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Techmeme
November 13, 2024, 11:10 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Polymarket says the FBI seized CEO Shayne Coplan's phone and electronics; source: the DOJ is investigating Polymarket for allegedly accepting bets from US users  —  - Polymarket says FBI agents seized CEO's phone, electronics  — Platform has taken recent measures to weed out US traders
Ramish Zafar / Wccftech:
AMD says it will lay off ~4% of its global staff to align “resources with our largest growth opportunities”; SEC filing: AMD had 26,000 employees at 2023's end  —  According to a spokesperson, chip designer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., is laying off a portion of its global workforce.
Bloomberg:
Sources: OpenAI plans to launch a new AI agent codenamed Operator, which can use a computer to take actions on a person's behalf, in January  —  The new software, codenamed “Operator,” is set to be released in January.  —  OpenAI is preparing to launch a new artificial intelligence agent codenamed …
Jody Godoy / Reuters:
A US judge rules that Meta must face trial in a US FTC lawsuit seeking its breakup over claims that it acquired Instagram and WhatsApp to crush its competitors  —  Facebook owner Meta Platforms (META.O) must face trial in a U.S. Federal Trade Commission lawsuit seeking its break up over claims …
The Information:
Sources: Instagram's ad unit plans to launch ads on Threads in early 2025; Meta's public statements imply any ad rollout for Threads next year will be slow  —  Meta Platforms plans to introduce advertisements to its text app, Threads, early next year, hoping to cash in on the app's rapid growth …
Ian King / Bloomberg:
Cisco reports Q1 revenue down 6% YoY to $13.8B, vs. $13.77B estimated, net income down 25% to $2.7B, and forecasts Q2 revenue above estimates  —  - Company has been working to recover from yearlong slump  — Federal government spending is seen as a weak spot for Cisco
Jackie Davalos / Bloomberg:
In a policy blueprint, OpenAI says the US and its neighbors should form a “North American Compact for AI” to compete with China in talent, financing, and more  —  - The startup called for a ‘North American Compact on AI’  — OpenAI said US must backstop, streamline AI infrastructure
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon debuts Amazon Haul, a storefront in its app offering “crazy low prices” on a range of items, with free shipping on $25+ orders, to take on Temu and Shein  —  Amazon has rolled out a new storefront featuring apparel, home goods, electronics and other items priced below $20 …
Bloomberg:
Sources: OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic are seeing diminishing returns from costly efforts to build new AI models; a new Gemini model is missing internal targets  —  Three of the leading artificial intelligence companies are seeing diminishing returns from their costly efforts to develop newer models.
Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Google announces new features for the Fitbit Ace LTE, its smartwatch for kids, including family group chats, messaging for siblings, and a new mini-game  —  Fitbit's Ace LTE, the smartwatch designed for ages 7+, is introducing new features to help families stay connected and get active together.
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
FBI and CISA: Chinese hackers breached multiple US telecom companies, compromising the “private communications” of US officials and stealing customer call data  —  CISA and the FBI confirmed that Chinese hackers compromised the “private communications” of a “limited number” …
Theodore Schleifer / New York Times:
Sources detail Elon Musk's role in Trump's transition: Mar-a-Lago meetings, calls with world leaders, voicing support for Brendan Carr at the FCC, and more  —  He's on the patio.  He's on the golf course.  Everywhere Donald Trump looks, there is the world's richest man.
Dina Bass / Bloomberg:
Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:
Spotify plans to pay incentives to video creators who hit certain viewing thresholds and, in January, to let Premium subscribers view podcast videos without ads  —  Audio-streaming giant plans to pay hosts to make podcast videos and allow premium subscribers to watch them without ads
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google says real-time protections against scam calls and malicious apps are rolling out on Pixel 6 or newer devices and coming soon to more Android phones  —  After demoing at I/O 2024 in May, Google is rolling out real-time Scam Detection for phone calls on Pixel devices.
Charles Daly / Bloomberg:
Klarna files for a US IPO; analysts put Klarna's implied valuation at ~$14.6B in October 2024 after shareholder Chrysalis upped the value of its stake to ~$154M  —  Swedish payments firm Klarna Group Plc has filed for an initial public offering in the US, ending months of speculation …
Jamie Crawley / CoinDesk:
Toronto-based Zero Gravity Labs, which is building a decentralized AI operating system, raised a $40M seed and secured a $250M “token purchase commitment”  —  The seed round included contributions from Hack VC, Delphi Digital, OKX Ventures, Polygon and Animoca Brands
Nicole Hegarty / ABC:
Australia plans to enact laws imposing a “digital duty of care” on big tech, which would make companies liable for citizens' safety online  —  In short:  —  Online platforms would be legally responsible for keeping Australians safe online under new Digital Duty of Care laws.
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
UK consumer rights group Which? launches a legal claim against Apple, seeking £3B in compensation, alleging that Apple locked ~40M UK users into iCloud services  —  U.K. consumer rights group ‘Which?’ is filing a legal claim against Apple under competition law on behalf of some 40 million users …

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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
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