CyberTechMag

Krisztian Sandor / CoinDesk : Tether reports “record” net profit of $5.2B in H1 2024, net operating profit of $1.3B in Q2, and US debt holdings of $97.6B, more than countries like Germany   —  The company said its $97 billion exposure to U.S. Treasuries would put it 18th in the ranking among countries. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/pLa1tPD via IFTTT

CNBC : Nvidia shares jump 10%+ after Microsoft and AMD signaled no slowdown in the buildout of AI servers built around GPUs; Microsoft spent $19B on capex in Q4   —  Nvidia shares popped more than 11% Wednesday after remarks from top customer Microsoft and rival chipmaker AMD signaled no slowdown … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/AjcDxLt via IFTTT

Mat Di Salvo / Decrypt : The SEC charges BitClout founder Nader Al-Naji of raising $257M+ from unregistered offers and sales of BTCLT and lying to investors about personal compensation   —  The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has hit the founder of decentralized social network BitClout with fraud charges … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/6AztBPI via IFTTT

OpenAI is rolling out an advanced AI chatbot that you can talk to. It’s available today—at least for some.  The new chatbot represents OpenAI’s push into a new generation of AI-powered voice assistants in the vein of Siri and Alexa, but with far more capabilities to enable more natural, fluent conversations. It is a step in the march to more fully capable AI agents . The new ChatGPT voice bot can tell what different tones of voice convey, responds to interruptions, and is able to reply to queries in real time. It has also been trained to sound more natural and use voices to convey a wide range of different emotions. The voice mode is powered by OpenAI’s new GPT-4o model, which combines voice, text, and vision capabilities. The company is initially launching the chatbot to a “small group of users” paying for ChatGPT Plus to gather feedback and says it will make it available to all ChatGPT Plus subscribers this fall. A ChatGPT Plus subscription costs $20 a month. OpenAI says it wi...

Jay Peters / The Verge : Twitch rolls out a revamped iOS and Android app, which now shows a TikTok-like feed of recommended content when it's opened, instead of a “Following” list   —  Twitch's mobile app is getting a major update that puts its TikTok-like feed front and center. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/mXGKb92 via IFTTT

Dvora Meyers / The Verge : A look at the AI-assisted Judging Support System for scoring in gymnastics that made its debut at the 2023 world championships and helps settle disputes   —  When Simone Biles saluted the judges and stepped onto the mat to vault at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp, Belgium, it seemed like every camera in the packed arena was trained on her. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/u6JRa41 via IFTTT

Kif Leswing / CNBC : Apple debuts Apple Intelligence in the iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS 15.1 developer betas, with text generation and Siri updates, but missing some features   —  - Apple on Monday released the first version of Apple Intelligence, … Apple on Monday released the first version of Apple Intelligence … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/ELv5tpz via IFTTT

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch : Q&A with Ghostery CEO Jean-Paul Schmetz about the service turning 15, the state of ad tracking, why regulation is not the best path to protecting online privacy   —  The world of online advertising has changed dramatically since Ghostery first launched in 2009 to help people understand … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/c6qC3nE via IFTTT

Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal : How podcasting is turning into an industry of megastars with huge deals and the biggest audiences; Edison: the top 25 podcasts reach ~50% of US weekly listeners   —  The top shows are adding video, merchandise and live tours and signing megadeals with Spotify, Sirius and Amazon. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/snktolS via IFTTT

David Yaffe-Bellany / New York Times : Dune Analytics: ~1.7M new digital coins entered circulation in H1 2024, compared with 264K in H1 2023, as the crypto market revival fuels a surge in memecoins   —  Josh Bailey, a 26-year-old day trader in Austin, Texas, was scrolling through a cryptocurrency group chat last month when he encountered … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/8eV5F0q via IFTTT

MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC : Trump proposes a strategic national crypto stockpile; Bitcoin 2024 organizers say they were in talks to have Kamala Harris appear, but she ultimately declined   —  NASHVILLE — Former President Donald Trump said that if he were returned to the White House, he would ensure that the federal government never sells off its bitcoin holdings. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/ULGwkex via IFTTT

CoinDesk : At Nashville's Bitcoin 2024 conference, Trump said the US must become a leader in crypto, he will fire SEC chair Gary Gensler, stop creation of a CBDC, and more   —  Thousands of bitcoiners camped out for hours to see crypto's self-declared candidate on Saturday at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/ub5FQPw via IFTTT

Parker Hall / Wired : Samsung Galaxy Buds3 review: auto-pause works well, but expensive, copy Apple's dated design with plastic tips, shoddy ANC, and AI tools are mostly useless   —  Samsung's third-generation earbuds copy Apple's dated plastic-tipped design, cost more, and have shoddy noise canceling.  —  Rating: from Techmeme https://ift.tt/DPbVMkN via IFTTT

Raffaele Huang / Wall Street Journal : Sources: Talkie, which lets users chat with AI personas of celebrities and was one of most downloaded AI apps in the US in H1, is owned by China-based MiniMax   —  Chatbot in Talkie uses AI to allow users to converse with famous people or a virtual romantic partner from Techmeme https://ift.tt/eEWLZ0c via IFTTT

Financial Times : A look at the race to build advanced AI robots; PitchBook: robotics startups have raised $6.5B across 552 deals in 2024 vs. $9.7B across 1,256 deals in 2023   —  Google, OpenAI and Tesla race start-ups to develop AI robotic systems in effort to transform healthcare and manufacturing from Techmeme https://ift.tt/gG5hmIX via IFTTT

Financial Times : Ireland's Data Protection Commission says it is surprised and is “seeking clarity” about X's move to automatically allow user data to train Grok   —  Social media company's move to automatically allow user data to train chatbot could breach European privacy rules from Techmeme https://ift.tt/9wWTZoe via IFTTT

Jiyoung Sohn / Wall Street Journal : US unions are trying to organize staff at chip firms set to receive CHIPS Act grants; CWA is pushing to organize workers at Intel and other big chip companies   —  Samsung employees strike and U.S. unions gear up to organize as semiconductors enjoy growth  —  SEOUL—Inside the cavernous factories … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/KOPgcqT via IFTTT

He Jiankui, the Chinese biophysicist whose controversial 2018 experiment led to the birth of three gene-edited children, says he’s returned to work on the concept of altering the DNA of people at conception, but with a difference.  This time around, he says, he will restrict his research to animals and nonviable human embryos. He will not try to create a pregnancy, at least until society comes to accept his vision for “genetic vaccines” against common diseases. “There will be no more gene-edited babies. There will be no more pregnancies,” he said during an online roundtable discussion hosted by MIT Technology Review , during which He answered questions from biomedicine editor Antonio Regalado, editor in chief Mat Honan, and our subscribers. During the interview, He defended his past research and said the “only regret” he had was the difficulties he had caused to his wife and two daughters. He spent three years in prison after a court found him guilty of breaking regulations, bu...

Sarah Parvini / Associated Press : SAG-AFTRA announces a strike starting Friday against major video game companies, including EA, after talks for a new contract broke down over AI protections   —  Hollywood's video game performers voted to go on strike Thursday, throwing part of the entertainment industry into another work stoppage … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2NTADwj via IFTTT

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch : Meta says WhatsApp now has more than 100M MAUs in the US and that more than 50% of WhatsApp users in the country have an iPhone; WhatsApp has 2B+ MAUs globally   —  Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday on his channel that WhatsApp now has more than 100 million monthly active users in the U.S. … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/xN1WMrp via IFTTT

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac : Apple launches Apple Maps on the web in beta, available in English and compatible with Safari and Chrome on Mac and iPad, and Chrome and Edge on Windows PCs   —  Apple is bringing Apple Maps to the web for the first time.  In a press release today, the company announced that you can now access Apple Maps … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/24grp1F via IFTTT

Emanuel Maiberg / 404 Media : Reddit appears to be blocking search engines that don't rely on Google's indexing; Bing, DuckDuckGo, and others are not showing recent results from Reddit   —  DuckDuckGo, Bing, Mojeek, and other search engines are not returning full Reddit results any more. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/LS589ir via IFTTT

Reuters : Atos appoints its chairman Jean Pierre Mustier as CEO to replace departing boss Paul Saleh, in its fifth top management reshuffle in less than two years   —  French technology company Atos (ATOS.PA) on Wednesday appointed its chairman Jean Pierre Mustier as CEO to replace departing boss Paul Saleh … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/tf7sUP2 via IFTTT

The Hollywood Reporter : Comcast reports Peacock Q2 revenue up 28% YoY to $1B, and a $348M loss, down from $651M in Q2 2023; paying subs were up 38% YoY to 33M but down from 33.5M in Q1   —  Meanwhile, Comcast's core cable and telecom business once again lost pay-TV and broadband subscribers in the second quarter. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/urBA3Vb via IFTTT

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch : Harvey, which is building an AI-powered “copilot” for lawyers, raised a $100M Series C led by GV that values it at $1.5B and brings its total funding to $206M   —  Harvey, a startup building what it describes as an AI-powered “copilot” for lawyers, has raised $100 million … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/IvawXzN via IFTTT

Jessica Mathews / Fortune : A look inside Iconiq Growth two months after it closed a $5.75B fund, its largest ever and 42% larger than its previous fund   —  The sudden death of former SurveyMonkey CEO Dave Goldberg in a treadmill accident nine years ago shook Iconiq Capital founder Divesh Makan. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/5Kt6c1y via IFTTT

Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer : A zero-day in Telegram for Android, patched on July 11, let attackers send malicious Android APK payloads as video files; the exploit was for sale from June 6   —  A Telegram for Android zero-day vulnerability dubbed ‘EvilVideo’ allowed attackers to send malicious Android APK payloads disguised as video files. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/RX7tuq0 via IFTTT