Techmeme
August 27, 2024, 9:40 AM

Top News

New York Times:
French prosecutors: Pavel Durov's arrest is part of a probe “against person unnamed” into CSAM, drug sales, and more on the app and not working with authorities  —  A case was opened last month to investigate child pornography, drug sales, fraud and other criminal activities on the platform.
New York Times:
A profile of Pavel Durov, a devout techno-optimist who trolled authorities online, started social network VKontakte in 2006, and left Russia in 2014 for Dubai  —  Pavel Durov's anti-establishment streak helped him create one of the world's biggest online platforms, which emphasizes free speech.
Politico:
In France, Telegram is avidly used within political and media circles, including by President Emmanuel Macron, who has used the app for nearly a decade  —  PARIS — Open the Telegram chat of anyone in the French political orbit and you'll notice lawmakers, cabinet members and presidential advisers online or recently connected.
Victor Goury-Laffont / Politico:
Siobhan Hughes / Wall Street Journal:
In a letter to Rep. Jim Jordan, Mark Zuckerberg says he regrets Meta wasn't more outspoken about Biden administration pressure to restrict some COVID-19 content  —  Meta CEO also says he won't repeat 2020 efforts to fund local elections, which Republicans criticized as ‘Zuckerbucks’
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Android 14 downgrade OTA release notes confirm Google has delayed the Android 15 roll out to Pixel devices from September to October, possibly around October 15  —  - The Android Beta Exit update screen has been updated to mention that the Android 15 update will be available in October.
Elon Musk / @elonmusk:
Elon Musk says that, “all things considered, I think California should probably pass the SB 1047 AI safety bill”, and saying so is “a tough call”  —  This is a tough call and will make some people upset, but, all things considered, I think California should probably pass the SB 1047 AI safety bill. For over 20 years, I have been an advocate for AI regulation, just as we regulate any product/technology that is a potential risk
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Anthropic publishes a changelog for the system prompts of its Sonnet, Opus, and Haiku models, the first major AI vendor to do so  —  Generative AI models aren't actually human-like.  They have no intelligence or personality — they're simply statistical systems predicting the likeliest next words in a sentence.
Caroline O'Donovan / Washington Post:
Docs: Amazon plans to launch its delayed overhaul of Alexa in October for as much as $10/month, with AI-generated news summaries, a chatbot for kids, and more  —  The revamp of the voice assistant, which documents say will include a daily AI-generated news summary, would come just weeks before the U.S. presidential election.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Transform ML Experimentation with Tangle  —  Save months of compute time with Tangle, built by Shopify.  Try this open-source platform to simplify ML workflows, ensure reproducibility, and seamlessly share with collaborators.
Zoho:
Contract Signed.  Project Ready.  Tasks Created.  —  Every project begins with a promise; a contract that outlines the deliverables, the timelines, and the terms.  But for most businesses …
Bitrix24:
Bitrix24 powers the next generation of high-performing businesses  —  Chat, projects, CRM, and automation — all in one place.  Replace dozens of tools so your team moves faster, collaborates smarter, and grows effortlessly.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Access:
Is Roblox making the internet better or worse? We asked the CEO
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Lenny's Podcast:
Why LinkedIn is turning PMs into AI-powered "full stack builders" | Tomer Cohen (LinkedIn CPO)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Great Chat:
Code red: our favorite tech rivalries
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Big Technology Podcast:
How An AI Model Learned To Be Bad — With Evan Hubinger And Monte MacDiarmid
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
PBS Lost a Billion Dollars. Now what? With CEO Paula Kerger
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:40 AM ET, August 27, 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.

More News

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

Earlier Picks

Apple:
Jesse Hamilton / CoinDesk:
Anna Tong / Reuters:
Juli Clover / MacRumors: