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Techmeme
May 22, 2024, 11:40 AM
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Top News

Imran Rahman-Jones / BBC:
The UK ICO is “making enquiries with Microsoft” over the company's Recall feature, which some privacy campaigners have called a potential “privacy nightmare”  —  The UK data watchdog says it is “making enquiries with Microsoft” over a new feature that can take screenshots of your laptop every few seconds.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Humane is seeking a buyer for its business, after the rocky launch of its Ai Pin; a source says the startup, founded in 2018, is seeking $750M to $1B  —  - Humane's AI pin was billed as an alternative to smartphones  — AI hardware product received poor reviews after its launch
Kate Rooney / CNBC:
Sources: Amazon plans to launch a more conversational Alexa later in 2024, adding generative AI features, and will charge a subscription fee to offset the cost  —  WATCH NOW  —  Amazon is upgrading its decade-old Alexa voice assistant with generative artificial intelligence and plans …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft will soon let businesses build custom Copilot AI agents for automating tasks, and unveils Team Copilot to help with tasks in Teams, Loop, and Planner  —  Microsoft will soon allow businesses and developers to build AI-powered Copilots that can work like virtual employees and perform tasks automatically.
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils a developer preview of Windows Volumetric Apps, which will let developers use an API to put Windows apps in 3D space on Meta Quest headsets
Charlie Warzel / The Atlantic:
OpenAI's Scarlett Johansson debacle is merely a reminder of AI's manifest-destiny philosophy: “This is happening, whether you like it or not”, consent be damned  —  If you're looking to understand the philosophy that underpins Silicon Valley's latest gold rush, look no further than OpenAI's Scarlett Johansson debacle.
Glenn Rifkin / New York Times:
Gordon Bell, who helped design several influential minicomputers at Digital Equipment Corporation, including the 12-bit PDP-8, died on May 17 at age 89  —  It cost $18,000 when it was introduced in 1965, but it bridged the world between room-size mainframes and the modern desktop.
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Spotify begins rolling out Spotify Mix, a new bespoke typeface, replacing the Circular typeface variant on everything from playlists to marketing campaigns  —  Spotify's latest update is visibly changing the audio streaming service to improve the experience for your eyeballs, rather than your ears.
More: Spotify and TechCrunch
Scott Gilbertson / Wired:
A review of privacy-focused /e/OS, a fully “deGoogled” OS based on the Android Open Source Project, that combines Micro G, to handle Google APIs, and LineageOS  —  Even if you aren't technically inclined, this privacy-first mobile operating system helps you escape surveillance capitalism.
Mastodon: @serpicojam@mas.to
Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Link-in-bio startup Linktree passes 50M users, up from 41M in December 2023 and 47M+ in March 2024, and launches a beta of its social commerce product  —  Link-in-bio startup Linktree said on Wednesday that it has surpassed 50 million users.  —  The figure represents a significant uptick …
Steven Levy / Wired:
Anthropic researchers detail attempts to peer inside the “black box” of LLMs, learning which combinations of neurons evoke specific concepts  —  What goes on in artificial neural networks work is largely a mystery, even to their creators.  But researchers from Anthropic have caught a glimpse.
Wired:
An investigation into online ticketing service Eventbrite found 7.4K+ illicit listings, including illegal drug sales, some of which its algorithm recommended  —  A WIRED investigation found thousands of Eventbrite posts selling escort services and drugs like Xanax and oxycodone …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Snowflake's talks to acquire Reka AI, which builds LLMs for businesses, for more than $1B have broken down  —  Snowflake Inc.'s talks to acquire startup Reka AI for more than $1 billion have broken down, dashing an effort by the software company to bring more generative AI muscle in-house.
More: Tech in Asia
Louise Matsakis / Wired:
Google is rolling out a new AI-powered ad format that shows shoppers how items of clothing would look on different skin tones and body types  —  A new breed of online ad allows brands to pay Google to offer shoppers AI-generated images that show how items of clothing would look on different skin tones and body types.

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:40 AM ET, May 22, 2024.

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

New York Times:
Memos: Will Lewis has stepped down as WaPo publisher and CEO; former Tumblr CEO Jeff D'Onofrio, who joined WaPo last June as CFO, is acting publisher and CEO

Hadas Gold / CNN:
Anthropic is running Super Bowl ads criticizing ads in chatbots, prompting a public response from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman defending plans for ads in ChatGPT

C.J. Robinson / Columbia Journalism Review:
A look at the FOIA system, as right-wing media networks flood it with robo-requests, the number of FOIA agents stays flat, and states opt for higher fees

More News

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Paytm parent One 97 Communications reports a $66.1M net loss in Q4, up from $20.11M in Q4 2023, on $272.3M revenue, as it grapples with a regulatory clampdown
Stephen Nellis / Reuters:
AWS says the transition from Nvidia's Grace Hopper to Blackwell chips applies only to Project Ceiba, a supercomputer that AWS and Nvidia are building together
Mimi Billing / Sifted:
London-based LabGenius, which uses ML to find and design antibody therapies to treat cancer, raised a £35M Series B led by Merck's VC arm, M Ventures

Earlier Picks

Michael Nuñez / VentureBeat:
Generative AI music startup Suno raised $125M from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Matrix, Founder Collective, and others
Ken Yeung / VentureBeat:
Microsoft partners with Khan Academy, moving the Khanmigo agent, used by 65K+ students, to its Azure OpenAI Service and making it free for US K-12 teachers
Ken Yeung / VentureBeat:
Microsoft announces the general availability of its Phi-3 models, including Phi-3-Silica, a 3.3B parameter model that will be embedded on all Copilot+ PCs
Bradley Keoun / CoinDesk:
Farcaster, an Ethereum-based social media project, raised $150M led by Paradigm, with participation from a16z and others, and reports “350,000 paid sign-ups”
Jeff John Roberts / Fortune:
Tech Against Scams, a coalition to fight “pig butchering” ploys with better industry coordination, launches with Meta, Coinbase, Match, Kraken, others on board
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Adobe adds generative AI tools to Lightroom, including Firefly-powered Generative Remove to let users “paint” over unwanted objects, available in early access
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