Techmeme: Donald Trump announces Scott Kupor, a managing partner at a16z, will serve as director of OPM, and Michael Kratsios will serve as the White House OSTP director (Annie Palmer/CNBC)

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December 24, 2024, 10:45 AM

Top News

Sheldon Reback / CoinDesk:

US and Japanese law enforcement say North Korean hackers were responsible for stealing 4,502.9 bitcoin, worth $308M, from Japanese exchange DMM in May 2024 — The $308 million hack of Japanese crypto exchange DMM in May was the work of North Korean hackers, the U.S. and Japanese law enforcement agencies said Monday.

More: Federal Bureau …, BleepingComputer, Coinspeaker, Coinpedia Fintech News, Cointelegraph, Cryptonews, crypto.news, CCN.com, The Cyber Express, and CryptoSlate

X: @fbi, @cheenanet, and @tayvano_

Muyao Shen / Bloomberg:

Hashed: Hyperliquid, the top DeFi derivatives exchange by volume, had $112M+ of USDC outflows on December 23, over concerns of trading by North Korean hackers — - Hyperliquid is the largest DeFi derivatives exchange by volume — Security expert says Hyperliquid faces threat from North Korea

Annie Palmer / CNBC:

Donald Trump announces Scott Kupor, a managing partner at a16z, will serve as director of OPM, and Michael Kratsios will serve as the White House OSTP director — President-elect Donald Trump is tapping tech heavyweights to join his new administration, continuing a trend …

More: @realDonaldTrump …, Business Standard, The Verge, Politico, @realDonaldTrump …, FedScoop, The Hill, Tech in Asia, Nextgov/FCW, Science, New York Times, Sifted, The Economic Times, YourStory.com, Axios, Bloomberg, and The Information

Bluesky: @lorak. X: @skupor, @michaelkratsios, @skupor, @levie, @davidmarcus, and @levie

Paresh Dave / Wired:

West Bank residents, who have long complained of missing and outdated data on Google Maps, say the Israel-Hamas war has made the app even worse for navigation — One user told WIRED that Google Maps directed them to “drive right into a wall that's been up since 2003.”

More: TechCrunch. Bluesky: @katie-drummond, @peard33, and @lmatsakis

Mastodon: @evacide@hachyderm.io and @remixtures@tldr.nettime.org. Forums: r/Palestine

Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:

The US FTC orders Marriott and Starwood to implement a robust customer data security scheme after Starwood's 2014 to 2018 breaches and Marriott's 2018 breach — The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has ordered Marriott International and Starwood Hotels to define and implement …

More: Federal Trade Commission, 9to5Mac, and The Verge

X: @ftc. Forums: r/cybersecurity

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:

Sources: the EU will conditionally approve US chip design software company Synopsys' $35B Ansys acquisition, the largest tech deal since Broadcom bought VMware — U.S. chip design software company Synopsys (SNPS.O) is set to win conditional EU antitrust approval for its $35 billion buy of Ansys …

More: Tech Monitor and Reuters

Sheldon Reback / CoinDesk:

Tass: the Russian government bans crypto mining in 10 regions from January 1 to March 15, 2031, citing power consumption, after legalizing mining in July 2024 — Temporary bans may be imposed in other regions during peak energy demand, Tass reported — What to know:

More: Bitcoin Insider, Cryptopolitan, CryptoSlate, CoinGape, CCN.com, Coinpedia Fintech News, Cryptonews, crypto.news, Cointelegraph, The Crypto Times, and Benzinga

Pranshu Verma / Washington Post:

Arizona's Maricopa County is set to have the second largest concentration of US data centers by 2028, as the state races to increase electricity production — As data centers drain America's power grids, a fierce battle is being waged for electricity. On Navajo Nation land, many are on the losing end.

More: MIT Technology Review and The Verge

Bluesky: @craigcwhite, @laurawags, @parismarx.com, @disabilitystor1, @thetnholler, @ahjohnson, @climatebrad.hillheat.com, and @arjunsubgraph

X: @michaelgiberso3 and @mbazilian

Laila Kearney / Reuters:

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report: data centers could account for 6.7% to 12% of US total electricity consumption by 2028, up from ~4% currently

More: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Department of Energy, and ITPro

LinkedIn: Laila Kearney. Forums: r/UraniumSqueeze

Blake Brittain / Reuters:

Netflix sues Broadcom in California federal court, accusing VMware's cloud software of infringing five patents covering aspects of operating virtual machines — Netflix (NFLX.O) sued Broadcom (AVGO.O) in California federal court on Monday, accusing the chipmaker's cloud computing subsidiary VMware …

More: ip fray, The Verge, TechRadar, and Northern District of California. Forums: Slashdot

Antonio Pequeño IV / Forbes:

xAI raised a $6B Series C from a16z, BlackRock, Fidelity, Kingdom Holdings, Sequoia, Nvidia, and others, at a reported valuation of at least $40B — Elon Musk's xAI announced Monday it raised $6 billion in a Series C funding round, putting the company's value at more than $40 billion …

Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:

OpenAI's o3 performance on benchmarks suggests that test-time compute is the next best way to scale AI models, raising new questions about costs and usage — Last month, AI founders and investors told TechCrunch that we're now in the “second era of scaling laws,” noting how established methods …

More: Import AI, Barron's Online, Forrester, The Algorithmic Bridge, Tech in Asia, Decrypt, Gadgets 360, and The Information

Cristina Criddle / Financial Times:

PitchBook: global edtech VC funding reached just $3B in 2024, the lowest amount since $2.3B in 2014, and down from $17.3B at the peak of the pandemic in 2021 — Funding for edtech companies hits decade low as sector struggles to compete post-pandemic — Global investment in online education companies …

Bluesky: @stevefaktor.com

William J. Broad / New York Times:

How AI hallucinations are transforming scientific discovery, with some scientists calling the term “hallucination” misleading and likening it to exploration — Artificial intelligence often gets criticized because it makes up information that appears to be factual, known as hallucinations.

More: Singularity Hub

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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

Sara Fischer / Axios:

60 Minutes' CECOT segment, pulled by Bari Weiss, was mistakenly aired in Canada via an app owned by Global Television, which airs 60 Minutes in the country

Ali Watkins / New York Times:

Channel 4 says Jimmy Kimmel will share a message on Christmas Day as part of its Alternative Christmas Message show, emphasizing the importance of free speech

Reuters:

Israel's cabinet votes to shut down popular national radio station Army Radio, saying it has become a platform for views that “attack” its armed forces

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Financial Times:

Analysis: SAP accounts for ~40% of Frankfurt DAX's 18.7% gains in 2024, with SAP up 70%+ as the software company transitions its business customers to the cloud

Reuters:

An investigator says he reported 26 OnlyFans accounts suspected of containing CSAM to NCMEC and that all of the accounts were removed within a day of his report

More: MEDIANAMA. Bluesky: @icarszoey. Forums: r/news

Anna Heim / TechCrunch:

Balderton Capital and Dealroom: European AI startups attracted 25% of the region's VC funding, or ~$13.7B, in 2024, compared to 15% in 2020

X: @dorialexander and @jamespaulwise

LinkedIn: James Wise and Ofer Mintz

Reuters:

Filing: Chinese video surveillance provider Dahua to terminate or exit five government projects in Xinjiang; Hikvision made a similar announcement this month

X: @samgoodman22

Agence France-Presse:

Internet freedom advocates criticize Vietnam's Decree 147, taking effect on December 25 and requiring social media users to verify their identities and more

More: acecomments.mu.nu and Human Rights Watch

X: @ali_kyteler. Forums: r/worldnews and Slashdot

Earlier Picks

Lauren Thomas / Wall Street Journal:

Xerox agrees to acquire Lexmark from Ninestar, PAG Asia Capital, and Shanghai Shouda in a deal valued at $1.5B, including debt, closing in H2 2025

More: Beyond Search, Xerox Newsroom, TechRadar, Bloomberg, Seeking Alpha, MarketWatch, Seeking Alpha, Fudzilla, MarketWatch, heise online News, SiliconANGLE, Yahoo Finance, Benzinga, CRN, Reuters, Barron's Online, FinSMEs, and Pulse 2.0

X: @xerox. LinkedIn: Hayden Stine, Steven Bandrowczak, and Xerox. Forums: Slashdot

Alexander Osipovich / Wall Street Journal:

Experts: Bitcoin has time to adopt newer encryption that's resistant to attacks via potentially upcoming quantum systems, but such an overhaul could take years

More: CryptoGlobe, CryptoSlate, and Livemint

X: @aosipovich. LinkedIn: Vanessa Fernandes. Forums: r/ethereum

Reuters:

Sources: Microsoft is working on adding more first- and third-party AI models to power 365 Copilot, to lower its reliance on OpenAI amid cost and speed concerns

More: Financial Express, Neowin, Gizmodo, Business Insider, The Crypto Times, Gadgets 360, Analytics India Magazine, Business Standard, The Information, SiliconANGLE, Benzinga, Tech in Asia, and Sherwood News

Bluesky: @petetrainor.fyi. X: @andrewcurran_ and @rustybrick

Gene Maddaus / Variety:

The Animation Guild ratifies a contract with major studios, without AI demands such as letting members opt out of using AI or allowing AI training on their work

More: Sherwood News, Animation Magazine, Los Angeles Times, The Wrap, Deadline, Adventure Time News!, and The Hollywood Reporter

Mastodon: @carnage4life@mas.to. X: @animationguild