Techmeme
July 20, 2023, 10:15 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 …
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.
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 …
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.
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, and a Q3 forecast below est.; NFLX down 8%+  —  Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) handily beat Wall Street earnings forecasts on Wednesday as a password-sharing crackdown …
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Sahil Patel / The Information:
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
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
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.
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
A look at Gigi Sohn's unsuccessful nomination to the FCC, announced in October 2021 before she withdrew nearly 500 days later after a fierce opposition campaign  —  ‘Dark money’ and the never-ending election cycle kept a qualified consumer advocate out of the Federal Communications Commission.
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 …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Transform ML Experimentation with Tangle  —  Save months of compute time with Tangle, built by Shopify.  Try this open-source platform to simplify ML workflows, ensure reproducibility, and seamlessly share with collaborators.
Zoho:
Contract Signed.  Project Ready.  Tasks Created.  —  Every project begins with a promise; a contract that outlines the deliverables, the timelines, and the terms.  But for most businesses …
Bitrix24:
Bitrix24 powers the next generation of high-performing businesses  —  Chat, projects, CRM, and automation — all in one place.  Replace dozens of tools so your team moves faster, collaborates smarter, and grows effortlessly.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Access:
Is Roblox making the internet better or worse? We asked the CEO
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Lenny's Podcast:
Why LinkedIn is turning PMs into AI-powered "full stack builders" | Tomer Cohen (LinkedIn CPO)
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.
Great Chat:
Code red: our favorite tech rivalries
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Big Technology Podcast:
How An AI Model Learned To Be Bad — With Evan Hubinger And Monte MacDiarmid
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
PBS Lost a Billion Dollars. Now what? With CEO Paula Kerger
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.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 10:15 AM ET, July 20, 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

Jay Jacobs / Cyentia Institute:

Earlier Picks

Wayne Ma / The Information:
Bloomberg:
Emily Nicolle / Bloomberg:
Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch: