Techmeme
November 15, 2023, 11:05 AM

Top News

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Intel patches a bug affecting virtually all modern Intel CPUs that lets code running inside a VM crash hypervisors, a risk to cloud providers in particular  —  Among other things, bug allows code running inside a VM to crash hypervisors.  —  Intel on Tuesday pushed microcode updates to fix …
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple extends free usage of Emergency SOS on iPhone 14 for two more years, to September 2025; the company has not yet announced how much Emergency SOS will cost  —  Apple today announced it is extending the free usage period for Emergency SOS satellite features for iPhone 14 users.
Nico Grant / New York Times:
Epic v. Google: Sundar Pichai confirms Google paid Apple 36% of the search revenue generated on iPhones, saying the total payment “was well over $10B” in 2022  —  Sundar Pichai, Google's chief executive, testified on Tuesday for the second time in two weeks to defend his company against monopoly claims.
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
US v. Google raises the question of how antitrust law handles a company becoming dominant due to offering a far superior product, especially if the DOJ wins  —  I've noted my skepticism regarding the antitrust attacks on the current Google antitrust trial regarding how it pays to have its search placed …
Kristi Hines / Search Engine Journal:
Sam Altman says OpenAI is pausing new ChatGPT Plus signups “for a bit” as “the surge in usage post devday has exceeded our capacity”  —  OpenAI has paused new ChatGPT Plus signups due to overwhelming demand for new features introduced at recent DevDay conference.
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Three young hackers behind Mirai talk about building the DDoS botnet, losing control of their monster, their work for the FBI as part of a plea deal, and more  —  Netflix, Spotify, Twitter, PayPal, Slack.  All down for millions of people.  How a group of teen friends plunged into an underworld …
Jonathan Greig / The Record:
The FBI dismantled the IPStorm botnet proxy network and its infrastructure as part of a September plea deal with Sergei Makinin, the hacker behind the operation  —  The FBI dismantled the IPStorm botnet proxy network and its infrastructure this week following a September plea deal with the hacker behind the operation.
Nicola Davis / The Guardian:
A study found that AI-generated photos of faces, particularly white faces, were perceived as more real by survey participants than photos of actual people  —  Photographs were seen as less realistic than computer images but there was no difference with pictures of people of colour
Washington Post:
Meta calls for legislation requiring app stores to get parental approval for kids aged 13 to 15 to download apps, pushing Google and Apple to play a bigger role  —  The tech giant is calling for legislation requiring that parents approve teens' downloads on app stores like Google and Apple
Chris Velazco / Washington Post:
Nothing plans to roll out an early version of Nothing Chats, a Sunbird-based app that lets Phone (2) users send iMessages to iPhone contacts, on November 17  —  Nothing, Sunbird and other upstarts are taking iMessage where it's never been before  —  Here's a glimmer of hope for anyone …
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Google updates Google Maps to add transit directions for “lowest cost”, “less walking”, “fewer transfers,” and more, emoji reactions, and collaborative lists  —  Google announced a slew of updates to Maps, including improved transit directions, emoji reactions, and collaborative lists.
Rest of World:
An in-depth look at how platforms like Shein, Pinduoduo-owned Temu, and TikTok Shop are heralding a new era for Chinese e-commerce by expanding overseas  —  China is no longer just the world's factory; now, it's also the world's mall.  As online shopping slows within China …
Eyal Press / New Yorker:
A look at wrongful US arrests due to false positive facial recognition matches, and how “automation bias” can lead the police to ignore contradictory evidence  —  Too often, a facial-recognition search represents virtually the entirety of a police investigation.

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More News

Anna Wiener / New Yorker:
Olga Kharif / Bloomberg:

Earlier Picks

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Joseph Menn / Washington Post:
Clive Cookson / Financial Times:
Davey Alba / Bloomberg: