Techmeme
November 15, 2023, 10:00 AM

Top News

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Intel patches a bug affecting virtually all modern Intel CPUs that lets code running inside a VM crash hypervisors, a risk to cloud providers in particular  —  Among other things, bug allows code running inside a VM to crash hypervisors.  —  Intel on Tuesday pushed microcode updates to fix …
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple extends free usage of Emergency SOS on iPhone 14 for two more years, to September 2025; the company has not yet announced how much Emergency SOS will cost  —  Apple today announced it is extending the free usage period for Emergency SOS satellite features for iPhone 14 users.
Nico Grant / New York Times:
Epic v. Google: Sundar Pichai confirms Google paid Apple 36% of the search revenue generated on iPhones, saying the total payment “was well over $10B” in 2022  —  Sundar Pichai, Google's chief executive, testified on Tuesday for the second time in two weeks to defend his company against monopoly claims.
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
US v. Google raises the question of how antitrust law handles a company becoming dominant due to offering a far superior product, especially if the DOJ wins  —  I've noted my skepticism regarding the antitrust attacks on the current Google antitrust trial regarding how it pays to have its search placed …
Kristi Hines / Search Engine Journal:
Sam Altman says OpenAI is pausing new ChatGPT Plus signups “for a bit” as “the surge in usage post devday has exceeded our capacity”  —  OpenAI has paused new ChatGPT Plus signups due to overwhelming demand for new features introduced at recent DevDay conference.
Jonathan Greig / The Record:
The FBI dismantled the IPStorm botnet proxy network and its infrastructure as part of a September plea deal with Sergei Makinin, the hacker behind the operation  —  The FBI dismantled the IPStorm botnet proxy network and its infrastructure this week following a September plea deal with the hacker behind the operation.
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Three young hackers behind Mirai talk about building the DDoS botnet, losing control of their monster, their work for the FBI as part of a plea deal, and more  —  Netflix, Spotify, Twitter, PayPal, Slack.  All down for millions of people.  How a group of teen friends plunged into an underworld …
Nicola Davis / The Guardian:
A study found that AI-generated photos of faces, particularly white faces, were perceived as more real by survey participants than photos of actual people  —  Photographs were seen as less realistic than computer images but there was no difference with pictures of people of colour
Clive Cookson / Financial Times:
Google DeepMind details weather forecasting AI model GraphCast, more accurate than the best conventional systems for three to 10 day predictions, an AI first  —  Google DeepMind's model beat world's leading system in 90% of metrics used and took only a fraction of the time
Chris Velazco / Washington Post:
Nothing plans to roll out an early version of Nothing Chats, a Sunbird-based app that lets Phone (2) users send iMessages to iPhone contacts, on November 17  —  Nothing, Sunbird and other upstarts are taking iMessage where it's never been before  —  Here's a glimmer of hope for anyone …
Olga Kharif / Bloomberg:
Crypto exchange and wallet service Blockchain.com raised a $110M Series E led by Kingsway, a source says at less than half of its $14B valuation in spring 2022  —  - Prior investor Kingsway led the Series E funding round  — Raise leaves valuation at less than half of prior $14 billion
Rest of World:
An in-depth look at how platforms like Shein, Pinduoduo-owned Temu, and TikTok Shop are heralding a new era for Chinese e-commerce by expanding overseas  —  China is no longer just the world's factory; now, it's also the world's mall.  As online shopping slows within China …
Eyal Press / New Yorker:
A look at some wrongful arrests in the US due to bad facial recognition matches, and how “automation bias” could lead police to ignore contradictory evidence  —  Too often, a facial-recognition search represents virtually the entirety of a police investigation.

Sponsor Posts

Airtable:
The central nervous system of your business  —  Used by 80% of Fortune 100 companies, Airtable combines AI with the scale of an infinitely flexible, no-code system.  With all your data in one place, it's like mission control for your company.
Intel:
5G's most deployed platform  —  Powering live networks with built-in Inference across Core and RAN.  That's the power of Intel Inside®
Zoho:
Keep your business moving with delegated signing in Zoho Sign  —  Contracts piling up while you're traveling or stuck in back-to-back meetings?  With Zoho Sign's delegated signing feature, those delays will be a thing of the past.
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:
AI Backlash Intensifies, Nvidia GTC Preview, Meta's Embarrassing Delay
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.
Access:
Meet Starboy, the alien toy that hates being called AI
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Hard Fork:
A.I. Goes to War + Is 'A.I. Brain Fry' Real? + How Grammarly Stole Casey's Identity
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.
Great Chat:
What comes after the Girl Boss?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Lenny's Podcast:
How I built a 1M+ subscriber newsletter and top 10 tech podcast | Lenny Rachitsky
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:
Everybody Goes Home: How technology is helping prevent wildfires from spreading
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 10:00 AM ET, November 15, 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

Anna Wiener / New Yorker:
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

Earlier Picks

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Joseph Menn / Washington Post:
Emanuel Maiberg / 404 Media:
CNBC:
Davey Alba / Bloomberg: