Techmeme
February 15, 2024, 5:25 AM

Top News

Ashley Belanger / Ars Technica:
The European Court of Human Rights rules backdoors that weaken E2EE violate human rights law, after Russia began requiring Telegram to decrypt messages in 2017  —  Cops have alternative means to access encrypted messages, court says.  —  The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) …
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
X removes paid checkmarks from some accounts after a watchdog group found 28 verified accounts allegedly tied to Hezbollah and other US-sanctioned entities  —  X (aka Twitter) accused of violating sanctions by taking payment from terrorists.  —  A watchdog group's investigation found …
Ashley Gold / Axios:
NYC sues ByteDance, Meta, Snap, and Google to hold the companies accountable “for fueling the nationwide youth mental health crisis” by manipulating young users  —  New York City filed a lawsuit against TikTok, Meta, Snap and Google's YouTube to hold the companies accountable …
Leander Kahney / Cult of Mac:
Many Apple Vision Pro users are returning their devices, saying they're too expensive, heavy, or isolating, as the 14-day return window nears its end for buyers  —  Many early adopters seem set on returning their Apple Vision Pro headsets.  As the 14-day return window approaches for people …
Aaron Holmes / The Information:
Source: OpenAI has been developing a web search product partly powered by Bing  —  OpenAI has been developing a web search product that would bring the Microsoft-backed startup into more direct competition with Google, according to someone with knowledge of OpenAI's plans.
Oliver Darcy / CNN:
Meta struggles to precisely define what political content is, offering only a vague statement, after saying Threads would not amplify political content  —  What constitutes “political” content?  —  It's an important question that Meta has conspicuously left unanswered …
The Information:
Joanna Stern / Wall Street Journal:
A look at The Shotline, a project using ElevenLabs' tech to create audio deepfakes of kids killed in gun violence, to place AI-generated calls to US lawmakers  —  Grieving parents made these audio deepfakes to stir the emotions of lawmakers.  But they also mark a new era for artificial intelligence.
Subrat Patnaik / Bloomberg:
Nvidia passed Alphabet on February 14 as the third most valuable US company and the world's fourth with a market cap of ~$1.83T, one day after overtaking Amazon  —  - Chip giant is up 49% in 2024, adding $602 billion in value  — Market cap of $1.83 trillion exceeds Alphabet's $1.82 trillion
Sean Michael Kerner / VentureBeat:
Stability AI details Stable Cascade, a new image generation model built on the Würstchen architecture, which improves performance and accuracy compared to SDXL  —  Stability AI, the company behind the popular Stable Diffusion text-to-image generative AI technology is now previewing …
Daniele Lepido / Bloomberg:
Sources: Italian app developer Bending Spoons raised $155M from Baillie Gifford and more at a $2.6B valuation, after raising $100M in 2023, and seeks M&A deals  —  - Italian app developer has raised $155 million in new funding  — Company on track to generate $500 million in sales this year
M.G. Siegler / Spyglass:
Alex Heath / The Verge:
More: MIXED Reality News, The Independent, TechEBlog, Newser, The Michigan Daily, TweakTown, Creative Bloq, CNBC, ZDNet, Bitcoin Insider, MobileSyrup, Business Insider, UploadVR, Wait But Why, and Marques Brownlee on YouTube
Brian Fung / CNN:
The prospects of a wide-ranging AI bill in the US in 2024 are rapidly dimming, despite Senator Chuck Schumer's push to put regulation at the top of the agenda  —  Artificial intelligence is already sowing chaos and confusion in US elections — from a bogus robocall impersonating President Joe Biden …
Financial Times:
A look at OpenAI's business model, as the company works to more than double its yearly run rate by 2025; ChatGPT Enterprise now has 300+ paying customers  —  The AI startup is one of the fastest-growing companies in history, but questions remain about the long-term viability of its revenue stream

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More News

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
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Earlier Picks

Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority:
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Paayal Zaveri / Bloomberg:
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Tom Warren / The Verge:
David Pierce / The Verge: