Techmeme
February 17, 2023, 1:10 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
The SEC sues Terraform Labs and Do Kwon, accusing them of selling unregistered securities and perpetrating a fraudulent scheme that lost $40B+ in market value  —  The US Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing to sue the company behind TerraUSD, a crypto stablecoin whose collapse …
Suvashree Ghosh / Bloomberg:
The SEC says Do Kwon and Terraform Labs have withdrawn $100M+ in fiat currency from a Swiss bank since June 2022, after moving 10K+ Bitcoin out of a cold wallet  —  Crypto fugitive Do Kwon and the firm he founded transferred over 10,000 Bitcoin out of their doomed project and turned …
New York Times:
Microsoft says it is looking at limiting Bing chatbot conversation length and adding tools to let users restart conversations or get more control over tone  —  The company knew the new technology had issues like occasional accuracy problems.  But users have prodded surprising and unnerving interactions.
Sheila Dang / Reuters:
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Meta gave ~10% of staff subpar ratings in recent performance reviews, a sign of more workforce reductions, and cut a bonus metric to 85% of its target  —  The performance-review process is expected to set the stage for more workforce reductions this year  —  Why Tech Layoffs Don't Reflect the Job Market
Yueqi Yang / Bloomberg:
Source: Binance is considering de-listing USDC and other tokens and ending relationships with US partners, including VC investments, amid regulatory scrutiny  —  Crypto giant Binance Holdings Ltd. is considering ending relationships with US business partners as regulators turn up the heat.
Reuters:
Josh Ye / Reuters:
Sources: Tencent cuts its 300-strong metaverse unit and drops VR hardware plans due to trouble achieving quick profitability and the need for a big investment  —  Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) is abandoning plans to venture into virtual reality hardware, as a sobering economic outlook prompts …
Clothilde Goujard / Politico:
Under the Digital Services Act, online platforms disclose their MAUs in the EU: YouTube has 401M+, Facebook ~255M, Instagram ~250M, TikTok 150M, Twitter 100.9M  —  TikTok, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have now confirmed they will face the strictest rules under the EU's content-moderation law, the Digital Services Act (DSA).
OpenAI:
OpenAI aims to improve ChatGPT's behavior by reducing biases, allowing more user customization, and getting more public input into the company's decision-making  —  We're clarifying how ChatGPT's behavior is shaped and our plans for improving that behavior, allowing more user customization …
Kris Holt / Engadget:
Samsung says the Message Guard feature in Galaxy S23 series will prevent zero-click exploits via messaging apps by detecting malware hidden in image attachments  —  Zero-click attacks, which can install malware onto a device without the user clicking or tapping on anything, have been on the rise in recent years.
Victoria Song / The Verge:
Fitbit plans to remove adventures, challenges, and open groups on March 27 and replace Studio with an SDK; Google says the app's features were of “limited use”  —  Fitbit users: better one-up your friends in challenges while you still can.  Starting March 27th …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Apple's iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4 betas add support for Safari web apps on the homescreen to send push notifications and show notification badges  —  Apple's new iOS and iPadOS 16.4 betas will let Safari web apps on your homescreen send you push notifications, according to a new post on the WebKit blog.
Cristiano Lima / Washington Post:
The FTC launches an Office of Technology, increasing the number of technologists on staff from 10 to ~22 ahead of legal battles with Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta  —  Happy Friday!  A quick programming note: The newsletter will be off Monday for the holiday, but back in your inboxes Tuesday.
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
GoDaddy says it discovered a multi-year security breach in early December 2022 where unknown attackers stole source code and installed malware on its servers  —  Web hosting giant GoDaddy says they suffered a breach where unknown attackers have stolen source code and installed malware …

Sponsor Posts

Soxton:
Fast, affordable law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
Equals:
Stop vibe coding analytics  —  Equals AI turns questions about your business into auditable spreadsheet models and dashboards.  Build once, iterate for years.
Zoho:
Indian businesses, take note: Zoho Sign expands e-Stamping support across India  —  In India, businesses must pay stamp duty on certain agreements and documents to make them legally valid and admissible in court, and as a measure of title security.
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.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's Plan To Merge Chat And Agents — With Greg Brockman
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: Inside Joe Weisenthal's brain
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.
The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'Taking Drugs to Get Fat', With John Moltz
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Invest Like the Best:
Etched - Building AI Hardware to Make Inference Faster and Cheaper
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Trae and Delian from Founders Fund
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:10 PM ET, February 17, 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

Bloomberg:

Earlier Picks

Janko Roettgers / Lowpass:
Jennifer Elias / CNBC:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: