Meta, iPhone, Twitter, and more. Let’s dive in.
Meta Universal Translator
Meta is open-sourcing a single AI model capable of translating between 200+ different languages. The goal of the project is to create a “universal speech translator” which can ultimately be used on all of the company’s products.
Amazon + GrubHub
Amazon recently purchased a 2% stake in food delivery app Grubhub and plans to increase their stake to 15% over time. Now, Amazon is giving Prime members (in the US) a free one-year membership to Grubhub+, which offers $0 delivery fees on orders over $12. Grubhub was acquired by Just Eat for $7.3 billion less than a year ago.
iPhone Lockdown Mode
To cater to security-conscious users, Apple released a new “Lockdown Mode,” which blocks link previews in messages, disables certain web technologies, and disables data access via wired connections. Apple is also creating a $10 million grant to support organizations that investigate, expose, and prevent highly-targeted cyberattacks.
1 Billion Record Data Breach
A hacker by the name of “ChinaDan” claims to have captured private information on over one billion Chineses citizens from the Shanghai police. The hacker posted a 10 bitcoin ransom for the 23 TB of data, which allegedly includes data like names, addresses, and phone numbers. The data has not been proven to be real at this point, and no government authorities have commented on the breach.
Twitter Sues Elon Musk
Twitter is planning to sue Elon Musk for backing out of his offer to buy the company. Musk says Twitter wasn’t being transparent about the number of bot accounts on the platform, which would warrant a breach of the terms of the deal. Twitter, on the other hand, insists that bots on the platform are under control and plan to continue with the deal, which includes a $1 billion termination fee if either side (aka. Elon) backs out.
Reddit NFT Marketplace
Seemingly every big company is expanding into Web3, and Reddit is following suit with a new avatar-based NFT marketplace. The feature will launch with 90 avatar variations, and prices will range from $9.99 to $99.99 depending on the avatar. Members of the invite-only r/CollectibleAvatars have early access to the collection, which will go live to the public in several weeks.
Fun fact: 40% of Reddit’s traffic comes from users in the United States.
