OpenAI unveils Sora, its first text-to-video model, which can create up to a minute of 1080p video, as a research product for some creators and security experts
OpenAI's entry into generative AI video is an impressive first step. — We already know that OpenAI's chatbots can pass the bar exam without going to law school.
Apple confirms that iOS 17.4 removes Home Screen web apps in the EU because of a DMA requirement that forces the company to support alternative browser engines
iOS 17.4 offers a number of changes for the App Store and iPhone in the European Union. This includes things …
Q&A with Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer on bringing Xbox-exclusive games to PS5 and Switch, Xbox's future, “unique” next-gen hardware, regulation, and more
Microsoft has been gradually moving Xbox away from the idea of a single piece of hardware in recent years …
Google makes Gemini 1.0 Pro and Gemini 1.0 Ultra generally available, adds support for adapter-based tuning in Vertex, and rolls out new developer tools
Google is expanding the range of Gemini large language models it is making available to developers on its Vertex AI platform today.
Google launches Gemini 1.5 for developers and enterprise users, with a context window of up to 1M tokens, and says Gemini 1.5 Pro is on par with Gemini Ultra
but you won't be able to enjoy it just yet Ryan Morrison / Tom's Guide : I test AI for a living and Google's Gemini Pro 1.5 is a true turning point Shaurya Tomer / Hindustan Times : Google DeepMind an...
Ukrainian Vyacheslav Penchukov pleads guilty in the US for his role in the Zeus and IcedID malware groups, which stole millions from victims for over a decade
Vyacheslav Igorevich Penchukov pleaded guilty to two counts, each of which carries a possible 20-year prison term.
The US and its allies disrupt access by Russia-backed hacking group APT28, or Fancy Bear, to 1,000+ home and small business routers used for criminal purposes
The US and its allies have disrupted access by a Russian-state sponsored hacking organization to “well over a thousand home …
PitchBook: VC investment in crypto rose 2.5% QoQ in Q4 2023 to $1.9B, the first rise since Q1 2022; Q4 2023 saw 12 crypto exits, the lowest number since Q4 2020
- PitchBook said in a fourth-quarter update that the level of investment for crypto-related companies in the fourth quarter totaled $1.9 billion …
Sources: Apple has expanded testing of a Copilot-like tool for Xcode and is exploring AI features for Music and Keynote, and a Spotlight search that uses LLMs
- Company is working on several generative AI-based features — New tool would help developers create code more quickly
OpenAI's Sora announcement sparks awe and horror, as the startup continues to be frustratingly secretive about the data used to train the text-to-video model
Sam Altman is being secretive in all the wrong places as he barrels toward superintelligent AI. — Every new OpenAI announcement sparks some measure of awe and terror.
Google announces the AI Cyber Defense Initiative, which includes launching new AI security training and open sourcing Magika, a tool used to protect Gmail users
Google has confirmed a new security scheme which, it says, will help “secure, empower and advance our collective digital future” using AI.
PitchBook: Q4 2023 saw only 12 crypto exits, the lowest number since Q4 2020 and consistent with the “low-level activity seen throughout 2023”
The global venture capital market is enduring a long period of limited exits. Startups are staying private longer …
Meta releases V-JEPA, an AI model that learns by predicting missing or masked parts of unlabeled video to develop a conceptual understanding of the world
Meta's AI researchers have released a new model that's trained in a similar way as today's large language models, but instead of learning from words …
Letter: 28 civil rights organizations, like Ekō and noyb, urge the EDPB to reject Meta's approach of asking EU users to pay or consent to being tracked for ads
A coalition of more than two dozen digital and democratic rights groups, NGOs and not-for-profits, including noyb and Wikimedia Europe …
The FTC proposes new rules that would make companies liable if they “know or have reason to know” their AI tech is being used to harmfully impersonate consumers
The US Federal Trade Commission moved to put new rules into place around impersonation, citing the rising threat …
Google Search Labs is testing a “Talk to a Live Representative” feature, which will call businesses on users' behalf and hold until a human becomes available
Google Search Labs is testing a “Talk to a Live Representative” feature where it will “help you place the call …
Sources: Sam Altman is working to get US approval for his chip project, as involving the UAE and others risks raising national security and antitrust concerns
- Middle East investors, factories may prompt security concerns — Potential new company could trigger antitrust review
The DSA starts applying to all online intermediaries in the EU, except for businesses with under €10M in annual revenue or fewer than 50 staff, from February 17
The European Union is expanding its strict digital rulebook on Saturday to almost all online platforms in the bloc …
Foreign propaganda accounts aiming to influence US elections are flourishing on X, which no longer attends biweekly info-sharing meetings with social platforms
X hasn't sent a representative in months to biweekly information-sharing meetings with other social media companies Mastodon: @aaronjschaffer@mastodon … . X: @thedragonfeeder Mastodon: Aaron Schaffer ...
Meta plans to start charging a 30% fee for boosting Facebook and Instagram posts on iOS later in February, after Apple extended its 30% cut to boosting in 2022
Emma Roth / The Verge :
TikTok debuts a native Apple Vision Pro app with a similar UI to its mobile apps; in January, an executive said TikTok “redesigned the entire TikTok experience”
here's the pros and cons Jacob Krol / TheStreet : After seeing TikTok on Vision Pro, there is no way YouTube and Netflix can say no Aisha Malik / TechCrunch : TikTok launches a ‘reimagined’ app for th...
Reserve Bank of India says it is not planning harsher rules to curb the country's fintech sector, weeks after abruptly suspending Paytm Payments Bank operations
Bloomberg :
Coinbase reports Q4 revenue up 51% YoY to $953.8M, vs. $826M est., net income of $273M, its first profit in two years, vs. a loss of $557M YoY; COIN jumps 10%+
Fellow Shareholders, In 2023, we saw our operational rigor pay off. Ben Strack / Blockworks : Coinbase reported Q4 earnings Thursday. Here's what stood out. Kumar Gandharv / Metaverse Post : Coinbase ...
Toast plans to lay off ~550 employees, or ~10% of its workforce, to promote “operating expense efficiency” and will incur about $50M in costs such as severance
Brody Ford / Bloomberg :
Carl Jenkins, head of hardware at Cruise, says he has resigned after six years with the company, the latest in a series of executive departures
South Korea's FTC delays a bill modeled after the EU's DMA, after a furious backlash from South Korean industry lobbyists and consumers, along with the US
New York Times :
YouTube adds four new tools that let users to incorporate, or “remix”, a music video in their Shorts, weeks after UMG pulled its song catalog from TikTok
How to remix your favorite music videos on Shorts Pranav Dixit / Business Today : YouTube Shorts now lets you chop up and remix music videos; here's how it works Ashley King / Digital Music News : Now...
Clubhouse launches group voice chats, which will read out texts sent by members in the sender's custom voice
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch :
Ahead of the 2024 US election, Anthropic is testing Prompt Shield, which will redirect users asking political topics to “authoritative” sources of voting info
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch :
Sources: spyware vendor Variston is closing after Google “burned” its name publicly in 2022; source: a disgruntled staffer sent its malicious code to Google
The company's apparent demise came after Google “burned” Variston's name publicly, exposing its hacking tools. … X: Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / @lorenzofb : When Google publicly exposed Variston's...
Roku reports Q4 revenue up 14% YoY to $984.4M, vs. $968.2M est., and warns of a “challenging” environment for media and entertainment in 2024; ROKU drops 14%+
Todd Spangler / Variety :
In 2023, crypto money laundering fell 29.5% YoY to $22.2B, 109 addresses got $10M+ in illicit crypto each, and five off-ramp services got 71.7% of illicit funds
DoorDash reports Q4 revenue up 27% YoY to $2.3B, vs. $2.24B est., total orders up 23% YoY to 574M, and Q1 profit forecast below estimates; DASH drops 8%+
Granth Vanaik / Reuters :
The US Patent and Trademark Office denies OpenAI's attempt to trademark “GPT”, ruling that the term is “merely descriptive”
Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch :
An interview with Kurt Wagner on his new book Battle for the Bird, a Jack Dorsey biography morphed into a deep dive on Twitter's tumultuous transition to X
Zoë Schiffer / Platformer :
Source: Sequoia partner Matthew Miller asked Klarna shareholders to remove Michael Moritz from the board of directors, with full support from Roelof Botha
The Information : X: @kateclarktweets X: Kate Clark / @kateclarktweets : Scoop: Sequoia Capital is pushing for one of its most venerated former partners, Michael Moritz, to step down from Klarna's bo...
The US SEC approves Truth Social's SPAC merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp; Trump's stake in the company would be worth nearly $4B at the current price
Filings: Sam Altman is the sole owner of the OpenAI Startup Fund, which reported $175M in total commitments in May 2023; Microsoft is an outside limited partner
Shopify: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26
Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control
Picture this: It's Monday morning. You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data
Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.