Techmeme: Google Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL review: excellent build quality, brighter screens, and faster fingerprint sensors, but the AI features are inconsistent (Allison Johnson/The Verge)

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August 22, 2024, 12:40 PM

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Financial Times:

Italian officials: divers recover UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch's body from the wreckage of superyacht Bayesian, which sank three days ago off Sicily's coast — Christopher Morvillo, Jonathan Bloomer and their wives died after vessel sank on Monday — The bodies of UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch …

More: Fortune, The Guardian, Reuters, New York Times, ComputerWeekly.com, TNW, CNN, CNBC, UPI, Telegraph, Business Insider, Wired, Forbes, Sky News, New York Times, London Evening Standard, and Bloomberg

X: @lordjohnbrowne, @davidyelland, @iankingsky, and @adamnflanagan

Financial Times:

Mike Lynch experienced some of the most extreme career highs and lows of any UK tech entrepreneur, selling Autonomy for $11B to HP before a 12-year legal ordeal

More: CNBC, Washington Post, TNW, Engadget, Associated Press, The Independent, The Economist, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Semafor, The Stack, and London Evening Standard

X: @johnrentoul, @tabizel, and @arthistorynews

Trisha Thadani / Washington Post:

Court filing: the unsealed list of X Holdings shareholders names nearly 100 entities, such as 8VC, Italy-based UnipolSai, and a fund tied to Sean “Diddy” Combs — A court filing obtained by The Post lists which firms and individuals have a financial stake in the platform.

More: Jacob Silverman, Fortune, The Information, Quartz, Protos, KnowTechie, CourtListener, Fortune, Bloomberg, Business Insider, Benzinga, and CCN.com

X: @rmac18, @byrontau, @silvermanjacob, @sf_mills, @willoremus, @willoremus, @esqueer_, @esqueer_, @said_mitch, @kyliebytes, @emmalbriant, @bern_identity, @steve_e, @esqueer_, and @silvermanjacob

Forums: r/politics, r/Twitter, r/technology, r/EnoughMuskSpam, r/EnoughMuskSpam, and r/law

Sarah McBride / Bloomberg:

Neuralink says its second human implant surgery “went well” and that the patient, who has a spinal cord injury, can design 3D objects and play Counter-Strike 2 — Google Taps AI to Revamp Costly Health-Care Push Marred by Flops … Hello World

More: Neuralink Blog, VICE, Wall Street Journal, Tom's Hardware, Gizmodo, Livemint, PC Gamer, Business Insider, Dexerto, TweakTown, London Evening Standard, and PCMag

X: @elonmusk, @nickadobos, @sawyermerritt, @ajtourville, and @iterintellectus. LinkedIn: Emil Protalinski

Forums: r/OptimistsUnite and r/Neuralink

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:

Apple unveils iOS 18 changes to comply with the EU's DMA: browser choice screen updates, more default app settings, and letting users delete some system apps — Apple has announced another set of changes to its App Store and iPhone changes in the European Union.

More: Reuters, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, AppleInsider, MacRumors, iMore, Apple Must, and Apple Developer

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft says Recall will be available to Windows Insiders in October 2024, after delaying the AI feature's launch in June over security and privacy concerns — Microsoft says it's planning to allow Windows testers to try out its controversial Recall AI feature in October.

David Shepardson / Reuters:

The FCC says Lingo Telecom agreed to pay a $1M fine after the FCC said Lingo made fake robocalls imitating President Biden in New Hampshire to dissuade voting — Lingo Telecom agreed to pay a $1 million fine after the agency said it transmitted fake robocalls imitating President Joe Biden seeking …

More: Federal Communications …, The Record, Ars Technica, Associated Press, Gizmodo, PCMag, Total Telecom, Infosecurity, Blockonomi, CCN.com, Decrypt, CyberScoop, Washington Examiner, The Hill, New York Daily News, Daily Sabah, and Telecompetitor

X: @jonathanuriarte and @jonathanuriarte

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:

LiteSpeed Cache, the top WordPress site acceleration plugin, had a critical flaw that left sites open to takeover attacks; 2M+ sites are likely still vulnerable — A critical vulnerability in the LiteSpeed Cache WordPress plugin can let attackers take over millions of websites after creating rogue admin accounts.

More: Patchstack, Wordfence, SC Media, Tech Monitor, TechRadar, The Hacker News, SecurityWeek, and Infosecurity

X: @wordfence and @darius_fx

Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:

The US charges Deniss Zolotarjovs, a member of the Russian Karakurt ransomware group that has ties to Conti, with money laundering, wire fraud, and extortion — A member of the Russian Karakurt ransomware group has been charged in the U.S. for money laundering, wire fraud, and extortion crimes.

More: US Department of Justice, The Record, and The Verge

Caroline Haskins / Wired:

A look at the facial recognition systems now common at major league sporting venues, like MLB's Go-Ahead Entry, as privacy advocates protest and raise concerns — Protesters took to Citi Field Wednesday to raise awareness of the facial recognition systems that have become common at major league sporting venues.

More: NBC News and Reuters

Forums: r/technews and r/technology

Mia Sato / The Verge:

Instagram announces a Myspace-like feature to let users add 30 seconds of a song to their profile from Instagram's library of music; the songs won't autoplay — A new feature announced by Instagram today will allow users to add a song on their profile — much like Myspace in the early 2000s.

More: USA Today, Engadget, The Hollywood Reporter, Mashable, and Tubefilter

Threads: @mgsiegler. X: @metanewsroom

Makena Kelly / Wired:

The Kamala Harris campaign launches a Twitch channel, and plans to stream her DNC address there; the campaign has hired 175+ staff to work across digital — Kamala Harris has launched a new Twitch channel as a part of the Democratic campaign's broader strategy for engaging young voters online.

More: The Verge, Dexerto, Fox News, and Adweek

X: @michaelslinden. Forums: r/KamalaHarris and r/politics

Michael Gwilliam / Dexerto:

Twitch plans to raise its new Tier 1 sub and gift sub prices on mobile in 40+ countries on October 1; in an email, Twitch says Tier 1 will rise by $2 to $7.99 — Twitch has announced yet another increase to the price of subs after already raising the cost earlier in the summer.

More: The Verge, 9to5Mac, TalkAndroid.com, Neowin, PhoneArena, Engadget, and Game Rant

X: @twitchsupport. Forums: r/Twitch and r/LivestreamFail

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Dublin, California-based Opkey, which provides AI-based ERP testing software, raised a $47M Series B led by PeakSpan Capital — Companies are experimenting with services like ChatGPT to help workers write memos, answer questions, and much more. Yet, one of the clearest signs of how much traction AI …

More: VCCircle. Threads: @crumbler

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:

Meta confirms users can now cross-post from Instagram and Facebook to Threads globally, after rolling out Instagram and Facebook cross-posting in 2021 — Meta for months has been experimenting with letting people cross-post from Instagram and Facebook to Threads, its social networking platform competing …

More: 9to5Mac

Allison Johnson / The Verge:

Google Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL review: excellent build quality, brighter screens, and faster fingerprint sensors, but the AI features are inconsistent — The AI is inconsistent, but the hardware is oh so good. … Google finally got the hardware right.

More: The Verge, 9to5Google, Digital Trends, MobileSyrup, Wired, Marques Brownlee on YouTube, Ars Technica, GSMArena.com, Droid Life, Android Police, Android Authority, Yahoo Finance, T3, Tom's Guide, How-To Geek, Android Authority, TechRadar, Android Authority on YouTube, BGR, MacRumors, PCMag, Trusted Reviews, 9to5Mac, Engadget, Chrome Unboxed, Expert Reviews, Unbox Therapy on YouTube, CNET on YouTube, Multicore, Mrwhosetheboss on YouTube, 91mobiles, IGN, 91mobiles on YouTube, CNET on YouTube, CNN, GSMArena.com, Ars Technica, The Independent, Android Central, Android Central, Gizmodo, The Irish Times, CNET, CNET, Amateur Photographer, Tom's Guide, Tom's Guide, Mashable, London Evening Standard, Irish Independent, Android Police, 9to5Google, SlashGear, SlashGear, ZDNET, and TechRadar

Threads: @chriswelch and @reckless1280. Mastodon: @viticci@mastodon …

X: @anshelsag, @mkbhd, @mkbhd, @mishaalrahman, @mishaalrahman, @mishaalrahman, @mishaalrahman, @mishaalrahman, @mishaalrahman, and @mrwhosetheboss. LinkedIn: Georg Zoeller

Forums: r/Android, r/technology, and r/GooglePixel

Billy Perrigo / TIME:

Letter and sources: nearly 200 workers at Google DeepMind, or ~5% of its overall headcount, signed a letter dated May 16 calling to drop its military contracts — Nearly 200 workers inside Google DeepMind, the company's AI division, signed a letter calling on the tech giant to drop its contracts …

X: @billyperrigo and @verambergen

Wall Street Journal:

Researchers: a network of 200+ Russia-linked X accounts shows how Russian trolls are trying to go viral, including low-quality, high-volume replies to Elon Musk — Kremlin-backed influence network has sought engagement with Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr. and other influential accounts

X: @dnvolz and @mathewjschwartz

James Mayger / Bloomberg:

Chinese government data: Chinese companies imported $25.9B of chip machinery from January to July 2024, vs. $23.8B in 2021, $21.6B in 2022, and $18B in 2023 — - China has been stockpiling ASML systems and foreign machinery — US and allies have been limiting China's access to their tech

More: Tom's Hardware and Huawei Central

Akash Sriram / Reuters:

The US NHTSA closes a preliminary probe into Cruise's hard-braking and immobilization issues in 1,194 autonomous ride-hailing cars, after Cruise made updates — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was closing its preliminary investigation into the hard braking …

More: Ars Technica, Silicon Republic, TechCrunch, The Verge, Self Drive News, Reuters, and Benzinga

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Sources: Apple App Store VP Matt Fischer is leaving in October; the App Store group will split into two teams: for its own store and for alt app distribution — - Longtime App Store vice president Fischer to exit in October — Company makes changes in response to regulatory environment

More: Computerworld, MacRumors, Trusted Reviews, iMore, Neowin, iDownloadBlog.com, Game World Observer, PocketGamer.biz, Cult of Mac, The Hindu, The Information, Benzinga, iClarified, Mobilegamer.biz, NewsBytes, PYMNTS.com, siliconflorist.com, The Verge, 9to5Mac, and AppleInsider

Mastodon: @lapcatsoftware@mastodon … and @stroughtonsmith …

X: @counternotions, @gartenberg, @snazzylabs, and @markgurman. LinkedIn: Matt Fischer

Forums: r/apple, Slashdot, and MacRumors Forums

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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.

From Mediagazer

Selome Hailu / Variety:

Nielsen: the Harris-Trump debate drew ~67.14M US viewers across multiple networks, almost 16M more viewers than the final Biden-Trump debate in June

Sophie Culpepper / Nieman Lab:

California's Google deal to fund journalism might leave out startups and outlets with annual revenue under $100K/year, but finalizing details could take months

Tom Davidson / London Evening Standard:

UK counter-terror police are involved in the investigation of the sudden death of 32-year-old journalist David Holmes, host of the Ukraine: The Latest podcast

More News

Gillian Tan / Bloomberg:

Ticketing service TickPick raised $250M from Brighton Park, which now has a majority stake, and Symphony; the app has 2M MAUs and processes nearly $1B annually

More: Front Office Sports. LinkedIn: Christopher O'Brien

CNBC:

Chinese self-driving startup WeRide delays its planned IPO in the US, citing its need for more time to complete documents, after filing for an IPO in July 2024

More: Bloomberg, TechCrunch, Axios, Cautious Optimism, South China Morning Post, and Benzinga

Reuters:

Interviews with dozens of Byju's staff and other sources show a growing sense of desperation, as its insolvency proceeds; some staff weigh their legal options

More: Livemint, The Economic Times, Moneycontrol, and Tech Startups

X: @ashwinm_, @munsifv, @ashwinm_, @dhanyatweets, @ashwinm_, and @ashwinm_

Camilla Hodgson / Financial Times:

Microsoft, Amazon, and others plan to turn old power stations and industrial sites into data centers, as land and power in many markets are heavily constrained

More: The Information and Ars Technica

Bloomberg:

Walmart's China business is booming, driven by its Sam's Club memberships; Walmart says e-commerce orders delivered within one hour rose 28% to 59M last quarter

More: Reuters, Tech Startups, TechNode, The Register, and New York Times

Reuters:

Baidu reports Q2 revenue flat YoY to ~$4.67B, vs. ~$4.7B est., net income down 8% YoY to ~$1B, vs. ~$900M est., online marketing revenue down 2% YoY to ~$2.7B

More: South China Morning Post, Investor's Business Daily, Benzinga, Baidu Inc, Bloomberg, and Tech Xplore

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:

A look at the interoperability challenges to the adoption of the C2PA's authentication and attribution standard, including few cameras supporting C2PA metadata

X: @slyon66 and @truepic

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Zomato acquires Paytm's entertainment ticketing business for $244.1M; the division contributed ~9% to Paytm's overall revenue in Q1 2024 and 4% in FY 2024

More: MEDIANAMA, Moneycontrol, Inc42 Media, The Economic Times, Business Today, Reuters, PYMNTS.com, and Bloomberg

Earlier Picks

Shirin Ghaffary / Bloomberg:

In a letter to Senator Scott Wiener, OpenAI says California's AI safety bill would hurt innovation and that AI safety regulation should be on the federal level

Zaheer Kachwala / Reuters:

Snowflake reports Q2 revenue up 29% YoY to $868.8M and raises its FY 2025 product revenue forecast, but not its margin forecast; SNOW drops 7%+

More: Proactive, Snowflake, The Stack, SiliconANGLE, MarketWatch, Reuters, Benzinga, Investor's Business Daily, Bloomberg, Constellation Research, and Barron's Online

Politico:

Google and California strike a deal to jointly contribute $125M+ over five years to support local news; the deal also includes support for an AI project

More: Silicon Republic, The Verge, CA State Assembly Democratic Caucus, Whither news?, Editor and Publisher, UPI, Media Nation, The Information, Benzinga, MediaPost, Free Press, Associated Press, New York Times, Hindustan Times, SiliconANGLE, CalMatters, CNN, The Gateway Pundit, KQED, East Bay Times, Los Angeles Times, Engadget, Pluribus News, NewsBytes, and Bloomberg Law

Threads: @mac_ryan_ and @bobbyallyn

X: @jeremybwhite, @jeremybwhite, @jeremybwhite, @mattdpearce, @zavalaa, @jeremybwhite, @jeffjarvis, and @jeffjarvis. LinkedIn: Sarah Kay Wiley

Forums: r/neoliberal and Slashdot