Techmeme
October 17, 2024, 11:35 AM

Top News

Financial Times:
Sources: last week, Meta fired ~24 staff in LA for using $25 meal credits to buy household items, as it restructures WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs teams  —  The terminations took place last week, just days before the $1.5tn social media company separately began restructuring certain …
Bloomberg:
Kevin Purdy / Ars Technica:
Winamp owner Llama Group deletes the GitHub repository of the legacy player's source code posted on September 24, following criticism on the way it was released  —  Winamp, through its Belgian owner Llama Group, posted the source for its “Legacy Player Code” on September 24 so that developers could …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
On Apple Pay's 10th anniversary, Apple adds support for Klarna in the US and UK and plans to expand installment loan options and add reward redemptions  —  On Thursday, Apple celebrated 10 years with Apple Pay and announced how the service will evolve in the future, including the future addition …
Jane Lanhee Lee / Bloomberg:
Virginia Heffernan / Wired:
Q&A with Marissa Mayer on AI, her startup Sunshine, its Shine app, Google News, Yahoo, selling to Verizon, Yahoo Weather, feminism, being a geek, and more  —  She was the 20th hire at Google, then the head of Yahoo, and now the CEO of Sunshine.  For Mayer, geekery supersedes gender.
Forums: Hacker News
Klara Durand / Politico:
Paris Court of Appeal orders complete blocks of several porn websites, including Xhamster, for their failure to roll out solid age verification systems.  —  The sites have 15 days to implement effective age controls.  —  This article is also available in: French
The Verge:
Filing: Google asks the US 9th Circuit for an emergency stay on the Epic ruling, saying the short time it was given to make Play Store changes risks user safety  —  The company says the imminent deadline to implement changes gives it little time to try to mitigate ‘serious risks.’
Joseph Menn / Washington Post:
The US charges two Sudanese brothers with running Anonymous Sudan, a cyberattack-for-hire gang allegedly responsible for 35,000 DDoS attacks in a single year  —  Government says two brothers targeted big U.S. corporations, a hospital and an Israeli defense system in a mostly ideologically driven operation.
Washington Post:
Instagram rolls out new settings to fight sextortion, like hiding teens' follower lists from potential blackmailers; Meta says the crime is becoming more common  —  Scammers are targeting teens by getting hold of their intimate photos.  —  Instagram says it's rolling out a suite of new settings …
Financial Times:
Sources: Uber has explored a possible bid for Expedia as it seeks to grow into a super app; Expedia, valued at nearly $20B, would be Uber's largest acquisition  —  Buying the travel website would be the ride-hailing group's biggest deal as it looks to diversify
Jessie Yeung / CNN:
Hong Kong police arrested 24+ members of an alleged pig butchering crime ring, which they say used deepfake AI to lure its victims across Asia and raked in $46M  —  Hong Kong CNN —  She appeared to be a beautiful woman and in the minds of men across Asia, the video calls they spoke on confirmed their newfound love was real.
Financial Times:
How machine learning could have transformative effects on Africa's developing economies and societies, as some critics worry over a deepening digital divide  —  Machine learning could have transformative effects on developing economies and societies.  But some fear a deepening digital divide
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Apple expands Apple Business Connect to let businesses, including those without a physical location, manage their presence in Mail, Phone, and Tap to Pay  —  Apple on Wednesday announced an expanded series of tools that will allow businesses to increase their visibility on Apple's platforms via its free service, Apple Business Connect.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Amazon discontinues the Kindle Oasis, which was the only Kindle still available with physical page-turn buttons, introduced in 2016 and last refreshed in 2019  —  Amazon has discontinued the Kindle Oasis, which was the only Kindle still available with physical page-turn buttons.
Sheena Vasani / The Verge:

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify's new AI commerce stack  —  Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Zoho:
Zoho Webinar: A look back at 2025  —  As 2025 comes to a close, it's the perfect time to look back at how Zoho Webinar has transformed the way businesses connect, engage, and grow.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box 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:
'A Naughty Citizen', With Quinn Nelson
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.
Big Technology Podcast:
2025 In Review, 2026 Predictions — With Reed Albergotti
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Podcast Pioneer PJ Vogt's Second Act: Less Budget, More Control
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.
BG2 Pod:
AI Enterprise - Databricks & Glean
Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner.
Subscribe to BG2 Pod.
Great Chat:
The stories we told ourselves in 2025
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.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
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 11:35 AM ET, October 17, 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

Google Online Security Blog:
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:

Earlier Picks

Reuters:
Chester Dawson / Bloomberg:
RT Watson / The Block:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: