Techmeme: Q&A with Kevin Systrom about Artifact's Links discovery feature, moderation, the bear case and bull case for Threads, the current state of Instagram, and more (Jody Serrano/The Messenger)

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September 24, 2023, 9:50 PM

Top News

Sanket Vijayasarathy / 91mobiles:

A leaked Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro promo video reveals new camera features: an Audio Eraser, the ability to swap faces, full manual controls like ISO, and more — - A new promo video focuses on the many camera features of the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. — Both the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro will get a 50MP primary camera.

More: 9to5Google, MySmartPrice, SPARROWS NEWS, PCMag, Neowin, PhoneArena, Droid Life, SlashGear, Laptop Mag, Forbes, Tom's Guide, TechRadar, Android Police, Thurrott, BigTechWire, TechEBlog, The Verge, Android Headlines, TweakTown, Wccftech, Notebookcheck, The Mobile Report, GSMArena.com, and Android Authority

Mastodon: @rolle@mementomori.social, @anuko@mementomori.social, and @grumpasaurus@fosstodon.org

X: @evowizz, @boringstein, @broderick, @neilcybart, @u_m_a_m_i, @nexusben, @zachhazard, @parkerortolani, and @za_raczke

Forums: r/GooglePixel and r/Android

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Meta plans to release AI chatbots with personalities, internally called Gen AI Personas, across its apps at this week's Connect, to attract young users — Facebook parent is developing bots with personalities, including a ‘sassmaster general’ robot that answers questions

Reuters:

A look at Scattered Spider, which experts say is a group of 17- to 22-year-old native English speakers likely behind MGM and 52+ other hacks since March 2022 — About a year ago, the U.S. security firm Palo Alto Networks began to hear from a flurry of companies that had been hacked in ways that weren't the norm for cybercriminals.

More: Washington Post, Dark Reading, CyberScoop, and DeviceSecurity.io

Bluesky: @nohomers.bsky.social. X: @mattjay, @menendezrand, @nicastronaut, @darrennesbitt, @mattjay, @mattjay, @jldastin, @aselawaid, @vchampain, and @ericgeller. LinkedIn: Thomas O'Malley. Forums: Beehaw

Abhirup Roy / Reuters:

California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoes a bill that would have required a human safety operator in heavy-duty self-driving trucks on public roads in the state — California Governor Gavin Newsom late on Friday vetoed a bill to prevent heavy-duty driverless trucks from operating in the state …

Washington Post:

Academics and US agencies are overhauling or ending online misinformation research due to Representative Jim Jordan and other Republicans' escalating campaign — An escalating campaign, led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and other Republicans, has cast a pall over programs that study political disinformation …

Jody Serrano / The Messenger:

Q&A with Kevin Systrom about Artifact's Links discovery feature, moderation, the bear case and bull case for Threads, the current state of Instagram, and more — Kevin Systrom hopes a fresh jolt of growth to his Artifact app allows it to compete better with the industry's bigger relics

More: Observer and PhoneArena

Threads: @corybe. X: @jodyserrano and @jodyserrano

Kate Knibbs / Wired:

A look at the flood of near-identical YouTube obituary videos, in which men read obituaries scraped from authorized publishers like funeral homes and newspapers — If you Google someone who recently died, you might see a flood of near-identical videos of men reading obits. Here's why.

X: @pearlriverflow, @waterslicer, @mattsreynolds1, @nicklucchesi, and @knibbs. Forums: r/privacy

McKenzie Funk / New York Times:

A profile of Hank Asher, the “father of data fusion” who died in 2013 after initiating a vast shift in privacy norms through his data mining software companies — Hank Asher was a drug smuggler with a head for numbers — until he figured out how to turn Americans' private information into a big business.

X: @fighto, @badassdogooder, @wolfiechristl, and @mckenziefunk. Forums: Hacker News

New York Times:

Some employees reminisce about Netflix's DVD subscription service, which upended the entertainment industry and is shutting down on September 29 after 25 years — The company's DVD subscription service is ending this month, bringing to a close an origin story that ultimately upended the entertainment industry.

X: @consensusgurus. LinkedIn: Barry W. Enderwick. Forums: r/television, r/movies, and r/boxoffice

Zheping Huang / Bloomberg:

A look at the role of pro gaming in Tencent's long-term strategy as China hosts the Hangzhou Asian Games, the first event where esports are eligible for medals — - Hundreds of pro players will compete at Hangzhou Asian Games — Tencent places esports at the heart of its online media empire

More: The Korea Herald, Tech Xplore, Tom's Guide, ChinaTechNews.com, and Nikkei Asia. X: @tsegerblom

PTI:

Sources: Apple plans to increase its production in India over 5x to ~$40B in the next four to five years, and start making AirPods, on top of iPhones, in 2024 — iPhone maker Apple has plans to scale up production in India by over five-fold to around $40 billion, or about Rs 3.32 lakh crore …

More: iMore and Bloomberg

Dave Lee / Bloomberg:

Q&A with outgoing Amazon SVP of Devices and Services Dave Limp on using generative AI for Alexa, a possible Alexa subscription, advice for Panos Panay, and more — The departing executive in charge of Amazon's voice assistant has a conversation about its future in the age of AI.

More: Cryptopolitan. X: @daveleebbg

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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.

From Mediagazer

Jasper Ward / Reuters:

Filing: a US judge dismisses with prejudice Trump's defamation lawsuit against Wall Street Journal regarding a birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein signed by Trump

Shaun Walker / The Guardian:

The closure of Novaya Gazeta “is not just our own story; it is the story of a country and a society that are being systematically crushed”, said its EIC

Frédéric Durand / What's on Netflix:

Netflix's engagement problems can't be solved by focusing on “quality”, wide theatrical runs, or weekly releases; instead, more original content is needed

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More News

Chethan Rao / Android Police:

EV maker Nio launches the Nio Phone in China with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and 30+ car-specific features, including automatic parking, starting at ~$890

More: CNBC, Reuters, DigiTimes, Android Headlines, Bloomberg, TechNode, Nikkei Asia, and ChinaTechNews.com. Bluesky: @epro.social

Malathi Nayak / Bloomberg:

In a countersuit, chip startup Rivos and six ex-Apple staff claim Apple intimidates those who “dare to leave”; Apple sued Rivos over trade secrets theft in 2022

More: Patently Apple. Forums: r/hardware

Sean Lyngaas / CNN:

Three major US voting equipment makers let some researchers stress-test their software and hardware, to take on conspiracy theories with greater transparency

X: @knash99, @vote_mfg_qa, and @benadida

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Walmart-backed PhonePe, which leads India's UPI-based payments market, launches the Indus AppStore on Android and promises no platform fees or IAP commission

More: MSPoweruser and Moneycontrol

X: @tsuvik, @indusappstore, @tsuvik, @phonepe, @pushkar_dongare, @rahulchari9, @upadhyay_harsh1, and @ashishdogradir. LinkedIn: Hari Padmanabhan

Reuters:

Sources: India plans to delay its import license requirement for laptops and tablets by a year and propose a simpler import registration process from November

More: Apple Must. X: @adityakalra

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:

A look at chip equipment makers, like Applied Materials, that push the boundaries of sculpting materials at the atomic level, in a quest to make chips faster

X: @akwyz. Forums: Hacker News

Earlier Picks

Ed Bott / ZDNet:

A look at Microsoft's Surface business as device revenue plunged in FY 2023 after growing steadily since FY 2014, as a major correction hits the wider PC market

X: @mukund and @edbott. Forums: r/Surface

Vauhini Vara / Wired:

A writer whose AI-assisted essay went viral reflects on testing GPT-3 early, Sudowrite's novel generator, and whether AI is good for writers and literature

Mastodon: @AthenaHelivoy@mastodon.world. X: @srhm_ca, @porcupinesquill, @englishoer, @dan_jeffries1, @aldaily, @notoriousrel, @vauhinivara, and @chameauleon