Techmeme
August 14, 2024, 11:00 AM

Top News

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Apple approves Spotify updating its app to show in-app pricing information for iPhone users in the EU starting today, after Spotify's yearslong legal battle  —  Spotify will begin showing in-app pricing information for iPhone users in the European Union starting today, following a yearslong legal battle against Apple.
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
xAI launches Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini in beta with improved reasoning, available to X Premium and Premium+ users, and plans to add them to its API later in August  —  Elon Musk-owned launched Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini in beta today with improved reasoning.  The new Grok AI model can now generate images …
Eli Blumenthal / CNET:
AT&T says it won't carry Google's new Pixel 9 Pro Fold, after selling the original Pixel Fold from 2023; the network will carry the Pixel 9, 9 Pro, and 9 Pro XL  —  The second-generation Google foldable isn't heading to AT&T. The carrier told CNET that it will not be offering Google's newest Pixel Fold to its customers.
Damien Wilde / 9to5Google:
Andrew Romero / 9to5Google:
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Bloomberg:
Sources: the US DOJ considers its options after the Google monopoly ruling, like forcing a breakup of the company or requiring it to share more data with rivals  —  - Antitrust enforcers soliciting input from outside companies  — Judge ruled Alphabet unit monopolized online search, ads
Julian Chokkattu / Wired:
Hands-on with the Google Pixel 9's AI camera features: Add Me, Reimagine, Autoframe, and Zoom Enhance reshape reality, plus Video Boost and panorama get better  —  Add Me, Reimagine, Autoframe, and Zoom Enhance—these camera features allow you to alter your photos with zero technical know-how.
Wes Davis / The Verge:
Joanna Stern / Wall Street Journal:
Joseph Menn / Washington Post:
Access Now and Citizen Lab: Russian spy agencies are using deep knowledge about opponents, reporters, and human rights groups to target them via phishing emails  —  Traditional phishing attacks aimed to break into organizations advocating for Russian dissidents, among others.
Gavin Bonshor / AnandTech:
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X review: the Zen 5 flagship chips are fine for highly threaded productivity workloads, but gaming issues need to be fixed  —  Earlier this month, AMD launched the first two desktop CPUs using their latest Zen 5 microarchitecture: the Ryzen 7 9700X and the Ryzen 5 9600X.
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
The US NIST publishes its first three post-quantum cryptography standards; IBM's director of research thinks quantum will hit an inflection point around 2030  —  It'll still be a while before quantum computers become powerful enough to do anything useful, but it's increasingly likely …
Financial Times:
How Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta are using accounting techniques to disguise growing emissions, while working to influence pollution disclosure rules  —  Critics say a proposed change could allow large energy users to hide their true emissions  —  By its own account, Amazon is a green business leader.
Ian King / Bloomberg:
Filing: Intel sold its 1.18M shares in Arm during Q2, which would have raised ~$147M for the company, based on the stock's average price in the quarter  —  Intel Corp., which is slashing jobs and expenses in a bid to turn around the business, sold its holdings in chip technology creator Arm Holdings Plc during the second quarter.
Dara Kerr / NPR:
Meta shuts down CrowdTangle, less than three months before the US election, in favor of the Meta Content Library; Mozilla says 50K+ petitioned against the move  —  Meta has been bombarded by academics, researchers, politicians and regulators about a tool called CrowdTangle, which most people probably haven't heard of.
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google unveils the Pixel Watch 3 in 41mm and 45mm sizes, with a 2,000-nit display and around 16% smaller bezels compared to the Watch 2, starting at $349  —  Besides being offered in a bigger size, the Google Pixel Watch 3 looks exactly like last year's wearable, with software and under …

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Earlier Picks

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Benj Edwards / Ars Technica: