Techmeme: Instagram food photography is becoming more realistic, driven by generational changes, more diverse food creators, and a frustration with the curation culture (Bettina Makalintal/Eater)

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October 2, 2022, 11:50 PM

Top News

Kadhim Shubber / Financial Times:

Sources: Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky withdrew $10M from the crypto lender weeks before the company froze user accounts; a source says ~$8M was used for taxes — Scrutiny of Alex Mashinsky grows after crypto lender was left with hole in balance sheet — Celsius Network founder Alex …

More: PYMNTS.com, Mashable, CoinDesk, Cointelegraph, The Block, and Coinpedia Fintech News

Tweets: @kadhim, @iankar_, @caseynewton, @goldman, @ben_mckenzie, and @quintenfrancois

Morgan Meaker / Wired:

A look at the fake online traffic business, as some ad exchanges look the other way and advertisers are embarrassed to admit they purchased fraudulent inventory — Botmasters have created a Kafkaesque system where companies are paying huge sums to show their ads to bots. And everyone is fine with this.

More: Pixel Envy. Tweets: @epro, @rralstonagile, @smashdawg, and @chronotope

Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post:

From shutting down services only in Texas to letting users opt out of hateful content, tech companies are gaming out responses to the state's social media law — Experts said the measure, which bars companies from moderating content, could prove challenging for platforms to deal with

Tweets: @ctblogger, @edbott, @washingtonpost, and @dsilverman

Nate Hopper / New Yorker:

A profile of David Mills, who created the Network Time Protocol in the 1980s, as about two dozen Internet Engineering Task Force contributors work toward NTPv5 — An obscure software system synchronizes the network's clocks. Who will keep it running? — In 1977, David Mills …

Tweets: @hkanji, @dsilverman, @yminsky, @hannahseidlitz, @rlove, @nicolasnova, and @uhoelzle

Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:

Symantec details an ongoing campaign by the Witchetty hacking group, potentially tied to a China-backed threat actor, that hides malware in a Windows logo image — Security researchers have discovered a malicious campaign by the ‘Witchetty’ hacking group, which uses steganography to hide a backdoor malware in a Windows logo.

More: Threat Intelligence | Broadcom Software Blogs, The Register, SentinelOne, HackRead, Security Affairs, and TechRadar

Tweets: @threatintel and @campuscodi

Bettina Makalintal / Eater:

Instagram food photography is becoming more realistic, driven by generational changes, more diverse food creators, and a frustration with the curation culture — The food blogger aesthetic has given way to something more realistic and DIY: Laissez-faire Instagram food is here

Tweets: @tejalrao, @walldo, @sesmith, @natathescribe, @hariharanannie, @nicolaharvey, @bettyannquirino, @dannygroner, @mattnavarra, @atheartpanadera, @dcatheyphoto, @iiiitsandrea, @aliciakennedy, @kchysmith, @bettinamak, @itshiraqureshi, and @eater

Grace Browne / Wired:

A look at the AI chatbots designed to improve mental health, like Wysa and Woebot, which have millions of users despite scant research to support their efficacy — With human therapists in short supply, AI chatbots are trying to plug the gap—but it's not clear how well they work. — Bots Run the Internet

The Citizen Lab:

New Pegasus attacks on Mexican activists and reporters from 2019-2021 found using 0-click exploits, after the new president called Pegasus a thing of the past — Key Takeaways — Mexican digital rights organization R3D (Red en los Defensa de los Derechos Digitales) …

Tweets: @jsrailton, @diazbriseno, and @jsrailton

Amy Forliti / Associated Press:

JD.com founder Richard Liu settled a US lawsuit filed by a former University of Minnesota student who alleged he raped her in 2018; the amount was not disclosed — Chinese billionaire and JD.com founder Richard Liu agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by a former University of Minnesota student …

More: Reuters, South China Morning Post, Pandaily, Associated Press, Forbes, and Fortune

Zecharias Zelalem / Context:

The UN World Food Programme and the WHO say a nearly two-year internet and phone shutdown in Ethiopia's Tigray is hampering aid delivery and health monitoring — As fighting rages on in Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray region, one of the world's longest telecommunications shutdowns is hampering aid deliveries …

More: Slashdot. Tweets: @tigraykwgeheu, @welaygreziher, @timnitgebru, @realhaulegluck, @ashoswai, @addisstandard, @contextnewsroom, and @contextnewsroom

Jeanny Yu / Bloomberg:

Tencent is no longer China's most valuable company after its shares fell 64% since January 2021, wiping $623B in market cap, more than any other firm globally — Tencent Holdings Ltd. has lost its title as China's biggest company to liquor giant Kweichow Moutai Co., the latest sign …

Tweets: @doomlaser, @jojjeols, and @chinabeigebook

Reuters:

Sources: Tencent is resetting its M&A strategy, seeking to own majority, or even controlling, stakes in overseas targets, mainly in European gaming companies — Tencent is resetting its M&A strategy to put more focus on buying majority stakes mainly in overseas gaming companies …

More: Eurogamer.net, IGN, Video Games Chronicle, TheGamer, Wccftech, and Dot Esports. Tweets: @therealjoshye

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:50 PM ET, October 2, 2022.

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

Washington Post:

Internal email: 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi told staffers Bari Weiss pulled the CECOT segment after the Trump administration refused an interview

Ali Watkins / New York Times:

Channel 4 says Jimmy Kimmel will share a message on Christmas Day as part of its Alternative Christmas Message show, emphasizing the importance of free speech

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:

Source: Threads plans to add podcast previews to let snippets of shows play directly in user feeds; it is focusing on live events, seeking to attract podcasters

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More News

Anton Wilen / Bloomberg:

SoftBank, which bought a 10.1% stake in Twilio competitor Sinch in November 2020, sells its remaining 5% stake; Sinch's stock is down 93% since September 2021

More: GlobeNewswire News Room and Reuters

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Bengaluru-based Juno, which works with US payroll services to offer checking accounts that give users their paychecks in digital tokens, raised an $18M Series A

More: Juno, The Block, Bitcoin News, The Economic Times, and CoinDesk

Ryan Gajewski / The Hollywood Reporter:

Bruce Willis refutes a report that he sold his digital likeness rights to Deepcake, which confirms and says the company created his “digital twin” for 2021 ads

More: BBC, Global Community Weekly, Dan's Fantasyland, Mashable, The A.V. Club, BGR, Engadget, Ars Technica, Metro.co.uk, Burnley Express, and GameSpot

Tweets: @brianroemmele, @bonniemcfarlane, @jscotttn, @mistertodd, @tprstly, and @nick_beaton

Earlier Picks

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:

As car makers cede control of their auto-operating systems to Apple and Google, the limited choice in the duopoly of smartphone OSes may soon extend to cars

More: Philip Elmer‑DeWitt. Tweets: @plowair, @mims, @kentindell, @kentindell, @kentindell, @kentindell, @mims, @mattk, @dagnum_pi, @polemictmm, @mims, @dsilverman, @mims, @kk_levine, and @mims

William Gallagher / AppleInsider:

Local media: South Korea's Fair Trade Commission raided Apple's Seoul offices over allegations the App Store is charging 33% IAP fees rather than the stated 30%

More: FOSS Patents, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, iPhone in Canada Blog, Gizmodo, and BGR

Tweets: @benlovejoy, @bruceqburke, and @fosspatents

Ellen Barry / New York Times:

A research project is trying to stop suicides by using AI to analyze at-risk people's smartphone and Fitbit wearable data and identify periods of high danger

Tweets: @keypousttchi, @wolfiechristl, @avibarzeev, @_eric_reinhart, @hypervisible, and @timinhonolulu

Andy Baio / Waxy.org:

Tech companies working with AI are shielding themselves from accountability by outsourcing data collection and model training to academic and nonprofit groups

More: Hindustan Times, GOOD INTERNET, The Register, MarkTechPost, and Science Business Today

Tweets: @joellimberg, @michaelgmadden, @waxpancake, @michaelzimmer, @flyingtrilobite, and @waxpancake

Abner Li / 9to5Google:

Meta says Facebook for Android will soon use its own Chromium-based in-app browser engine, citing security and stability as reasons for its WebView alternative

More: SamMobile, Engadget, BigTechWire, Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Engineering at Meta

Tweets: @slightlylate, @slightlylate, @tomayac, @patmeenan, @darinwf, @slightlylate, @firt, @firt, @_alastair, @adriandreionut, @zachleat, @patmeenan, @developsean, @tomayac, @dan_jenkins, @mohsen____, @slightlylate, @darinwf, and @zachleat