~techmeme | Bookmarks (1014)

Abeer Abu Omar / Bloomberg: Nvidia partners with Abu Dhabi-based G42 to create a climate tech lab and develop AI to improve weather forecasting accuracy using Nvidia's Earth-2 platform  —  - Companies will use Nvidia's Earth-2 system to predict weather  — It's the chipmaker's first partnership with UAE's top AI firm

Marina Temkin / TechCrunch: Phoenix-based Virtuous, which offers a CRM and a marketing platform to help nonprofits increase donations, raised $100M from Susquehanna Growth Equity  —  I recently adopted a kitten from a local animal shelter.  The modern, well-staffed three-story facility relies almost entirely on donations to operate.

David Kirton / Reuters: Huawei's $2,800 Mate XT trifold phone goes on sale in China, amid analysts' supply concerns; IDC: preorders surpassed 6.5M, versus ~3.9M foldables shipped in Q2  —  Huawei and Apple's latest smartphones go on sale in China on Friday, with the Chinese tech company's much-anticipated $2,800 …

Julia King / Fierce Network: Nvidia launches AI Aerial, which integrates AI into the radio access network and could allow telcos to run third-party AI apps at the network's edge  —  - Nvidia thinks that AI could be the answer to the very problems it is causing  — AI-RAN will leverage billions of data points …

Bloomberg: Sources: OpenAI's $6.5B funding round, which nears completion as the company decides on backers, is oversubscribed with excess demand in the billions of dollars  —  - Thrive to lead round; Sequoia not involved in new financing  — Oversubscribed deal for AI leader is nearing final stages

Ethan Gach / Kotaku: Sources: Concord's game director steps down, as Firewalk, the studio behind the PlayStation flop, is left in limbo, with some staffers expecting mass layoffs  —  Ryan Ellis was the hero shooter's game director at Firewalk Studios  —  It's been two weeks since Sony announced it was taking …

Robbie Whelan / Wall Street Journal: Memo: Disney plans to stop using Slack in most units by the end of 2024, after a hacking group leaked 1TB+ of its data, including 44M Slack messages, in July  —  The company said in a memo that most of its businesses would stop using the tool by the end of this year

Michael Nuñez / VentureBeat: OpenAI makes its latest AI models, o1-preview and o1-mini, available to all ChatGPT Enterprise and ChatGPT Edu customers  —  OpenAI has made its latest AI models, o1-preview and o1-mini, available to all ChatGPT Enterprise and ChatGPT Edu customers.  These models, designed …

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: Fal.ai, a developer-focused platform for media-generating AI models, raised a $9M seed and a $14M Series A from Kindred Ventures, a16z, First Round, and others  —  Fal.ai, a dev-focused platform for AI-generated audio, video, and images, today revealed that it's raised $23 million in funding …

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / TechCrunch: macOS 15 Sequoia appears to have broken security tools made by CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Microsoft, and others; CrowdStrike had to delay support for Sequoia  —  On Monday, Apple released its latest computer operating system update called macOS 15, or Sequoia.

Juli Clover / MacRumors: Apple seeds the first iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 public betas, with a Siri redesign and some Apple Intelligence features, like Writing Tools  —  Apple today released the first public betas of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1, allowing non-developers to test the software ahead of its October launch.

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch: A look at the two “specification proceedings” that the EU has opened on Apple under the DMA, instructing Apple on how to comply with interoperability provisions  —  The European Union has opened two “specification proceedings” on Apple under the bloc's Digital Markets Act (DMA) …

Curtis Heinzl / Bloomberg: Datamaran, which has an analytics platform for clients to monitor risk and track adherence to ESG regulations, raised a $33M Series C from Morgan Stanley funds  —  The company said in a statement on Thursday that it will use part of the proceeds to advance its generative AI capabilities.

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge: Google unveils Password Manager PIN to let Chrome users sync passkeys across Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, and Android devices, with iOS support coming soon  —  The search giant is introducing a Google Password Manager PIN that allows users to securely save and synchronize passkeys for use across Windows …

Bloomberg: Sources: server CPU design startup Ampere is exploring a potential sale; Ampere was reportedly valued at $8B in a SoftBank proposed minority investment in 2021  —  - Ampere has been working with an adviser amid takeover interest  — Firm valued at $8 billion before 2022 confidential IPO filing

Supantha Mukherjee / Reuters: A UN advisory body makes seven recommendations for governing AI, including establishing a panel to provide impartial and reliable scientific knowledge about AI  —  An artificial-intelligence advisory body at the United Nations on Thursday released its final report proposing seven recommendations …

David Ingram / NBC News: Analysis: Elon Musk, apparently unaware of Tenet Media's alleged Russian funding, replied to or reposted content from accounts tied to Tenet at least 60 times  —  Musk, apparently unaware of the company's Russia funding source, engaged with content from Tenet Media and its creators at least 60 times.

Kim Mackrael / Wall Street Journal: In an open letter coordinated by Meta, more than two dozen companies warned that the EU might reap fewer rewards of AI because of the bloc's tech regulations  —  Facebook parent, other companies warn in open letter that the bloc's regulations risk hampering innovation and economic growth

Anthony Capaccio / Bloomberg: Microsoft partners with Anduril Industries to improve the performance of Integrated Visual Augmentation System or IVAS, the new combat goggles for the US Army  —  - Pentagon may spend up to $21.9 billion on headsets over decade  — System must pass combat test next year before full production

Adi Robertson / The Verge: The US House Committee on Energy and Commerce advanced KOSA and COPPA 2.0 on a voice vote despite discontent from some lawmakers over last-minute changes  —  The proposed laws passed on a voice vote despite discontent over last-minute changes to KOSA, in particular, that were aimed at quelling persistent criticism.

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters: EU regulators say Microsoft's acquihire of Inflection's team will not be scrutinized under EU merger rules, after seven EU countries dropped their requests  —  Microsoft's (MSFT.O) hiring of artificial intelligence startup Inflection's staff including its co-founders will not be scrutinised …

Rebecca Falconer / Axios: The FBI, ODNI, and CISA say Iranian hackers emailed stolen, non-public Trump campaign info to Biden campaign associates; there's no sign the recipients replied  —  - “There is currently no information indicating those recipients” responded to these incidents in late June and early July, the agencies added.

Kim Zetter / Wired: Two researchers say a security conference in China potentially used the event as a secret espionage operation to collect intelligence from an unknown target  —  Participants in a hacking competition with ties to China's military were, unusually, required to keep their activities secret …

Alex Konrad / Forbes: Mercor, a jobs marketplace that uses AI to vet and interview candidates, raised a $32M Series A led by Benchmark at a $250M valuation and says it's profitable  —  Led by three 21-year-old Thiel Fellows, Mercor has raised $32 million from Benchmark, Peter Thiel and others for its AI-powered jobs marketplace.