Techmeme
October 8, 2023, 2:15 PM

Top News

Lily Hay Newman / Wired:
Hackers posted an initial data sample from 23andMe on BreachForums earlier in the week, claiming that it had 1M data points exclusively about Ashkenazi Jews  —  At least a million data points from 23andMe accounts appear to have been exposed on BreachForums.
Anthropic:
A research paper details how decomposing groups of neurons in a neural network into interpretable “features” may improve safety by enabling monitoring of LLMs  —  Neural networks are trained on data, not programmed to follow rules.  With each step of training …
Emma Fletcher / Federal Trade Commission:
One in four people in the US who reported losing money to fraud between January 2021-June 2023 said it started on social media, resulting in losses worth $2.7B  —  Scammers are hiding in plain sight on social media platforms and reports to the FTC's Consumer Sentinel Network point to huge profits.
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
IDC says Google shipped 37.9M Pixel phones between 2016 and 2023, suggesting the company shipped a record ~10M phones over the last 12 months  —  Google Pixel is still a minor player in the global smartphone market, but the brand continues to move along.  As the Pixel 8 series launched this week …
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Even though the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro have the same Tensor G3 chip, features like Night Sight Video and enhanced Magic Eraser are exclusive to the Pixel 8 Pro  —  I can't believe Google finally did it.  I'm still in disbelief. … It's unheard of.  It's historic.
Andy Patrizio / Ars Technica:
A history of Digital Equipment Corporation, which pioneered minicomputers after being founded in 1957 and was acquired by Compaq in 1998  —  One of the early pioneers in computing, the company disappeared in the late 1990s.  —  Even though very few of the early players in technology still exist, we use their creations to this day.
Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post:
Amazon's Alexa has been claiming that the 2020 election was stolen citing sources from Rumble and Substack; Amazon says the errors were fixed  —  The popular voice assistant says the 2020 race was stolen, even as parent company Amazon promotes the tool as a reliable election news source — foreshadowing a new information battleground
Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios:
Y Combinator hires Yelp public policy chief Luther Lowe, best known for publicly criticizing Google, to lead public policy, as the accelerator embraces politics  —  Best known for his relentless public criticism of Google as a monopoly, longtime Yelp public policy chief Luther Lowe has a new gig …
Reuters:
The US adds 42 companies from China and seven from Finland, Germany, India, Turkey, the UAE, and the UK to an export control list over supporting Russia's army  —  The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday added 42 Chinese companies to a government export control list over their support …

Sponsor Posts

Clay:
Turn any GTM idea into reality  —  Clay helps GTM teams combine AI agents, enrichment, and intent data to move faster and turn insights into action.
Soxton:
AI-powered 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!
Zoho:
Event-driven document automation using webhooks in Zoho Writer  —  Instantly generate and send documents based on triggers from any form builder, business app, or automation workflow.We are excited …
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

Channels with Peter Kafka:
How Odd Lots' Joe Weisenthal Turned Curiosity Into a Career, and a Hit Podcast
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.
Access:
OpenAI's Fidji Simo on why ads are coming to ChatGPT
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Invest Like the Best:
Alex Behring and Daniel Schwartz - Inside 3G Capital
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Grit:
The Truth Behind Automation Claims in Customer Support | Cresta CEO Ping Wu
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
The rise of the professional vibe coder (a new AI-era job) | Lazar Jovanovic (Professional Vibe Coder)
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.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Special Edition: Key findings from the Microsoft AI Diffusion Report
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 2:15 PM ET, October 8, 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

Wall Street Journal:
Reuters:

Earlier Picks

Paresh Dave / Wired:
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Andrew Hayward / Decrypt: