US country music star Kris Kristofferson dies, aged 88

The celebrated singer-songwriter was also famous for acting roles in A Star is Born and Blade.

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Israeli strikes may have displaced million people - Lebanon PM

Lebanese PM Najib Mikati says it is "the largest displacement movement that may have happened" in his country.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/EATgwzQ

California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoes AI safety bill SB 1047; source: Newsom vetoed because the bill applies only to large AI models and leaves others unregulated (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal:
California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoes AI safety bill SB 1047; source: Newsom vetoed because the bill applies only to large AI models and leaves others unregulated  —  Governor seeks more encompassing rules than the bill opposed by OpenAI, Meta and supported by research scientists

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Young Lebanese girl left fighting for life after Israeli strikes

Noor Mossawi, aged six, is one of a number of people in critical condition in a hospital in eastern Lebanon.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/nQqGz3j

Sources: Amazon Prime Video is in talks with veteran anchor Brian Williams to host a live Election Night special, its first entry into news-related programming (Brian Steinberg/Variety)

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Sources: Amazon Prime Video is in talks with veteran anchor Brian Williams to host a live Election Night special, its first entry into news-related programming  —  Brian Williams may have found his next TV-news job....except it won't be on traditional TV.  —  The veteran NBC News …

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Drone video shows Hurricane Helene's path of destruction

Drone video shows Hurricane Helene's path of destruction

from BBC News https://ift.tt/uJReTSY

Court docs: Brazil's Supreme Court say X still needs to pay $5M+ in pending fines, including a new one, before it will be allowed to resume service in Brazil (Ricardo Brito/Reuters)

Ricardo Brito / Reuters:
Court docs: Brazil's Supreme Court say X still needs to pay $5M+ in pending fines, including a new one, before it will be allowed to resume service in Brazil  —  Brazil's Supreme Court said on Friday that social platform X still needs to pay just over $5 million in pending fines …

from Techmeme https://ift.tt/hPSajf4

Meta will also block sharing of Ken Klippenstein's newsletter and other sources with the JD Vance dossier, citing foreign meddling and hacked materials policies (Cristiano Lima-Strong/Washington Post)

Cristiano Lima-Strong / Washington Post:
Meta will also block sharing of Ken Klippenstein's newsletter and other sources with the JD Vance dossier, citing foreign meddling and hacked materials policies  —  The platform blocked a journalist from sharing a purported research document on the candidate, mirroring its past controversy.

from Techmeme https://ift.tt/rS46sVN

Pope says church must be ashamed of Belgium sexual abuse

Belgium's King Philippe levelled direct criticism at the pontiff, saying it had "taken far too long for the cries to be heard and acknowledged".

from BBC News https://ift.tt/opFglGR

The US DOJ charges three hackers employed by Iran's Revolutionary Guard for allegedly hacking Trump's presidential campaign and disseminating stolen info (Eric Tucker/Associated Press)

Eric Tucker / Associated Press:
The US DOJ charges three hackers employed by Iran's Revolutionary Guard for allegedly hacking Trump's presidential campaign and disseminating stolen info  —  The Justice Department unsealed criminal charges Friday against three Iranian operatives suspected of hacking Donald Trump's presidential campaign …

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NYC mayor charged with taking bribes and illegal campaign funds

Eric Adams is accused of illegally accepting foreign campaign donations and $100,000 in luxury travel benefits from Turkish nationals.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/Y2vIt3A

The US FCC levies a $6M fine on Steve Kramer, who used AI to mimic Biden's voice and made thousands of robocalls to New Hampshire voters in early 2024 (Kelcee Griffis/Bloomberg)

Kelcee Griffis / Bloomberg:
The US FCC levies a $6M fine on Steve Kramer, who used AI to mimic Biden's voice and made thousands of robocalls to New Hampshire voters in early 2024  —  The US Federal Communications Commission levied a $6 million fine on Steve Kramer, the perpetrator behind thousands of robocalls that mimicked President Joe Biden's voice.

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Sources: Robinhood and Revolut are exploring offering their own stablecoins; Tether's USDT has grown to $120B, accounting for over two-thirds of market value (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Sources: Robinhood and Revolut are exploring offering their own stablecoins; Tether's USDT has grown to $120B, accounting for over two-thirds of market value  —  - Tether's USDT accounts for over two-thirds of market value  — BitGo executive sees ‘hyper-fragmentation’ of stablecoins

from Techmeme https://ift.tt/hkYsfXF

Meta debuts Quest 3S, larger and with lower-resolution displays than Quest 3 but with better battery and the same chip and controllers, coming Oct. 15 for $300+ (Jay Peters/The Verge)

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Meta debuts Quest 3S, larger and with lower-resolution displays than Quest 3 but with better battery and the same chip and controllers, coming Oct. 15 for $300+  —  Meta finally announced the very heavily leaked Quest 3S VR headset, and the leaks were right: it's a $299.99 headset that looks like a mix of the Quest 2 and Quest 3.

from Techmeme https://ift.tt/H2p68FO

OpenAI adds five voices to Advanced Voice Mode, which is now rolling out to ChatGPT Plus and Teams users and, next week, to enterprise and education users (Maxwell Zeff/TechCrunch)

Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
OpenAI adds five voices to Advanced Voice Mode, which is now rolling out to ChatGPT Plus and Teams users and, next week, to enterprise and education users  —  OpenAI announced it is rolling out Advanced Voice Mode (AVM) to an expanded set of ChatGPT's paying customers on Tuesday.

from Techmeme https://ift.tt/OBNUxDo

Sri Lanka's new president dissolves parliament

Anura Kumara Dissanayake calls a general election, dissolving the parliament where his party only holds three seats.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/4QTkdR2

Meta says it will not sign the EU's voluntary AI safety pledge that's planned as a stopgap before the EU's AI Act takes full effect in 2027, but may join later (Gian Volpicelli/Bloomberg)

Gian Volpicelli / Bloomberg:
Meta says it will not sign the EU's voluntary AI safety pledge that's planned as a stopgap before the EU's AI Act takes full effect in 2027, but may join later  —  - Company could join at a later date, spokesperson says  — EU wants compliance with AI Act rules before they take effect

from Techmeme https://ift.tt/mdsKbl0

Researchers find a new version of Necro malware in Google Play apps with 11M+ total installs; Necro malware in 2019 was found in Play apps with 100M+ installs (Ionut Arghire/SecurityWeek)

Ionut Arghire / SecurityWeek:
Researchers find a new version of Necro malware in Google Play apps with 11M+ total installs; Necro malware in 2019 was found in Play apps with 100M+ installs  —  The Necro trojan was found in two Android applications in Google Play with a combined downloads count of over 11 million.

from Techmeme https://ift.tt/5d6WBtm

US to ban Chinese tech in cars

Officials say they are worried the technology could allow enemies to "remotely manipulate cars".

from BBC News https://ift.tt/BQ0fuXv

Microsoft releases a progress report on its efforts to make security its top priority, which began in November 2023 after a scathing report from the US CSRB (Tom Warren/The Verge)

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft releases a progress report on its efforts to make security its top priority, which began in November 2023 after a scathing report from the US CSRB  —  Microsoft made security its No. 1 priority for every employee earlier this year, following years of security issues and a scathing report from the US Cyber Safety Review Board.

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A profile of French billionaire Xavier Niel, a driving force of French AI and ByteDance's newest board member, who believes Europe should pursue homegrown AI (Morgan Meaker/Wired)

Morgan Meaker / Wired:
A profile of French billionaire Xavier Niel, a driving force of French AI and ByteDance's newest board member, who believes Europe should pursue homegrown AI  —  The TikTok owner's newest board member revels in challenging the establishment. … I wait to meet Xavier Niel in a room that feels fitting for one of France's richest men.

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Sources: TSMC and Samsung execs have visited the UAE and are considering building chip factories funded by the UAE, with a central role for Abu Dhabi's Mubadala (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: TSMC and Samsung execs have visited the UAE and are considering building chip factories funded by the UAE, with a central role for Abu Dhabi's Mubadala  —  Potential projects in the United Arab Emirates could be worth more than $100 billion, though major hurdles remain

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Abba's Björn Ulvaeus marries in Copenhagen

The wedding took place in Copenhagen in the presence of close friends and family.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/j8pNgR5

Watch: Hundreds of paratroopers leap to mark daring WW2 offensive

Veterans watched the jump, at Ginkel Heath near the Dutch town of Ede, to commemorate Operation Market Garden.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/xcXtdGr

Docs: in Perplexity's new ad model, brands will be able to bid for a "sponsored" question, which features an AI-generated answer approved by the advertiser (Cristina Criddle/Financial Times)

Cristina Criddle / Financial Times:
Docs: in Perplexity's new ad model, brands will be able to bid for a “sponsored” question, which features an AI-generated answer approved by the advertiser  —  AI search start-up develops ‘sponsored’ question system in effort to gain share of $300bn digital ads industry

from Techmeme https://ift.tt/KkgcXG6

Watch: Russia dissident freed in prisoner swap vows to return

A dissident freed by Russia in the biggest prisoner swap since the Cold War vows to return to the country.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/ZMl187L

Sources: many OpenAI staff were taken aback by a proposed ChatGPT logo with a simple, large black "O", which struck some as ominous and lacking in creativity (Kali Hays/Fortune)

Kali Hays / Fortune:
Sources: many OpenAI staff were taken aback by a proposed ChatGPT logo with a simple, large black “O”, which struck some as ominous and lacking in creativity  —  A black ring can represent many things - simplicity, a new phase, a void.  Whatever its meaning …

from Techmeme https://ift.tt/XcdERJL

Sources: Qualcomm made a takeover approach to Intel in recent days (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Qualcomm made a takeover approach to Intel in recent days  —  A deal for Intel would be massive and come at a time when the chip maker is sputtering.

from Techmeme https://ift.tt/ZvA7GVl

'Our husbands didn't go to war for Ukraine so we can sit around crying'

A study suggests 54% of Ukrainians suffer from PTSD as Russia's war of conquest grinds on.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/63mfXSs

Twitch changes enforcement of community guidelines so that strikes for some offenses will depreciate over time, users will get more info on strikes, and more (Ash Parrish/The Verge)

Ash Parrish / The Verge:
Twitch changes enforcement of community guidelines so that strikes for some offenses will depreciate over time, users will get more info on strikes, and more  —  Twitch is changing the way it enforces its community guidelines.  In an announcement posted on its website …

from Techmeme https://ift.tt/MW8Kp5E

Sources: EU officials are preparing formal charges against Google under the DMA, targeting how it displays rival product results across its search services (Samuel Stolton/Bloomberg)

Samuel Stolton / Bloomberg:
Sources: EU officials are preparing formal charges against Google under the DMA, targeting how it displays rival product results across its search services  —  - Google risks hefty fines if it fails to address EU concerns  — Regulators are set to issue warning under Digital Markets Act

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Guinea stadium massacre fugitive extradited from Liberia

Claude Pivi, Guinea's most wanted fugitive, has been on the run since last year's dramatic prison break.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/T2z1s8I

macOS 15 Sequoia appears to have broken several security tools made by CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Microsoft, and others; CrowdStrike delays support for Sequoia (Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai/TechCrunch)

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

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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 (Natasha Lomas/TechCrunch)

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) …

from Techmeme https://ift.tt/KjFiR83

Sources: Google tried to end an EU antitrust probe by offering to sell its ad marketplace AdX, or Ad Exchange, but European publishers rejected the proposal (Reuters)

Reuters:
Sources: Google tried to end an EU antitrust probe by offering to sell its ad marketplace AdX, or Ad Exchange, but European publishers rejected the proposal  —  Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google took a major step this year to end an EU antitrust investigation with an offer to sell …

from Techmeme https://ift.tt/RAPVGny

SocialAI, a new iOS app that looks like a social network, is filled entirely with bots and lets users populate their network with up to 32 types of bots (Natasha Lomas/TechCrunch)

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
SocialAI, a new iOS app that looks like a social network, is filled entirely with bots and lets users populate their network with up to 32 types of bots  —  Are we at peak social media yet?  It's an interesting question to ponder after the launch of an iOS app offering a social media experience just for one.

from Techmeme https://ift.tt/zJcW9um

T-Mobile announces a multi-year partnership with OpenAI that includes building IntentCX, a customer service system powered by AI agents (Ina Fried/Axios)

Ina Fried / Axios:
T-Mobile announces a multi-year partnership with OpenAI that includes building IntentCX, a customer service system powered by AI agents  —  - The companies say that the model is already showing promise in analyzing customer care call transcripts and identifying pain points that could be addressed better.

from Techmeme https://ift.tt/4iyWQFw

Snap debuts a tool to let creators generate AI videos from text prompts and, soon, from image prompts, powered by Snap's own foundational video models (Aisha Malik/TechCrunch)

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Snap debuts a tool to let creators generate AI videos from text prompts and, soon, from image prompts, powered by Snap's own foundational video models  —  At its annual Snap Partner Summit on Tuesday, Snapchat announced that it's introducing a new AI video generation tool for creators.

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