Techmeme
December 31, 2024, 9:35 AM

Top News

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Letter: the US Treasury says China-backed hackers gained access to some Treasury workstations and unclassified docs; a vendor notified it of the hack on Dec. 8  —  The U.S. Treasury told lawmakers in a letter Monday that it was hit by a cyberattack earlier in December, which the department has attributed to Chinese government hackers.
Thanos Pappas / Carscoops:
Sensitive data of over 800K VW Group EV customers, including GPS coordinates, was exposed on an unprotected AWS database for months before being reported  —  The sensitive information of VW, Audi, Seat, and Skoda EV owners was left exposed on an unprotected and misconfigured cloud storage system for months
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Reuters:
Samsung invests $181M in South Korean robot maker Rainbow Robotics, boosting its stake to 35%, and launches a Future Robotics Office reporting to the CEO  —  Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) became the largest shareholder of South Korea's Rainbow Robotics (277810.KQ), the robotics company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.
Sidhartha Shukla / Bloomberg:
BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF surpassed $50B in assets in 11 months, marking the fastest-growing ETF debut ever, and helping BTC exceed $100K in mid-December  —  - IBIT has grown to more than $50 billion in assets in 11 months  — US ETFs played a key role in Bitcoin's rally over $100,000
Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
The US arrests a US Army soldier on suspicion of being Kiberphant0m, who sold sensitive customer call records stolen from AT&T and Verizon in the Snowflake hack  —  Federal authorities have arrested and indicted a 20-year-old U.S. Army soldier on suspicion of being Kiberphant0m …
Coco Feng / South China Morning Post:
Ant Group's payment app Alipay adds an AI-powered image search feature as it tries to become a super app like rival Tencent's WeChat  —  Alipay's move shows how mobile payment platforms are striving to grow their customer base and engender user loyalty in the AI era
Bloomberg:
Sources: Mobvista explores selling mobile ad platform Mintegral after getting interest from buyers like Bain Capital; Mobvista stock in HK surged ~190% in 2024  —  - Company is working with financial adviser on Mintegral sale  — Mobvista's HK-listed shares have climbed almost 190% this year
The Information:
Source: ByteDance keeps using a loophole for US chip sanctions and told suppliers it planned to spend up to $7B to access Nvidia chips outside China in 2025  —  ByteDance continues to use Nvidia's most advanced artificial intelligence chips despite U.S. efforts to block Chinese companies from using them.
Cagan Koc / Bloomberg:
Kyivstar, Ukraine's largest mobile operator, signs a deal with Starlink to roll out text messaging in Q4 2025, and plans to add voice and data in later stages  —  - Kyivstar to offer text messages via Starlink by late 2025  — Starlink terminals are critical to Ukraine's war effort

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Featured Podcasts

Channels with Peter Kafka:
Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz on Sam Altman's Trust Problem
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.
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Acquired:
Ferrari
Learn the playbooks that built the world's greatest companies - and how you can apply them as a founder, operator, or investor.
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Lenny's Podcast:
Hard truths about building in the AI era | Keith Rabois (Khosla Ventures)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
Anthropic's Mythos Dilemma, Violence Against AI, Tokenmaxxing at Meta
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.
Hard Fork:
Anthropic's Cybersecurity Shock Wave + Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz on Their Sam Altman Investigation + One Good Thing
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
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Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ryan Roslansky: Turning AI Anxiety into Skills for the Future of Work
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.
 

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More News

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Charles Rollet / TechCrunch:
Geoffrey A. Fowler / Washington Post:

Earlier Picks

New York Times:
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat: