Journals

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch: Amazon now lets US users create AI-generated backgrounds using Alexa prompts on the second-gen Fire TV Stick 4K Max and the Fire TV Omni QLED Series  —  Amazon is officially rolling out the ability to create… Read More »Amazon now lets US users create AI-generated backgrounds using Alexa prompts on the second-gen Fire TV Stick 4K Max and the Fire TV Omni QLED Series (Lauren Forristal/TechCrunch)

Tim Hardwick / MacRumors: Filing: Apple seeks $73.4M in legal fees from Epic, including a 10% discount since Epic prevailed on one of 10 counts, after SCOTUS declined to hear the appeals  —  Apple wants Epic Games to pay $73.4… Read More »Filing: Apple seeks $73.4M in legal fees from Epic, including a 10% discount since Epic prevailed on one of 10 counts, after SCOTUS declined to hear the appeals (Tim Hardwick/MacRumors)

Paul Sawers / TechCrunch: Scotland-based game studio Build a Rocket Boy raised a $110M Series D ahead of the much-anticipated launch of its first titles and immersive open world platform  —  Build a Rocket Boy, a Scotland-headquartered game development company… Read More »Scotland-based game studio Build a Rocket Boy raised a $110M Series D ahead of the much-anticipated launch of its first titles and immersive open world platform (Paul Sawers/TechCrunch)

Venkat Eswarlu / MSPoweruser: Google updates its Chrome Incognito disclaimer after a privacy settlement, saying that Incognito mode “won’t change how data is collected” by Google and others  —  Readers help support MSPoweruser.  When you make a purchase using links… Read More »Google updates its Chrome Incognito disclaimer after a privacy settlement, saying that Incognito mode “won’t change how data is collected” by Google and others (Venkat Eswarlu/MSPoweruser)

Satviki Sanjay / Bloomberg: Google partners with NPCI, which runs India’s Unified Payments Interface, to expand beyond India; the UPI platform had ~$209B in transactions in November 2023  —  Google India Digital Services Pvt. and National Payments Corporation of India,… Read More »Google partners with NPCI, which runs India’s Unified Payments Interface, to expand beyond India; the UPI platform had ~$209B in transactions in November 2023 (Satviki Sanjay/Bloomberg)

Alex Hern / The Guardian: Internet Watch Foundation: over 100K webpages featured self-generated CSAM in the past year, up 66% YoY; a record 275,655 webpages in total had CSAM, up 8% YoY  —  Volume of material children are coerced or… Read More »Internet Watch Foundation: over 100K webpages featured self-generated CSAM in the past year, up 66% YoY; a record 275,655 webpages in total had CSAM, up 8% YoY (Alex Hern/The Guardian)

Financial Times: Lexington, Brookfield and Sequoia Heritage’s Pinegrove, and StepStone are raising billions to buy stakes in VC-backed tech startups via secondary share sales  —  Buyers return after secondary market for private shares was hit by higher interest rates  — … Read More »Lexington, Brookfield and Sequoia Heritage’s Pinegrove, and StepStone are raising billions to buy stakes in VC-backed tech startups via secondary share sales (Financial Times)

Bloomberg: Filing: Kazakhstan-based mobile app provider Kaspi.kz’s CEO and other shareholders plan to sell 9M shares for $873M; Kaspi.kz’s Super App had 13.5M MAUs in 2023  —  At current prices, the shares would be valued at $873 million, according to… Read More »Filing: Kazakhstan-based mobile app provider Kaspi.kz’s CEO and other shareholders plan to sell 9M shares for $873M; Kaspi.kz’s Super App had 13.5M MAUs in 2023 (Bloomberg)

Nick Huber / Financial Times: Omdia: the healthcare sector suffered more cyberattacks than any other sector between January and September 2023, with 241 publicly disclosed attacks  —  The vast amount of information held by health services makes them a prime… Read More »Omdia: the healthcare sector suffered more cyberattacks than any other sector between January and September 2023, with 241 publicly disclosed attacks (Nick Huber/Financial Times)

Louis Menand / New Yorker: Generative AI is just the latest innovation to put pressure on the copyright system but might be the one that brings the whole legal structure of copyright down  —  Generative A.I. is the latest in… Read More »Generative AI is just the latest innovation to put pressure on the copyright system but might be the one that brings the whole legal structure of copyright down (Louis Menand/New Yorker)