Someone's Beeper is going off: WordPress.com owner Automattic is acquiring Beeper, the company behind the iMessage-on-Android solution, for $125 million. Consumer tech editor Sarah Perez writes that this "represents a big bet from Automattic: that the future of messaging will be open source and will work across services, instead of being tied up in proprietary platforms, like Meta's WhatsApp or Apple's iMessage." Read More
Llama llama, who's your Meta mama?: Meta confirmed plans for an initial release of Llama 3, the next generation of its large language model used to power generative AI assistants, within the next month. This confirms a report published on Monday by The Information that Meta was getting close to launch. Read More
Phoenix gets its Cruise on: General Motors' Cruise is redeploying robotaxis in Phoenix after nearly five months of paused operations. Only this time people will be driving. Read More
Data control: The European Union spent all that time creating legislation to protect data privacy. However, with the way artificial intelligence innovation happens — by the minute, we gather — the EU is having a hard time keeping its legislation from coming under attack by industry lobbyists and lawmakers. Read More
Hello, this is the front desk: Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai shares correspondence between a hacker and the front desk of a hotel. You don't want to miss this one. Read More
Shopper's delight: In the constant battle to win the shopping wars, YouTube's latest bomb is called "Shopping Collections," which allows creators to curate products from their favorite brands for users to browse through. Then they can better plan their shoppable videos and more quickly monetize older videos. Read More
eBay's new way to shop: The marketplace giant launched a new generative AI–powered feature to appeal to fashion enthusiasts: a "shop the look" section within its iOS app that will suggest a carousel of images and ideas, based on the customer's shopping history. Read More
Fix-it Fairphone: Fairphone enables you to finally take earbud repair into your own hands. Read More