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September 24, 2024, 3:15 PM
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| Larry Dignan / Constellation Research: |
Google Cloud debuts Gemini 1.5 Flash and 1.5 Pro with a 2M context window, twice as big as before, “grounding” for better Google search accuracy, and new agents — Google Cloud launched a series of updates including new Gemini 1.5 Flash and 1.5 Pro models with a 2 million context window …
More: Google Developers Blog, Reuters, CRN, Google DeepMind, and AIM
| Jess Weatherbed / The Verge: |
Google plans to include the standalone Gemini app as standard in its Workspace Business, Enterprise, and Frontline plans from Q4, replacing the Gemini add-on — Google is making Gemini AI a core part of its Workspace productivity suite, which could see the chatbot adopted by millions more users.| Ryan Browne / CNBC: |
More: Google Cloud, TechHive, Engadget, PCMag, The Verge, TVNewsCheck, Tv Technology, The Wrap, Variety, Quartz, Benzinga, and The Hollywood Reporter. Forums: r/television
| New York Times: |
Sources: Mark Zuckerberg wants to get away from politics, pulling back from charitable causes that may seem partisan, tamping down employee activism, and more — It was only a little more than a decade ago that Mark Zuckerberg had few qualms about airing his politics.| New York Times: |
Sources describe Meta's efforts to de-emphasize political content across its family of apps, its reduction and reshuffling of election integrity staff, and more — In January 2021, after pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Mark Zuckerberg announced a new priority for Meta …
More: The Wrap
| Jess Weatherbed / The Verge: |
Spotify rolls out its AI Playlist feature in beta to Premium subscribers in the US, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand, after launching in the UK and Australia — Spotify is expanding an AI feature that creates customized playlists from your text descriptions to additional English-speaking regions.| Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch: |
WP Engine sends a cease-and-desist letter to Automattic to “retract false, harmful, and disparaging statements”, after Matt Mullenweg called it a “cancer” — WordPress hosting service WP Engine on Monday sent a cease-and-desist letter to Automattic …
More: Search Engine Journal, r/Wordpress, TechSpot, TechRadar, WordPress News, and Sherwood News
Mastodon: @jalefkowit@vmst.io. X: @wpengine, @justinferriman, @rarst, @jacobwolf, @katiekeithbarn2, @mattpaulsonsd, @photomatt, @photomatt, @twentworth12, and @asmartbear
Forums: Hacker News and r/Wordpress
| Jess Weatherbed / The Verge: |
Google updates Google Photos' mobile video editor for Android and iOS, adding editing tools and AI presets that should make trimming and tweaking clips easier — Features coming to Android devices include a new “Speed” tool for creating slo-mo or sped-up videos, a new “Auto enhance” … | Gaby Del Valle / The Verge: |
The US DOJ sues Visa, alleging it has an illegal monopoly over debit network markets and has tried to unlawfully crush competitors, including PayPal and Square — The financial service company reportedly tried to ‘smother’ competitors and feared Apple as an ‘existential threat.’
More: CNBC, The Hill, Payments Dive, Bloomberg, Politico, CNN, NPR, New York Times, KSTP-TV, Axios, CBS News, Business Insider, Proactive, MarketWatch, Australian Financial Review, Financial Times, and PYMNTS.com. X: @pkafka
| Aaron Holmes / The Information: |
Sources: some key staff working on Microsoft's distilled AI models trained on synthetic data, like Phi, have left the Microsoft AI unit led by Mustafa Suleyman — In case you missed it, my colleagues broke news yesterday about Anthropic's attempt to draft off OpenAI's pending fundraising, by looking to do its own funding round.
More: New York Times
| Bloomberg: |
Memo: a US arbitrator awards a full severance package to a former Twitter employee who was laid off when Musk took over, a possible precedent for 2K+ complaints — Elon Musk lost a legal fight over unpaid severance to a former Twitter employee who was laid off when he took over the social media platform …
More: Wccftech. Threads: @kurtwag8, @kurtwag8, and @karaswisher. Bluesky: @carljanderson.bsky.social
| Tripp Mickle / New York Times: |
A profile of Jim Covello, Goldman Sachs' head of stock research who has become Wall Street's leading AI skeptic after joining the bank in 2000 as a tech analyst — Jim Covello, Goldman Sachs's head of stock research, warned that building too much of what the world doesn't need “typically ends badly.”
More: Fortune, Australian Financial Review, and The Information
| Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg: |
TikTok says it plans to shut down TikTok Music on November 28 and delete user data; originally called Resso, the app launched in 2019 and was in five countries — TikTok Music will go offline on Nov. 28 and customer data will be deleted, the music division said in a post on its website.| Paul Sawers / TechCrunch: |
GitHub says all enterprise cloud customers will be able to select an EU region for Azure, in the Netherlands or Sweden, to store all their code from October 29 — GitHub will soon allow cloud customers to store their code data in the European Union (EU), part of a growing push in the technology realm …
More: The GitHub Blog, CNBC, WinBuzzer, Neowin, and TechRadar
| Rohan Goswami / CNBC: |
Collaboration software maker Smartsheet agrees to be acquired by Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners for ~$8.4B, or $56.50/share, set to close in January 2025 — Collaboration software maker Smartsheet on Tuesday announced Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners will acquire it in an all-cash deal valuing … | Steve Dent / Engadget: |
Logitech MX Creative Console review: the $200 control surface for apps like Lightroom is an affordable entry point, but pros may find the controls limiting — The quality and design are solid, but pros may find the controls limiting. — Last year, Logitech leaped into the content creator market … | Emma Roth / The Verge: |
Marques Brownlee says “I hear you” after criticism of his new freemium wallpaper app Panels, over privacy concerns, a $50/year price for full access, and more — Marques Brownlee, the YouTuber known as MKBHD, has responded to backlash over the launch of his new wallpaper app, called Panels.
More: POCIT, Benzinga, TechCrunch, Boing Boing, Dexerto, Wavelengths, Digital Trends, and NewsBytes
Threads: @crumbler, @mkbhd, @bernardgatt, @ashjcoronado_, @letterboxd_steve, @eshwarnag, @jonathangarelick, @devyn1989, @tomgehrke, and @ruidamosher
Mastodon: @julipuli@mastodon.social, @harshil@mastodon.social, @TimDuran@twit.social, @seb@androiddev.social, @aulia@mementomori.social, @harshil@mastodon.social, @ljpuk@twit.social, @DJDarren@mendeddrum.org, @harshil@mastodon.social, @engravecavedave …, @andyn@social.lol, and @thomholwerda@exquisite.social
X: @mkbhd, @mkbhd, @concept_central, @ianzelbo, @mkbhd, @mkbhd, @ashleevance, @mkbhd, @vadimyuryev, @parikpatelcfa, @0interestrates, @mkbhd, @growing_daniel, @ludyfrfr, @snazzylabs, @imsh4yy, @dylanmcd8, @hahaluastudios, @gvnsmth, @leakerapple, @lauren_lawls, @sank_alp, @flyosity, @0x, @ilyamiskov, @mkbhd, @bocabola_, @jordanarnold, @mkbhd, and @hosecollector. Forums: r/technology
| Richard Nieva / Forbes: |
Duolingo unveils an interactive AI feature to “video call” with its Lily mascot, as part of its $30/month Duolingo Max tier; the dialogue is generated by GPT-4o — Luis von Ahn, who grew up with little money in Guatemala, aims to transform the popular language-learning app into an automated AI tutor.
More: CNET, Investor's Business Daily, Neowin, PocketGamer.biz, Digital Trends, PCMag, and VentureBeat
| Gian Volpicelli / Bloomberg: |
Meta says it will not sign the EU's voluntary AI safety pledge that's planned as a stopgap before the EU's AI Act takes full effect in 2027, but may join later — - Company could join at a later date, spokesperson says — EU wants compliance with AI Act rules before they take effect| Nilay Patel / The Verge: |
An interview with The Browser Company CEO Josh Miller on Arc Search being an operating system, competing with Chrome and Safari, monetization, AI, and more — The Browser Company cofounder thinks it's time to modernize the browser and reinvent the web.| Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: |
Microsoft debuts Correction in preview as part of the Azure AI Content Safety API; the service tries to find and revise AI-generated text that's factually wrong — AI is a notorious liar, and Microsoft now says it has a fix for that. Understandably, that's going to raise some eyebrows, but there's reason to be skeptical.
More: Microsoft Tech Community and The Decoder
| Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch: |
OpenAI adds five voices to Advanced Voice Mode, which is now rolling out to ChatGPT Plus and Teams users and, next week, to enterprise and education users — OpenAI announced it is rolling out Advanced Voice Mode (AVM) to an expanded set of ChatGPT's paying customers on Tuesday.| Chris Welch / The Verge: |
Roku unveils the $100 Roku Ultra, which is 30% faster than its other streaming players and has Wi-Fi 6, HDMI 2.1, Dolby Atmos, the Voice Remote Pro, and more — One day after the Google TV Streamer hit stores, Roku is announcing its latest streaming player.
More: Android Authority, ZDNET, Android Central, The Desk, Android Headlines, Trusted Reviews, iPhone in Canada Blog, Light Reading, Bloomberg, Media Play News, Neowin, Business Insider, 9to5Google, Streaming Better, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, Engadget, Next TV, Liliputing, The Nerdy, TechHive, Digital Trends, The Streamable, MakeUseOf, How-To Geek, The Shortcut, CNN, Cord Cutters News, MobileSyrup, and CNET
| Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: |
NYC-based Torq, which helps IT teams automate security workflows, raised a $70M Series C led by Evolution Equity Partners, for $192M in total funding — As the volume of cyberattacks grows, there's increasing interest from the corporate sector in tech to help automate responses to breaches.
More: FinSMEs, CRN, Reuters, SiliconANGLE, HealthcareInfoSecurity.com, Globes Online, Torq, and Venture Capital Journal
| Joseph Menn / Washington Post: |
US intelligence officials say Russia, Iran, and China are using AI tools to boost US election influence campaigns and Russia's efforts are the most aggressive — American intelligence officials say Moscow's efforts, aimed mostly at undermining Harris, are the most aggressive.
More: NBC News, GZERO, Reuters, Cybernews.com, The Crypto Times, Tech.co, NPR, CNN, Washington Examiner, USA Today, ODNI, ABC News, and Cryptopolitan
| David Ingram / NBC News: |
More: TikTok, The Record, New York Daily News, Sky News, Associated Press, pravda.com.ua, Engadget, CNN, Tech.co, Benzinga, LBC, The Hill, and Anadolu Ajansı …
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