Techmeme: IOActive researchers detail “Sinkclose”, a vulnerability in almost all AMD chips dating back to 2006 that allows attackers to run code in System Management Mode (Andy Greenberg/Wired)

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August 9, 2024, 7:35 PM

Top News

Reuters:

Sources: Cisco plans a second round of layoffs in 2024, affecting at least as many as the 4,000 laid off in February, to be announced as soon as August 14 — Cisco (CSCO.O) will cut thousands of jobs in a second round of layoffs this year as the U.S. networking equipment maker shifts focus …

More: SiliconANGLE, The Information, Network World, DatacenterDynamics, Channel Futures, Bloomberg, and CRN

LinkedIn: Dave Lewis and Utkarsh Shetti. Forums: r/technology

Michael Kan / PCMag:

Intel delays its Innovation event, slated for September and expected to include details about new CPUs, until 2025, citing its financial results and H2 outlook — The chipmaker is delaying one of its biggest events, which was slated for September and expected to include more details about upcoming processors.

Reuters:

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro blocks X in the country for 10 days, accusing Elon Musk of using X to incite hate after Venezuela's disputed election — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday took tensions with social media platform X and its owner Elon Musk to new heights …

More: The Information, CNBC, Associated Press, Al Jazeera, Inc.com, Financial Times, TweakTown, Engadget, TechRadar, Reuters, Deutsche Welle, BBC, Xataka On, Agence France-Presse, MercoPress, Bitcoin News, and Benzinga

X: @kanthan2030, @santasurfing, and @daveatherton20. Forums: r/worldnews

See also Mediagazer

Andy Greenberg / Wired:

IOActive researchers detail “Sinkclose”, a vulnerability in almost all AMD chips dating back to 2006 that allows attackers to run code in System Management Mode — Researchers warn that a bug in AMD's chips would allow attackers to root into some of the most privileged portions of a computer …

More: SC Media, BleepingComputer, Laptop Mag, Engadget, PCMag, Tom's Hardware, and IOActive

Mastodon: @agreenberg@infosec.exchange. X: @a_greenberg, @notolymp1a, and @ioactive

Forums: Hacker News, r/technology, r/cybersecurity, r/Amd, r/pcmasterrace, r/hardware, r/wallstreetbets, Beehaw, Lobsters, and Slashdot

The Guardian:

UK PM Keir Starmer says ministers will review the Online Safety Act, after London mayor Sadiq Khan said it was “not fit for purpose” following far-right riots — Move comes after London mayor Sadiq Khan said role of misinformation in unrest showed law was unfit for purpose

Matt Burgess / Wired:

A researcher shows five proof-of-concept ways that Copilot can be manipulated by attackers, including turning it into an automatic spear-phishing machine — Attacks on Microsoft's Copilot AI allow for answers to be manipulated, data extracted, and security protections bypassed, new research shows.

More: The Register, PC Gamer, Security Boulevard, Dark Reading, Cybernews.com, and Zenity

Mastodon: @mattburgess@infosec.exchange. LinkedIn: Lana Salameh. Forums: r/technews, r/technews, and r/technology

Jay Peters / The Verge:

Interfax: Roskomnadzor blocked Signal in Russia for allegedly violating laws linked to anti-terrorist operations; Venezuela reportedly blocked Signal too — Signal is being blocked in Venezuela and Russia. The app is a popular choice for encrypted messaging and people trying …

More: BleepingComputer, Engadget, Signal Messenger, Associated Press, PCMag, Interfax, Reuters, Cybernews.com, Associated Press, Semafor, Pravda, The Kyiv Independent, and CNN

Forums: Hacker News and r/technology

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:

Instagram is testing a Snap Maps-like feature that lets users post text and video updates to a map that can be shared with friends — Instagram has starting testing a new feature that looks a whole lot like Snap Maps. — This allows Instagram users to post text and video updates to a map based on where they were taken.

More: theedge.co.nz

Kate Conger / New York Times:

Former Twitter board member Omid Kordestani, who helped oversee the sale of the company to Elon Musk, sues X for failing to cash out $20M+ worth of stock — After purchasing Twitter, Mr. Musk failed to cash out Omid Kordestani's stock, according to allegations in a new lawsuit.

More: The Verge

Financial Times:

Since the OpenAI board dispute, Microsoft diversified AI investments and partnerships, built its own models, and hired aggressively for its consumer AI efforts — The tech giant has worked to execute an AI strategy independent of Sam Altman's start-up following a leadership crisis last year

X: @hetanshah, @hkanji, and @rwang07

Marina Temkin / TechCrunch:

Sources: Anysphere, a GitHub Copilot rival, has raised a $60M Series A co-led by a16z and Thrive at a $400M post-money valuation — Anysphere, a two-year-old startup that's developed an AI-powered coding assistant called Cursor, has raised over $60 million in a Series A financing …

Clothilde Goujard / Politico:

The Irish Data Protection Commission says X has agreed to pause training Grok using millions of Europeans' public posts it collected between May 7 and August 1 — X will pause training its artificial intelligence chatbot Grok with some European users' posts, according to Europe's chief privacy watchdog.

More: TechCrunch, Tech Xplore, The Cyber Express, Silicon Republic, PYMNTS.com, Computerworld, MEDIANAMA, and PhoneArena

X: @dwaynephillips and @euratol

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From Mediagazer

Axios:

Sources: G/O Media sold business news brand Quartz and commerce site The Inventory to software firm Redbrick, the fourth Quartz ownership change in seven years

Ashton Pittman / Mississippi Free Press:

A judge dismisses former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant's defamation lawsuit against Mississippi Today; Bryant sued in 2023 over reporting about a welfare scandal

Arpan Chaturvedi / Reuters:

An Indian court orders Wikimedia to remove statements about news agency ANI facing criticism for being a government propaganda tool from a Wikipedia page

More News

Kaya Yurieff / The Information:

TikTok is offering steep discounts on goods to US users who invite friends to the app, expanding a referral scheme from countries like Japan and Thailand

@martin_casado:

[Thread] A roundup of recent announcements from researchers, businesses, and academic institutions opposing California's AI safety bill

More: The San Francisco Standard and Semafor

X: @drfeifei, @m2saxon, @danhendrycks, @robsaker, @aftfuture, @noahpinion, @psychosort, @abcampbell, @martin_casado, @martin_casado, @deanwball, @animaanandkumar, @andrewyng, @tituswu100, and @anjneymidha

Tom's Hardware:

Intel details a microcode patch, available through BIOS updates, to address the elevated voltage issues that can damage some Core 13th and 14th Gen desktop CPUs

More: Ars Technica, HotHardware, The Register, AnandTech, The Verge, PCWorld, Windows 11 Forum, and TechSpot

Katie Roof / Bloomberg:

DevRev, which develops AI tools to improve the efficiency of employees on support, product, and engineering teams, raised a $100M Series A at a $1.15B valuation

More: SiliconANGLE. X: @khoslaventures, @itspsneha, @vscpr, and @devrev

Bloomberg:

Sources: Guangzhou-based robotaxi company WeRide is seeking ~$100M in a US initial public offering and around $200M to $300M in a concurrent private placement

More: TechCrunch and Pandaily

Mackenzie Hawkins / Bloomberg:

A look at the US' Chips and Science Act two years after its enactment on August 9, 2022, as the Biden administration nearly finishes divvying up $39B in grants

More: AnandTech and Columbus Business Journal

Bluesky: @patrickmaroney.bsky.social. X: @mackhawk

Financial Times:

Perplexity says its AI search engine answered ~250M queries in the past month vs. 500M in 2023; sources: Perplexity recently raised $250M at a $3B valuation

More: Benzinga, Cautious Optimism, and 24/7 Wall St.

X: @mandarkagade. LinkedIn: Damian Burns

Earlier Picks

Alan Crawford / Bloomberg:

A look at EU auto chipmakers' deepening engagement with China as sales suffer in the West; McKinsey: the automotive chips market will be worth $150B by 2030

More: Nikkei Asia

Iain Martin / Forbes:

A look at Whisper CEO Michael Heyward's Medialab, which acquired Imgur and Genius and was sued by their founders and others for allegedly failing to honor deals

More: The Verge. X: @_iainmartin

Washington Post:

The Google monopoly ruling dealt a blow to one of Big Tech's main arguments against regulation: that 19th-century antitrust laws can't address tech innovation

X: @econliberties

Jay Peters / The Verge:

OpenAI now lets ChatGPT free users to generate up to two images per day using DALL-E 3, after launching DALL-E 3 to ChatGPT Plus subscribers in October 2023

More: TechRadar, Financial Express, How-To Geek, MacRumors, Benzinga, WinBuzzer, Android Authority, ZDNET, Wccftech, iPhone in Canada Blog, Digital Trends, 9to5Mac, Tom's Guide, Moneycontrol, Business Today, Business Standard, Neowin, Notebookcheck, and Pocket-lint

X: @openai. Forums: Hacker News and r/singularity

Wired:

OpenAI reveals details of GPT-4o's safety testing, including concerns that its anthropomorphic voice may make some users emotionally attached to their chatbot

More: OpenAI, Ars Technica, Silicon Valley Business …, The Verge, Maginative, Android Headlines, MarkTechPost, Tom's Guide, Quartz, WinBuzzer, Mashable, The Decoder, Windows Central, TechCrunch, Financial Express, Business Today, Cointelegraph, CoinGeek, Neowin, and CoinGape

X: @aisafetymemes, @simonw, @joheidecke, @teknium1, @lindsmccallum, and @openai

LinkedIn: Emil Protalinski, Sebastian Mueller, and Sandro Gianella. Forums: r/OpenAI

Brian Heater / TechCrunch:

Google's DeepMind Robotics team shows a table tennis robot that it says is a “solidly amateur human-level player” when pitted against a human

More: arXiv.org, Cryptopolitan, TNW, Tech Xplore, Cybernews.com, WinBuzzer, MIT Technology Review, Financial Express, Digital Trends, CryptoGlobe, NewsBytes, How-To Geek, Ars Technica, Popular Science, The Decoder, and AIM. X: @googledeepmind

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:

Apple debuts new rules and fees for apps in the EU that link to the web for purchases, including allowing links to any website, and removes other restrictions

More: Computerworld, The Verge, Apple Developer, Mobile Dev Memo, MusicTech, Xataka On, Android Authority, PhoneArena, Daring Fireball, Reuters, Pixel Envy, MacRumors, iThinkDifferent, BGR, iClarified, Spyglass, TechCrunch, Thurrott, mjtsai.com, PYMNTS.com, Macworld, Neowin, Cult of Mac, AppleInsider, and TechCrunch

Threads: @eshumarneedi. Mastodon: @stroughtonsmith …, @iKyle@mastodon.social, and @stroughtonsmith …

X: @eric_seufert, @mysk_co, @mgsiegler, @carnage4life, @carnage4life, @bzamayo, @ballmatthew, and @mgsiegler. Forums: r/apple