A strange sign of the times (14 minute read)
The FBI seized stolen credentials for 80 million accounts from a darknet marketplace in April. It decided to work with the owner of data breach notification service 'Have I Been Pwned' to notify people whether their data was part of the seized data. Have I Been Pwned is run by a couple in Australia. This article tells the story of how the service started and why the FBI decided to work with it.
How Shopify’s anti-meeting, anti-mandatory-office experiment is going (8 minute read)
Many organizations and even a few government institutions have reached out to Shopify to request a Meeting Cost Calculator of their own after the company's success with the tool.
Spotify using AI to clone and translate podcasters’ voices (2 minute read)
Spotify has unveiled a new AI-powered feature that translates podcasts into multiple languages using the same voices as those in the show. The feature uses OpenAI's new voice generation technology, which only needs a few seconds of audio to replicate a voice. Voice-translated episodes from select creators are now available on Spotify. A list of all the translated shows currently available can be viewed on Spotify's Voice Translation hub, which is linked to in the article.
Microsoft is going nuclear to power its AI ambitions (3 minute read)
Microsoft plans to use next-generation nuclear reactors to power its data centers and AI ambitions. It has posted a job listing for a principal program manager to lead its nuclear energy strategy. Data centers use a ton of energy. Nuclear technology can provide the clean energy required for the company to hit its climate goals. Microsoft is specifically looking for someone who can roll out a plan for small modular reactors.
OpenAI is reportedly raising funds at a valuation of $80 billion to $90 billion (1 minute read)
OpenAI is reportedly in discussions to sell shares. The sale could boost its valuation from $29 billion to over $80 billion. Employees will be allowed to sell existing shares. OpenAI said in late August that it expected to reach $1 billion in revenue this year.
Why are Cloud Development Environments Spiking in Popularity, Now? (8 minute read)
Cloud Development Environments (CDEs) are spiking in popularity. This article looks at why CDEs are trending and what startups should look for in the space. CDEs are gaining popularity because codebases are getting larger, monorepos are getting more popular, laptop power is plateauing, connections are improving, and due to remote work. If the industry continues on this trend, most developers at large and mid-sized tech companies may be building software on remote machines within two to three years.
FTC files “the big one,” a lawsuit alleging Amazon illegally maintains monopoly (6 minute read)
The FTC and 17 state attorneys general are suing Amazon, claiming that the company illegally maintains monopoly power. They claim that Amazon uses a set of punitive and coercive tactics to unlawfully maintain its monopolies. The lawsuit aims to hold Amazon accountable for its practices and restore competition. It could result in the breaking up of the company. Amazon claims that the lawsuit is wrong on the facts and the law.
Meta's annual Connect conference has started, which means lots of new hardware announcements. This article sums up the most important announcements from the keynote. The announcements covered the Meta Quest 3, Xbox Cloud gaming on the Quest, a new foundational model for image generation called Emu, Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, and Meta AI.
Jony Ive and OpenAI’s Altman reportedly collaborating on mysterious AI device (4 minute read)
Jony Ive and Sam Altman are reportedly working on the design of a new AI device. It is unclear what the device may be. Many people are speculating that it is a re-imagining of a smartphone that relies heavily on generative AI. Masayoshi Son, the CEO of SoftBank, is also reportedly part of the talks. Not much else is known about the device.
ChatGPT can now search the web in real time (3 minute read)
ChatGPT Plus and Enterprise users can now get answers sourced from the web - the feature will roll out to other users soon.