Techmeme
December 5, 2024, 1:05 PM

Top News

Allison Johnson / The Verge:
Google releases Android 15's first major update, including expressive video captions, Spotify extension for Gemini, and Screenshots app updates for the Pixel 9  —  New features for all eligible Android phones include more descriptive video captions, a Gemini-powered update to the Lookout app, and a Spotify extension for Gemini.
Zaheer Kachwala / Reuters:
Helen Partz / Cointelegraph:
Bitcoin passes $100K for the first time after rallying 126%+ since January 2024, driven by Bitcoin ETF demand, April's halving, and Donald Trump's election win  —  Bitcoin has rallied 126% since January to reach $100,000, driven by Bitcoin ETF demand, April's halving and Donald Trump's US election win.
New York Times:
At the DealBook Summit, Jeff Bezos said he is “very hopeful” about President-elect Donald Trump, and praised his deregulatory agenda and Elon Musk's leadership  —  The Amazon founder said he saw signs of a “calmer” Donald J. Trump on the eve of his return to the White House.
Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
Microsoft and Lumen's Black Lotus Labs find Russia-linked Turla hackers hijacked Pakistan-based hackers' servers to launch their own attacks since December 2022  —  The notorious Russian cyber-espionage group Turla is hacking other hackers, hijacking the Pakistani threat actor Storm-0156's infrastructure …
Jillian Deutsch / Bloomberg:
The UK CMA clears the £15B Vodafone-Three deal after a 10-month inquiry, subject to investing £11B in UK digital infrastructure, creating the UK's biggest telco  —  - CMA approved the merger with Three in UK on Thursday  — Europe's telcos have spent years lobbying for consolidation
Tom Mitchelhill / Cointelegraph:
Viral influencer Haliey Welch's Hawk Tuah memecoin sparks outrage across social media as it briefly pumped to a peak market cap of $490M and then dumped 90%+  —  Haliey Welch's memecoin HAWK has plunged 90% since its launch, though Welch has denied any insider sales from herself or her team.
Reuters:
Sources: TSMC is in discussions with Nvidia to make its Blackwell AI chips at TSMC's new Arizona plant starting in early 2025, expanding on production in Taiwan  —  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (2330.TW) is in discussions with Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) to produce its Blackwell artificial …
New York Times:
Trump picks former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins, who is seen as a strong advocate for looser regulation of crypto assets, to succeed Gary Gensler as SEC Chair  —  Mr. Atkins, a pro-business conservative, would likely take a lighter regulatory approach than the current chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Microsoft rolls out Copilot Vision in preview to analyze text and images on webpages and answer queries, starting with some Copilot Pro users in the US  —  Microsoft's AI can now read your screen — or rather, the websites you're browsing.  —  On Thursday, the company began rolling out a limited …
Charles Rollet / TechCrunch:
Three of Google's NotebookLM team members, lead Raiza Martin, a designer, and an engineer, are leaving to launch a startup focused on “a user-first AI product”  —  Three members of Google's NotebookLM team, including its team lead and designer, have announced they are leaving Google for a new stealth startup.
Greg Otto / CyberScoop:
The White House says the Salt Typhoon hack has impacted eight telecom companies in the US, and also affected dozens of other countries, for as long as two years  —  A senior administration official said Wednesday the Salt Typhoon hack has impacted dozens of countries in a sweeping espionage campaign
Reuters:
Meta plans to invest $10B to build an AI data center in Louisiana, in what would be its largest data center in the world, and expects work to start in December  —  Facebook-parent Meta (META.O) said on Wednesday it plans to invest $10 billion to set up an AI data center in Louisiana …
Simon Willison / Simon Willison's Weblog:
Alice Kantor / Bloomberg:
US authorities: Dubai has quietly become a leading home for crypto scamming in the past decade, including Ponzi and pyramid schemes that made $3.4B+ since 2017  —  Ponzi and pyramid schemes dressed in startup clothes have been running rampant in the UAE, experts and US authorities say.
Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:
Q&A with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on his “Machines of Loving Grace” essay, AI industry concentration, why democracies must maintain the lead in AI, and more  —  Co-founder of leading AI start-up sees potential to help free states counter autocracies, as well as exploring biological complexity
More: Reuters
Jordyn Holman / New York Times:
A look at the fulfillment networks of Amazon, Walmart, and Target for same-day or next-day delivery; Walmart says it now offers same-day to 86% of US households  —  Retailers like Amazon, Walmart and Target have figured out that if they get you your online order today, you will probably spend more tomorrow.

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Reuters:

Earlier Picks

Scott Stein / CNET:
Financial Times:
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: