~techmeme | Bookmarks (1014)

Andy Greenberg / Wired: A SCOTUS decision means that the US now legally owns the 69,370 BTC obtained during its Silk Road probe; the ex-IRS agent who seized them is in a Nigerian jail  —  The $4.4 billion in crypto is set to be the largest pile of criminal proceeds ever sold off by the US.

Anna Heim / TechCrunch: Paris-based Qantev, which offers an AI-based claim management software for health and life insurance companies, raised a €30M Series B  —  Health and life insurance providers face a rising volume of claims due to chronic disease and aging populations, but their processes lack scalability.

Bloomberg: Amazon says Apple TV+ will be available as a $9.99/month subscription add-on in Prime Video Channels later this month in the US, joining 100+ streaming services  —  Apple will begin selling TV+ subscriptions through Prime later this month, Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Amazon Prime Video …

Stefan Boscia / Politico: The UK's defense ministry is using an AI model created by Palantir to sift through submissions for a comprehensive review of the country's defense capabilities  —  LONDON — The U.K. government is using artificial intelligence to help put together its landmark review of Britain's armed forces …

The Information: Sources: Sierra, an AI agent startup co-founded by Bret Taylor, is raising hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding led by Greenoaks at a $4B+ valuation  —  Sierra, an artificial intelligence startup co-founded by former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor, is raising hundreds of millions …

Samantha Cole / 404 Media: WordPress.org adds a checkbox to confirm users aren't “affiliated with WP Engine in any way, financially or otherwise” before they log in or register an account  —  WordPress.org users are forced to confirm they are not “affiliated with WP Engine in any way, financially or otherwise” …

Hayden Field / CNBC: OpenAI says it has disrupted 20+ operations and deceptive networks in 2024 so far that tried to use its models, including four that had election-related content  —  OpenAI is increasingly becoming a platform of choice for cyber actors looking to influence democratic elections across the globe.

Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch: Indian insurance firm Star Health says it suffered a “malicious cyberattack”, about two weeks after hackers put 31M customers' alleged personal data on Telegram  —  Star Health and Allied Insurance, one of the largest health insurance firms in India, has confirmed it was the target of a …

CNBC: Grabango, which provided cashierless checkout tech and raised $73M+, shuts down after failing to “secure the funding it needed to continue providing service”  —  Grabango, a venture-backed startup that was vying to take on Amazon in cashierless checkout technology …

Natalie Alms / Nextgov/FCW: The US GSA's Login.gov is giving government agencies access to its IAL2-compliant face recognition tech, which compares a user's live selfie with their photo ID  —  Agencies using the government-created service will have the option to incorporate new face-matching capabilities or stick with existing offerings.

Michael Kan / PCMag: Florida-based data broker National Public Data files for bankruptcy, admitting its breach that led to the August 2024 SSN leak may impact “hundreds of millions”  —  In court documents, National Public Data concedes the breach may impact ‘hundreds of millions’ of people …

Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer: A threat actor hacked the Internet Archive and stole a user authentication database with 31M unique records; a DDoS attack took the site offline on October 9  —  Internet Archive's “The Wayback Machine” has suffered a data breach after a threat actor compromised the website and stole …

Umar Shakir / The Verge: Some Threads and Instagram users say their accounts are being deleted or restricted due to moderation failures; Adam Mosseri says he's “looking into it”  —  On Threads, the topic of “Threads Moderation Failures” is trending.  Some users complain their accounts are being deleted …

Stephanie Stacey / Financial Times: Online gig platforms sought to increase their “take rates” amid slowing growth; PitchBook: Fiverr and Upwork are trading at less than 20% their pandemic peaks  —  Fiverr and Upwork rocketed in value during pandemic lockdowns but are now hit with slowing growth

Will Knight / Wired: A look at OpenAI's ongoing talent exodus, seeming shift in hiring priorities, deep bench of young talent, and the intensifying competition to hire the next wave  —  OpenAI built a reputation for making bold research bets before others.  After a recent brain drain, it needs to attract a new generation of researchers to keep this going.

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch: MoneyGram says hackers “accessed and acquired” some customers' personal and transaction data, including SSNs, during a cyberattack between September 20 and 22  —  U.S. money transfer giant MoneyGram has confirmed that hackers stole its customers' personal information and transaction data during a cyberattack last month.

Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg: Samsung Electronics issues a rare apology for posting disappointing preliminary Q3 results and plans to review its organizational culture and processes  —  - Chipmaker has fallen behind rivals in key AI memory segment  — Preliminary results show profit, revenue missing expectations

Reuters: Samsung estimates Q3 operating profit up 274% YoY to ~$6.78B, falling short of analysts' estimates of ~$7.66B, as it lags rivals in the booming AI chip market  —  Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) estimated on Tuesday its third-quarter operating profit jumped 274%, but that was short …

Joe Rossignol / MacRumors: Two Russian YouTube channels posted videos of an alleged new 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro base model, in what could be the worst Apple product leak since the iPhone 4  —  Alleged photos and videos of an unannounced 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M4 chip continue to surface on social media …

Sarah Young / Reuters: The UK launches a Regulatory Innovation Office to speed up the approval of synthetic biology and biotech, space tech, AI in health care, and autonomous drones  —  Britain is setting up a new Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO) to speed up the approval of new technologies such as artificial intelligence …

Digiday: TikTok launches Smart+, an AI-powered ad tool that takes on Google's Performance Max and Meta's Advantage+, automating creative, ad targeting, and optimization  —  TikTok's cultural clout is undeniable, but the ad dollars?  Not quite there — yet.  —  That's where Smart+ comes in …

Lee-Anne Mulholland / The Keyword: Google says it will appeal the Epic Games verdict, as “Apple and Android clearly compete” and the ruling will cause “unintended consequences” for US consumers  —  The Epic verdict missed the obvious: Apple and Android clearly compete.

Bloomberg: US bankruptcy judge approves repaying FTX customers; in June, FTX had $12.6B, which could rise to $16.5B; FTX is in talks with the US over $1B in seized assets  —  - FTX judge approves plan to distribute at least $12.6 billion  — Company in talks over $1 billion seized by prosecutors

Lauren Feiner / The Verge: A US federal judge has given the FTC the green light to pursue antitrust claims against Amazon, but ruled that some claims under state laws won't move forward  —  A federal judge gave the Federal Trade Commission the green light to pursue antitrust claims against Amazon, a newly unsealed order reveals …