CyberTechMag

Raquel Coronell Uribe / NBC News : The US Treasury sanctions Iranian and Russian entities over attempted election interference, including a Moscow entity that directed the creation of deepfakes   —  The Treasury Department said Iran and Russia sought to divide Americans through targeted disinformation campaigns in the 2024 elections. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/jFyziYH via IFTTT

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch : St. Louis-based tech services company World Wide Technology agrees to acquire Canadian IT provider Softchoice in an all-cash deal valuing the latter at ~CA$1.8B   —  One last mega-deal closed out an eventful 2024.  —  On Tuesday, World Wide Technology (WWT), a tech services company based in St. Louis … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/QACYsT4 via IFTTT

Simon Willison / Simon Willison's Weblog : Some 2024 LLM takeaways: multimodal vision became common, LLM prices crashed, overall environmental impact worsened despite efficiency gains, slop arrived, more   —  A lot has happened in the world of Large Language Models over the course of 2024.  Here's a review of things we figured … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/h8IgZmS via IFTTT

The past 12 months have been undeniably busy for those working in AI. There have been more successful product launches than we can count, and even Nobel Prizes . But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. AI is an unpredictable technology, and the increasing availability of generative models has led people to test their limits in new, weird, and sometimes harmful ways. These were some of 2024’s biggest AI misfires.  AI slop infiltrated almost every corner of the internet Generative AI makes creating reams of text, images, videos, and other types of material a breeze. Because it takes just a few seconds between entering a prompt for your model of choice to spit out the result, these models have become a quick, easy way to produce content on a massive scale. And 2024 was the year we started calling this (generally poor quality) media what it is—AI slop.   This low-stakes way of creating AI slop means it can now be found in pretty much every corner of the internet: from ...

Turner Wright / Cointelegraph : A US judge delays the CFTC v. Gemini trial to January 21, after Trump's inauguration; CFTC alleged Gemini misled the agency in its 2017 bid to debut BTC futures   —  The civil case between the US financial regulator and Gemini Trust Company was initially scheduled to go to trial before Donald Trump's inauguration. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/vrSs68o via IFTTT

Thanos Pappas / Carscoops : VW Group had sensitive info, including GPS coordinates, of 800K+ electric vehicles exposed on an unprotected AWS database for months before it was alerted   —  The sensitive information of VW, Audi, Seat, and Skoda EV owners was left exposed on an unprotected and misconfigured cloud storage system for months from Techmeme https://ift.tt/0YnfH7e via IFTTT

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica : The technology of passkeys is elegant, but the complexities of syncing them to password managers can contribute to platform lock-in and make them less usable   —  It's that time again, when families and friends gather and implore the more technically inclined among them to troubleshoot problems … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/1BSuAzD via IFTTT

Bloomberg : As Tether says it is on track for a record $10B net profit in 2024, banks around the world are exploring launching their own stablecoins for payments   —  - Banks are starting to issue stablecoins for payments, payroll  — SocGen, Standard Chartered are among banks expanding efforts from Techmeme https://ift.tt/SpgHMs4 via IFTTT

Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post : Sources detail IDF's Unit 8200, tasked with identifying human targets as candidates for elimination during the war in Gaza; one describes it as an “AI factory”   —  Years before the Gaza war, Israel transformed its intelligence unit into an AI testing ground … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/SGRKjy6 via IFTTT

Sunil Jagtiani / Bloomberg : The bitcoin rally fueled by Trump's reelection has lost steam near the end of 2024; BTC hovers around $93.5K, ~$15,000 below the record high set in mid-December   —  - Digital asset is down some $15,000 since a mid-December record  — Traders await concrete policies from Trump's embrace of crypto from Techmeme https://ift.tt/VPJTWhs via IFTTT

Dan Gallagher / Wall Street Journal : Netflix's foray into live sports caps off a strong year, with its share price up 90%+ in 2024, but the stock's rich valuation sets a high bar for follow-up act   —  Foray into live sports caps a strong year, but stock's rich valuation sets a high bar for follow-up act from Techmeme https://ift.tt/frENcQs via IFTTT

Kelcee Griffis / Bloomberg : AT&T says China targeted a few “individuals of foreign intelligence interest” in the Salt Typhoon hack and its networks are now clear from the intrusion   —  - Carrier said hackers targeted foreign intelligence interests  — White House said nine telecom companies were victims from Techmeme https://ift.tt/NSOqbJX via IFTTT

A.J. Vicens / Reuters : The US plans to update HIPAA with new cybersecurity rules to protect patients' private data, including mandatory encryption and multifactor authentication   —  Healthcare organizations may be required to bolster their cybersecurity, to better prevent sensitive information from being leaked … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/Cder1o2 via IFTTT

Jon Levine / New York Post : Trump supports H-1B visas, saying “I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I've been a believer in H-1B”, siding with Musk in the MAGA debate on the issue   —  President-elect Trump told The Post Saturday he supports immigration visas for highly skilled workers … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/E3eFyJj via IFTTT

Matt Burgess / Wired : Finland, Canada, the US, and other countries are testing tech for passport-free travel, including facial recognition and a “digital travel credential”   —  Smartphones and face recognition are being combined to create new digital travel documents.  The paper passport's days are numbered—despite new privacy risks. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/PgF38rZ via IFTTT

Reuters : Experts say hackers compromised several companies' Chrome browser extensions, including Cyberhaven's, in a series of intrusions dating back to mid-December   —  Hackers have compromised several different companies' Chrome browser extensions in a series of intrusions dating back to mid-December … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/DXbTF5G via IFTTT

Shivaune Field / Forbes Australia : Sydney-based Sitemate, which offers no-code software tools for industries like infrastructure and utilities, raised a AU$27.5M Series A at a ~AU$150M valuation   —  Sydney-founded Sitemate is making an impact on solar renewable sites in New Zealand, nuclear projects in Switzerland, and electric vehicle production in Detroit. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/EbGmZ8n via IFTTT

Financial Times : Advantest CEO Doug Lefever, whose company is the largest provider of chip testing machines, on AI chip demand, China, and more; Advantest's stock is up 95%+ YTD   —  Advantest chief warns any faltering in Big Tech's AI investments will reverberate through supply chain from Techmeme https://ift.tt/wEmfrM9 via IFTTT

Brendan Bordelon / Politico : Tech lobbyists see new opportunities to expand access to high-skilled H-1B visas and green cards by leveraging the sway of Elon Musk over the GOP   —  A holiday blowup over immigration between Trump's tech advisers and the GOP base suggests the road may be littered with obstacles. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/nBMJPdg via IFTTT

Shubham Sharma / VentureBeat : DeepSeek unveils DeepSeek-V3, a mixture-of-experts model of 671B total parameters, with 37B activated per token, claiming it outperforms top open-source models   —  Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, known for challenging leading AI vendors with its innovative open-source technologies, today released a new ultra-large model: DeepSeek-V3. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/oaOLKFs via IFTTT

Tom Dotan / Wall Street Journal : Microsoft adds Copilot to Microsoft 365 in Australia and Southeast Asia and raises 365's price, a sign of how it aims to turn a profit from its AI investments   —  The tech company has made Copilot part of its 365 subscription service in several markets and raised prices from Techmeme https://ift.tt/cte8OgL via IFTTT

Politico : Examining Biden's tech legacy and the CHIPS Act, as the White House says $446B has been announced for chips and electronics manufacturing since he took office   —  President Joe Biden had just a single term to try to transform the nation's approach to energy, climate change, technology and jobs. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/tqpVZKH via IFTTT

Qwen : Alibaba's Qwen unveils QvQ-72B-Preview, an experimental research model focused on “enhancing visual reasoning capabilities”, built upon Qwen2-VL-72B   —  Language and vision intertwine in the human mind, shaping how we perceive and understand the world around us. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/OjMh0vV via IFTTT

Ashley Capoot / CNBC : Analysis: roughly two-thirds of 39 public digital health companies have lost value in 2024, while the Nasdaq is up 32%   —  If the Covid era marked a boom time for digital health companies, 2024 was the reckoning.  —  In a year that saw the Nasdaq jump 32%, surpassing 20,000 for the first time this month … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/aNYO1Q4 via IFTTT

The Block : Analysis: Coinbase International saw its total trading volume grow 124% week-over-week to $119B+ this past week; it averaged just $2.5B per day in November 2024   —  - The weekly total is 124% higher than the previous week's total.  — The following is an excerpt from The Block's Data and Insights newsletter. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/VA7CS8N via IFTTT

Isaac Schorr / Mediaite : Elon Musk is one of two paid subscribers of an X account that has suggested South Africa was better off under apartheid, lambasted “Black ruled” countries, more   —  Elon Musk, the richest man in the world and advisor to President-elect Donald Trump, is a paid subscriber to a virulently racist X account. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3M81SJg via IFTTT