Techmeme
February 4, 2023, 3:10 PM

Top News

Reed Albergotti / Semafor:
A viral tweet alleges bias as ChatGPT refuses to write a poem about positive attributes of Trump but writes one about Biden; sources: OpenAI doesn't know why  —  Even ChatGPT's creators can't figure out why it won't answer certain questions — including queries about former U.S. President Donald Trump …
Bloomberg:
The LockBit ransomware gang claims ION Trading UK paid a ransom after the group's cyberattack on the software firm upended derivatives trading around the world  —  The hacking group behind the attack on ION Trading UK — the software firm that was struck by a cyberattack earlier this week …
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
Background check services TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate confirm a data breach after hackers leak a 2019 database allegedly containing the info of 20M users  —  PeopleConnect, the owners of the TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate background check services, confirmed they suffered a data breach …
Steven Levy / Wired:
A look at T2, a Twitter alternative founded by a former employee of Google's Area 120 to offer a “2007 Twitter” vibe that Musk's platform no longer supplies  —  Cofounder Gabor Cselle says his upstart social network can offer a “2007 Twitter” community vibe that Elon Musk's platform no longer supplies.
Ryan Gallagher / Bloomberg:
Interviews detail the Conti ransomware group's 2021 attack on Ireland's public health system; Conti seemingly called off the hack without receiving a ransom  —  At first the attack on Ireland's public-health system fell into a depressingly familiar pattern.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: the US is weighing sanctions on Tiandy, Uniview, and other Chinese surveillance tech makers over sales to Iran in 2022 as protests swept the country  —  Beijing's exports of video recorders to Iran more than doubled in 2022 as protests swept the country
Nilesh Christopher / Rest of World:
Flipkart-owned Indian fashion retailer Myntra is penalizing users who return items too often; studies: 25% to 40% of clothes sold online in India are returned  —  Across India, e-commerce giants like Myntra and Flipkart are canceling free returns to boost profits.  —  • BENGALURU, INDIA
Kelsey Weekman / BuzzFeed News:
After YouTuber MrBeast made a video about paying for 1,000 blind people's eye surgery, critics raise questions about “stunt philanthropy” and “charity porn”  —  Is it stunt philanthropy or self-funded charity in the YouTube age?  —  A YouTuber just helped treat 1,000 people with blindness and low vision.
New York Times:
Alphabet, Amazon, and other tech firms begin 2023 by championing austerity after facing the worst year on Wall Street in 2022 since the 2008 financial crisis  —  After years of expansion and billions in profits, Big Tech is pulling back from its famously lavish spending as a long boom finally ends.
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Utah lawmakers are fast tracking two bills that would require social media companies to age verify users, grant parents access to their kids' accounts, and more  —  The evidence-free moral panic over social media keeps getting stupider, and when things get particularly stupid about the internet …
BuzzFeed News:
Twitter ending free API access could have the unfortunate side effect of killing many useful bots, like @MakeItAQuote, @BigTechAlert, @_weather_bot_, and more  —  “I'm not paying a dime to Elon lol.”  —  Pranav Dixit  —  One of the most popular bots on Twitter is @MakeItAQuote, which has more than 565,000 followers.
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
SubQ Snap 1.1: the first long-context decision model for real enterprise work  —  Tied for #1 on the AA Decision Index, Snap is a multimodal model with a 384k-token context window for fast reasoning and agentic decisions.
Zoho:
Introducing Zoho TouchPoint: Every handshake deserves a next step  —  Here's a scene you've probably experienced.  You spend a day at an event, talk to dozens of people, and come home with a stack of business cards.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
WebBrain:
WebBrain: an open-source AI agent for your browser  —  Read pages, fill forms and automate tasks in Chrome or Firefox.  Use local models or your preferred AI provider.  Get started free.

Featured Podcasts

Machine Gods:
The 10 Biggest Losers from Jensen Huang's Fall + The METR Report That Scared Us
The official podcast of the singularity, from Casey Newton and Kevin Roose. Twice-weekly news, analysis, and interviews with the people who are building the future.
Subscribe to Machine Gods.
The Upstarts Podcast:
The $1.4B Startup Deciding What You See When You Shop Online | Sequen's Zoë Weil
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Great Chat:
Too soon to call it a vibe shift?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Big Technology Podcast:
Storm Clouds Ahead For Apple?, Debating Amazon's Bee Frontier, AI as UI
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Encore: Chuck Klosterman on Why Football Owns TV (and Why It Won't Forever)
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Invest Like the Best:
Zach Reitano - Building Ro and Why Healthcare Should Be 50% of GDP
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:10 PM ET, February 4, 2023.

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.

More News

Diane Bartz / Reuters:
CNBC:

Earlier Picks

Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
Kevin Roose / New York Times:
Rohan Goswami / CNBC:
Amitoj Singh / CoinDesk: