 and 47M+ in March 2024, and launches a beta of its social commerce product  —  Link-in-bio startup Linktree said on Wednesday that it has surpassed 50 million users.  —  The figure represents a significant uptick …
Steven Levy / Wired:
Anthropic researchers detail attempts to peer inside the “black box” of LLMs, learning which combinations of neurons evoke specific concepts  —  What goes on in artificial neural networks work is largely a mystery, even to their creators.  But researchers from Anthropic have caught a glimpse.
Wired:
An investigation into online ticketing service Eventbrite found 7.4K+ illicit listings, including illegal drug sales, some of which its algorithm recommended  —  A WIRED investigation found thousands of Eventbrite posts selling escort services and drugs like Xanax and oxycodone …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Snowflake's talks to acquire Reka AI, which builds LLMs for businesses, for more than $1B have broken down  —  Snowflake Inc.'s talks to acquire startup Reka AI for more than $1 billion have broken down, dashing an effort by the software company to bring more generative AI muscle in-house.
More: Tech in Asia
Louise Matsakis / Wired:
Google is rolling out a new AI-powered ad format that shows shoppers how items of clothing would look on different skin tones and body types  —  A new breed of online ad allows brands to pay Google to offer shoppers AI-generated images that show how items of clothing would look on different skin tones and body types.

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More News

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Stephen Nellis / Reuters:
Mimi Billing / Sifted:

Earlier Picks

Michael Nuñez / VentureBeat:
Ken Yeung / VentureBeat:
Ken Yeung / VentureBeat:
Bradley Keoun / CoinDesk:
Jeff John Roberts / Fortune:
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge: