Techmeme
March 5, 2024, 6:40 PM

Top News

Reuters:
A BlackCat ransomware gang website shows a takedown notice; the UK NCA denies involvement and experts suggest an exit scam after an alleged UnitedHealth payment  —  A website used by hackers responsible for a breach at UnitedHealth Group (UNH.N) has been replaced by a notice saying it has been seized by international law enforcement.
Zac Bowden / Windows Central:
Sources: Microsoft plans a March 21 announcement of a Surface Laptop 6 and OLED Surface Pro 10, both offered with Intel Core Ultra or Snapdragon X Elite chips  —  Microsoft's first AI PCs will be unveiled on March 21, ahead of next-gen Windows 11 AI features coming this fall.  —  What you need to know
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft will end support for its Android subsystem in Windows 11 on March 5, 2025, and consequently, for the Amazon Appstore on Windows as well  —  Microsoft is ending support for its Android subsystem in Windows 11 next year.  The software giant first announced it was bringing Android apps …
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Meta confirms a technical issue caused an outage affecting Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Meta Quest logins, and more, for over two hours  —  Facebook, Instagram, and Threads are all experiencing issues.  The three Meta-owned platforms aren't working for many users, with the widespread outage seeming to start around 10AM ET.
David Pierce / The Verge:
Google rolls out updates to its Search ranking, including downranking content that summarizes others' work, to counter the spread of AI content in results  —  Google is rolling out a few new changes to its ranking systems in search, which are designed to help surface good content in your results …
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
iOS 17.4 launches with new EU App Store business terms, with some last-minute tweaks like no longer needing a €1M stand-by letter of credit to start a store  —  With the launch of iOS 17.4, Apple's app ecosystem changes in the European Union have gone into effect.
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
Google outlines updates to comply with the EU's DMA: search changes to prioritize large intermediaries and aggregators, new tools for app developers, and more  —  Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google on Tuesday outlined changes to search results and new tools for apps developers to promote their products …
Financial Times:
Paul Sawers / TechCrunch:
Amid regulatory pressure around cloud vendor lock-in, AWS follows Google and drops egress fees for moving data out of its ecosystem; Microsoft's fees remain  —  Amazon's cloud computing subsidiary AWS has revealed that it will allow customers to transfer their data out of its ecosystem with no so-called “egress fees” attached.
Counterpoint Research:
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / TechCrunch:
The US Treasury sanctions spyware group Intellexa Consortium's founder and one of his business partners, the first US sanctions on people over spyware misuse  —  The U.S. government announced Tuesday sanctions against the founder of the notorious spyware company Intellexa and one of his business partners.
CoinDesk:
Bitcoin surpassed $69K, eclipsing its previous all-time high set on November 10, 2021, with US spot bitcoin ETFs a likely catalyst of the latest bull run  —  The success of the spot ETFs which opened for business on January 11 was the catalyst for this latest bull run for the world's largest crypto.
Bobby Borisov / Linuxiac:
StatCounter: Linux hit 4.03% desktop OS market share in February 2024, after taking 30 years to hit 3% in June 2023, as distros adopt more user-friendly designs  —  According to StatCounter's data, by the end of February 2024, Linux has achieved a 4.03% desktop market share.
Rohan Goswami / CNBC:
CrowdStrike reports Q4 revenue up 33% YoY to $845M, vs. $839M est., and agrees to buy cloud security company Flow Security for an undisclosed price; CRWD up 20%  —  CrowdStrike shares surged as much as 17% in after-hours trading Tuesday, after the company reported a beat on the top and bottom lines …
Allison Johnson / The Verge:
Nothing debuts the 6.7" Phone (2a), its first budget phone, with a 5,000mAh battery and a MediaTek chip, starting at £319 for 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage  —  Budget phones tend to be pretty forgettable, but the Nothing Phone 2A isn't your average budget phone — that much is obvious just looking at it.

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:
Give your projects a “signature” upgrade with the Zoho Sign extension for Zoho Projects  —  Well-orchestrated project management keeps people, priorities, and processes all working in sync toward a shared goal.
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

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.
Big Technology Podcast:
AI Is Upending Law. Is That A Sign For The Rest Of Us? — With Melia Russell
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.
[trading places]:
Ben Black Akkadian Ventures🏆 | Secondaries Secrets 💎 | RAISE Conf 🎯 | Vercel $9B 🚀
a very bad podcast about broken unicorns & busted carry hosted by dave mcclure and aman verjee
Subscribe to [trading places].
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.
Invest Like the Best:
Gavin Baker - Nvidia v. Google, Scaling Laws, and the Economics of AI
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:40 PM ET, March 5, 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.

More News

Earlier Picks

Financial Times:
TechCrunch:
Emilia David / The Verge:
Rachel Metz / Bloomberg:
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac: