Indian opposition leaders say Apple warned more than six of them of state-backed iPhone attacks; Apple confirms the notification but did not attribute the hacks (Manish Singh/TechCrunch)

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Indian opposition leaders say Apple warned more than six of them of state-backed iPhone attacks; Apple confirms the notification but did not attribute the hacks  —  Apple has warned over a half dozen Indian politicians, other members of political parties and journalists of their iPhones …

Filings: China's Big Fund invests $1.99B in DRAM maker Changxin Xinqiao, or 33.15% of its total registered capital, part of plans to build 12-inch memory wafers (Reuters)

Reuters:
Filings: China's Big Fund invests $1.99B in DRAM maker Changxin Xinqiao, or 33.15% of its total registered capital, part of plans to build 12-inch memory wafers  —  China's state-backed chip investment fund has invested 14.56 billion yuan ($1.99 billion) in a memory chip company called Changxin Xinqiao, records showed.

Taiwan's Powerchip plans to build a $5.3B chip facility in northeast Japan with financing from SBI and Japan, aiming to produce 40nm to 55nm chips by 2027 (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Taiwan's Powerchip plans to build a $5.3B chip facility in northeast Japan with financing from SBI and Japan, aiming to produce 40nm to 55nm chips by 2027  —  - Initial investment to be $2.8 billion on automotive chip plant  — Move bolsters Japan's domestic chip manufacturing capacity

WhatsApp is rolling out a message reaction filtering feature for channels: Here’s what it is

WhatsApp is rolling out a new message reaction filtering feature for its Channels in India. The feature allows channel admins to see individual reactions from their contacts, providing insights into audience engagement. Only channel admins can access this information, ensuring privacy. Additionally, WhatsApp is developing a feature that allows users to hide their locked chats, providing an extra layer of privacy and security. Users will be able to reveal locked chats by entering a secret code in the search bar. The feature is expected to be included in an upcoming app update. https://ift.tt/uXcmQsA

Filing: Thailand's Kasikorn Bank buys 97% of the Satang crypto exchange, operating in Thailand since 2017, for ~$102.8M and plans to rebrand Satang to Orbix (Sam Reynolds/CoinDesk)

Sam Reynolds / CoinDesk:
Filing: Thailand's Kasikorn Bank buys 97% of the Satang crypto exchange, operating in Thailand since 2017, for ~$102.8M and plans to rebrand Satang to Orbix  —  The move continues a trend of Thailand's major traditional financial institutions moving into crypto.  —  Register Now

Ad holding company Omnicom agrees to acquire Flywheel, the digital commerce arm of UK-based B2B media company Ascential, for a net cash purchase price of ~$835M (Megan Graham/Wall Street Journal)

Megan Graham / Wall Street Journal:
Ad holding company Omnicom agrees to acquire Flywheel, the digital commerce arm of UK-based B2B media company Ascential, for a net cash purchase price of ~$835M  —  Flywheel, part of Cannes Lions owner Ascential, aims to help brands sell on digital marketplaces such as Amazon

Google details its research into audioplethysmography (APG), which can add heart rate sensing capabilities to ANC headphones "with a simple software upgrade" (Abner Li/9to5Google)

Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google details its research into audioplethysmography (APG), which can add heart rate sensing capabilities to ANC headphones “with a simple software upgrade”  —  Google today detailed its research into audioplethysmography (APG) that adds heart rate sensing capabilities to active noise canceling …

WhatsApp users can now initiate group calls with up to 31 participants: Here’s how to do it

WhatsApp has launched a new feature that allows users to initiate group calls with up to 31 participants, a significant increase from the previous limit of 15. The update is currently available for iOS users. Additionally, WhatsApp is developing a feature that will allow users to hide their locked chats, providing an extra layer of privacy and security. This feature will enable users to hide the entry point to locked chats and reveal them by entering a secret code in the search bar. https://ift.tt/vOuTCfs

Research details how vulnerabilities in signaling protocols used by mobile network operators for international roaming can be exploited to geolocate devices (The Citizen Lab)

The Citizen Lab:
Research details how vulnerabilities in signaling protocols used by mobile network operators for international roaming can be exploited to geolocate devices  —  Table of Contents  —  2. Geolocation Attacks Against Telecommunications Networks  —  4. Incentives Enabling Geolocation Attacks

The UK's policing minister Chris Philp encourages the police to double the use of retrospective facial recognition software by May 2024 to track down offenders (The Guardian)

The Guardian:
The UK's policing minister Chris Philp encourages the police to double the use of retrospective facial recognition software by May 2024 to track down offenders  —  Policing minister Chris Philp suggests target of more than 200,000 searches over next six months

Document: the G7 plans to agree to a voluntary, 11-point code of conduct on October 30 for companies developing advanced AI systems, seeking to mitigate risks (Foo Yun Chee/Reuters)

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
Document: the G7 plans to agree to a voluntary, 11-point code of conduct on October 30 for companies developing advanced AI systems, seeking to mitigate risks  —  The Group of Seven industrial countries will on Monday agree a code of conduct for companies developing advanced artificial intelligence systems …

A look at physics-informed approaches to machine learning, which are in early stages and can help AI tackle hard problems in robotics, science, and engineering (Christopher Mims/Wall Street Journal)

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:
A look at physics-informed approaches to machine learning, which are in early stages and can help AI tackle hard problems in robotics, science, and engineering  —  Adding what we know about the real world to artificial intelligence can make it more effective at solving some of the hardest and most essential problems

Q&A with Discord's head of trust and safety John Redgrave on the content moderation challenges in the age of generative AI, exploring E2EE on Discord, and more (Reed Albergotti/Semafor)

Reed Albergotti / Semafor:
Q&A with Discord's head of trust and safety John Redgrave on the content moderation challenges in the age of generative AI, exploring E2EE on Discord, and more  —  Discord, the online messaging platform that started as a haven for gamers, became better known earlier this year as the site …

Instagram may allow friends to add photos to your posts

Instagram is testing a new feature that will allow users' friends to add content to their posts. Users will have the option to let followers submit their own photos and videos to be included in their posts. The feature will be especially useful for group vacations or collaborative photo collections. Users will have to approve each submission before it is added to the post. Instagram is also testing the ability to post selfie videos in Notes. https://ift.tt/qHD7dxo

ChatGPT vs Claude 2: Google to invest $2 billion in OpenAI competitor

Google, owned by Alphabet, plans to invest up to $2 billion in artificial intelligence company Anthropic. This investment will strengthen Google's position against Microsoft, a major backer of OpenAI. Anthropic also has investments from Salesforce, Zoom, and recently received a $4 billion investment from Amazon. Anthropic's founders, Dario and Daniela Amodei, were former executives at OpenAI. https://ift.tt/vYDK5oF

Google Bard gets a ChatGPT-like response delay setting

Google Bard, the AI-powered chatbot, will now show responses in real time to make the response time feel faster. Users can choose between "Respond once complete" and "Respond in real time" options in the settings. The advantage of the real-time option is that users can stop Bard's response if they feel it is not up to the mark and fine-tune the query. https://ift.tt/z8AROb7

How to disable FaceTime reactions in iOS 17

Apple's iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma introduced FaceTime Reactions, animated effects that respond to hand gestures during video calls. These effects include speech bubbles, balloons, confetti, and dynamic weather conditions. While they add playfulness to virtual interactions, there may be situations where you want to disable them, such as in professional or telehealth settings. https://ift.tt/cFYbqOg

Documents: Shein and PDD's Temu file joint declarations in the US to end their legal fights, asking judges to dismiss the cases "without prejudice" (Casey Hall/Reuters)

Casey Hall / Reuters:
Documents: Shein and PDD's Temu file joint declarations in the US to end their legal fights, asking judges to dismiss the cases “without prejudice”  —  Fierce rivals Shein and PDD Holdings-owned (PDD.O) Temu have applied to end their legal fights with each other in the U.S. …

KRAFTON’s India-Korea Invitational Esports event kicks off in Delhi

Krafton, a South Korean video game developer, has organized an India-Korea invitational Esports talent event in Delhi. The event brings together eight Indian teams to compete against top-tier Korean teams. The tournament features games like BGMI, Road To Valor: Empires, and a real cricket challenge. Krafton's invested entities, including Bobble AI and Nautilus Mobile, also participated in the event. The CEO of Krafton India expressed excitement about the showcase of talent and the growth of the global Esports community. Bobble AI's CEO also expressed enthusiasm for the event and the impact it will have on gamers in India. https://ift.tt/8lesQTI

How to create 'highlight videos' using Google Photos

Google Photos has introduced a new feature called "Highlight videos," powered by AI. This feature automatically suggests the best clips to include, adds soundtracks, and syncs the video with the music. Users can also manually trim and arrange clips according to their preferences. https://ift.tt/Ly5juse

AWS plans to launch a sovereign cloud in Europe for governments and customers in regulated industries, storing data on EU servers and first available in Germany (Supantha Mukherjee/Reuters)

Supantha Mukherjee / Reuters:
AWS plans to launch a sovereign cloud in Europe for governments and customers in regulated industries, storing data on EU servers and first available in Germany  —  Amazon (AMZN.O) Web Services (AWS) said on Wednesday it will launch a sovereign cloud in Europe for government and customers in highly regulated industries.

Google disables live traffic conditions in Israel and the Gaza Strip for its Maps and Waze apps, a source says at the request of the Israel Defense Forces (Marissa Newman/Bloomberg)

Marissa Newman / Bloomberg:
Google disables live traffic conditions in Israel and the Gaza Strip for its Maps and Waze apps, a source says at the request of the Israel Defense Forces  —  - Israeli army asked tech giant to limit real-time information  — Google took similar action in Ukraine during war with Russia

Tyler Cowen announces econgoat.ai, the first "generative book" that lets readers query the material and create more content, derived from a 100K-word manuscript (Tyler Cowen/Marginal REVOLUTION)

Tyler Cowen / Marginal REVOLUTION:
Tyler Cowen announces econgoat.ai, the first “generative book” that lets readers query the material and create more content, derived from a 100K-word manuscript  —  I am pleased to announce and present my new project, available here, free of charge.

Tinder rolls out Tinder Matchmaker, which lets loved ones view and recommend potential matches, in the US, the UK, and 13 others ahead of a global launch soon (Jess Weatherbed/The Verge)

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Tinder rolls out Tinder Matchmaker, which lets loved ones view and recommend potential matches, in the US, the UK, and 13 others ahead of a global launch soon  —  If you're the kind of person who asks friends and family for help with your love life, Tinder is aiming to make things a little easier …

Uber plans to let users in Turkey's touristic Cappadocia region buy a €150 air balloon ride; ~10% of Turkey's 44.6M visitors in 2022 stayed in the region (Patrick Sykes/Bloomberg)

Patrick Sykes / Bloomberg:
Uber plans to let users in Turkey's touristic Cappadocia region buy a €150 air balloon ride; ~10% of Turkey's 44.6M visitors in 2022 stayed in the region  —  - New service follows Tuk-Tuks in India and boats in Greece  — Unesco-listed Cappadocia is one of Turkey's top attractions

Apple may launch a HomePad with an LCD screen

Apple is reportedly working on prototypes of a HomePod with an LCD screen, according to leaked images shared on social media. The touchscreen on the prototype is said to be larger than the current HomePod panel, and Apple is actively working on the design, suggesting it may be released soon. The company has been rewriting some tvOS apps to make the display operational. https://ift.tt/q4mXewy

Sources: Apple was caught off guard by the generative AI fever and is on course to spend ~$1B/year to deploy the tech across iOS 18, Siri, Music, and other apps (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple was caught off guard by the generative AI fever and is on course to spend ~$1B/year to deploy the tech across iOS 18, Siri, Music, and other apps  —  But the company is now preparing its response and plans to develop features for its full range of devices.

The Global Times: China launches an investigation into Foxconn over tax and land use and inspects multiple sites; Foxconn plans to cooperate (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
The Global Times: China launches an investigation into Foxconn over tax and land use and inspects multiple sites; Foxconn plans to cooperate  —  Tax authorities said to have inspected a number of the Apple supplier's sites in provinces  —  China has launched an investigation …

Martin Goetz, holder of the first US software patent, died on October 10 at 93; Goetz was awarded a patent for data-sorting software for mainframes in 1968 (Richard Sandomir/New York Times)

Richard Sandomir / New York Times:
Martin Goetz, holder of the first US software patent, died on October 10 at 93; Goetz was awarded a patent for data-sorting software for mainframes in 1968  —  “I knew at some point in time the patent office would recognize” computer software, he said.  It happened in 1968, helping to ignite the software market.

Sources: Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau, and most other G7 leaders plan to skip UK's Bletchley Park AI summit in November, denting the profile of the event (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Sources: Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau, and most other G7 leaders plan to skip UK's Bletchley Park AI summit in November, denting the profile of the event  —  - Scholz, Trudeau don't plan to attend UK AI summit, people say  — Premier wants nations to brand AI capable of catastrophic harm

Paddy Cosgrave steps down as CEO of Web Summit, which plans to appoint a new CEO and the show, due to start on November 13 in Lisbon, will go ahead as planned (Amy Thomson/Bloomberg)

Amy Thomson / Bloomberg:
Paddy Cosgrave steps down as CEO of Web Summit, which plans to appoint a new CEO and the show, due to start on November 13 in Lisbon, will go ahead as planned  —  Paddy Cosgrave has stepped down from his role as chief executive officer of Web Summit after his remarks following attacks …

A look at the Allen Institute for AI's plan to build "open" generative AI model OLMo; the nonprofit research center is led by former Apple ML leader Ali Farhadi (Steve Lohr/New York Times)

Steve Lohr / New York Times:
A look at the Allen Institute for AI's plan to build “open” generative AI model OLMo; the nonprofit research center is led by former Apple ML leader Ali Farhadi  —  The nonprofit Allen Institute for AI, led by a respected computer scientist who sold his company to Apple, is trying to democratize cutting-edge research.

A look at Discord's new Warning System, which limits users' behavior based on their violation instead of relying on strikes, and avoids permanent bans (Casey Newton/Platformer)

Casey Newton / Platformer:
A look at Discord's new Warning System, which limits users' behavior based on their violation instead of relying on strikes, and avoids permanent bans  —  Most platforms ban their trolls forever.  Discord wants to rehabilitate them  —  Today, let's talk about how the traditional platform justice system …

Tim Cook's China trip, unannounced ahead of time, shows Apple's complex relationship; Cook told an official Apple was committed to growing with local partners (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal:
Tim Cook's China trip, unannounced ahead of time, shows Apple's complex relationship; Cook told an official Apple was committed to growing with local partners  —  CEO's visits with senior officials, local stores and a supplier come amid cooling demand for the company's high-end phones