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December 15, 2023, 7:00 PM
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WeSmirchTop News
| David Gilbert / Wired: |
Researchers: Microsoft Copilot answers some political queries in the US and other countries with conspiracies, misinformation, and out-of-date or incorrect info — Research shared exclusively with WIRED shows that Copilot, Microsoft's AI chatbot, often responds to questions about elections with lies and conspiracy theories.| Joseph Cox / 404 Media: |
Cox Media Group claims it can listen to consumers' conversations through microphones in smartphones, smart TVs, and other devices and use the data to target ads — A marketing team within media giant Cox Media Group (CMG) claims it has the capability to listen to ambient conversations …
More: Gizmodo, AppleInsider, Search Engine Land, Fast Company, PhoneArena, Pixel Envy, BGR, 9to5Mac, Mashable, Phandroid, TechSpot, MobileSyrup, Variety, iPhone in Canada Blog, KnowTechie, iMore, and The Messenger
Mastodon: @drahardja@sfba.social, @ben@werd.social, @jasonkoebler@mastodon.social, @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org, @samvarma@fosstodon.org, and @cdarwin@c.im
Bluesky: @epro.social, @datanerd.bsky.social, and @lakewitchhouse.bsky.social
X: @jason_kint, @inregray, @iwschlom, @bettinaboomboom, @jsrailton, @supersat, @mikko, @heatherkaiserwa, @normative, and @kashhill
Forums: Hacker News and Slashdot
| Lily Hay Newman / Wired: |
How Microsoft's 10-year-old Digital Crime Unit uses unique legal tactics and the company's technical reach to disrupt global cybercrime and state-backed actors — Ten years in, Microsoft's DCU has honed its strategy of using both unique legal tactics and the company's technical reach … | Wall Street Journal: |
Sources: DocuSign is working with advisers to explore a sale; DocuSign went public in 2018 and now has a $12B+ market cap; DOCU closes up 12.46% — Suitors for the $11 billion company could include private equity and technology firms — E-signature company DocuSign is working with advisers …
More: The Information, SiliconANGLE, Investor's Business Daily, Bloomberg, CNBC, and Reuters
| Forbes: |
Google says it will no longer respond to geofence warrants after making changes to how Google Maps stores and accesses users' opt-in Location History — “Geofence warrants,” which allow law enforcement to get location data across a wide area, have become commonplace in recent years.
More: The Mirror, Electronic Frontier Foundation, The Verge, The Keyword, The Register, ExtremeTech, Daily Mail, SiliconANGLE, SamMobile, TechSpot, Mashable, RestorePrivacy, Gizmodo, MediaNama, Metro.co.uk, emptywheel, Silicon Republic, Bloomberg, Reason, and Bloomberg Law
Threads: @carnage4life. Mastodon: @Colarusso@mastodon.social, @chetwisniewski …, and @cfarivar@journa.host
X: @joesphwiegand50, @bastionbucks, @emptywheel, @matthew_d_green, @orinkerr, @orinkerr, @orinkerr, @daveyalba, @cfarivar, @iblametom, @iampaulgrewal, and @sarahfrier. LinkedIn: Thomas Brewster
| Juli Clover / MacRumors: |
Apple agrees to pay $25M to settle a class action lawsuit alleging Apple misrepresented the way that third-party app subscriptions worked with Family Sharing — Apple has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit over Family Sharing, and will pay out $25 million to put an end to the case.
More: KCC Class Action Services LLC, Engadget, The Verge, 9to5Mac, TechCrunch, Business Times, AppleInsider, and Cord Cutters News. Forums: MacRumors
| Adrian Kingsley-Hughes / ZDNet: |
iOS 17.2 closes off Flipper Zero devices' ability to carry out DoS attacks on iPhones within a 30-foot radius by continuously sending Bluetooth pairing requests — Apple has finally closed off the ability of the Flipper Zero pen-testing tool to flood iPhones with so many popups that the handset would lock up and require a reboot.
More: The Verge, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, iThinkDifferent, Gizmodo, and Supercharged. Forums: MacRumors Forums
| Financial Times: |
Sources: Elon Musk verbally guaranteed some US banks that they would not lose money on the Twitter deal; banks face serious losses on the “uninvestable” debt — Banks are facing serious losses on the debt as social media platform's business deteriorates
More: Ars Technica, The Messenger, and New York Times
Bluesky: @cocktailhag.bsky.social, @craigburley.bsky.social, @drmattyg.com, @ninjamonkky.bsky.social, @shiftingbaselines.bsky.social, @brendelbored.bsky.social, @brooklynmarie.bsky.social, @tendehka.bsky.social, @psychoalpastor.bsky.social, @basicchunnel.bsky.social, @bananapantz.bsky.social, @lisamarietea.bsky.social, @genxjamerican.com, @lizardky.bsky.social, @amyhoy.bsky.social, @tommunderwear.bsky.social, @newleaf.bsky.social, @ennui.org, @braak.bsky.social, @courtneymilan.bsky.social, @veryimportant.lawyer, @rodericka1.bsky.social, @lareyne.bsky.social, @luxeprogressive.bsky.social, and @mgiraldi.bsky.social
| Alex Heath / The Verge: |
Docs: ByteDance used OpenAI's API to develop its own LLM, codenamed Project Seed; employees discussed “whitewashing” the evidence through “data desensitization” — TikTok's entrancing “For You” feed made its parent company, ByteDance, an AI leader on the world stage.
More: Deno, Fast Company, The New Stack, and CIO Dive
Threads: @alexheath. Mastodon: @carnage4life@mas.to. X: @revhowardarson, @minimaxir, @armanddoma, and @alexeheath
| Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch: |
YouTube creators MrBeast and Chucky Appleby launch ViewStats, which uses the YouTube API to unveil detailed stats about channels for creators and fans, in beta — The top YouTuber in the U.S., MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) co-founded the new analytics platform ViewStats, which is now available in beta.| Stacy Elliott / Decrypt: |
Crypto wallet maker Ledger updates Connect Kit to remove some malicious code, live for five hours, after a former employee “fell victim to a phishing attack” — Crypto wallet manufacturer Ledger has confirmed an exploit that led it to warn users to “stop using dapps” …
More: TechCrunch, Ledger, Cointelegraph, Crowdfund Insider, CCN.com, Metacurity, Bitcoin News, Blockonomi, Cryptopolitan, TechRadar, crypto.news, The Dark Side, Coinspeaker, CoinDesk, The Hacker News, The Crypto Basic, SlowMist, Inside Bitcoins, BeInCrypto, PYMNTS.com, CoinDesk, Cryptonews, CryptoSlate, Crypto Briefing, CryptoSlate, Bloomberg, crypto.news, Cointelegraph, The Daily Hodl, DL News, BleepingComputer, Protos, The Block, Cryptopolitan, Cointelegraph, and CoinGape
| Ash Parrish / The Verge: |
Days after updating its content policy to permit certain kinds of sexual content, Twitch rescinds the “artistic nudity” portion, citing “community concern” — Mere days after Twitch updated its content policy to permit certain kinds of sexual content …
More: NBC News, Engadget, Decrypt, TechCrunch, Tubefilter, PCMag, PetaPixel, Neowin, PC Gamer, Kotaku, The Messenger, MSPoweruser, Dot Esports, Gizmodo, UPROXX, and TheGamer
| Bloomberg: |
Sources: more Chinese government agencies and state-backed firms have ordered staff to stop bringing iPhones, Samsung phones, and other foreign devices to work — - Agencies from Beijing to Tianjin instruct staff to go local — The formal directives follow a general mandate from months ago| Glenn Fleishman / Retool: |
A look back at Yahoo Pipes, which from 2007 to 2015 let users drag and drop elements in a browser to make data feeds, influencing a generation of UI designers — Want to know whether the latest logged earthquakes were near you? Aggregate 100 top news sites, but only see items that mention cats?
Threads: @j_lewis, @susanbeebe, @theromit, @chambararenaissance, @mshobe, @elatable, @sugarfreejones, @pavelsurmenok, @codedrift.social, and @jank0
Mastodon: @joesteel@duck.haus, @PizzaDemon@mastodon.online, and @glennf@twit.social
X: @panzer, @stammy, and @ryanlucas
| Jesse Hamilton / CoinDesk: |
The US SEC rejects Coinbase's petition for formal digital asset rules, because the “existing securities regime appropriately governs crypto asset securities” — The U.S. exchange had formally petitioned the agency to start writing comprehensive crypto rules, but after “careful” consideration, the SEC said no.| Eduardo Baptista / Reuters: |
China proposes a four-tier, color-coded system for data security incidents; for red and orange warnings, companies must notify the government within 10 minutes — China on Friday proposed a four-tier classification to help it respond to data security incidents, highlighting Beijing's concern … | Jordan Pearson / VICE: |
Some X users report seeing ads for apps that use AI to “undress” women in photos; TikTok and Meta have started to block search terms related to “nudify” apps — A week after TikTok and Meta blocked certain search terms related to so-called “nudify” apps, X has not taken the same measures, Motherboard found.
More: 404 Media. Threads: @mattnavarra. Bluesky: @janety.bsky.social. X: @athundt, @davidthewid, @thatstarwarsgrl, @theebonymaw, @bumblejack_, @davbatz, @kevinish, @eshumarneedi, @thechildweb3, @jason_koebler, and @neuwaves
| Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central: |
Microsoft launches its basic Office suite on the Meta Quest store for free, letting all Quests run Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in a mixed reality environment — Now you can tweak spreadsheets while playing Xbox, all in VR. — What you need to know — Meta Quest users can now use Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in VR.
More: The Verge, Thurrott, MSPoweruser, WinBuzzer, Windows Central, Neowin, and Nick Sutrich on YouTube
X: @lunayian, @tomwarren, and @gwanatu
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