Techmeme
March 9, 2025, 1:00 AM

Top News

Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
Tarlogic researchers find an undocumented “backdoor” in Chinese manufacturer Espressif's ESP32 microchip used in 1B+ devices for WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity  —  The ubiquitous ESP32 microchip made by Chinese manufacturer Espressif and used by over 1 billion units as of 2023 contains …
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
A US federal judge allows the Kadrey v. Meta case, in which authors allege Meta violated IP rights by using their books to train Llama models, to move forward  —  A federal judge is allowing an AI-related copyright lawsuit against Meta to move forward, although he dismissed part of the suit.
Bloomberg:
Starting September 1, schools in Beijing will offer at least eight hours of AI classes per academic year for primary and secondary students  —  Schools in Beijing will introduce artificial intelligence courses to primary and secondary students to strengthen China's goal to dominate the sector.
Fortune:
Sources describe the collapse of fintech middleman Synapse that left ~$200M in customer money frozen, with entities blaming each other for shoddy recordkeeping  —  In 2022, after her family had a series of health scares, Kayla Morris sold her house.  She cleared $280,000, representing 15 years of her life savings.
Forums: Slashdot
David Yaffe-Bellany / New York Times:
Source: Bybit hackers planted malicious code to manipulate transactions by compromising a developer's computer at crypto wallet provider Safe, used by Bybit  —  On the night of Feb. 21, Ben Zhou, the chief executive of the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, logged on to his computer to approve what appeared to be a routine transaction.
Wall Street Journal:
After the ~$1.5B hack, Bybit borrowed about $280M in ether from crypto industry peers to help process 350,000 customer withdrawal requests over 10 hours  —  Bybit survived, thanks to emergency loans from its peers, but questions over crypto industry's security linger
Todd Spangler / Variety:
A look at YouTube's origins, growth, and domination as the platform turns 20, including an interview with CEO Neal Mohan, who is nearing 10 years at the company  —  It's a muggy morning the day before the 2025 Super Bowl in New Orleans, and YouTube CEO Neal Mohan is stuck in parade traffic and not happy about it.
Bloomberg:
As Japan copes with a labor shortage, its market for service robots, which assist people with tasks like waiting tables, is expected to almost triple by 2030  —  As Japan copes with a labor shortage, the service robot market is expected to triple in the next five years.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources detail how crypto flooded Trump with cash, including $50M+ in donations from at least eight execs, and how he is doing much of what the industry wants  —  The president had called cryptocurrency a ‘scam’ but during his campaign last year he was persuaded of its value, especially as an investment for the Trump family

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Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Jody Godoy / Reuters:
Aaron Holmes / The Information: