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February 8, 2024, 12:05 PM
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Top News

David Pierce / The Verge:
Google releases Gemini Ultra 1.0, its largest and most capable LLM, and renames Bard to Gemini, which now has a dedicated Android app and, soon, an iOS app  —  Google is famous for having a million similar products with confusingly different names and seemingly nothing in common.
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google adds a $20 per month AI Premium plan to Google One, offering Gemini Advanced with the Ultra 1.0 model, and rebrands Duet AI as Gemini for Workspace  —  Sundar Pichai announced last week that Google One is about to cross 100 million subscribers.  Google One is now getting a new AI Premium plan that costs $19.99.
Ethan Mollick / One Useful Thing:
Google Gemini Advanced hands-on: clearly a GPT-4 class model, but doesn't obviously blow away GPT-4 in benchmarks; Gemini is better than GPT-4 at explanations  —  And then there were two.  —  Right around the time you are getting this email, Google finally released their long-awaited powerful AI …
Lauren Goode / Wired:
An interview with Sundar Pichai on the evolving web, training Gemini to be a multimodal AI, future paid and ad-supported generative AI, hallucinations, and more
Molly White / Citation Needed:
In his new book, a16z GP Chris Dixon fails to identify a single blockchain project that has successfully provided a non-speculative service at any kind of scale  —  Prominent crypto venture capitalist Chris Dixon provides an unconvincing bible for blockchain solutionists.  —  1×
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
Meta challenges the EU's DSA supervisory fee of 0.05% of Meta's annual net income that cover regulators' costs, disagreeing with how the fees are calculated
David Shepardson / Reuters:
The US says OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Meta, Google, Apple, Amazon, Nvidia, Palantir, and over 200 others are joining the new AI Safety Institute Consortium  —  The Biden administration on Thursday said leading artificial intelligence companies are among more than 200 entities joining …
Josh Boak / Associated Press:
The Biden administration names White House economic adviser Elizabeth Kelly to lead the NIST's newly formed AI Safety Institute to develop AI testing standards
Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
The Danish data protection authority orders schools to stop sending student data to Google via Chromebooks and Workspace, after an over four year investigation  —  The Danish data protection authority (Datatilsynet) has issued an injunction regarding student data being funneled to Google through …
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
A leaked image allegedly shows the Google Pixel Fold 2, including a narrower cover screen, a squarer inner screen aspect ratio, and redesigned camera bump  —  Here's a very early look at what could be Google's second-generation foldable phone.  —  •  —  TL;DR
Martin Young / Cointelegraph:
SEC filing: NYSE-listed Bakkt, a crypto trading platform backed by the Intercontinental Exchange, warns that it might not be able to stay in business in a year  —  The institutional digital asset trading platform unveiled in 2018 amid huge fanfare has just disclosed it “might not be able to continue as a going concern.”
Jessica Conditt / Engadget:
Filing: the FTC seeks a pause in Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition, arguing layoffs in Microsoft's gaming division contradict Microsoft's prior claims  —  The FTC isn't done questioning gaming's biggest acquisition.  —  One week after Microsoft laid off nearly 2,000 employees …
Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
Disney plans to invest $1.5B for a stake in Epic Games and collaborate on a new “universe” connected to Fortnite with content from Disney, Pixar, and more  —  - Disney is investing $1.5 billion for an equity stake in Epic Games in its biggest jump yet into the gaming world.
Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
TikTok quietly removed view counts for hashtags in January, after researchers used them to show the disparity in views of pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian videos  —  The change came after researchers cited TikTok's video-view counts to discuss the relative prominence of pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian videos on the app.
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Battle for the Bird book excerpt: how Jack Dorsey's plan to get Elon Musk to save Twitter failed, as Musk dismantled the company after taking over, and more  —  An excerpt from Battle for the Bird shows how Twitter's two most prominent leaders contributed to its current dilemma.
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Google debuts a pilot program in Singapore to prevent users from sideloading certain apps that abuse Android app permissions to read one-time passwords  —  To reduce financial scams, Google has started a new program to prevent users from sideloading certain apps in Singapore.
The Information:
Sources: OpenAI is developing two types of agent software: one to automate tasks by effectively taking over a user's device, and the other for web-based tasks  —  OpenAI's first major product, ChatGPT, proved so popular that it sparked a generation of wannabes.
Reed Albergotti / Semafor:
Q&A with Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine on Medium expecting to turn a profit in 2024, distribution, training LLMs, AI-generated content, media layoffs, and more  —  The Scene  —  Amid turmoil in the media industry, online publishing platform Medium expects to post its first profit around the middle of this year.
Kara Swisher / New York Magazine:
An excerpt from Kara Swisher's upcoming book, Burn Book: covering digital media in the '90s, Facebook and Google becoming information gatekeepers, and more  —  My front-row seat to a slow-moving catastrophe.  —  In the early 1990s, I was a reporter at the Washington Post.

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 12:05 PM ET, February 8, 2024.

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.

From Mediagazer

Barbara Moens / Financial Times:
Sources: the EU is set to approve Paramount's $111B WBD takeover provided the company accepts certain remedies, the details of which are still being worked out

Matthew Keys / TheDesk.net:
Source: iHeartMedia has begun a new round of layoffs affecting dozens of workers in its local radio broadcasting units as part of a broader restructuring

Max Tani / Semafor:
Documents: The Daily Wire, founded by conservative podcaster Ben Shapiro in 2015, seeks to raise at least $100M in a round that would value the company at $750M

More News

Adnan Aamir / Nikkei Asia:
Pakistan suspended mobile services across the country as voters went to the polls on February 8; the Interior Ministry cited a deteriorating security situation

Earlier Picks

Bloomberg:
SoftBank reports Q3 net profit of $6.4B, after four quarters of losses, lifted by a T-Mobile US shares windfall; the Vision Fund unit reported a ~$2.85B gain
Reuters:
Arm reports Q3 revenue up 14% YoY to $824M, vs. $761.6M est., and forecasts Q4 sales and adjusted profit above expectations; ARM jumps 45%+
Sam Sabin / Axios:
US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand advisory: China-backed hacking group Volt Typhoon has had access to some major US infrastructure for over five years
Carl Franzen / VentureBeat:
Microsoft updates Copilot with a redesigned look, a new AI model for Copilot's Balanced mode called Deucalion, and new AI image creation and editing features
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