Techmeme: How an Uber Eats worker created UberCheats, a web app that computed the actual distance a courier traveled, after suspecting algorithmic error and underpayment (Madhumita Murgia/Financial Times)

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March 17, 2024, 10:30 AM

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Scharon Harding / Ars Technica:

In a company blog post, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan acknowledged “unease” among VMware customers and partners after making sweeping post-acquisition changes — “There's more to come.” — Broadcom CEO and President Hock Tan has acknowledged the discomfort VMware customers and partners …

More: Broadcom B-Connected Blog, Channel Futures, The Register, ITPro, and CRN

Mastodon: @BrideOfLinux@mastodon …. X: @dberkholz, @broadcom, and @myvmug

LinkedIn: Hock Tan and Mark Butcher

Forums: r/vmware and Ars OpenForum

Michael Nuñez / VentureBeat:

Apple researchers detail MM1, a series of multimodal LLMs with up to 30B parameters they say achieve state-of-the-art performance across multiple AI benchmarks — Apple researchers have developed new methods for training large language models on both text and images, enabling more powerful …

More: arXiv, The Decoder, MarkTechPost, and AIModels.fyi

Axios:

A look at a potential TikTok US sale, with an estimated valuation of $100B, or $40B without the algorithm, as Steven Mnuchin and others form investor groups — - TikTok's U.S. revenue reportedly was between $16 billion and $20 billion in 2023, but CEO Shou Zi Chew has said the company is in the red.

More: CNBC, PhoneArena, New York Times, Business Insider, Financial Times, and New York Times

Threads: @chris, @davepell, @adam_kinzinger, and @edmundlee

X: @danprimack, @businessinsider, @denimneverdies, @keithboykin, @lincolnsbible, @_whitneywebb, @machineiv, @danprimack, and @danprimack

See also Mediagazer

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

LinkedIn confirms it is working on adding puzzle-based games; a researcher says it is testing ranking companies in the games based on the scores of employees — LinkedIn, the Microsoft-owned social platform, has made a name for itself primarily as a platform for people looking to network …

More: The Economic Times and PCMag

Threads: @jjackyliang, @peterthehan, @efliv, @paul_rietschka, @mattnavarra, and @twigcaseco

Mastodon: @counternotions@mastodon …, @dalfen@mstdn.social, and @ryanroberts@mastodon.social

Bluesky: @farttotable.bsky.social, @nylanox.bsky.social, @jtsdmpk.bsky.social, @jtsdmpk.bsky.social, @utopia-deferred.bsky.social, @secretchimp.bsky.social, @jedichica.bsky.social, @sysfin.bsky.social, @aaronofypsi.bsky.social, @stangunn.bsky.social, @q9f.bsky.social, @darrylayo.bsky.social, @tomscud.bsky.social, @legalminimum.bsky.social, @proptermalone.bsky.social, @lexaprogrammer.com, @ohiohawkeye.bsky.social, and @marypcbuk.bsky.social

X: @kaler, @carnage4life, @asglidden, @joshconstine, @scottnover, @serge_golubev, @indianidle, @adamnash, @quinnypig, @mikebutcher, @aparanjape, @t3dotgg, @mattrosoff, @ashleymayer, @ingridlunden, and @nima_owji

LinkedIn: Ben Kvalo, Carson Taylor ➡ …, and ℝ𝕠 …. Forums: r/technology

Reuters:

Sources: SpaceX's Starshield is building a network of spy satellites under a classified, $1.8B contract with the US spy agency National Reconnaissance Office — SpaceX is building a network of hundreds of spy satellites under a classified contract with a U.S. intelligence agency …

Magdalene J. Taylor / New York Times:

A look at the collapse of dating apps' usability, which can be blamed on the paid subscription model and the near monopoly the apps have over the dating world — “The golden age of dating apps is over,” a friend told me at a bar on Super Bowl Sunday. As we waited for our drinks …

X: @gayathriv, @nytopinion, @mattsheffield, @nytopinion, @magdajtaylor, and @nytopinion. Forums: r/TrueReddit

Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:

How an Uber Eats worker created UberCheats, a web app that computed the actual distance a courier traveled, after suspecting algorithmic error and underpayment — A tech-savvy Uber Eats worker was sick of the algorithms that controlled his day. So he decided to fight back

X: @mrbrownsir, @hoofnagle, @ftmag, @michaelezra, @madhumita29, @karenojeffrey, @leylaboulton, @robertshrimsley, @lilaphasia, @walsh_e_patrick, @walsh_e_patrick, @rjbarfield1, and @madhumita29

Joshua Oliver / Financial Times:

FTX's collapse exposed problems with crypto that are just as relevant today, including a lack of decentralization and companies' persistent regulatory battles — Jay Gatsby, Albert Einstein, Frodo Baggins, John Pierpont Morgan, Michael Jordan, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg …

More: Cryptopolitan, CoinGape, Bitcoin Insider, The Crypto Times, Associated Press, and The Hill. Mastodon: @FrankPasquale@mastodon.social

Matt Novak / Gizmodo:

Filing: SBF wrote a Google doc in which he floated “bad ideas” to improve his image, including going on Tucker Carlson and coming out “against the woke agenda”

More: Crypto Briefing, The Crypto Times, The Block, Benzinga, Cointelegraph, New York Magazine, Rolling Stone, Bloomberg, CoinGape, CNBC, and South China Morning Post

X: @teddyschleifer, @joshchafetz, @cohenluc, @rscharf_, @cohenluc, and @armanddoma

Megha Mandavia / Wall Street Journal:

How China's spending may swamp India's chip ambitions; TrendForce: China's share of global mature-node production will grow from 31% in 2023 to 39% in 2027 — India is making a play for the semiconductor space—but fallout from U.S.-China tensions and China's deep pockets could get in the way

X: @wsjheard, @meghamandavia, @wsj, and @ali_wyne

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: US prosecutors in Virginia, with FDA's help, are investigating whether Meta's platforms are facilitating and profiting from the illegal sale of drugs — Federal prosecutors are looking into whether platforms including Facebook facilitate and profit from illicit sale of drugs

More: The Verge, Blaze Media, Benzinga, New York Post, The Information, The Daily Caller, Al Jazeera, and Quartz

X: @nickclegg, @khadeeja_safdar, and @sal19. Forums: Hacker News

Tim Higgins / Wall Street Journal:

How Elon Musk courted Don Lemon to show that X isn't a right-wing tool, as the breakup highlights Linda Yaccarino's thankless task of trying to assure brands — Unexpected split leaves X CEO Linda Yaccarino with another loss — Don Lemon got to see both sides of Elon Musk.

More: New York Post, Deadline, TMZ.com, Business Insider, and Benzinga

Threads: @guillecummings and @pkafka. Mastodon: @stevesilberman@newsie.social

X: @sethabramson, @jonathanwald, @justinbaragona, @mehdirhasan, @didsbury0904, @karaswisher, and @karaswisher

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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

Edward Helmore / The Guardian:

AG Todd Blanche defends the White House ban on CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, saying access is “a privilege” and Trump is “sick and tired” of inaccurate reporting

Gene Maddaus / Variety:

Paramount and 12 state AGs defend their antitrust settlement after a judge held off on approving the settlement citing concerns raised by Senator Cory Booker

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

The BBC plans to cut ~90 jobs from BBC Local, aiming to save ~£9.1M, as part of a plan to eliminate ~250 full-time jobs in its Nations division by 2027/28

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More News

Michael J. de la Merced / New York Times:

A profile of former Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch, whose trial begins on March 18 in SF, where federal prosecutors have accused him of defrauding HP of billions

More: The Guardian, Telegraph, and Financial Times

Josh Taylor / The Guardian:

Epic's antitrust cases against Apple and Google in Australia, which were paused in April 2021, are set to be heard at the same time over the next five months

More: Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Australian, AppleInsider, and Global Competition Review

X: @joshgnosis. Forums: r/apple and r/technology

Bloomberg.com:

Two of the UK's biggest supermarket chains, Tesco and Sainsbury's, were hit with technical issues on Saturday; Sainsbury's blames a software update

More: DatacenterDynamics. X: @willguyatt, @mikebutcher, @anglish15, @hwallop, @theguyliner, @skynews, @nick_maxwell, @tradersimon, @brightonsnapper, @willguyatt, @willguyatt, and @mikebutcher

Joanna Nelius / The Verge:

Review of Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 16: sets the bar for foldables with a large 4:3 display and seamless centerfold, but the trackpad is prone to missed inputs

Mastodon: @vicmsong@mastodon.social. X: @vicmsong. Forums: r/hardware

Earlier Picks

The Economic Times:

Bain: Indian startups raised $9.6B in 2023, down from $25.7B in 2022; over 35K Indian startups shut down in 2023 and leading startups laid off 20,000+ employees

More: The Financial Express, YourStory, The Hindu BusinessLine, Bain & Company, Livemint, and Bain & Company. X: @refsrc

Elle Hardy / New Republic:

How evangelicals proselytize using Bless Every Home, an app that lets users create neighborhood maps and data tables based on people's religion and ethnicity

Mastodon: @hakona@im.alstadheim.no and @wdlindsy@toad.social

X: @jennwrenstanley, @hganshorn, @takethattoxins, @bludrone, and @ellehardy

Dan Primack / Axios:

Reddit says FTC launched an inquiry into Reddit's licensing of user data to AI companies; an ex-FTC official says other companies also got such “hold letters”

More: CNN, Wired, CNBC, US Securities …, Cointelegraph, The Crypto Times, Decrypt, Neowin, The Decoder, The Hill, Engadget, Tech Xplore, The Register, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Information, Wall Street Journal, and The Hollywood Reporter

Threads: @peard33. Mastodon: @gtbarry@mastodon.social. X: @wired, @carnage4life, and @kimbenabib

Forums: Hacker News, r/LocalLLaMA, r/OpenAI, r/technology, r/technology, and Slashdot