Techmeme: The FCC says Lingo Telecom agreed to pay a $1M fine after the FCC said Lingo made fake robocalls imitating President Biden in New Hampshire to dissuade voting (David Shepardson/Reuters)

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August 22, 2024, 3:55 PM

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Financial Times:

Italian officials: divers recover UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch's body from the wreckage of superyacht Bayesian, which sank three days ago off Sicily's coast — Christopher Morvillo, Jonathan Bloomer and their wives died after vessel sank on Monday — The bodies of UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch …

More: Reuters, Bloomberg, The Verge, Fortune, The Guardian, CNBC, New York Times, Telegraph, CNN, Business Insider, ComputerWeekly.com, TNW, Wired, Forbes, Sky News, UPI, London Evening Standard, New York Times, The Sun, The Indian Express, BusinessLIVE, USA Today, New York Post, Agence France-Presse, NBC News, and NPR

X: @lordjohnbrowne, @davidyelland, @iankingsky, and @adamnflanagan. Forums: r/uknews

Financial Times:

Mike Lynch experienced some of the most extreme career highs and lows of any UK tech entrepreneur, selling Autonomy for $11B to HP before a 12-year legal ordeal

More: Washington Post, London Evening Standard, Associated Press, The Independent, CNBC, TNW, The Stack, The Economist, Engadget, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and TechCrunch

X: @johnrentoul, @tabizel, and @arthistorynews

Trisha Thadani / Washington Post:

Court filing: the unsealed list of X Holdings shareholders names nearly 100 entities, such as 8VC, Italy-based UnipolSai, and a fund tied to Sean “Diddy” Combs — A court filing obtained by The Post lists which firms and individuals have a financial stake in the platform.

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:

Apple unveils iOS 18 changes to comply with the EU's DMA: browser choice screen updates, more default app settings, and letting users delete some system apps — Apple has announced another set of changes to its App Store and iPhone changes in the European Union.

More: Apple Developer, MacRumors, OSnews, Reuters, Forbes, Thurrott, Macworld, The Verge, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, AppleInsider, MacStories, PocketGamer.biz, Neowin, mjtsai.com, iClarified, iMore, Spyglass, Computerworld, and Apple Must

Threads: @viticci, @benedictevans, @mgsiegler, and @markgurman

X: @timsweeneyepic and @mysk_co

Sarah McBride / Bloomberg:

Neuralink says its second human implant surgery “went well” and that the patient, who has a spinal cord injury, can design 3D objects and play Counter-Strike 2 — Google Taps AI to Revamp Costly Health-Care Push Marred by Flops … Hello World

More: Neuralink Blog, Wall Street Journal, HotHardware, VICE, ExtremeTech, Digital Trends, Tom's Hardware, iPhone in Canada Blog, PC Gamer, Gizmodo, Business Insider, Livemint, Dexerto, TweakTown, London Evening Standard, and PCMag

X: @elonmusk, @nickadobos, @sawyermerritt, @ajtourville, and @iterintellectus. LinkedIn: Emil Protalinski

Forums: r/technology, r/OptimistsUnite, and r/Neuralink

David Shepardson / Reuters:

The FCC says Lingo Telecom agreed to pay a $1M fine after the FCC said Lingo made fake robocalls imitating President Biden in New Hampshire to dissuade voting — Lingo Telecom agreed to pay a $1 million fine after the agency said it transmitted fake robocalls imitating President Joe Biden seeking …

Hayden Field / CNBC:

In a pitch deck, AI search engine Perplexity told advertisers it plans to start running ads in Q4; a source says Perplexity's CPM prices will be $50+ — Perplexity AI, the artificial intelligence startup that's been embroiled in controversy due to accusations of plagiarizing content from media outlets …

More: Reuters, TVNewsCheck, and Adweek

X: @kyliebytes, @kyliebytes, and @haydenfield

See also Mediagazer

Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:

The US charges Deniss Zolotarjovs, a member of the Russian Karakurt ransomware group that has ties to Conti, with money laundering, wire fraud, and extortion — A member of the Russian Karakurt ransomware group has been charged in the U.S. for money laundering, wire fraud, and extortion crimes.

More: US Department of Justice, The Record, and The Verge

Olga Kharif / Bloomberg:

NFT marketplace Magic Eden launches a mobile wallet app and will begin using a token to be issued by a foundation that supports the Magic Eden ecosystem — - Platform will now allow token swapping from a mobile app — App will enable swapping of assets across five blockchains

More: ME Foundation, Blockworks, Decrypt, NFTgators, Cryptonews, CryptoGlobe, GlobeNewswire News Room, DL News, Bitcoin Insider, CoinGape, and Cointelegraph. X: @mefndn

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:

LiteSpeed Cache, the top WordPress site acceleration plugin, had a critical flaw that left sites open to takeover attacks; 2M+ sites are likely still vulnerable — A critical vulnerability in the LiteSpeed Cache WordPress plugin can let attackers take over millions of websites after creating rogue admin accounts.

More: Patchstack, Wordfence, SC Media, Tech Monitor, TechRadar, SecurityWeek, The Hacker News, and Infosecurity

X: @wordfence and @darius_fx

Jody Godoy / Reuters:

An appeals court revived Washington, DC's antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, saying it plausibly claimed Amazon's pricing policies illegally stifle competition — An appeals court in Washington, D.C. revived the district's lawsuit against Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) on Thursday …

More: Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Engadget, and The Register

X: @dcattorneygen and @dcattorneygen

Billy Perrigo / TIME:

Letter and sources: nearly 200 workers at Google DeepMind, or ~5% of its overall headcount, signed a letter dated May 16 calling to drop its military contracts — Nearly 200 workers inside Google DeepMind, the company's AI division, signed a letter calling on the tech giant to drop its contracts …

More: Engadget and The Verge

X: @verambergen and @billyperrigo

Michael Gwilliam / Dexerto:

Twitch plans to raise its new Tier 1 sub and gift sub prices on mobile in 40+ countries on October 1; in an email, Twitch says Tier 1 will rise by $2 to $7.99 — Twitch has announced yet another increase to the price of subs after already raising the cost earlier in the summer.

More: The Verge, PCMag, Android Authority, 9to5Mac, Neowin, TalkAndroid.com, PhoneArena, Engadget, Game Rant, and Dot Esports

X: @twitchsupport. Forums: r/Twitch and r/LivestreamFail

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:

Meta confirms users can now cross-post from Instagram and Facebook to Threads globally, after rolling out Instagram and Facebook cross-posting in 2021 — Meta for months has been experimenting with letting people cross-post from Instagram and Facebook to Threads, its social networking platform competing …

More: Thurrott and 9to5Mac

Mia Sato / The Verge:

Instagram announces a Myspace-like feature to let users add 30 seconds of a song to their profile from Instagram's library of music; the songs won't autoplay — A new feature announced by Instagram today will allow users to add a song on their profile — much like Myspace in the early 2000s.

More: TechCrunch, Android Headlines, iPhone in Canada Blog, Trusted Reviews, USA Today, Engadget, UPROXX, Mashable, The Hollywood Reporter, and Tubefilter

Threads: @mgsiegler. X: @metanewsroom

Cory Weinberg / The Information:

Sources: Stripe plans a tender offer to buy back shares held by current employees with its own cash; Stripe is offering $27.51/share, implying a $70B valuation — Stripe is planning a new tender offer to buy back shares held by employees, but it will finance this one entirely with its own cash, unlike in previous employee tenders.

More: Bloomberg. X: @coryweinberg

Makena Kelly / Wired:

The Kamala Harris campaign launches a Twitch channel, and plans to stream her DNC address there; the campaign has hired 175+ staff to work across digital — Kamala Harris has launched a new Twitch channel as a part of the Democratic campaign's broader strategy for engaging young voters online.

More: The Hill, The Verge, Dexerto, Dot Esports, Adweek, and Fox News

X: @michaelslinden. Forums: r/inthenews, r/KamalaHarris, r/politics, and r/democrats

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Dublin, California-based Opkey, which provides AI-based ERP testing software, raised a $47M Series B led by PeakSpan Capital — Companies are experimenting with services like ChatGPT to help workers write memos, answer questions, and much more. Yet, one of the clearest signs of how much traction AI …

More: SiliconANGLE, FinSMEs, VC News Daily, and VCCircle. Threads: @crumbler

Caroline Haskins / Wired:

A look at the facial recognition systems now common at major league sporting venues, like MLB's Go-Ahead Entry, as privacy advocates protest and raise concerns — Protesters took to Citi Field Wednesday to raise awareness of the facial recognition systems that have become common at major league sporting venues.

More: NBC News and Reuters

Forums: r/technews and r/technology

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:

A look at the interoperability challenges to the adoption of the C2PA's authentication and attribution standard, including few cameras supporting C2PA metadata — Big tech companies are backing the C2PA's authentication standard, but they're taking too long to put it to use.

More: TVNewsCheck. Threads: @reckless1280. X: @slyon66 and @truepic

Wall Street Journal:

Researchers: a network of 200+ Russia-linked X accounts shows how Russian trolls are trying to go viral, including low-quality, high-volume replies to Elon Musk — Kremlin-backed influence network has sought engagement with Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr. and other influential accounts

X: @mathewjschwartz and @dnvolz

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From Mediagazer

@nytimespr:

A NYT headline on Friday “misstated” NATO's full name as the “North American Treaty Organization”; the NYT says a correction appears in Saturday's print edition

The Hollywood Reporter:

The WGA and AMPTP reach a tentative four-year agreement, up from WGA's usual three-year deal; it includes AI training protection and health plan increases

Elex Michaelson / CNN:

An interview with TMZ's Harvey Levin about the OWTA movement he says TMZ started, shaming lawmakers using audience's photos, like Lindsey Graham at Disney World

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Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:

India's Open Network for Digital Commerce expands into financial services, starting with APIs for digital lending, and adds nine lending service providers

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Gillian Tan / Bloomberg:

Ticketing service TickPick raised $250M from Brighton Park, which now has a majority stake, and Symphony; the app has 2M MAUs and processes nearly $1B annually

More: Front Office Sports. LinkedIn: Christopher O'Brien

Akash Sriram / Reuters:

The US NHTSA closes a preliminary probe into Cruise's hard-braking and immobilization issues in 1,194 autonomous ride-hailing cars, after Cruise made updates

More: Ars Technica, Silicon Republic, Fast Company, TechCrunch, WZZM-TV, The Verge, Self Drive News, Reuters, Benzinga, and BusinessLIVE

CNBC:

Chinese self-driving startup WeRide delays its planned IPO in the US, citing its need for more time to complete documents, after filing for an IPO in July 2024

More: Bloomberg, TechCrunch, Axios, South China Morning Post, Cautious Optimism, and Benzinga

James Mayger / Bloomberg:

Chinese government data: Chinese companies imported $25.9B of chip machinery from January to July 2024, vs. $23.8B in 2021, $21.6B in 2022, and $18B in 2023

More: BNN Bloomberg and Tom's Hardware

Reuters:

Interviews with dozens of Byju's staff and other sources show a growing sense of desperation, as its insolvency proceeds; some staff weigh their legal options

More: Livemint, Moneycontrol, The Economic Times, and Tech Startups

X: @ashwinm_, @munsifv, @ashwinm_, @dhanyatweets, @ashwinm_, and @ashwinm_

Camilla Hodgson / Financial Times:

Microsoft, Amazon, and others plan to turn old power stations and industrial sites into data centers, as land and power in many markets are heavily constrained

More: Ars Technica and The Information

Bloomberg:

Walmart's China business is booming, driven by its Sam's Club memberships; Walmart says e-commerce orders delivered within one hour rose 28% to 59M last quarter

More: Reuters, TechNode, Tech Startups, The Register, Capital Brief, PYMNTS.com, Financial Times, and New York Times

Earlier Picks

Reuters:

Baidu reports Q2 revenue flat YoY to ~$4.67B, vs. ~$4.7B est., net income down 8% YoY to ~$1B, vs. ~$900M est., online marketing revenue down 2% YoY to ~$2.7B

More: Baidu Inc, South China Morning Post, Bloomberg, Investor's Business Daily, Tech Xplore, and Benzinga

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Zomato acquires Paytm's entertainment ticketing business for $244.1M; the division contributed ~9% to Paytm's overall revenue in Q1 2024 and 4% in FY 2024

More: MEDIANAMA, Moneycontrol, Inc42 Media, Business Today, The Economic Times, Reuters, PYMNTS.com, Entrackr, The Indian Express, and Bloomberg

Shirin Ghaffary / Bloomberg:

In a letter to Senator Scott Wiener, OpenAI says California's AI safety bill would hurt innovation and that AI safety regulation should be on the federal level

Politico:

Google and California strike a deal to jointly contribute $125M+ over five years to support local news; the deal also includes support for an AI project

Brody Ford / Bloomberg:

Zoom reports Q2 revenue up 2.1% YoY to $1.16B, vs. $1.15B est., enterprise revenue up 3.5% YoY to $682.8M, and a Q3 revenue forecast beating estimates

More: The Register, Zoom Video Communications …, Constellation Research, Barron's Online, Tech Monitor, Proactive, Reuters, Investing.com, Investor's Business Daily, The Information, SiliconANGLE, and Reuters

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft says Recall will be available to Windows Insiders in October 2024, after delaying the AI feature's launch in June over security and privacy concerns

Brendan Pedersen / Punchbowl News:

Public Citizen: crypto companies spent $119M+ in the 2024 election cycle through Q2, or 48% of all corporate money, an “unprecedented” election spending spree

More: Public Citizen, DL News, Decrypt, The Hill, Axios, CryptoSlate, CoinDesk, crypto.news, Cointelegraph, Washington Times, and CryptoGlobe

X: @public_citizen, @maxasteele, and @brendanpedersen

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:

Samsung unveils a new Odyssey gaming monitor lineup that uses eye-tracking tech to convert 2D visuals into glasses-free 3D, set for release “within this year”