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August 31, 2023, 10:00 AM
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Samuel Stolton / Bloomberg:
Microsoft plans to unbundle Teams from Microsoft 365 and Office 365 across Europe from October 1, instead offering Teams to enterprise for €24 per year  —  - Company offers to unbundle Teams from other business software  — EU investigating if Microsoft's bundling broke antitrust law
Aisha Counts / Bloomberg:
X updates its privacy policy to include new biometric data, which the company plans to collect for safety and security, along with data on jobs and education  —  - In policy shift, X will use the data for safety, security  — Employment, education history will be used to recommend jobs
Charlotte Hughes-Morgan / Bloomberg:
Elon Musk says X users will be able to make video and audio calls without a phone number, but offers no timeframe, as X “is the effective global address book”  —  Users of X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, will be able to make video and audio calls through …
Morgan Park / PC Gamer:
Activision partners with Modulate to begin testing ToxMod, an AI-based voice moderation tool for Modern Warfare 2 and other games, in North America  —  There's a new AI-powered sheriff in town, and its name is ToxMod.  —  Call of Duty is joining the growing number of online games combatting toxicity …
Jamie Crawley / CoinDesk:
Binance plans to “gradually” end support for its BUSD stablecoin by February 2024, citing Paxos ceasing to mint new BUSD after an NYDFS order in February 2023  —  The move follows Paxos' decision to halt minting of new BUSD.  —  Cryptocurrency exchange Binance said it will …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google launches its Search Generative Experience in India and Japan via Search Labs opt-in, following the US launch of the AI search feature in May 2023  —  Following the May launch in the US, Google is giving the Search Generative Experience (SGE) an international launch in India and Japan …
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Sony plans to raise PlayStation Plus annual subscription prices on September 6: Essential from $60 to $80, Extra from $100 to $135, Premium from $120 to $160  —  Sony is raising the price of its PlayStation Plus subscription next month.  The service's annual Essential plan will go from $60 to $80 …
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
Microsoft retires Visual Studio for Mac, saying the IDE will get “servicing updates for security issues and updated platforms from Apple” until August 31, 2024  —  Microsoft has announced plans to discontinue Visual Studio for Mac.  The latest version of the company's IDE …
Joseph Cox / 404 Media:
The NYC subway's OMNY contactless payments system has a privacy issue that lets anyone view a rider's seven-day trip history using just credit card details  —  In the mid-afternoon one Saturday earlier this month, the target got on the New York subway.  I knew what station they entered the subway at and at what specific time.
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Meta begins testing full-text search on Threads in Australia and New Zealand and plans a wider rollout to other English-speaking countries in the future  —  Threads launched one of the most anticipated features, a web version of the platform, last week.  Now, Meta is testing another highly …
More: Engadget and Search Engine Land.  Threads: @zuck
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
The FCC rejects ISPs' requests to eliminate an upcoming requirement that they list all their monthly fees, saying “every consumer needs transparent information”  —  Comcast and other ISPs asked FCC to ditch listing-every-fee rule.  FCC says “no.”
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Sources: Apple plans to eliminate social media support adviser roles across X, YouTube, and the Apple Support Community website starting later in 2023  —  Apple is planning to eliminate social media support advisor roles across Twitter, YouTube, and the Apple Support Community website starting later …
Ben Strack / Blockworks:
Robinhood Wallet adds support for bitcoin and dogecoin six months after public launch, and is rolling out in-app ethereum swaps to all users in the coming weeks  —  Six months after its public launch, the self-custody offering has begun enabling in-app swaps on the Ethereum network
Wired:
A monthslong investigation exposes the secrets of Russian ransomware gang Trickbot, which thrived despite global disruption efforts, and a key member's identity  —  A WIRED investigation into a cache of documents posted by an unknown figure lays bare the Trickbot ransomware gang's secrets, including the identity of a central member.
Bloomberg:
Chinese state media heralds Huawei's new Mate 60 Pro, which apparently includes a Huawei-made Kirin 5G chip, as a repudiation of US efforts to contain China  —  - Patriotic fervor spills over Chinese social media after debut  — Mate 60 Pro release coincided with Gina Raimondo's China visit
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
Meta lets users submit requests to access, alter, or delete some of their third-party information that the company uses for generative AI training  —  - Meta updated its help resource center with a form that gives users some control over what personal data is used to train generative artificial intelligence models.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing 3D printing the stainless steel Apple Watch Series 9's chassis to speed up production, boost sustainability, and lower costs over time  —  - New approach will use less material and be more eco-friendly  — Company is trying out the process with steel Apple Watches
Emilia David / The Verge:
The US Copyright Office seeks public input on AI and copyright issues, including the use of copyrighted works to train AI; written comments are due October 18  —  The US Copyright Office is opening a public comment period around AI and copyright issues beginning August 30th as the agency figures out how to approach the subject.
Josh Taylor / The Guardian:
Australia abandons its plans to mandate age verification tech for porn sites, citing privacy and security concerns, and will instead focus on educating parents  —  The eSafety commissioner is to work with industry on a new code to educate parents about how to access filtering software and limit children's access
Matt Burgess / Wired:
A look at cybercrime writing contests, which Russian-language cybercrime forums have hosted for over a decade, that offer the winners up to $80K in prize money  —  The competitions, which are held on Russian-language cybercrime forums, offer prize money of up to $80,000 for the winners.
Ashley Belanger / Ars Technica:
OpenAI files a motion to dismiss two similar lawsuits from book authors alleging copyright infringement, saying the authors “misconceive the scope of copyright”  —  Authors claim generative AI is just a “grift” that repackages original works.  —  This week, OpenAI finally responded …

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 10:00 AM ET, August 31, 2023.

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From Mediagazer

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Arkansas PBS severs ties with the PBS network, the first state public TV system to do so since Congress cut CPB funds, citing the annual $2M+ membership cost

Financial Times:
OpenAI hopes the Disney deal boosts Sora, which has high costs and limited traction; Sensor Tower: users average 13 minutes per day on Sora vs. 90 on TikTok

Sam Roberts / New York Times:
Arthur L. Carter, who started a Connecticut newspaper in 1981, bought and sold The Nation, and founded the New York Observer in 1987, has died at 93

More News

James Hunt / The Block:
A US judge dismisses a lawsuit against Uniswap, founder Hayden Adams, a16z, and others over scam token sales as software cannot be held accountable for losses
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge:
Philips Hue launches Secure, a DIY security system with E2EE, starting at $200 for a wired indoor/outdoor camera, and plans to add Matter support in September
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Sea-owned Garena plans to relaunch its popular mobile game Free Fire in India on September 5, around 18 months after the app was banned over security concerns

Earlier Picks

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Amazon announces the Buy with Prime app for Shopify, which will let US-based Shopify merchants natively integrate Amazon's program into their Shopify stores
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Tel Aviv-based AI21 Labs, which develops generative AI tools for text use cases, raised a $155M Series C at a $1.4B valuation, taking its total funding to $283M
Jon Gambrell / Associated Press:
A Saudi court sentences a man to death over his X posts and YouTube activity, part of a growing dissent crackdown; his brother is a well-known government critic
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Instagram is internally testing letting users create Reels up to 10 minutes long, after TikTok increased its maximum video length to 10 minutes in February 2022
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft plans to address a Windows 11 “unintended behavior” that for months has caused malware-like notification pop-ups promoting Bing search to Chrome users
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