Techmeme: Ant Group's profit grew ~193% YoY in the June quarter to $1.05B, reversing a year-long decline as it regains its footing from the Chinese government crackdown (Lulu Yilun Chen/Bloomberg)

Top News

Michael Kan / PCMag:

OpenAI makes the ChatGPT desktop app for Windows available to all users, following an October release limited to paying ChatGPT subscribers — Previously limited to ChatGPT Plus subscribers, the app opens a ‘companion window’ on your PC, allowing you to easily use the AI chatbot alongside any other Windows programs.

More: ZDNET, MSPoweruser, BetaNews, TestingCatalog, The Indian Express, Ghacks, Maginative, Thurrott, The Verge, Neowin, and TechRadar

X: @openai, @embirico, @kimmonismus, @ankushg, and @potatoarecool

Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:

OpenAI says the ChatGPT desktop app for macOS can now read code from some developer-focused apps, including VS Code, Xcode, TextEdit, Terminal, and iTerm2 — OpenAI's ChatGPT is starting to work with other apps on your computer. — On Thursday, the startup announced the ChatGPT desktop app …

More: 9to5Mac, MacRumors, BGR, O'Grady's PowerPage, iClarified, Redmond Pie, The Decoder, Tom's Guide, and VentureBeat

X: @openaidevs, @snazzylabs, @aqueelmiq, @stevenheidel, @edwinarbus, @dylanmatt, @rowancheung, @benhylak, @embirico, @gregmadison, and @koltregaskes. Forums: MacRumors Forums

Decrypt:

Eighteen GOP state AGs sue the SEC and its commissioners, including Gary Gensler, alleging crypto regulatory overreach without Congressional authorization — Ahead of an expected regulatory leadership transition following the election of Donald Trump, 18 states have filed suit against the Securities …

More: Fox Business, US Securities …, Inside Bitcoins, Protos, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Blockhead, FXStreet, Cryptonews, Coinspeaker, The Crypto Times, Benzinga, The Hill, ZeroHedge News, Cointelegraph, CryptoSlate, crypto.news, CoinGape, Cryptopolitan, and Watcher Guru

Financial Times:

Sources: the US FTC plans to investigate allegations that Microsoft is abusing its market power in productivity software to prevent customers from leaving Azure — FTC chair Lina Khan continues to pursue Big Tech in final days of Biden presidency — The Federal Trade Commission is preparing …

More: Computerworld, Tech Monitor, Silicon Republic, Reuters, Washington Post, Proactive, PYMNTS.com, Business Insider, SiliconANGLE, TechCrunch, Watcher Guru, New York Post, The Information, and Benzinga

Mastodon: @carnage4life@mas.to. X: @danielnewmanuv, @annmarie, @arashmassoudi, and @gerritd. Forums: Slashdot

Lulu Yilun Chen / Bloomberg:

Ant Group's profit grew ~193% YoY in the June quarter to $1.05B, reversing a year-long decline as it regains its footing from the Chinese government crackdown — - The Fintech company posted 7.5 billion in quarterly profit — Ant is seeking overseas and artificial intelligence expansion

More: Reuters

Ruxandra Iordache / CNBC:

Alibaba reports Q2 revenue up 5% YoY to ~$32.4B, below ~$32.7B est., and net income up 58% YoY to ~$6.07B due to the performance of its equity investments — Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba on Friday beat profit expectations in its September quarter, but sales fell short as sluggishness …

More: Nikkei Asia, South China Morning Post, Bloomberg, IG, Variety, Alibaba, and Barron's Online

Emma Roth / The Verge:

NASA partners with Microsoft to create Earth Copilot, an AI chatbot that can answer questions about the Earth using NASA's geospatial information — NASA is teaming up with Microsoft to create an AI chatbot designed to make it easier to access and understand scientific data about the Earth.

More: Microsoft, Business Standard, WinBuzzer, Digital Trends, Maginative, TweakTown, Benzinga, GeekWire, and Quartz

X: @satyanadella and @microsoft

Emma Roth / The Verge:

TikTok makes its AI ad creation tool, Symphony Creative Studio, available to all advertisers and adds the ability to use content from Getty Images with the tool — TikTok will let advertisers pull in content from Getty Images when using the platform's AI ad creation tool.

More: TikTok For Business, Getty Images Press Site, PhoneArena, Nairametrics, Digiday, Tech Xplore, PYMNTS.com, Social Media Today, Tech in Asia, Reuters, The Verge, and PCMag

X: @jasonxsigmon, @tiktokcomms, @gettyimages, and @marionawfal

Sabrina Willmer / Bloomberg:

Ilya Lichtenstein is sentenced to five years in prison for conspiring with his wife, Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan, to launder money from the 2016 Bitfinex hack — - Ilya Lichtenstein tried to launder proceeds of Bitfinex hack — His rapper wife ‘Razzlekahn’ is set to be sentenced on Monday

More: US Department of Justice, The Independent, BBC, Cybernews.com, Metro.co.uk, Associated Press, Coinspeaker, CCN.com, CNBC, The Hacker News, The Cyber Express, The Crypto Times, CoinDesk, Cryptopolitan, Coinpedia Fintech News, Axios, crypto.news, Cryptonews, Reuters, Decrypt, The Block, CoinGape, and Cointelegraph

Threads: @mgsiegler. X: @iamnomad and @lopp

Arasu Kannagi Basil / Reuters:

Chinese autonomous driving company Pony.ai aims to raise $195M in its US IPO, targeting a valuation of up to $4.48B — Pony AI is seeking a valuation of up to $4.48 billion in its U.S. initial public offering, it said on Thursday, as the Chinese self-driving firm moves ahead with its long-sought plan for a New York listing.

More: TechCrunch, Pandaily, Forbes, The Information, Bloomberg, MarketWatch, Investing.com, and Tech in Asia

Elizabeth Lopatto / The Verge:

Fake AI albums added to artists' pages are flooding Spotify to profit from royalty fraud, abusing a distribution process effectively based on the honor system — How fake music targets real artists. … I first noticed something weird when a HEALTH album dropped on my Spotify new release radar.

More: Spotify. Mastodon: @waxy@xoxo.zone. X: @johnspurlock and @jzellis

Forums: r/technews and r/technology

See also Mediagazer

Dag Spicer / CHM:

Thomas E. Kurtz, an American mathematician, computer scientist, and co-inventor of the BASIC programming language with John Kemeny, died at 96 on November 12 — 2023 CHM FELLOW — With deep sadness, we say goodbye to computer pioneer Thomas Kurtz. — Thomas Eugene Kurtz (Feb. 22 1928-Nov. 12 …

More: Legacy.com, BNN Bloomberg, and mjtsai.com

Forums: Hacker News, r/compsci, r/programming, r/retrobattlestations, and r/vintagecomputing

Financial Times:

A profile of Klarna and its CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski as it filed for a US IPO on November 13; investors hope Klarna can achieve a $150B-$200B valuation — Swedish entrepreneur born to Polish immigrants seeks to list the ‘buy now, pay later’ fintech in New York

More: FinTech Futures and Sifted

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:

Google plans to stop showing political ads to users in the EU in 2025 due to uncertainties around new transparency rules set to go into effect in October 2025 — Google has announced it will stop showing political ads to users in the European Union next year due to uncertainties around the bloc's new transparency regulations.

More: The Keyword, Forbes, Engadget, Cybernews.com, BetaNews, and The Register

Forums: r/hungary and r/technology

Jaspreet Singh / Reuters:

Applied Materials reports Q4 revenue up 5% YoY to $7.05B, vs. $6.95B est., and forecasts Q1 revenue below estimates; AMAT drops 5%+ after hours — Applied Materials (AMAT.O) forecast first-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates on Thursday, a sign of sluggish demand …

More: Tech Monitor, Applied Materials, Seeking Alpha, Wall Street Journal, CNBC Television on YouTube, SiliconANGLE, Bloomberg, Investor's Business Daily, Benzinga, and Barron's Online

Will Knight / Wired:

How Physical Intelligence is trying to give robots a humanlike understanding of the physical world by feeding data from robots doing tasks into its AI model — Physical Intelligence has assembled an all-star team and raised $400 million on the promise of a stunning breakthrough in how robots learn.

X: @evankirstel and @willknight

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:

François Chollet, the AI pioneer who created Keras, says he is leaving Google after nearly 10 years to start a company with a friend, but doesn't offer details — François Chollet, a leading figure in the AI world, is leaving Google after close to a decade.

More: Google Developers Blog, The Indian Express, Analytics India Magazine, Tech in Asia, Neowin, and The Decoder

X: @fchollet, @googledevs, @lexfridman, @a_k_nain, and @shaneguml

Forums: Hacker News and Slashdot

Yifan Yu / Nikkei Asia:

Biden admin finalizes its $6.6B CHIPS Act grant to TSMC; money will be disbursed in stages and TSMC is expected to receive at least $1B by the end of 2024 — LIMA, Peru — The Biden administration has finalized its $6.6 billion CHIPS Act grant to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. …

More: Reuters, The White House, Phoenix Business Journal, Financial Times, PhoneArena, Wccftech, Bloomberg, New York Times, Maginative, Semafor, and DigiTimes

Financial Times:

Grubhub co-founder Matt Maloney says he led an effort to buy Grubhub for $1B+ around the start of 2024 and in 2022; Wonder bought Grubhub for $650M on Nov. 13 — Revelation comes days after Dutch group announced sale of its US subsidiary for $650mn — The founder of Grubhub said he twice attempted …

More: Retail TouchPoints

David Shepardson / Reuters:

The US DOJ says Cruise admits to submitting a false report to influence an investigation into an October 2023 crash with a pedestrian and will pay a $500K fine — General Motors' (GM.N) self-driving car unit, Cruise, admitted on Thursday to submitting a false report to influence …

More: Benzinga, KTVU-TV, East Bay Times, Washington Post, US Department of Justice, The San Francisco Standard, NBC Bay Area, CBS News, San Francisco Chronicle, and Forbes

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