Techmeme
April 2, 2024, 10:10 PM

Top News

research!rsc:
A timeline of the attack on open-source project XZ Utils, which began in late 2021 and led to a backdoor with RCE in Linux distros from Debian, Red Hat, others  —  Over a period of over two years, an attacker using the name “Jia Tan” worked as a diligent, effective contributor to the xz compression library …
Washington Post:
The US Cyber Safety Review Board faults Microsoft for a “cascade of avoidable errors” that led to the 2023 Chinese hack of top US government officials' emails  —  The independent Cyber Safety Review Board's forthcoming report knocks the tech giant for shoddy cybersecurity practices …
David Pierce / The Verge:
Yahoo acquires the news app Artifact, shuts down its standalone app, and plans to use its technology on Yahoo News and other services in the coming months  —  Instagram's co-founders built a powerful and useful tool for recommending news to readers — but could never quite get it to scale.
Theo Wayt / The Information:
Amazon plans to remove Just Walk Out from most of its grocery stores and add more grocery stores with Dash Carts, which let shoppers scan items while they shop  —  Amazon's grab-and-go checkout system, Just Walk Out, has been a centerpiece of its ambitions to transform bricks-and-mortar supermarkets.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Billie Eilish, Katy Perry, and 200+ others sign a letter to AI developers and tech companies decrying “predatory” AI that steals voices, replaces artists, more  —  - Jen Jacobson, executive director at The Artist Rights Alliance (ARA), the trade group representing the artists signing the letter …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Sources: Microsoft is testing a new AI-powered Xbox chatbot that can automate support tasks via an “embodied AI character”, as part of larger Xbox AI efforts  —  Microsoft is currently testing a new AI-powered Xbox chatbot that can be used to automate support tasks.
Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:
Anthropic researchers detail “many-shot jailbreaking”, which can evade LLMs' safety guardrails by including a large number of faux dialogues in a single prompt  —  How do you get an AI to answer a question it's not supposed to?  There are many such “jailbreak” techniques …
Raymond Wong / Inverse:
Apple debuts Spatial Personas in beta, letting up to five Vision Pro users participate together within compatible apps without being in the same physical space  —  Apple Vision Pro is above and beyond other mixed reality headsets, but even with the highest quality passthrough camera tech …
David Ingram / NBC News:
X promotes Kylie McRoberts to Head of Safety, after Ella Irwin left in June 2023, when Musk overruled a decision that limited the spread of an anti-trans video  —  Musk's heads of safety have traditionally attracted intense scrutiny.  —  Elon Musk's X said Tuesday it was appointing …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
On The Daily Show, Jon Stewart says Apple asked him not to interview FTC chair Lina Khan on his Apple podcast by saying “please don't talk to her”  —  - “Apple's conduct extends beyond just monopoly profits and even affects the flow of speech.
Ian King / Bloomberg:
Intel says its Foundry division had $18.9B in 2023 revenue, down 31% YoY, and a $7B operating loss, up from $5.2B, and expects 2024 to be the peak of its losses  —  - In a change, company breaks out numbers for manufacturing unit  — New Intel Foundry division is expected to break even by 2030
Reed Albergotti / Semafor:
Replit launches Code Repair, an AI agent to automatically fix coding errors, and Teams, which allows developers to collaborate in real time on software projects  —  The Scoop  —  A Silicon Valley AI coding startup is launching a new tool that it hopes will change the way companies develop software.

Sponsor Posts

Command Line:
We can build it.  Can we judge it?  —  As agentic AI shortens the path from idea to shipped code, journey evaluation becomes a critical design skill.
Will Reed:
The best sales leaders aren't job hunting.  Here's how to reach them without months of cold outreach.  —  Our team came from Box, Square, and Brex, so we already know the GTM leaders worth meeting.
Zoho:
App Spotlight: Map My Client Location for Zoho CRM  —  App Spotlight brings you hand-picked solutions that enhance your Zoho apps and tools.  Visit Zoho Marketplace to explore all of our apps, integrations …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'Lubricate the Inside of the Hinge', With Joanna Stern
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Lenny's Podcast:
An 86-minute guide to finding PMF | Rob Snyder (Author, The Power of Pull)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
Google's Potential, AI Money Spigot Shutting?, PHP Bug & Cybersecurity's "Black October"
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.
Machine Gods:
Fired OpenAI Safety Researchers Speak Out + We Look Inside Pandora's Box
The official podcast of the singularity, from Casey Newton and Kevin Roose. Twice-weekly news, analysis, and interviews with the people who are building the future.
Subscribe to Machine Gods.
The Upstarts Podcast:
The Parking Startup That Swallowed A 100-Year-Old Giant | Metropolis CEO Alex Israel
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Great Chat:
AI's Spooky Season
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 10:10 PM ET, April 2, 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

David Shepardson / Reuters:

Earlier Picks

Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:
Bloomberg:
Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:
Wall Street Journal: