Techmeme: Analysis: London police used facial recognition 117 times in 2024 to August, up from 32 times total from 2020 to 2023; ~770,966 people were scanned since 2020 (Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu/Financial Times)

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October 3, 2024, 9:05 AM

Top News

Ina Fried / Axios:

OpenAI raised $6.6B led by Thrive Capital, the largest VC deal of all time, valuing it at $157B, with participation from Microsoft, Nvidia, SoftBank, and others — - Not taking part, a source confirms, is Apple, which reportedly had been in talks to invest.

More: Wall Street Journal, Reuters, OpenAI, Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At, CNBC, The Information, Barron's Online, The Verge, Tech Funding News, Proactive, PhoneArena, Business Insider, Bloomberg, SmartCompany, SFist, The Information, iPhone in Canada Blog, PaymentSecurity.io, Maginative, Fortune, PYMNTS.com, VentureBeat, Nairametrics, Forbes, Engadget, GeekWire, Capital Brief, Crypto Briefing, Spyglass, San Francisco Business Times, Deadline, Futurism, Quartz, and TechCrunch

Threads: @alexkantrowitz. Bluesky: @glinden.bsky.social. X: @elonmusk, @danprimack, @garymarcus, @edzitron, @garymarcus, @jason, @modestproposal1, @edzitron, @kateclarktweets, @alice_comfy, @coryweinberg, @stephenfleming, @azeem, @peter_atwater, @scobleizer, @andrewcurran_, @amitisinvesting, and @jason

LinkedIn: Emil Protalinski and Matt Kroll

Forums: r/OpenAI, r/mlscaling, and r/singularity

Richard Waters / Financial Times:

As Satya Nadella says AI models are becoming “more of a commodity”, OpenAI faces formidable challenges, including burning $5B+ in 2024 and intense competition

X: @tonytassell

Rosie Bradbury / PitchBook:

Analysis: OpenAI, the third-most valuable VC-backed company after ByteDance and SpaceX, is now worth far more than any VC-backed startup at the time of its IPO

More: Bloomberg

Cade Metz / New York Times:

Source: Thrive invested ~$1.3B in OpenAI's $6.6B round, with an exclusive option to invest up to $1B more at the same $157B valuation through 2025

Financial Times:

Sources: OpenAI has asked investors to avoid backing rival startups such as Anthropic and xAI, an exclusive funding arrangement to keep its generative AI lead

More: Reuters, Computerworld, The Mirror, San Francisco Business Times, ITPro, CCN.com, Los Angeles Times, Neowin, The Decoder, San Francisco Chronicle, Business Insider, SFGATE, The Register, Benzinga, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Wccftech, Tech Xplore, and Semafor

Bluesky: @zitron.bsky.social. X: @smokeawayyy, @deedydas, @loudmouthjulia, @luke_metro, @inartecarlodoss, @marvintbaumann, @elonmusk, @rabois, @eringriffith, @sawyermerritt, @8teapi, @mikeisaac, and @bgurley. Forums: r/ChatGPT

Joseph Cox / 404 Media:

Two Harvard students demo using Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, PimEyes, and other tools to instantly identify strangers' names, phone numbers, addresses, and more — The technology, which marries Meta's smart Ray Ban glasses with the facial recognition service Pimeyes and some other tools …

More: The Verge, Ars Technica, TechCrunch, PCMag, Engadget, Daily Mail, WinBuzzer, TechSpot, CryptoGlobe, Spyglass, Android Headlines, Android Police, Benzinga, Kotaku, How-To Geek, Six Colors, MacRumors, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, and I-XRAY

Threads: @alexheath, @matthewraifman, @jendiagammon, and @jank0

Mastodon: @benschwarz@front-end.social, @Jessicascott09@infosec …, @mvsde@mastodon.social, @ErikJonker@mastodon.social, @sawaba@infosec.exchange, @sawaba@infosec.exchange, @codepo8@toot.cafe, and @josephcox@infosec.exchange

Bluesky: @polotek.bsky.social, @ishigh.lol, @jameskelleher.pilcrow.ie, @wolvendamien.bsky.social, @golikehellmachine.com, @vmcntosh.bsky.social, and @napsandsarcasm.bsky.social

X: @anhphunguyen1, @jsrailton, @jsrailton, @autismcapital, @josephfcox, @iterintellectus, @burhanplays, @anhphunguyen1, @daniellefong, @iterintellectus, @kentbye, @adamcohenhillel, and @comicsbyvien

Forums: Hacker News, r/gadgets, r/LinusTechTips, r/technology, r/gadgets, r/technews, r/ABoringDystopia, r/Futurology, r/singularity, Ars OpenForum, and MacRumors Forums

Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:

Researchers: hackers are actively exploiting an RCE vulnerability in Zimbra email servers, disclosed on September 27, triggered by emailing the SMTP server — Hackers are actively exploiting a recently disclosed RCE vulnerability in Zimbra email servers that can be triggered simply …

More: ProjectDiscovery Blog, Zimbra, Ars Technica, The Cyber Express, Schneier on Security, SC Media, and The Record

Mastodon: @wdormann@infosec.exchange, @wdormann@infosec.exchange, @dangoodin@infosec.exchange, and @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social

X: @threatinsight, @justicerage, and @binitamshah

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:

WP Engine files a lawsuit in California against Automattic and WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg, accusing them of “abuse of power, extortion, and greed” — Web hosting provider WP Engine has filed a lawsuit against Automattic, and WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg, accusing them of extortion and abuse of power.

Emma Roth / The Verge:

Automattic demanded an 8% cut of WP Engine's monthly revenue to use the WordPress trademark in a seven-year deal proposed on September 20; WP Engine declined

More: Dries Buytaert, Werd I/O, and The New Stack

Mastodon: @j12t@j12t.social. X: @quinnypig, @dcurtis, @ozskier, @crowdersoup, @jeffseverson, @hashim_warren, @automattic, @ryancduff, @tealou, @photomatt, and @bwhalley

Forums: Hacker News and r/Wordpress

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:05 AM ET, October 3, 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.

From Mediagazer

Dominick Mastrangelo / The Hill:

President Trump told reporters “it's imperative” for CNN to be sold: “Any deal it should be guaranteed and certain that CNN is part of it or sold separately”

Ashley Capoot / CNBC:

Disney and OpenAI sign a three-year deal to bring 200+ Disney characters to Sora; Disney makes a $1B investment in OpenAI and will become a major OpenAI client

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Mirror Editor-in-Chief Caroline Waterston steps down after less than two years, to be succeeded by Chloe Hubbard, currently UK editor at The Independent

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More News

Bloomberg:

Analysis: Nvidia execs and directors have sold nearly 11M shares, worth $1.8B+, in 2024 so far, the most since at least 2020; there are 24.5B outstanding shares

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Barcelona-based Submer, which submerges data center server racks in its proprietary coolant, raised a $55.5M Series C at a ~$500M post-money valuation

More: DatacenterDynamics, EU-Startups, Tech Funding News, Silicon Canals, and Tech.eu

Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu / Financial Times:

Analysis: London police used facial recognition 117 times in 2024 to August, up from 32 times total from 2020 to 2023; ~770,966 people were scanned since 2020

X: @1br0wn, @libertyhq, and @bigbrotherwatch

Bloomberg:

How chips made by US companies like Analog Devices, Germany's Infineon, and others power Russian missiles used to attack Ukraine, despite US export controls

Mastodon: @hanse_mina@mastodon.social. X: @rfriedman305 and @stephanibaker

Hyung-Jin Kim / Associated Press:

A look at the prevalence of deepfake porn in South Korea, where its parliament has revised a law to make watching or possessing deepfake porn content illegal

X: @hyungjin1972, @kimtonghyung, and @hyungjin1972

Chris Tapsell / Eurogamer.net:

An in-depth account of how CD Projekt Red recovered from the disastrous launch of Cyberpunk 2077, using a fully parallelized engine to test and resolve issues

X: @paultassi, @christapsell, and @riotrmd. Forums: r/xbox

Teresa Xie / Bloomberg:

Dogecoin has become surprisingly popular among businesses looking to accept crypto for real-world purchases, largely due to the memecoin's low transaction costs

More: Bitcoinist.com

Jordan Novet / CNBC:

Analysis: Microsoft's finance leases, mainly for data centers and set to start between FY 2025 and FY 2030, have risen by nearly $100B in two years to $108.4B

X: @jessefelder, @spirosmargaris, @sarbjeetjohal, and @jordannovet

LinkedIn: Dan Rabinovitz, Chris Ward-Jones, Kenneth Chan, and CNBC. Forums: r/artificial

Earlier Picks

James Hale / Tubefilter:

Twitch now includes raids, which lets streamers who are going offline send viewers to others, in its average viewer count, easing the path to becoming a Partner

More: Game Rant and The Mozilla Blog. X: @itswoori

Sam Kessler / CoinDesk:

Investigation: over a dozen crypto companies unknowingly hired North Korean IT workers who used fake IDs, successfully navigated interviews, and passed checks

Bluesky: @justinhendrix.bsky.social. X: @skesslr and @skesslr

Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:

A US judge temporarily blocks California's AG from enforcing AB 2839, which Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law on September 17 to remove election deepfakes

More: TradingView, Cointelegraph, Benzinga, The Gateway Pundit, San Francisco Chronicle, Reclaim The Net, Reason, and KTVU-TV. X: @daphnehk

David Shepardson / Reuters:

President Biden signs legislation that will exempt some US chip manufacturing facilities receiving government subsidies from federal environmental reviews

More: Benzinga, The Hill, and Forbes

X: @levie and @bgurley. LinkedIn: Peter Cleveland

Bloomberg:

Poolside, which is building AI-assisted software development tools, raised a $500M Series B led by Bain Capital Ventures, reportedly at a $3B valuation

More: TechCrunch, Tech Funding News, poolside, TNW, poolside, SiliconANGLE, Sifted, and FinSMEs

X: @asenkut, @terronk, @danprimack, @almonk, @almonk, @liamboogar, @pengmingwang, @ericabrescia, @redpoint, and @jacobeffron

Abner Li / 9to5Google:

Google updates Gmail for Android and iOS with new summary cards that are more glanceable and actionable and a new “Happening soon” section above the inbox

Kevin Roose / New York Times:

Some iOS developers worry an iOS 18 change, which lets users choose contacts an app can access, may make growing social apps hard; Apple says it boosts privacy

More: 9to5Mac, Pixel Envy, TechIssuesToday.com, Scott Helme, XDA Developers, and OS X Daily

Threads: @sean.hodgdon. X: @nikitabier, @mysk_co, @matthiasmartn, and @baekdal. LinkedIn: Dr. Jennifer King

Forums: Hacker News, r/technology, and Slashdot

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft releases a $150 standalone version of Office 2024 for consumers and SMBs, with core app updates and UI changes; the last standalone was Office 2021

More: Microsoft 365 Blog, Macworld, O'Grady's PowerPage, Gizchina.com, MSPoweruser, iDownloadBlog.com, 9to5Toys, Tom's Guide, New York Post, and Ars Technica

X: @benlovejoy and @tomwarren. Forums: r/apple