Good morning! This is your daily ☕️ Techpresso.
In today's Techpresso:
🕵️ Ex-Google engineer charged with stealing AI secrets for Chinese firm
🚨 Microsoft engineer sounds alarm on company's AI image generator in letter to FTC
🤔 Apple bans Epic’s developer account and calls the company ‘verifiably untrustworthy’
🍎 Apple reportedly developing foldable MacBook with 20.3-inch screen
🧠 Meta is building a giant AI model to power its 'entire video ecosystem'
🎁 + 9 other news you might like
🔮 + 8 handpicked research papers and tools
🕵️ Ex-Google engineer charged with stealing AI secrets for Chinese firmLINK
Linwei Ding, a Google engineer, has been indicted for allegedly stealing over 500 files related to Google's AI technology, including designs for chips and data center technologies, to benefit companies in China. The stolen data includes designs for Google's TPU chips and GPUs, crucial for AI workloads, amid U.S. efforts to restrict China's access to AI-specific chips. Ding allegedly transferred stolen files to a personal cloud account using a method designed to evade Google's detection systems, was offered a CTO position by a Chinese AI company, and founded a machine learning startup in China while still employed at Google.
🚨 Microsoft engineer sounds alarm on company's AI image generator in letter to FTCLINK
Microsoft AI engineer Shane Jones warns that the company's AI image generator, Copilot Designer, generates sexual and violent content and ignores copyright laws. Jones shared his findings with Microsoft and contacted U.S. senators and the FTC, demanding better safeguards and an independent review of Microsoft's AI incident reporting process. In addition to the problems with Copilot Designer, other Microsoft products based on OpenAI technologies, such as Copilot Chat, tend to have poorer performance and more insecure implementations than the original OpenAI products, such as ChatGPT and DALL-E 3.
🤔 Apple bans Epic’s developer account and calls the company ‘verifiably untrustworthy’LINK
Apple has terminated Epic Games' developer account, citing the company as 'verifiably untrustworthy,' jeopardizing Epic's plan to launch its own iOS storefront in the EU under the new Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulations. Epic accuses Apple of severe violation of the DMA and anticompetitive practices, including imposing new fees and taxes on third-party app stores, which undermine its ability to compete and develop the Epic Games Store for iOS. Despite Epic's assurances of compliance with Apple's terms, Apple's decision to pull the developer account is portrayed by Epic as retaliation for criticizing Apple's practices, while Apple insists it is due to Epic's breach of contractual obligations.
🍎 Apple reportedly developing foldable MacBook with 20.3-inch screenLINK
Apple is reportedly planning to develop a foldable MacBook with a 20.3-inch display, set to enter mass production in 2027, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
The company has no immediate plans for a foldable iPhone or iPad, focusing instead on the foldable MacBook as its sole foldable device in development.
The envisioned foldable MacBook would function as a large tablet with a virtual keyboard, aiming to offer portability and a seamless viewing experience.
🧠 Meta is building a giant AI model to power its 'entire video ecosystem'LINK
Meta is developing an AI model designed to power its entire video ecosystem, including the TikTok-like Reels service and traditional video content, as part of its technology roadmap through 2026. The company has invested billions of dollars in Nvidia GPUs to support this AI initiative, aiming to improve recommendation systems and overall product performance across all platforms. This AI model has already demonstrated an 8% to 10% increase in Reels watch time on the Facebook app, with Meta now working to expand its application to include the Feed recommendation product and possibly integrate sophisticated chatting tools.
Other news you might like
Europe’s DMA rules for Big Tech explained.LINK
Hugging Face is launching an open source robotics project led by former Tesla scientist.LINK
WhatsApp and Messenger will become interoperable with third-party apps using the Signal protocol.LINK
Google adds new developer fees as part of the Play Store’s DMA compliance plan.LINK
Law enforcement doesn’t want to be “customer service” reps for Meta any more.LINK
Why Anthropic's Claude 3 seems more human than other chatbots.LINK
EA says generative AI will make gamers spend more, speed up development time.LINK
Research shows survey participants duped by AI-generated images nearly 40% of the time.LINK
Some teachers are now using ChatGPT to grade papers.LINK
Latest research and tools
Under New Management: intermittently checks if the developer information for your installed Chrome extensions has changed in the Chrome Web Store and alerts you with a red badge if there's a change, helping protect against potentially compromised extensions after ownership transfers.LINK
Bob_cassette_rewinder: a creative solution to bypass the proprietary detergent cassette system of the Bob Dishwasher, allowing users to refill cassettes at a fraction of the cost.LINK
dockerc: turns Docker images into static executables, simplifying distribution and execution of applications.LINK
Fructose: a Python package that transforms language model calls into strongly-typed functions by simply adding a decorator to existing code, supporting customizable prompts and integration with OpenAI's API.LINK
Elodin: a platform for rapid design, testing, and simulation of drones, satellites, and aerospace control systems.LINK
Flyde: an open-source visual programming language that simplifies coding by letting users create and integrate visual programs with existing TypeScript/JavaScript code, enhancing traditional coding without replacing it, suitable for developers, novices, and educators alike.LINK
Command Jobs: a terminal-based tool that simplifies the job search for software engineers by finding, filtering, and tracking tech job listings directly from the command line.LINK
TinyWasm: a tiny WebAssembly Runtime written in Rust that focuses on simplicity, size, and portability, enabling it to run on any platform Rust can target with a design that makes it suitable for scripting and embedding despite its still unstable API and ongoing development for enhanced API and WASI support.LINK
Want to get the latest news differently? Find us on:
See you tomorrow for a new dose of ☕️ Techpresso!
-min.png){kind=small}
.png){kind=small}
