Techmeme
February 21, 2024, 4:15 AM

Top News

Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Messaging app Signal finally rolls out usernames in beta, letting users conceal their phone numbers; Signal still requires inputting a phone number to register  —  We tested the end-to-end encrypted messenger's new feature aimed at addressing critics' most persistent complaint.  Here's how it works.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Gary Geaves, Apple's longtime VP in charge of acoustics, is stepping down, replaced by Ruchir Davé, adding to the hardware engineering group's upheaval  —  - Apple acoustics chief Gary Geaves is stepping down from role  — Executive has been key to development of AirPods and HomePod
Tom Wilson / Reuters:
Circle no longer plans to mint USDC tokens on the Tron blockchain, effective immediately, to “ensure that USDC remains trusted, transparent, and safe”  —  Major U.S. crypto firm Circle will end support for its USDC token on the Tron blockchain network, a decision the company said on Wednesday …
Maxwell Zeff / Gizmodo:
Demos from AI chipmaker Groq go viral after the startup's inference engine shows lightning-fast speeds when running LLMs, including for real-time conversations  —  Two AI companies are claiming the science fiction term, “Grok,” as their own, but only one is turbocharging the AI industry.
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Byju's says the $200M rights issue that cuts its valuation by 99% to $20M-$25M is fully subscribed; source: some of Byju's major investors are yet to take part  —  Byju's says its recently launched $200 million rights issue has been fully-subscribed, but the startup's founder urged …
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Authorities arrest two LockBit operators in Poland and Ukraine, issue arrest warrants and a decryption tool, seize 200+ crypto wallets; US indicts two Russians  —  Law enforcement arrested two operators of the LockBit ransomware gang in Poland and Ukraine, created a decryption tool …
More: US Department of Justice, Europol, National Crime Agency, Wired, Bloomberg, iTnews, U.S. Department …, Ars Technica, TechCrunch, The Guardian, The Justice Department on YouTube, BBC, Silicon Republic, CityAM, Reuters, Cryptonews, Cryptopolitan, Runtime, TechRepublic, CoinGape, crypto.news, RestorePrivacy, InfoRiskToday.com, The Record, Dark Reading, Security Affairs, Inc.com, Cybersecurity Dive, TNW, CoinDesk, Neowin, NBC News, Security Boulevard, Engadget, Forbes, The Stack, Associated Press, TechRadar, London Evening Standard, Financial Times, TechSpot, Hackread, and CyberScoop
Stephen Totilo / Game File:
An interview with Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer on Xbox growth, job cuts, and why getting rid of physical Xbox discs is “not a strategic thing for us”  —  Microsoft's gaming chief Phil Spencer is upbeat about his vast Xbox team's future.  But he also tells Game File …
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple debuts a monthly Apple Music Replay, offering insights like total listening time, top songs, artists, and albums, and releases 2024's Replay Mix playlist  —  Apple today updated the Apple Music Replay experience, available at replay.music.apple.com, with visualizations of your favorite music habits …
Juro Osawa / The Information:
Sources: some ByteDance executives expressed concerns over running the video editing app CapCut from China given the political scrutiny facing TikTok in the US  —  Last year, the second most downloaded free app in the U.S. on iPhones was CapCut, a video-editing app made by TikTok's parent ByteDance …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Attackers have been signing up spam accounts on smaller Mastodon servers over the past several days; Eugen Rochko said previously only big servers were targeted  —  A spam attack that impacted the open source X rival Mastodon, Misskey and other apps highlights how the decentralized social web …

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More News

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Earlier Picks

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Jacob Pramuk / CNBC:
Antonia Mufarech / Bloomberg:
Jon Porter / The Verge: