Techmeme
August 15, 2024, 4:25 AM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is prioritizing developing a tabletop home device with an iPad-like display and a robotic limb, aiming for a release in 2026 or 2027 for ~$1,000  —  - Executive who oversaw car project is leading the effort  — Device would offer twist on home products from Amazon and Meta
Joseph De Avila / Wall Street Journal:
Eric Schmidt says he “misspoke” when he said Google was losing the AI race because it decided that “working from home was more important than winning”  —  Ex-Google CEO had said the tech company's work-life balance was ‘more important than winning’
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Google says Iran-backed hacking group APT42 has targeted the Trump and Biden campaigns, as well as Israeli military, government, and diplomatic organizations  —  APT42, which is believed to work for Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, targeted about a dozen people associated with both Trump …
Danny Gallagher / Engadget:
The US FTC announces a final rule banning the sale of fake reviews and testimonials, including AI-generated ones, with fines as high as $50K per violation  —  The new rules prohibit the selling of fake and AI-generated reviews and testimonials in several forms.
Ari Levy / CNBC:
Cisco reports Q4 revenue down 10% YoY to $13.64B, vs. $13.54B est., and says it is cutting 7% of its global workforce, or 4,000 jobs; CSCO jumps 5%+  —  Cisco shares popped in extended trading on Wednesday after the networking company said it's cutting 7% of its global workforce …
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple says developers can offer NFC transactions using the iPhone's Secure Element, separate from Apple Pay, starting in iOS 18.1, with “associated fees”  —  Apple has announced that it is opening up the iPhone's NFC chip using the Secure Element to allow for third-party contactless payments …
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Images generated by Grok, like Barack Obama doing cocaine and Donald Trump and Kamala Harris with guns, go viral on X, raising questions about Grok's guardrails  —  xAI's Grok chatbot now lets you create images from text prompts and publish them to X — and so far, the rollout seems as chaotic …
Emilia David / VentureBeat:
Anthropic releases prompt caching, which lets developers cache frequently used context between API calls, in public beta on its API  —  Anthropic introduced prompt caching on its API, which remembers the context between API calls and allows developers to avoid repeating prompts.
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Sources: Sonos is considering relaunching its old mobile app as it works to improve the redesigned version, which launched in May 2024 to widespread criticism  —  Sonos has explored the possibility of rereleasing its previous mobile app for Android and iOS — a clear sign of what an ordeal the company's hurried redesign has become.
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
President Biden speaks at the first White House Creator Economy Conference, with about 100 startup founders, industry stakeholders, and creators in attendance  —  At the first ever White House Creator Economy Conference, the most popular man to drop by was not a TikTok superstar or a YouTube sensation.
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Daisuke Wakabayashi / New York Times:
A profile of Chinese self-driving startup WeRide, which is set for a US IPO as soon as this week; PitchBook: WeRide has raised $1.4B and was last valued at ~$5B  —  WeRide, a $5 billion software maker, is set for an I.P.O. amid geopolitical risks and a rush by Chinese automotive tech firms to raise money in the United States.
CNN:
A look at the five-person Gen Z team running Kamala Harris' TikTok account @KamalaHQ, capitalizing on the VP's viral moments and averaging 6M views per post  —  Vice President Kamala Harris, quoting her mother, told a group of newly sworn-in commissioners for a White House initiative …
Gavin Bonshor / AnandTech:
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X review: the Zen 5 flagship chips are fine for highly threaded productivity workloads, but the gaming issues need to be fixed  —  Earlier this month, AMD launched the first two desktop CPUs using their latest Zen 5 microarchitecture: the Ryzen 7 9700X and the Ryzen 5 9600X.
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
The main takeaway from the Google Pixel event is Android's primacy, and Google's integration with Android is worth preserving if the goal is spurring innovation  —  The original Pixel was released in 2016 at the end of interesting, at least when it came to smartphones.
Joanna Stern / Wall Street Journal:

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More News

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Stuart A. Thompson / New York Times:
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Earlier Picks

Joseph Menn / Washington Post:
Dara Kerr / NPR:
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Abner Li / 9to5Google: