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August 15, 2024, 12:35 PM
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Kenrick Cai / Reuters:
Google expands AI Overviews in Search to Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, and the UK in local languages, and adds links beside the AI-generated answers  —  Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O) said on Thursday it was expanding its AI-generated summaries for search queries to six new countries …
Reuters:
New Zealand signs an extradition order for Kim Dotcom to the US, where he faces criminal charges related to Megaupload; Dotcom has fought extradition since 2012  —  Kim Dotcom, who is facing criminal charges relating to the defunct file-sharing website Megaupload, will be extradited …
Financial Times:
Sources: SoftBank held talks with Intel about making an AI chip to compete with Nvidia, but Intel couldn't meet the requirements; SoftBank is talking to TSMC  —  Son hopes to put Japanese group at centre of artificial intelligence boom but talks with US chipmaker failed to progress
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Google says Iran-backed hacking group APT42 has targeted the Trump and Biden campaigns, as well as Israeli military, government, and diplomatic organizations  —  APT42, which is believed to work for Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, targeted about a dozen people associated with both Trump …
Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
Unit 42: open-source projects from Google, Microsoft, AWS, Red Hat, and others leaked GitHub auth tokens via GitHub Actions; GitHub chose not to fix the issues  —  Multiple high-profile open-source projects, including those from Google, Microsoft, AWS, and Red Hat, were found …
Joseph Menn / Washington Post:
Google says it will remove Showcase.apk from Pixel devices “out of an abundance of precaution”, after iVerify said hackers could use the dormant app to spy  —  Discovery prompted one intelligence contractor to stop issuing Android phones to employees.
Joseph De Avila / Wall Street Journal:
Eric Schmidt says he “misspoke” when he said Google was losing the AI race because the company decided that “working from home was more important than winning”  —  Ex-Google CEO had said the tech company's work-life balance was ‘more important than winning’
Danny Gallagher / Engadget:
The US FTC announces a final rule banning the sale of fake reviews and testimonials, including AI-generated ones, with fines as high as $50K per violation  —  The new rules prohibit the selling of fake and AI-generated reviews and testimonials in several forms.
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Q&A with Google SVP Rick Osterloh on the new Pixel devices, Android, the history of the smartphone, integration, AI smartphones, Pixel trade-offs, and more  —  An interview with Google SVP Rick Osterloh about the Made with Google event, and understanding the company's approach to Android …
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Images generated by Grok, like Barack Obama doing cocaine and Donald Trump and Kamala Harris with guns, go viral on X, raising questions about Grok's guardrails  —  xAI's Grok chatbot now lets you create images from text prompts and publish them to X — and so far, the rollout seems as chaotic …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Sources: Sonos is considering relaunching its previous mobile app as it works to improve the redesigned version, which launched in May 2024 to negative feedback  —  Sonos has explored the possibility of rereleasing its previous mobile app for Android and iOS — a clear sign of what an ordeal the company's hurried redesign has become.
Emilia David / VentureBeat:
Anthropic adds prompt caching in public beta to its API, letting developers cache often used context between API calls on Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Claude 3 Haiku  —  Anthropic introduced prompt caching on its API, which remembers the context between API calls and allows developers to avoid repeating prompts.
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Epic v. Google: in the final hearing after Epic's antitrust win, the judge says he'll “tear the barriers down” on the Play Store, but won't “micromanage” Google  —  Judge James Donato just made it crystal-clear: Google will pay.
Ari Levy / CNBC:
Cisco reports Q4 revenue down 10% YoY to $13.64B, vs. $13.54B est., and says it's cutting 7% of its workforce, after cutting 5% in February 2024; CSCO jumps 5%+  —  Cisco shares popped in extended trading on Wednesday after the networking company said it's cutting 7% of its global workforce …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is prioritizing developing a tabletop home device with an iPad-like display and a robotic limb, aiming for a release in 2026 or 2027 for ~$1,000  —  - Executive who oversaw car project is leading the effort  — Device would offer twist on home products from Amazon and Meta
Aisha Counts / Bloomberg:
A survey of 430 first-time Gen Z voters: 60%+ oppose requiring kids under 16 to get parental consent to use social media and 85% oppose notification time limits  —  - Survey polled 430 first-time voters from across the US  — Lawmakers have criticized Instagram, TikTok over child safety
Zheping Huang / Bloomberg:
Alibaba reports Q1 revenue up 4% YoY to ~$34B, below ~$34.9B est., and net income down 27% YoY to ~$3.4B, after aggressive promotions failed to drive spending  —  - Net income dived 27% as spending on promotions ballooned  — Commerce shrank in a worrying sign for Chinese consumption

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 12:35 PM ET, August 15, 2024.

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From Mediagazer

Nancy Scola / Washingtonian:
A deep look at FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's moves favoring the Trump administration; former chair Tom Wheeler warns against the agency becoming a political tool

Lucia Moses / Business Insider:
WaPo opinion editor Adam O'Neal says he's stepping down after a year in the role; his hiring was part of a push to promote “personal liberties and free markets”

Matt Stout / The Boston Globe:
The Massachusetts Senate passes an amendment that would in many instances bar judges, grand juries, and others from forcing reporters to identify their sources

More News

Earlier Picks

CNN:
A look at the five-person Gen Z team running Kamala Harris' TikTok account @KamalaHQ, capitalizing on the VP's viral moments and averaging 6M views per post
Reuters:
CFIUS fines T-Mobile a record $60M for allegedly failing to prevent and report unauthorized access to sensitive data after its Sprint merger in 2020
Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
A look at Germany-based Black Forest Labs, which recently emerged from stealth with a $31M seed led by a16z and whose FLUX.1 model powers Grok's image generator
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
President Biden speaks at the first White House Creator Economy Conference, with about 100 startup founders, industry stakeholders, and creators in attendance
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple says developers can offer NFC transactions using the iPhone's Secure Element, separate from Apple Pay, starting in iOS 18.1, with “associated fees”
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
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