Sunday, February 12, 2023

How a slowing digital ad market, Apple's ATT changes, tech companies' internal turmoil, weak content moderation, and more are contributing to a junk ad epidemic (Tiffany Hsu/New York Times)

Tiffany Hsu / New York Times:
How a slowing digital ad market, Apple's ATT changes, tech companies' internal turmoil, weak content moderation, and more are contributing to a junk ad epidemic  —  Scrolling past ads has rarely been enjoyable.  But in recent months, people say the experience seems so much worse.



Inside Apple's efforts to develop new financial services, which have suffered from slow progress and missed deadlines due to engineering and technical setbacks (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Inside Apple's efforts to develop new financial services, which have suffered from slow progress and missed deadlines due to engineering and technical setbacks  —  Apple's slate of new financial services — including “buy now, pay later” offerings, savings accounts and an iPhone subscription program — have hit delays.



A look at "liquid" neural nets, which change their underlying algorithms based on observed inputs, making them more flexible than standard ML neural networks (Steve Nadis/Quanta Magazine)

Steve Nadis / Quanta Magazine:
A look at “liquid” neural nets, which change their underlying algorithms based on observed inputs, making them more flexible than standard ML neural networks  —  “Liquid” neural nets, based on a worm's nervous system, can transform their underlying algorithms on the fly, giving them unprecedented speed and adaptability.



Saturday, February 11, 2023

How Rumble, which claims to have 71M MAUs, became the only success story in right-wing social media, by letting creators who are banned elsewhere monetize video (John Herrman/New York Magazine)

John Herrman / New York Magazine:
How Rumble, which claims to have 71M MAUs, became the only success story in right-wing social media, by letting creators who are banned elsewhere monetize video  —  For a moment, the right's longtime dream of an alternative social media seemed within reach.



Sources: Meta has delayed finalizing multiple teams' budgets while it prepares a fresh round of job cuts, slowing down projects even in priority areas (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
Sources: Meta has delayed finalizing multiple teams' budgets while it prepares a fresh round of job cuts, slowing down projects even in priority areas  —  Mark Zuckerberg's aim of wrestling costs in his ‘year of efficiency’ causes disruption at the social media company



Lagos-based Jumia, once hailed as the "Amazon of Africa", has seen its stock drop ~70% since its 2019 IPO amid stalling customer growth and mounting losses (David Adeleke/Rest of World)

David Adeleke / Rest of World:
Lagos-based Jumia, once hailed as the “Amazon of Africa”, has seen its stock drop ~70% since its 2019 IPO amid stalling customer growth and mounting losses  —  Its stock has fallen 70% since its IPO as growth stalls and operating losses mount.  —  • ABUJA, NIGERIA



Indian social media app Slick exposes data of over 150,000 users

Homegrown social media app Slick has reportedly exposed personal data of children, among other users of the platform, on the web. https://ift.tt/7KsS48j

2021 US crash row: Tesla Autopilot gets clean chit

This was "due to impairment from alcohol intoxication in combination with the effects of two sedating antihistamines, resulting in a roadway departure, tree impact and post-crash fire," the safety board said in its report. As for Autopilot, the NTSB determined it wasn't in use because the system is not programmed to not go faster than 30 mph on the street the Tesla last traveled. https://ift.tt/DZPKLn0

A look at the newly launched Bitcoin mixer Sinbad.io, which appears to have become the preferred outlet for North Korean hackers to launder stolen crypto (Andy Greenberg/Wired)

Andy Greenberg / Wired:
A look at the newly launched Bitcoin mixer Sinbad.io, which appears to have become the preferred outlet for North Korean hackers to launder stolen crypto  —  The world's most prolific crypto thieves have used Sinbad.io to launder tens of millions.  Its creator, “Mehdi,” answers WIRED's questions.



Friday, February 10, 2023

Over 40 lakh mobile users at hacking risk from compromised Shopify API keys

Cyber-security company CloudSEK's BeVigil, a security search engine for mobile apps, uncovered the vulnerability that puts over 40 lakh mobile customers' sensitive data at risk. https://ift.tt/ybWG2lk

Sources: Microsoft is preparing to share its plans for integrating OpenAI's language tech and the Prometheus model in Word, Outlook, other Office apps, in March (Tom Warren/The Verge)

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Sources: Microsoft is preparing to share its plans for integrating OpenAI's language tech and the Prometheus model in Word, Outlook, other Office apps, in March  —  Microsoft is getting ready to demonstrate how its new ChatGPT-like AI will transform its Office productivity apps.



ChatGPT frenzy sweeps China as firms scramble for home-grown options

While residents in the country are unable to create OpenAI accounts to access the artificial intelligence-powered (AI) chatbot, virtual private networks (VPN) and foreign phone numbers are helping some bypass those restrictions. https://ift.tt/E3pdc0h

Light Field Lab, which develops 3D holograms that users can speak and interact with without glasses, raised a $50M Series B led by NCSoft (Dean Takahashi/VentureBeat)

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Light Field Lab, which develops 3D holograms that users can speak and interact with without glasses, raised a $50M Series B led by NCSoft  —  Light Field Lab has raised $50 million to manufacture and commercialize its SolidLight holographic display platform.



Sources: Amazon is in talks with Times Internet to buy MX Player, one of India's top VOD streaming services; Times Internet bought MX Player for $140M in 2018 (Manish Singh/TechCrunch)

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Sources: Amazon is in talks with Times Internet to buy MX Player, one of India's top VOD streaming services; Times Internet bought MX Player for $140M in 2018  —  Amazon is engaging with Times Internet to explore the acquisition of MX Player, one of the largest on-demand video streaming services …



Google announces new XR service for Cloud users: What are they

"Immersive Stream for XR is being used to power the 'immersive view' feature in Google Maps, while automotive and retail brands are enhancing at-home shopping experiences for consumers, from virtually configuring a new vehicle to visualizing new appliances in the home." Moreover, the new tool supports content developed in "Unreal Engine 5.0". https://ift.tt/ZVvEMs5

Experts say ChatGPT, Gemini, and other Western AI models are turbocharging Iran's cyber operations, helping it develop malware and launch phishing attacks (Jacob Judah/Financial Times)

Jacob Judah / Financial Times : Experts say ChatGPT, Gemini, and other Western AI models are turbocharging Iran's cyber operations, h...