Techmeme
December 8, 2023, 1:00 PM

Top News

Parmy Olson / Bloomberg:
Google's video demo of Gemini's multimodal AI capabilities wasn't carried out in real time or in voice; the model was shown still images and given text prompts  —  The tech giant's latest AI model is only marginally better than the one from OpenAI that's been out for eight months.
Nikkei Asia:
Sources: in a first, Apple is working with China's BYD to move iPad product development to Vietnam, with test production set to begin around mid-February 2024  —  China's BYD helps American giant with shift to alternative tech hubs  —  Vietnam is emerging as an increasingly important production hub …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Apple and its suppliers aim to make 50M+ iPhones annually in India in two to three years, which would account for a quarter of global iPhone production  —  Supplier Foxconn plans to build more factories and give India a production role once limited mostly to China
Sankalp Phartiyal / Bloomberg:
Bloomberg:
The UK CMA is considering an antitrust investigation into Microsoft and OpenAI's partnership, and is taking comments until January 3 before making a decision  —  - CMA seeking views on whether the relationship should be probed  — Move is less than two months since watchdog cleared Activision
Lily Hay Newman / Wired:
How Meta addressed the technical challenges of developing E2EE for Messenger, including creating an encrypted storage protocol and re-architecting chat features  —  Mark Zuckerberg personally promised that the privacy feature would launch by default on Messenger and Instagram chat.
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Jessica Lyons Hardcastle / The Register:
A researcher says a years-old Bluetooth authentication flaw lets attackers inject keystrokes to run arbitrary commands on Apple, Android, and some Linux devices  —  Issue has been around since at least 2012  —  A years-old Bluetooth authentication bypass vulnerability allows miscreants to connect to Apple …
Wall Street Journal:
The US and the UK accuse Russia's FSB of orchestrating a global hacking campaign since 2015 to interfere in UK elections and target US energy networks and spies  —  The cyberattacks also allegedly took aim at U.S. energy networks and American spies  —  LONDON—The U.S. and U.K. governments …
Allison Johnson / The Verge:
Mobile network companies have backed themselves into a corner by racing to roll out 5G, taking on piles of debt with few returns to show for their investments  —  Networks spent years telling us that 5G would change everything.  But the flashiest use cases are nowhere to be found …
Jacob Knutson / Axios:
23andMe changed its TOS to prevent lawsuits days after its October data breach; to opt out, customers must email the company that they disagree within 30 days  —  Days after a data breach allowed hackers to steal 6.9 million 23andMe users' personal details, the genetic testing company changed …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: X has had preliminary talks with Amazon to make ads available via Amazon's ad-buying software, and PubMatic, as it seeks to attract smaller advertisers  —  Social-media platform has had preliminary talks with Amazon to sell ads through e-commerce giant's ad-buying software
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
An untitled countdown timer viewable only on the Threads.net homepage in EU countries suggests that the service will be expanded to EU users on December 14  —  Following its rollout in countries like the US and UK this past July, Threads will finally be expanded to users in the European Union on December 14th.
Spencer Soper / Bloomberg:
Amazon sues an “international fraud organization” for allegedly stealing millions of dollars in merchandise from the company through a series of refund scams  —  - Shoppers took gaming consoles, smartphones, tires and gold  — Scammers live in US, five other countries, according to suit
Elizabeth Lopatto / The Verge:
Maxwell Zeff / Gizmodo:

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: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26  —  Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.
Zoho:
The best time to become a Zoho Partner  —  The business world is not only changing but it is being rebuilt.  Customers want connected ecosystems that will help them automate, unify their data, and do more with less.
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 2026 Priority, Disney's AI Play, Datacenter Buildout Trouble
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:
Australia Kicks Kids Off Social Media + Is the A.I. Water Issue Fake? + Hard Fork Wrapped
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:
Why the next AI frontier is phone calls, with Beside CEO Maxime Germain
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Great Chat:
So what happens after AGI?
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.
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Lachlan Cartwright Started in Tabloids. Now He's a Must-Read Media Gossip.
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:00 PM ET, December 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

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Earlier Picks

Kaya Yurieff / The Information:
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Wall Street Journal:
Ben Weiss / Fortune:
Wall Street Journal: