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Top stories today: - Meta unveils Orion as its first AR glasses
- OpenAI CTO Mira Murati leaving, along with other 2 top researchers
- Llama 3.2 open weights LLMs launched by Meta
- X releases first transparency report since Elon's takeover in 2022
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0. Data and calendar |
 | All values as of 6 AM ET / 3 AM PT, other than S&P500 and NASDAQ close (4 PM ET / 1 PM PT). |
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 | All times are ET. |
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1. Meta unveils Orion as its first AR glasses, but they won't be for sale any time soon |
 | Exclusive: We tried Meta's AR glasses with Mark Zuckerberg |
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The Orion glasses are paired with a "neural wristband" and a wireless compute puck |
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Meta also updated the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses with real-time AI video processing and live translation |
Special edition Ray-Ban Meta glasses with transparent look and transitional lenses were also unveiled: |
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Finally, Meta launched Quest 3S at $299.99 with Quest 3 hardware and a higher battery life of 2.5 hours |
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2. OpenAI CTO Mira Murati leaving, along with other 2 top researchers |
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Murati, McGrew, and Zoph decided to leave OpenAI independently of each other, CEO Sam Altman said |
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Altman reportedly could get 7% of the new for-profit OpenAI, a $10B equity grant |
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3. Llama 3.2 launched by Meta: 11B, 90B multimodal; 1B, 3B text-only open-weight models |
Llama 3.2 90B beats GPT4o-mini and Claude 3 Haiku on major benchmarks, according to Meta: |
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The smaller 1B and 3B models are on par with Google's Gemma 2 2B and Microsoft's Phi-3.5-mini, also open weights |
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The new smaller Llama 3.2 models are among the cheapest, on par with Gemini 1.5 Flash and Pixtral |
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Relatedly, Meta launched Llama Guard Vision for text input and output moderation on the multimodal models and an optimized Llama Guard for text-only models |
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4. X releases first transparency report since Elon's takeover in 2022 |
There were 224M user reports in H1, with 36%+ of them for abuse and harassment, followed by ~30% for hateful conduct and ~18% for violent content: |
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X suspended 5M accounts and removed almost 11M posts |
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X's content policies were updated following the acquisition. API also became chargeable under Elon's regime, making it harder to monitor X content for third parties.
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5. Market of used smartphones worldwide to hit 257M in 2028, with 5.7% CAGR: IDC |
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195M+ used smartphones were shipped globally in 2023, +6.4% from 2022. $72.9B value of these shipments in 2023, +12.4%. +5.5% CAGR is expected for the shipment value of used smartphones by 2028. +2.8% CAGR is forecasted for new smartphones over the 2023–28 period.
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6. Global M&A volume +14% to $846.8B in 2024 YTD, but U.S. volume -8% to $338B |
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M&A volumes rebounded globally after touching decade-low in 2023. Increased scrutiny weighed on "megadeals" worth $25B+. +54% dealmaking in Asia-Pacific at $273B and +7% in Europe to $160B. M&As may face a slowdown ahead of U.S. election.
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7. Google's shift to Rust language in Android cuts memory safety vulnerabilities by 52% |
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Google started shifting to memory safe languages including Rust for Android in 2019 |
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8. Cloud spending in China +8% to $9.4B in Q2 2024, with Alibaba dominating the market |
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9. Interesting videos, posts, and memes |
 | Why Mark Zuckerberg thinks AR glasses will replace your phone |
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 | The Vicious Antitrust Case Against Google |
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 | OpenAI CTO Departure, DOJ AI Compliance, M&A Trends, and more! | E2014 |
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10. Other headlines |
AI |
Amazon, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI sign EU's AI pact; Apple, Meta missing. FTC cracks down on 'deceptive AI claims' by DoNotPay, others. Mark Zuckerberg interview on AI regulation, Threads, political content. Meta's Imagine AI features expanding across Facebook, Messenger, Instagram. Blackstone confirms $13B investment in Britain for AI data center.
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Tech |
Oracle reveals 29% stake in chip design startup Ampere with option to own. SpaceX plans $1.5B Starlink investment in Vietnam. WordPress blocks WP Engine access, potentially putting sites at risk. Micron Q4 FY24 revenue +93% to $7.75B, GAAP net income at $778M. Whatfix, B2B digital adoption platform, raises $125M at ~$900M valuation. 3D-printed hotel: world's first to be built in Texas.
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Tech & law |
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Biotech |
BioAge, weight-loss/longevity drug developer, raises $198M in IPO. Evotec, Novo Nordisk partner over technology development. Pfizer withdraws sickle cell disease treatment on risk of complication, death. Merck's colorectal cancer therapy fails late-stage trial. Guardian Pharmacy raises $112M in IPO.
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Business |
China weighs $142B capital injection into banks. U.S. Steel says arbitration board rules in favor of Nippon Steel's $14.9B buyout. Stellantis CEO follows Chinese route to avoid EV tariff.
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Crypto |
PayPal enables crypto buying, holding, selling for U.S. merchants. Visa launches tokenized asset platform to help banks issue tokens on ETH. Singapore court grants India's WazirX 4-month conditional moratorium.
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U.S. politics |
Harris outlines $100B in tax credits to boost U.S. manufacturing. NY mayor Eric Adams indicted in campaign finance case. Congress passes 12-week funding bill, delaying shutdown deadline to Dec. 20. House speaker Johnson demands Zelensky change U.S. ambassador. Trump unlikely to meet Ukraine's Zelensky: sources. Harris to visit U.S.-Mexico border, discuss security on Fri. JD Vance, Tim Walz to square off in VP debate on Tue.
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World |
U.S., allies call for 21-day ceasefire along Israel-Lebanon border after UN talks. Putin issues nuclear warning to the West over strikes on Russia from Ukraine. U.S. prepares $8B in arms aid packages for Zelensky visit: sources. Russia reportedly running secret war drones project in China. Spain to see protests from unions to cut working hours.
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