~techmeme | Bookmarks (1014)

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch: Experts have long warned “secure backdoor” systems are impossible; Salt Typhoon's reported hack of US ISPs' wiretap systems exemplifies the risks of backdoors  —  News broke this weekend that China-backed hackers have compromised the wiretap systems of several U.S. telecom and internet providers …

Ryan Broderick / Garbage Day: As Meta proudly unveils AI tools, Facebook users find feeds clogged with AI junk, even when Facebook is needed as a civic resource to coordinate disaster relief  —  Read to the end for furry opera  —  We're inching closer to the Garbage Day Live election special!!!  Over the next few issues, I'll be announcing a new guest.

Sean Hollister / The Verge: Epic v. Google: a US judge orders Google to open the Play Store to rivals from November 1 for three years, distribute third-party stores within Play, and more  —  Google's Android app store is an illegal monopoly — and now it will have to change. … Google will have to distribute rival …

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / TechCrunch: Apple's macOS 15.0.1 Sequoia, released on October 3, fixed the macOS 15 bug that broke some third-party security tools, including from CrowdStrike and Microsoft  —  In September, Apple released the new version of its computer operating system macOS 15, also known as Sequoia …

Isabel Hilton / Yale E360: Taiwan, which is highly dependent on imported fossil fuels, is struggling to meet energy demands from its chip industry; TSMC uses ~9% of Taiwan's electricity  —  As the world's largest producer of advanced computer chips, Taiwan is struggling to meet demand for electricity.

Anton Shilov / Tom's Hardware: Amkor and TSMC sign an MOU to collaborate on advanced chip packaging for AI, HPC, PC, and mobile processors at Amkor's planned ~$2B facility in Peoria, Arizona  —  Apple and Nvidia rejoice.  —  When Amkor announced plans to build a $1.6 billion chip test and packaging facility near Peoria …

Wall Street Journal: eMarketer: Google's share of the US search ad market is expected to drop below 50% in 2025 for the first time in 10+ years, as Amazon, TikTok, and others rise  —  A flurry of new offerings for advertisers is hitting the market  —  Google's grip on the nearly $300 billion search advertising business is loosening.

Matteo Wong / The Atlantic: Q&A with UCLA's Terence Tao, widely considered the world's greatest living mathematician, on OpenAI's o1, how AI might be useful to mathematicians, and more  —  Terence Tao, the world's greatest living mathematician, has a vision for AI.  —  Terence Tao, a mathematics professor at UCLA, is a real-life superintelligence.

SemiAnalysis: A deep dive into “AI Neoclouds”, a new breed of cloud compute providers built to offer GPU rentals, like Crusoe, Lambda Labs, and CoreWeave, and their economics  —  H100 Rental Price Cuts, AI Neocloud Giants and Emerging Neoclouds, H100 Cluster Bill of Materials and Cluster Deployment …

Wes Davis / The Verge: Google rolls out Android theft protection features: Theft Detection Lock, which uses AI to detect motion indicating theft, Offline Device Lock, and Remote Lock  —  Google is rolling out a new set of features aimed at making it less easy for thieves to access your data.

Belle Lin / Wall Street Journal: Grindr is testing an AI “wingman” that would let users track conversations with their “favorite” users, recommend long-term relationship candidates, and more  —  The dating app is testing an AI bot for gay and bi men that would scout for long-term relationship prospects …

Jay Peters / The Verge: An interview with Epic CEO Tim Sweeney about how the company became “financially sound”, Unreal Engine 6, building a “persistent universe” with Disney, and more  —  Just over a year ago, Epic Games laid off around 16 percent of its employees.

Ben Blanchard / Reuters: Foxconn Q3: revenue up 20.2% YoY to ~$57.3B, vs ~$55.4B est., on strong AI server demand; consumer electronics revenue, including from iPhones, was flat YoY  —  Taiwan's Foxconn (2317.TW), the world's largest contract electronics maker, beat expectations to post its highest-ever revenue …

Emma Roth / The Verge: Mullenweg says WordPress.org “belongs to me personally”, as his WP Engine feud blurs the lines between WordPress.org, the WordPress Foundation, and Automattic  —  The lines between the WordPress open-source project, the nonprofit backing it, and the commercial arm owned by Automattic are blurring.

Alan Suderman / Associated Press: A look at the rise and fall of IronNet, a cybersecurity firm led by ex-NSA director Keith Alexander and whose valuation crossed $3B after it went public in 2021  —  The future was once dazzling for IronNet.  Founded by a former director of the National Security Agency and stacked …

Wency Chen / South China Morning Post: How Beixiazhu, a Chinese village where merchants struck gold during the livestream ecommerce boom on Douyin, Kuaishou, and other apps, became a ghost town  —  To the unsuspecting outsider, Beixiazhu looks like any unremarkable Chinese village.  But for years, this was the place …

Ben Cohen / Wall Street Journal: A look at Google NotebookLM's Audio Overview feature, which was built by Google Labs and has gone viral for its AI-generated “deep dive” podcasts with two hosts  —  With this Google tool, you can now listen to a show about any topic you could possibly imagine.  You won't believe your ears.

Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch: An executive says GM is working on a Level 3 eyes-off, hands-off driving system, but does not provide a timeline for when it might become publicly available  —  Seven years ago, GM became the first automaker to offer hands-free driving when it rolled out its Super Cruise advanced driver assistance system.

Jeff Stone / Bloomberg: Cyber Crimes Center, a division of the US DHS, says it has disrupted 500+ ransomware attacks and seized $4.3B in crypto since 2021, including $180M in 2023  —  Homeland Security Investigations is stopping hacks before they occur.  —  A cybercrime-focused division of the US Department …

Lucy Craymer / Reuters: Google says it'll stop linking to news content and cut ties with news orgs in New Zealand if the country passes law forcing digital platforms to pay for content  —  Google said on Friday it will stop linking to New Zealand news articles and ditch the agreements it has with local news organisations …

Olga Kharif / Bloomberg: CCData: Binance's trading volume in the $2T digital asset market fell from 42.7% at the start of 2024 to 36.6% in September, the lowest share since January 2021  —  - Overall market share fell to 36.6% last month, CCData says  — Binance saw the most severe share drop among top exchanges

Marina Temkin / TechCrunch: Sources: ElevenLabs is raising a new round that could value it at up to $3B; source: its ARR has grown from $25M at the end of 2023 to ~$80M in recent months  —  ElevenLabs, a startup that makes AI tools for audio applications, is being approached by existing and new investors about a new round …

Juli Clover / MacRumors: Apple releases iPadOS 18.0.1, bringing iPadOS 18 to the M4 iPad Pro models for the first time since pulling the update for the devices after reports of bricking  —  Apple today released iPadOS 18..1 for the iPad, and it brings iPadOS 18 to the for M4 iPad Pro models for the first time since …

Pooja Salhotra / The Texas Tribune: Texas AG Ken Paxton sues TikTok for allegedly violating a new state law by sharing and selling minors' personal info without parental consent; TikTok denies it  —  The attorney general argues that the popular short form video app has not complied with a new state law that seeks to protect children who are active online.