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February 8, 2024, 10:55 PM
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Top News

David Pierce / The Verge:
Google debuts Gemini Ultra 1.0, its largest and most capable LLM, renames Bard as Gemini, debuts a dedicated Android app, and plans to add Gemini to its iOS app  —  Google is famous for having a million similar products with confusingly different names and seemingly nothing in common.
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
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google adds a $20-per-month AI Premium plan to Google One, offering Gemini Advanced powered by the Ultra 1.0 model, and rebrands Duet AI as Gemini for Workspace
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
Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
LastPass warns users about a fake copy of its app on Apple's App Store, with a similar name and logo, likely used as a phishing app to steal users' credentials  —  LastPass is warning that a fake copy of its app is being distributed on the Apple App Store, likely used as a phishing app to steal users' credentials.
Thomas Claburn / The Register:
PWAs no longer work as standalone apps in iOS 17.4 betas, presumably as part of Apple's preparation for EU DMA which forces it to allow alt browser engines  —  PWAs demoted to OWB: Operating Within Browser  —  Apple has argued for years that developers who don't want to abide by its rules …
Cory Weinberg / The Information:
Source: Disney's $1.5B investment in Epic Games will give Disney a 9% stake in Epic at a valuation of $22.5B, down ~29% from its 2022 valuation of $31.5B  —  Disney's $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games values the Fortnite maker at $22.5 billion, a person familiar with the matter said.
Leah Nylen / Bloomberg:
Filing: Microsoft says Activision had planned layoffs before the merger, responding to the FTC's claims that the layoffs contradict Microsoft's court statements  —  - Xbox maker cutting 1,900 workers, including at Activision  — Tech giant responds to Federal Trade Commission over layoffs
Diane Brady / Fortune:
Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker steps down to focus on AI and internet safety as the chair of the nonprofit; board member Laura Chambers will step in as interim CEO  —  Mozilla has named a new CEO effective immediately.  —  Mozilla Corp., which manages the open-source Firefox browser …
Jordan Pearson / VICE:
Chris Dixon's book becomes an NYT Best Seller but with a dagger icon denoting bulk orders; a16z and some startups linked to it gave the book to staff and others  —  Motherboard found that firms linked to a16z and general partner Chris Dixon bought numerous copies of his new book promoting cryptocurrencies …
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
David Shepardson / Reuters:
The US says 200+ entities, like OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Meta, Google, Apple, Amazon, Nvidia, and Palantir, are joining the AI Safety Institute Consortium  —  The Biden administration on Thursday said leading artificial intelligence companies are among more than 200 entities joining …
Brian Fung / CNN:
The FCC outlaws scam robocalls featuring fake, AI-created voices, giving state AGs more legal tools to pursue illegal robocallers that use such voices  —  The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday it is immediately outlawing scam robocalls featuring fake, artificial intelligence-created voices …
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Take-Two reports Q3 net bookings down 3% YoY to $1.34B, net revenue down 3% YoY to $1.37B, and plans cost reductions “more robust” than in 2023; TTWO drops 9%+  —  Take-Two Interactive reported results for the third fiscal quarter ended December 31 that fell short of its expectations …
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Xiaolang Zhang, a former Apple engineer who pled guilty in August 2022 to IP theft of Apple's car project, is sentenced to 120 days in prison and a ~$147K fine  —  For the last six years, we've been following the case of Xiaolang Zhang, a former Apple engineer who pled guilty to stealing Project Titan trade secrets.
More: AppleInsider
CNBC:
Arm closed up 47.89% after issuing a strong profit forecast, adding ~$38B to its market cap, with $34B+ of that accruing to SoftBank, which owns 90% of Arm  —  - Shares of chip designer Arm climbed 48% on Thursday.  — The company reported better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter, and issued an optimistic forecast.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Sam Altman is in talks with investors, including the UAE government, to raise funds for an AI chip initiative that could cost as much as $5T to $7T  —  Sam Altman was already trying to lead the development of human-level artificial intelligence.  Now he has another great ambition …
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
Pinterest reports Q4 revenue up 12% YoY to $981.3M, vs. $991M est., MAUs up 11% to 498M, vs. 487M est., and a weaker-than-expected Q1 forecast; PINS drops 5%+  —  - Pinterest missed on sales but beat on earnings in its fourth-quarter earnings report.  — The company also issued a weaker-than-expected forecast.
Shauneen Miranda / Axios:
In a lawsuit, former TikTok Global Head of Brand & Creative Katie Puris claims she was subjected to discrimination and “ultimately unlawfully terminated”  —  A former executive at TikTok filed a complaint against the app and its parent company ByteDance on Thursday over allegations …
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
X signs a two-year deal with the WWE for a new exclusive weekly video series called WWE Speed featuring timed matches of 5 minutes or less, coming spring 2024  —  ‘WWE Speed’ will stream timed matches meant to end in five minutes or less on the Elon Musk-owned platform.
Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
Expedia says CEO Peter Kern will step down after four years in the role and names its president for business, Ariane Gorin, as CEO, effective May 13, 2024  —  Expedia Group CEO Peter Kern will step down in May, the travel giant announced Thursday.  He will be replaced by Ariane Gorin, currently president of Expedia for Business.

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 10:55 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

Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Paramount is planning for what happens if no big deal happens, mulling cutting $2B in costs, selling BET and TV stations, starting a streaming JV, more

Laura Wagner / Washington Post:
Over 50 journalism professors call on the NYT to address questions on its report that described a “pattern of gender-based violence” in Hamas' October 7 attack

Ben Smith / Semafor:
Sources: Nicholas Carlson, who has been the global editor-in-chief of Business Insider since 2017, is expected to leave the publication later this summer

More News

New York Times:
US House investigation: GGV, GSR, Qualcomm Ventures, Sequoia, and Walden invested $1B+ in China's chip industry across 150+ deals between 2001 and August 2023
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

Earlier Picks

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
Clothilde Goujard / Politico:
TikTok joins Meta in challenging the EU's DSA in the General Court, arguing the levy is unfair as some pay nothing; Meta was told to pay €11M of the ~€45M total
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
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
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
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
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
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
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