Techmeme
October 4, 2023, 12:30 PM

Top News

Allison Johnson / The Verge:
Google announces Pixel 8 Pro with a 6.7-inch LTPO display, a 50MP main camera sensor and 48MP ultrawide and telephoto sensors, and more, starting at $999  —  Thanks to a flood of leaks, you've probably seen its updated camera bar, read all about the new AI photo features …
Stephen Shankland / CNET:
A deep dive on the Pixel 8 lineup's camera improvements, like Video Boost that uses AI processing in Google's datacenters to dramatically improve image quality  —  With its Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro smartphones, Google is bringing its big guns to the battle for smartphone photo and video leadership.
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Google promises seven years of OS and security updates for Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, up from five years of security updates and three years of OS updates previously  —  The Google Pixel 8 and 8 Pro will be supported with seven years of “OS, security, and Feature Drop updates,” …
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Made by Google on YouTube:
A recording of Made by Google 2023 event, where the company announced the Pixel 8, the Pixel 8 Pro, the Pixel Watch 2, and more  —  Watch the #MadeByGoogle '23 event and get to know the new #Pixel8, #Pixel8 Pro, and #PixelWatch 2.  Our phone, earbuds and watch all come together in a portfolio …
Florence Ion / Gizmodo:
Pixel 8 and 8 Pro hands-on: an iterative update focused on camera and AI improvements, new Bay blue color is stunning, and Pro's temperature sensor is confusing  —  Once again, Google hinges all its bets on camera performance and AI over any significant hardware improvements.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google announces Assistant with Bard, adding generative AI capabilities to its mobile assistant, including planning trips and writing social media captions  —  Google Assistant is getting an AI-powered update.  At today's Made by Google live event, the company introduced Assistant with Bard …
Daniel Cooper / Engadget:
Google announces Pixel Watch 2 with a fast-charging battery that lasts 24 hours, a quad core chip, improved heart rate sensor, IP68, and more, starting at $349  —  It's a much-needed polish.  —  Google's Pixel Watch had years of development time, but still managed to stumble rather than sprint out of the gate.
Billy Steele / Engadget:
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Wes Davis / The Verge:
Google rolls out Android 14 with customizable lock screens, expanded passkey support, on-device health features, and more, starting with Pixel phones  —  Google has released Android 14, the latest version of the Android operating system.  It's available today on Pixel phones (4A 5G and up) …
James Batchelor / GamesIndustry.biz:
French police arrest five ex-Ubisoft execs, including a chief creative officer and VP of editorial and creative services, after a year-long sexual assault probe  —  Serge Hascoët and Tommy François among those in custody  —  News by James Batchelor Editor-in-chief
The Information:
Sources: Anthropic is in talks to raise $2B+ from Google and others, at a $20B to $30B valuation, and projects generating $200M in revenue by the end of 2023  —  Anthropic, one of the main rivals of OpenAI, is in talks with investors to raise at least $2 billion in new funding …
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
A federal judge rejects the SEC's bid to appeal its July loss against Ripple, but SEC can still try to appeal after other issues are resolved in a 2024 trial  —  XRP rallied about 5% following the decision.  —  Register Now  —  A federal judge has rejected the U.S. Securities …
Jesse Hamilton / CoinDesk:
Ripple's Singapore arm secures a license as a major payment institution from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, after an in-principle approval in June 2023  —  After a June in-principle approval, a subsidiary for Ripple has been granted its license by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott on Bing's rivalry with Google, the race to acquire and develop high-end GPUs, open-source AI models, AI and art, and more  —  Microsoft's Kevin Scott sat down with us at Code to talk about Bing's competition with Google, the race to acquire and develop high-end GPUs …
János Allenbach-Ammann / Euractiv:
The European Commission starts collective risk assessments on advanced chips, AI, quantum, and biotech, the most sensitive areas for security and tech leakage  —  Content-Type:  —  News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Steve Dent / Engadget:
David Pierce / The Verge:
The Browser Company updates Arc with GPT 3.5 and Anthropic features: Ask ChatGPT, Tidy Tab Titles, Tidy Downloads, Five-Second Previews, and Ask on Page  —  At some point, if you're a company doing pretty much anything in the year 2023, you have to have an AI strategy.  It's just business.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils new OneDrive features, like Copilot integration coming in December, a Fluent design refresh for its web app, better offline support, and more  —  Microsoft is announcing the third generation of its OneDrive cloud storage today, complete with the company's AI-powered Copilot system …
Sam Schechner / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: in September, Meta pitched EU regulators a plan to charge Facebook and Instagram users a subscription to avoid ads, starting at ~€10/month for desktop  —  European users would have option to pay fee or agree to personalized ads, according to company's pitch to regulators
New York Times:
Spotify starts offering Premium subscribers 15 hours of audiobook streaming per month across 150K+ titles, first in the UK and Australia, and the US this winter  —  A year after adding à la carte sales of audiobooks, Spotify is offering paying subscribers 15 hours of books a month.

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More News

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Earlier Picks

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Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
Wall Street Journal: