Techmeme
January 18, 2024, 3:00 PM

Top News

John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Apple's seeming sense of entitlement to commissions from third-party iOS apps shows a confrontational stance, instead of seeking to lessen regulatory pressure  —  That take didn't last long. … Sweeney's description makes it sound as though Apple is demanding its commission from all web sales …
Joseph Cox / 404 Media:
Google News is boosting sites that use AI to rip off other outlets and churn out content; Google says News doesn't focus on whether articles are by humans or AI  —  Google News is boosting sites that rip-off other outlets by using AI to rapidly churn out content, 404 Media has found.
Carly Page / TechCrunch:
Google's TAG says Russia-linked hacking group Cold River is ramping up its activity and using new tactics, like data-stealing malware, to cause more disruption  —  Google researchers say they have evidence that a notorious Russian-linked hacking group — tracked as “Cold River” …
Alex Heath / The Verge:
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
In the footnotes of the Galaxy S24, S24+, and S24 Ultra online listings, Samsung says that Galaxy AI features will be free only until the end of 2025  —  AI is the big selling point of Samsung's new Galaxy S24 series, but the new, rather good suite of Galaxy AI features may eventually come with a cost, the company has confirmed.
Alex Heath / The Verge:
Zuckerberg says Meta wants to build and open source AGI, and brings AI group FAIR closer to the generative AI team; Meta will own 340K+ H100 GPUs by 2024's end  —  And he wants Meta to open source it.  Eventually.  Maybe. … Fueling the generative AI craze is a belief that the tech industry …
More: PCMag, VentureBeat, The Information, and Forbes
Threads: @zuck and @alexheath.  Instagram: Mark Zuckerberg.  Mastodon: @BrendanSinclair …
Sandali Handagama / CoinDesk:
The EU Council and Parliament reach a provisional deal on the Anti-Money Laundering Regulation, which will force all crypto companies to run user due diligence  —  Crypto firms have to do checks on transactions of 1,000 euro or more, and the framework adds measures to mitigate risks in transfers with self-hosted wallets.
Jon Keegan / The Markup:
A Consumer Reports study involving 709 volunteers: 186,892 companies had sent data about the volunteers to Facebook, or an average of 2,230 companies per person  —  A new study looks at who is sending information about your online activity to Facebook … By now most internet users know their online activity is constantly tracked.
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
Have I Been Pwned adds almost 71M email addresses tied to stolen accounts from the Naz.API dataset, which allegedly contains 1B+ lines of stolen credentials  —  Have I Been Pwned has added almost 71 million email addresses associated with stolen accounts in the Naz.API dataset to its data breach notification service.
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Instagram adds nighttime nudges for teens, encouraging them to close the app and go to sleep after they spend more than 10 minutes in Reels or DMs late at night  —  Instagram is introducing new nighttime nudges for teen accounts to limit their time on the app, the company announced on Thursday.
Sheila Chiang / CNBC:
TSMC reports Q4 revenue down 1.5% YoY to ~$19.62B and net income down 19.3% YoY to ~$7.56B, both above estimates on the back of weaker macroeconomic conditions  —  - TSMC reported fourth-quarter revenue slipped 1.5% from a year ago to NT$625.53 billion, while net income dropped 19.3% from a year ago to NT$238.71 billion.
Chainalysis:
Illicit crypto addresses received $24.2B in 2023, down 39% YoY from $39.6B, and stablecoins accounted for the majority of the transaction volume, replacing BTC  —  This blog is a preview from our upcoming 2024 Crypto Crime Report.  Click here to sign up and reserve your copy now.
Chris Dolmetsch / Bloomberg:
SEC v. Coinbase: in an opening hearing, Coinbase says that buying crypto on an exchange is more like collecting Beanie Babies than investing in a stock or bond  —  - Exchange compares tokens to plush toys to oppose regulation  — Courts are divided on whether crypto sales are securities
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple plans to sell the Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 without the blood oxygen feature online starting at 6am PT on January 18 and in Apple Stores on the same day  —  Earlier today, a US appeals court rejected Apple's request to pause the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 ban as the company appeals …
Christine Hall / TechCrunch:
Digital Onboarding, a SaaS company specializing in helping financial institutions strengthen relationships with customers, raised $58M from Volition Capital  —  Digital Onboarding, a SaaS company specializing in helping financial institutions strengthen relationships with customers …
More: FinSMEs

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Earlier Picks

Abigail Summerville / Reuters:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
BBC: