Techmeme
May 13, 2024, 7:25 AM

Top News

Jason Koebler / 404 Media:
US farmers had to halt their planting operations after the solar storm broke critical GPS and precision farming functionality in tractors and other equipment  —  The accuracy of some critical GPS navigation systems used in modern farming have been “extremely compromised,” a John Deere dealership told customers Saturday.
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple has met with Hollywood talent representatives to propose a new performance-based compensation regime, as Amazon and Netflix work on similar plans  —  Apple builds a bonus system around sign-ups, viewer loyalty and production costs.  —  Good afternoon from 30,000 feet.
Akash Sriram / Reuters:
Squarespace says private equity firm Permira plans to take the company private in a $6.9B all-cash deal, or $44 per share, a 15.2% premium on Friday's close  —  Private equity firm Permira will take Squarespace (SQSP.N) private in an all-cash deal valued at about $6.9 billion, the website-design platform said on Monday.
Matthew Green / @matthew_d_green:
Following attempts to malign Signal as insecure by Telegram's CEO and Elon Musk, a look at why Signal is widely regarded by experts as more secure than Telegram  —  Telegram has launched a pretty intense campaign to malign Signal as insecure, with assistance from Elon Musk. The goal seems to be to get activists to switch away from encrypted Signal to mostly-unencrypted Telegram. I want to talk about this a bit. 1/
Bloomberg:
The EU designates Booking as a DMA gatekeeper, saying “holidaymakers will start benefiting from more choice and hotels will have more business opportunities”  —  - Travel site is designated as a ‘gatekeeper’ under EU's DMA  — X avoids rules for now as officials open probe into its status
Keith Laing / Bloomberg:
The US NHTSA opens an investigation into Amazon's Zoox after two automated SUVs braked unexpectedly, both causing collisions with motorcyclists  —  The top US auto-safety regulator has opened an investigation into Zoox, the autonomous-vehicle subsidiary of Amazon.com Inc. …
More: Reuters
New York Times:
A look at how Elon Musk uses X to support right-wing world leaders like Narendra Modi who could help secure advantages for his businesses  —  Minutes after it became clear that Javier Milei had been elected president of South America's second-largest nation in November, Elon Musk posted on X: “Prosperity is ahead for Argentina.”
Saritha Rai / Bloomberg:
A look at 01.AI, which is launching Wanzhi, a free generative AI assistant focused on the Chinese market; CEO Kai-Fu Lee says 01.AI is nearing profitability  —  - His startup 01.AI is introducing its first consumer AI app  — China needs a catalyst in the same way ChatGPT fueled the US
Washington Post:
A look at the growing number of startups offering AI deepfake detection services, with some claiming startling levels of accuracy despite untested capabilities  —  A surge of companies now claim to offer hyper-accurate detection services, but their capabilities are largely untested.

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cape:
Most carriers track everything.  Cape doesn't.  —  Unlimited talk, text & data, 24-hr metadata deletion, network ID rotation, SIM-attack defense, and more.  Switch today and get 29% off for life.
Zoho:
Celebrating 10 years of Zoho Marketplace  —  30 Zoho products,2,900+ extensions and integrations,1 million+ users, and2 million installations.Zoho Marketplace celebrates a decade-long journey of adding timeless value …
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

Lenny's Podcast:
OpenAI's Head of Design: This is the best time in history to be a designer | Ian Silber
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:
Best of Big Technology: How Ozempic Changes Our Bodies, Minds, and Economy — With Johann Hari
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.
Hard Fork:
Zuckerberg's Anti-Doom Fantasy + Finally an A.I. Detector That Works + A.I. Math
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Joanna Stern on the New Siri, OpenAI's Weird Gadget, and Life After the Wall Street Journal
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:
Eric Vishria - A Decade of Lessons Investing in Software & Hardware
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 7:25 AM ET, May 13, 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

Henry Mance / Financial Times: