Techmeme
September 20, 2023, 2:05 PM

Top News

The Verge:
Everything Amazon announced at its product event: Alexa Emergency Assist for $6/month, the Alexa Eye Gaze accessibility feature, the $50 Echo Pop Kids, and more  —  Amazon is kicking off its annual fall product announcements at its HQ2 campus in Arlington, Virginia.
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Amazon refreshes its Alexa-powered Echo Frames glasses: enhanced speech processing, better noise isolation, 15% thinner, and a six-hour battery life for $270  —  Amazon today unveiled a new generation of Echo Frames, its Alexa-powered glasses, with enhanced speech processing, better noise isolation and a $269.99 price tag.
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Amazon unveils new generative AI features aimed at making Alexa more conversational and personalized, available as a free preview on all Echo devices in the US  —  During a press event this morning at its HQ2 headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, Amazon announced that it'll soon use …
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Amazon refreshes its $150 Echo Show 8 with a new design, a centered camera, a smart home hub, Spatial Audio, and a home screen that changes based on proximity  —  Amazon kicked off today's Fall Devices Event with an update to its Echo Show 8.  The small smart screen features smart home hub functionality and improved audio quality.
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
BBC:
After Meta criticized the UK's potential E2EE rules, the UK says Meta “failed to provide assurances” over keeping its platforms “safe from sickening abusers”  —  Facebook's owner Meta has hit back at a new government campaign strongly critical of its plans to encrypt messages.
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
CNBC:
Sources: as equities soared in 2020, Apple and Goldman were working on an iPhone stock trading feature but shelved the project when markets turned south in 2022  —  - Apple was exploring the launch of an iPhone feature that would let users buy and sell stocks, according to three sources familiar with the plans.
Ina Fried / Axios:
OpenAI debuts DALL-E 3, which can be summoned and controlled using ChatGPT, and plans to make it available to ChatGPT+ and enterprise customers in October  —  OpenAI is offering an early look at DALL-E 3, the next version of its image generation tool.  The update allows DALL-E 3 to be summoned …
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Meta expands its Meta Verified program to businesses on Facebook and Instagram in select markets, for $21.99/month/page for each or $34.99/month/page for both  —  Meta announced today that it is expanding Meta Verified to businesses after first launching it for creators in March.
Financial Times:
Victoria Song / The Verge:
Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 review: Double Tap is great, but Precision Finding requires an iPhone 15, and the Siri and brightness improvements feel minor  —  Iterative updates aren't flashy, but these smartwatches are mainly for folks who don't have Apple Watches yet.
Mariam Sunny / Reuters:
Neuralink is recruiting for the first human trial of its brain implant for paralysis patients, expected to take about six years, likely for fewer than 10 people  —  Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's brain-chip startup Neuralink said on Tuesday it has received approval from an independent review board …
Nikkei Asia:
On WeChat, China's Ministry of State Security says the US, since 2009, has continuously hacked Huawei's servers, stolen critical data, and installed backdoors  —  Beijing says Washington forces tech companies to install backdoors for spying  —  China has accused the U.S. of hacking Huawei's servers continuously since 2009.
Qianer Liu / Financial Times:
Sources: the Kirin 9000S SoC has four CPUs that use Arm designs, the other four use Huawei-modified Arm designs, HiSilicon developed the GPU and NPU, and more  —  Facing US sanctions, Chinese company emulates Apple by using its own designs in chips for Mate 60 Pro
WABetaInfo:
WhatsApp releases a beta for iOS via Apple's TestFlight with a companion mode for iPadOS, built using Mac Catalyst, after years of user requests for an iPad app  —  WhatsApp has just submitted a new update through the TestFlight beta Program, bringing the version up to 23.19.1.71.
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Bard's “Google it” feature adds the ability to “double check” answers by highlighting phrases with “supporting or contradicting information found by Search”  —  Can you stop chatbots from making stuff up using search?  —  Today let's talk about an advance in Bard …
The Verge:
Memo: Phil Spencer tells staff the FTC v. Microsoft documents leak is “disappointing” and that the company failed to live up to its confidentiality expectations  —  / ‘We all put incredible amounts of passion and energy into our work, and this is never how we want that hard work to be shared with the community.’
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
The Linux Foundation launches the Unified Acceleration Foundation to create an open standard for accelerator programming, an evolution of the oneAPI initiative  —  At the Open Source Summit Europe in Bilbao, Spain, the Linux Foundation today announced the launch of the Unified Acceleration (UXL) Foundation.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify's new AI commerce stack  —  Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Zoho:
Zoho People in 2025: A year in review  —  As we wrap up 2025, we're taking a moment to look back on a year filled with progress and transformation at Zoho People.  Our team has been constantly pushing boundaries …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box 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 Potential, Google's Speedy Model, Copilot Hits Turbulence
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.
Hard Fork:
Why Roomba Died + Tech Predictions for 2026 + A Hard Forkin' Xmas Song
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Access:
Betting on reality with Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Lenny's Podcast:
The new AI growth playbook for 2026: How Lovable hit $200M ARR in one year | Elena Verna (Head of Growth)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
"Neither Side Is Used to Losing." Lucas Shaw on What's Next for Netflix and Paramount in the Battle for Warner Bros.
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.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
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 2:05 PM ET, September 20, 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

Earlier Picks

Bloomberg:
Ehren Kret / Signal: