Saturday, September 7, 2024

A profile of Pavel Durov's older brother Nikolai, who is reportedly still in Russia and is responsible for Telegram's encryption standard MTProto protocol (Eva Hartog/Politico)

Eva Hartog / Politico:
A profile of Pavel Durov's older brother Nikolai, who is reportedly still in Russia and is responsible for Telegram's encryption standard MTProto protocol  —  Nikolai Durov, who is also wanted by cops in France, is responsible for the messaging app's encryption standard.



An investigation details the lack of enforcement of CA's Prop 22 about four years after the ballot initiative, backed by gig economy companies, became state law (Levi Sumagaysay/CalMatters)

Levi Sumagaysay / CalMatters:
An investigation details the lack of enforcement of CA's Prop 22 about four years after the ballot initiative, backed by gig economy companies, became state law  —  Prop. 22 promised improved pay and benefits for California gig workers.  But when companies fail to deliver, the state isn't doing much to help push back.



Character.AI, Aleph Alpha, and other AI startups that raised hundreds of millions are struggling to compete against better-funded rivals and Big Tech companies (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Character.AI, Aleph Alpha, and other AI startups that raised hundreds of millions are struggling to compete against better-funded rivals and Big Tech companies  —  Even companies that raised hundreds of millions in funding are bowing out of the race to develop advanced AI models.



Friday, September 6, 2024

An interview with Bill Gates about What's Next? The Future with Bill Gates, an upcoming five-part Netflix docuseries examining issues like AI, misinfo, and more (Kourtnee Jackson/CNET)

Kourtnee Jackson / CNET:
An interview with Bill Gates about What's Next? The Future with Bill Gates, an upcoming five-part Netflix docuseries examining issues like AI, misinfo, and more  —  I spoke with the tech pioneer about his new Netflix docuseries that touches on artificial intelligence, global warming and more.



What to expect from Apple's September 9 event: four iPhone 16 models, two new AirPods, Apple Watch Series 10 with an updated look, Apple Intelligence, and more (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
What to expect from Apple's September 9 event: four iPhone 16 models, two new AirPods, Apple Watch Series 10 with an updated look, Apple Intelligence, and more  —  Company also planning major updates for AirPods and watches. … The event kicks off from Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California, on Sept. 9 at 10 a.m. local time.



The UK CMA objects to Google's ad tech practices, says Google harms competition by using its online display ad dominance "to favour its own ad tech services" (Ryan Browne/CNBC)

Ryan Browne / CNBC:
The UK CMA objects to Google's ad tech practices, says Google harms competition by using its online display ad dominance “to favour its own ad tech services”  —  LONDON — Britain's competition watchdog on Friday issued a statement of objections over Google's ad tech practices …



Thursday, September 5, 2024

A San Francisco federal judge rules that X must face a class action age bias suit by around 150 older workers who were laid off by the company in 2022 (Daniel Wiessner/Reuters)

Daniel Wiessner / Reuters:
A San Francisco federal judge rules that X must face a class action age bias suit by around 150 older workers who were laid off by the company in 2022  —  A federal judge in San Francisco has ruled that roughly 150 older workers who were laid off by social media platform X when Elon Musk acquired …



Meta's Oversight Board rules that users should be allowed to post "aspirational" statements for Venezuelan state-supported paramilitary groups to be killed (Gaby Del Valle/The Verge)

Gaby Del Valle / The Verge:
Meta's Oversight Board rules that users should be allowed to post “aspirational” statements for Venezuelan state-supported paramilitary groups to be killed  —  Meta should allow users to post “aspirational” statements for Venezuelan paramilitary groups to be killed …



Leaked Disney files include personal data of some staff and customers, and show that Disney+ had $2.4B+ revenue in March quarter, or 43% of Disney's DTC revenue (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal:
Leaked Disney files include personal data of some staff and customers, and show that Disney+ had $2.4B+ revenue in March quarter, or 43% of Disney's DTC revenue  —  Data trove sheds light on entertainment giant's operations, and exposes personal data of some staff and customers



Wednesday, September 4, 2024

Meta's Oversight Board rules that the phrase "from the river to the sea" is not necessarily hate speech when addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (David Ingram/NBC News)

David Ingram / NBC News:
Meta's Oversight Board rules that the phrase “from the river to the sea” is not necessarily hate speech when addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict  —  The independent board said the phrase has ‘multiple meanings’ and is important to political speech on Instagram and Facebook.



Spotify expands daylist, a personalized playlist that evolves through the day depending on listening habits, globally for free and adds support for 14 languages (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Spotify expands daylist, a personalized playlist that evolves through the day depending on listening habits, globally for free and adds support for 14 languages  —  Spotify is launching daylist globally.  It's a personalized playlist that evolves throughout the day depending on your listening habits.



Alibaba will let shoppers check out via Tencent's WeChat Pay on its Taobao and Tmall shopping platforms, as Chinese government crackdown on Alibaba ends (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Alibaba will let shoppers check out via Tencent's WeChat Pay on its Taobao and Tmall shopping platforms, as Chinese government crackdown on Alibaba ends  —  - The decision brings down one of the biggest app barriers … The Taobao and Tmall shopping platforms will allow its hundreds …



Ubisoft stock fell by 10%+ to a ten year low in the past two days, giving it a market cap of €1.99B, following the lukewarm reception to Star Wars Outlaws (Tom Henderson/Insider Gaming)

Tom Henderson / Insider Gaming:
Ubisoft stock fell by 10%+ to a ten year low in the past two days, giving it a market cap of €1.99B, following the lukewarm reception to Star Wars Outlaws  —  Ubisoft stock prices have tanked by over 10% in the past two days following a lukewarm reception to Star Wars Outlaws.



A look at Jony Ive's work with LoveFrom; Ive bought a city block in SF's Jackson Square and could raise ~$1B with Sam Altman by end of 2024 for an AI device (Tripp Mickle/New York Times)

Tripp Mickle / New York Times : A look at Jony Ive's work with LoveFrom; Ive bought a city block in SF's Jackson Square and could...