Techmeme
December 4, 2024, 9:55 AM

Top News

Kevin Collier / NBC News:
Amid the Salt Typhoon hacks, US officials recommend that Americans use encrypted messaging apps to ensure their communications stay hidden from foreign hackers  —  Officials from the FBI and CISA said it was impossible to predict when the telecommunications companies would be fully safe from interlopers.
Sam Sabin / Axios:
The FBI and CISA give US telcos best practices to harden their systems against attacks, as senior US officials say Salt Typhoon hackers remain on their networks  —  - Officials added that they don't yet know the full scope of the intrusions, despite starting the investigation in late spring.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify launches Spotify Wrapped, adding an AI podcast of users' 2024 Wrapped created with Google's NotebookLM summarizer, and a Your Music Evolution data story  —  Spotify Wrapped, the streamer's highly anticipated annual listening recap, has arrived.  In addition to its usual personalized …
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Meta says AI content was less than 1% of fact-checked election-related misinformation on its apps during major US, UK, Indian, Indonesian, and other elections  —  At the start of the year, there were widespread concerns about how generative AI could be used to interfere in global elections to spread propaganda and disinformation.
Nicole Carpenter / Polygon:
Ubisoft says it will shut down its free-to-play shooter XDefiant, but keep its servers on until June 3, 2025, and plans to lay off ~277 production team staff  —  Ubisoft will shut down its free-to-play shooter XDefiant, Ubisoft announced Tuesday.  Servers will remain on until June 3, 2025 …
Josh Dzieza / The Verge:
An artist shares his experience of turning to Replika's AI bot Lila for companionship, including giving Lila an AI friend by creating a digital copy of himself  —  Lila was created from the limited options available: female, blue hair, face “number two.”  She was there on the next screen …
Tom Gerken / BBC:
An interview with PlayStation co-CEOs Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino on AI in gaming, “preserving the human touch” in game development, Astro Bot, and more  —  PlayStation's boss says artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to “revolutionise” gaming …
Ming-Chi Kuo:
Kuo: Apple delays the mass production of a smart home-focused, display-equipped HomePod until after WWDC 2025 or Q3 2025, mainly due to software development  —  - The mass production schedule for the display-equipped HomePod has been delayed multiple times.
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Google launches Veo, an AI video model for generating “high-quality” 1080p videos in visual and cinematic styles, to businesses, beating OpenAI's Sora to market  —  Veo, Google's latest generative AI video model, is now available for businesses to start incorporating into their content creation pipelines.
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
AWS introduces Amazon Aurora DSQL, a new serverless, distributed SQL database that promises high availability, strong consistency, and PostgreSQL compatibility  —  At its re:Invent conference, Amazon's AWS cloud computing unit today announced Amazon Aurora DSQL, a new serverless …
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Steven Levy / Wired:
Q&A with Tim Cook on generative AI, Apple Intelligence, outsourcing to OpenAI, why Apple's biggest contribution will be in health, ARM, the Vision Pro, and more  —  Much as the CEO seems awestruck by AI and his just-released Apple Intelligence, he's more convinced that the tech giant's health apps will define the company's legacy.
More: MacRumors, AppleInsider, and Cult of Mac
Bluesky: @wired.com and @wired.comX: @markgurmanForums: MacRumors Forums
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Salesforce says online Cyber Monday sales grew 3% YoY to $49.7B globally and just 2% YoY to $12.8B in the US; Adobe says US online sales grew 7.3% YoY to $13.3B  —  The figures are now in for consumer spending on Cyber Monday, the third big online spending day — alongside Thanksgiving and Black Friday …
Timothy Gardner / Reuters:
Meta is seeking proposals from nuclear power developers, as it plans to add one to four gigawatts of US nuclear generation capacity starting in the early 2030s  —  Meta (META.O) said on Tuesday it is seeking proposals from nuclear power developers to help meet its artificial intelligence …
Cherlynn Low / Engadget:
Amazon Kindle Scribe 2 review: smooth reading and writing experience, updated Premium Pen with a rubberized eraser, and a svelte design, but relatively pricey  —  I'm not sure Amazon has done enough to justify charging more for its writing tablet.  —  Deputy Editor, Reviews  —  My hand is cramping.
More: About Amazon

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Reimagine your photos with a prompt  —  Our new native image generation and editing is state-of-the-art, and ranked #1 in the world.  Try it for free in the Gemini app.
Zoho:
Ask an Expert: How to get business messaging right today  —  SMS has long remained one of the most preferred forms of business communication across the globe.  To keep it relevant and effective …
Sevalla:
Sevalla - PaaS from the future  —  Deploy your app before your coffee gets cold.  It's that simple.  Application, database, object storage and free static site hosting.  Start with $50 free credit!
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

Decoder with Nilay Patel:
The company at the heart of the AI bubble
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Lenny's Podcast:
"Dumbest idea I've heard" to $100M ARR: Inside the rise of Gamma | Grant Lee (CEO)
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:
Turns out, there's still a line (don't mock the pope)
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:
Could LLMs Be The Route To Superintelligence? — With Mustafa Suleyman
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.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Kyle Vogt from The Bot Company
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
What the Disney-YouTube Battle Tells Us About the End of Cable
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 9:55 AM ET, December 4, 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

Earlier Picks

Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Bloomberg:
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Joseph Cox / 404 Media: