Techmeme
July 20, 2023, 8:55 AM

Top News

New York Times:
Sources: Google tests an AI tool to produce news stories, pitching the service to the NYT, WaPo, News Corp, and other outlets as a helpmate for journalists  —  The product, pitched as a helpmate for journalists, has been demonstrated for executives at The New York Times, The Washington Post and News Corp …
Benj Edwards / Ars Technica:
A study claims GPT-4's outputs became worse between March and June 2023, but some experts are not convinced and urge OpenAI to be less opaque with its AI models  —  Either way, experts think OpenAI should be less opaque about its AI model architecture.  —  On Tuesday, researchers …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple built Ajax, a framework for building LLMs, created a chatbot app that some engineers call “Apple GPT”, and is planning an AI announcement in 2024  —  - Company builds large language models and internal chatbot  — Executives haven't decided how to release tools to consumers
New York Times:
Kevin Mitnick, a hacker best known for his crime spree in the 1990s, who later became a consultant, writer, and public speaker after leaving prison, dies at 59  —  Mr. Mitnick, best known for a crime spree during the 1990s that involved the theft of thousands of data files and credit card numbers, died from pancreatic cancer.
Lisa Richwine / Reuters:
Netflix reports Q2 revenue up 2.7% YoY to $8.2B, vs. $8.3B est., net income up 3.3% YoY to $1.5B, 5.9M net new subs, vs. 1.9M est., and a Q3 forecast below est.  —  Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) handily beat Wall Street earnings forecasts on Wednesday as a password-sharing crackdown …
Sahil Patel / The Information:
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Nikkei Asia:
TSMC reports Q2 revenue down 10% YoY to ~$15.68B and net profit down 23.3% YoY to ~$5.9B, the first quarterly decline since 2019, as all non-AI chip sales lag  —  Taiwan chipmaker logs quarterly net profit drop on consumer electronics slump  —  Sluggish demand for smartphones …
Arun Padmanabhan / Moneycontrol:
In Llama 2's commercial terms, Meta says companies with 700M+ MAUs must request a license, and users are prohibited from utilizing Llama 2 to improve other LLMs  —  Although Meta has announced that it will open-source its LLM and allow free usage for commercial and research purposes …
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority:
Google launches Nearby Share for Windows, letting users transfer files between PCs and Android devices close to each other, after debuting a beta in March 2023  —  Anyone can download Nearby Share for Windows now, but your future laptop might come with it pre-installed.  —  •  —  TL;DR
Zoe Kleinman / BBC:
Apple threatens to remove FaceTime and iMessage from the UK rather than weaken security under a proposed security bill amendment, dubbed a “snooper's charter”  —  Apple says it will remove services such as FaceTime and iMessage from the UK rather than weaken security if new proposals are made law and acted upon.
Gijong Lee / The Elec:
Sources: Samsung begins developing a smart ring, the so-called Galaxy Ring, using circuit boards made by Japan's Meiko; the launch date remains uncertain  —  Device to offer health information to wearers Samsung has started the development of a new smart device that will come in the form of a ring, TheElec has learned.
Emily Nicolle / Bloomberg:
France designates Société Générale's blockchain unit Forge a digital asset service provider, issuing the country's first license under its new crypto rules  —  - Forge awarded permissions to act as custodian, trade crypto  — License will help meet demand from institutional clients: CEO
Andrew Tarantola / Engadget:
In an earnings call, Elon Musk says Tesla is open to licensing its FSD software and hardware to other carmakers and is “already in discussions” with a major OEM  —  “We're not trying to keep this to ourselves” ~ Tesla CEO Elon Musk.  —  In a surprise announcement during Tesla's …
Wall Street Journal:
Microsoft plans to give 31 security logs to its lower-cost cloud service licensees for free in September 2023, after its China hack disclosures drew criticism  —  Company says it will make security logs available to customers with lower-cost cloud services  —  Microsoft said it plans …
Jay Jacobs / Cyentia Institute:
Analysis: tweets about CVEs, which peaked before Elon Musk took over, show a steep decline in recent months, suggesting the infosec Twitter community has shrunk  —  “Infosec twitter” has been used to describe the vibrant, active and often enthusiastic community of security practitioners working in and around the industry.

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Earlier Picks

Wayne Ma / The Information:
Bloomberg:
Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:
Matthew Humphries / PCMag: