Techmeme
February 23, 2023, 10:15 PM

Top News

Shaurya Malwa / CoinDesk:
Coinbase launches Base, a Layer 2 network built on Optimism's OP Stack, offering access to Ethereum, Solana, and others, and has no plans for new network tokens  —  Base is built on Optimism and Coinbase has no plans to issue a new network token.  —  Join the most important conversation …
Bloomberg:
Source: the DOJ is preparing to file an antitrust suit to block Adobe's Figma acquisition as soon as next month; Adobe says it expects to close the deal in 2023  —  The Justice Department is preparing an antitrust lawsuit seeking to block Adobe Inc.'s $20 billion acquisition of startup Figma Inc., people familiar with the matter said.
Ben Lovejoy / 9to5Mac:
Jamf finds Mac cryptomining malware in pirated copies of Final Cut Pro and warns the power of Apple Silicon Macs is making them popular cryptojacking targets  —  Update: Apple has now commented on the findings - see the end of the piece.  —  Cybersecurity company Jamf Threat Labs …
Joseph Cox / VICE:
A reporter says he used an AI-generated replica of a voice to get past the voice verification system of UK's Lloyds bank and accessed an account's information  —  Banks in the U.S. and Europe tout voice ID as a secure way to log into your account.  I proved it's possible to trick such systems with free or cheap AI-generated voices.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says Sydney is an old codename for a chatbot some Bing users in India began testing in late 2020; sources: Sydney had less personality until late 2022  —  Microsoft's Bing AI chatbot history dates back at least six years, with Sydney first appearing in 2021.
New York Times:
In its superseding indictment, the US charges that SBF and two unnamed FTX executives made 300+ “unlawful” political donations, including using customers' funds  —  Prosecutors accused FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and two unnamed people of making unlawful campaign donations using customers' money.
CoinDesk:
Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
Google expands Magic Eraser, which lets users remove parts of a picture, from Pixel devices to Google One subscribers using Google Photos on Android or iOS  —  Google has announced that the Magic Eraser feature, which tried to automatically remove unwanted parts of a picture and debuted with the Pixel 6 …
Luca Bertuzzi / Euractiv:
The European Commission bans TikTok on corporate devices and personal devices using the Commission's corporate apps, asks staff to uninstall TikTok by March 15  —  The EU executive's IT service has asked all Commission employees to uninstall TikTok from their corporate devices …
Rosie Perper / CoinDesk:
Spotify tests “token-enabled playlists” that let some NFT holders connect their wallets and listen to curated music, starting on Android in five countries  —  Music streaming Spotify is testing a new service called “token-enabled playlists,” which allows holders of non-fungible tokens …
Brian Fung / CNN:
Filing: DOJ seeks court sanctions against Google in its antitrust suit, citing Google's policy of deleting certain employee chats automatically after 24 hours  —  " data-check-event-based-preview= "" data-network-id="" data-details="">  —  Google should face court sanctions over …
Josh Sisco / Politico:
New York Times:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
YouTube rolls out multi-language audio tracks to more creators worldwide; creators saw 15%+ of their watch time from the video's non-primary language in January  —  After initial testing over the last few months, YouTube is rolling out access to multi-language audio tracks to more creators worldwide …
Adam Rawnsley / Rolling Stone:
Twitter under Elon Musk has yet to publish transparency reports detailing government content removal demands; the company published its last report in July 2022  —  “That shit went out the window right after Elon came in,” one former staffer says of Twitter's previously routine transparency reports
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Meta reforms its penalty system using Oversight Board recommendations to focus more on explaining its content removals and less on giving users posting timeouts  —  “Facebook jail,” the name the social network's users have bestowed on the company's system for determining policy violations, is getting an overhaul.
Osato Avan-Nomayo / The Block:
Binance closed some derivative trading accounts in Australia after an investigation found the customers didn't meet the criteria for wholesale investors  —  Binance closed the derivative trading accounts of some wholesale investors in Australia after an investigation found that they didn't meet the criteria for such investors.
Sarah Krouse / Wall Street Journal:
Netflix cut its prices on certain subscription tiers across 36+ countries, but not the US; the cuts in some cases halved the cost  —  Move comes as streaming company says members ‘have never had more choices when it comes to entertainment’  —  Netflix Inc. NFLX -0.78%decrease …
Steve Dent / Engadget:
Samsung announces a standardized 5G Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) modem that enables two-way communication between smartphones and satellites  —  There was speculation that Samsung could use smartphone-to-satellite technology in its Galaxy S23 much like Apple has for the iPhone 14, but that didn't happen in the end.
Ankush Khardori / New York Magazine:
An interview with SEC chair Gary Gensler on meeting Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX executives in March 2022 and October 2021, how tokens are securities, and more  —  As recently as a year ago, Sam Bankman-Fried seemed to be an unstoppable force in official Washington.
Jack Schickler / CoinDesk:

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Is AI just hype?  —  Find out how top enterprises use Tribe to get real business results.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Zoho:
All new Zoho Workerly 2024  —  Staffing businesses around the world face a unique set of challenges when it comes to managing their temporary workforce.  With a constantly shifting job market and changing staffing needs …
Comprehensive.io:
Browse salary data from 3,000 startups for free  —  Click for FREE, immediate access to real-time compensation benchmarking data.  Paid version helps HR automate comp reviews and communicate total compensation to employees.
The Kevin Rose Show:
Henry Shukman, Lessons from an Authentic Zen Master
Gain unconventional wisdom and insights through conversations with top expert in AI, investing, wellness, technology, and culture.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Thu. 03/28 - Claude 3 Opus Surpasses GPT-4 For The First Time
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 10:15 PM ET, February 23, 2023.

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.

More News

Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch:

Earlier Picks

Jon Haidt / After Babel:
Mozilla Foundation:
Jennifer Elias / CNBC:
Shirin Ghaffary / Vox: