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Follow these eight strategies to say goodbye to smoking. from CNET https://ift.tt/eATvMqb

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica : The technology of passkeys is elegant, but the complexities of syncing them to password managers can contribute to platform lock-in and make them less usable   —  It's that time again, when families and friends gather and implore the more technically inclined among them to troubleshoot problems … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/a1YnMGL

You dream every night, even if you don't remember it. Here are common interpretations of your strange or stressful dreams and why they matter. from CNET https://ift.tt/k5sHU9q

Dan Gallagher / Wall Street Journal : Netflix's foray into live sports caps off a strong year, with its share price up 90%+ in 2024, but the stock's rich valuation sets a high bar for follow-up act   —  Foray into live sports caps a strong year, but stock's rich valuation sets a high bar for follow-up act from Techmeme https://ift.tt/U7fa961

All the latest Fitbit discounts from Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart and more can enhance your health and fitness for the new year. from CNET https://ift.tt/EXFo2uC

Are you an ISP from the Volunteer State? Because you're the only 10 I see. Here are CNET's recommendations of the best home internet in Tennessee. from CNET https://ift.tt/leq0xH7

Matt Burgess / Wired : Finland, Canada, the US, and other countries are testing tech for passport-free travel, including facial recognition and a “digital travel credential”   —  Smartphones and face recognition are being combined to create new digital travel documents.  The paper passport's days are numbered—despite new privacy risks. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/venJoZK

Did you know you can experience the luxury feeling of a hotel mattress at home? These are the best hotel mattresses to buy, tested by our experts. from CNET https://ift.tt/xehLRB3

Financial Times : Meta expects AI-generated characters to “generate and share content” and “over time, exist on our platforms”, similarly to regular accounts   —  US tech group is rolling out a range of artificial intelligence tools to drive engagement from Techmeme https://ift.tt/XK9jFMp

From phishing schemes to fake tokens, crypto scams are evolving -- here's how to protect yourself. from CNET https://ift.tt/R5HtnMT

Ruth Reader / Politico : US federal lobbying disclosure forms reveal how Meta, with a team of 14 directly employed lobbyists, led efforts to block the passage of KOSA in Congress   —  The billionaire and his company needed Speaker Mike Johnson's help to stop legislation that would have regulated social media for the first time. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/ZTj3Dns

The Block : Analysis: Coinbase International saw its total trading volume grow 124% week-over-week to $119B+ this past week; it averaged just $2.5B per day in November 2024   —  - The weekly total is 124% higher than the previous week's total.  — The following is an excerpt from The Block's Data and Insights newsletter. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/Wr7ampR

CNET’s experts have picked the best internet options for NYC, from the fastest providers to budget-friendly plans. from CNET https://ift.tt/8WHYUM7

Looking for a new comfort show? Curl up with a blanket and relax with our sleep and wellness experts' favorites. from CNET https://ift.tt/Hzund83

Jody Godoy / Reuters : Filing: Apple asks to participate in Google's upcoming US search antitrust trial, saying it can't rely on Google to defend their revenue-sharing agreements   —  Apple (AAPL.O) has asked to participate in Google's upcoming U.S. antitrust trial over online search, saying it cannot rely on Google … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/MF9Tmk8

Bloomberg : Iran claims it will lift its ban on “certain widely used foreign platforms”, naming WhatsApp and Google Play as the first two apps to be unblocked   —  - Allowing WhatsApp and Google Play may placate opponents  — Major social networking sites have been blocked for years from Techmeme https://ift.tt/aR1GcJ2

With CNET's one-of-a-kind device, our sleep experts have objectively tested the firmness levels of nearly 100 beds so far. Here’s what we’ve found. from CNET https://ift.tt/12fk3er

Ryan Christoffel / 9to5Mac : A viral YouTube video from MegaLag claims PayPal's Honey browser extension often doesn't show users the best coupon codes and steals creators' affiliate revenue   —  Honey is a popular browser extension owned by PayPal that's at the center of a big new controversy. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/de76vBG

Make the most of current deals on the Galaxy S24 and surprise someone this Christmas. from CNET https://ift.tt/48IuhSm

Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica : Exploring the scaling challenges of transformer-based LLMs in efficiently processing large amounts of text, as well as potential solutions, such as RAG systems   —  Large language models represent text using tokens, each of which is a few characters.  Short words are represented by a single token … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/BXNMUPC

Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge : The US NHTSA suggests easing rules allowing for fully driverless cars and urges companies operating driverless cars to share more data for greater transparency   —  But there's a twist: the agency wants self-driving car companies to cough up more data. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/PGEsKL2

Financial Times : Report: hedge funds employing crypto strategies posted 46% gains in November, bringing their YTD returns to 76%, outpacing the industry average of 10% YTD gains   —  Crypto strategies made more than 30 per cent in November following Donald Trump's election victory from Techmeme https://ift.tt/nmTqdNf

Lucinda Shen / Axios : Tether says it is on track for a record $10B net profit in 2024 and expects to invest $2.5B to $3B in 2025 across AI, finance, biotech, education, and mining   —  Exit Content Preview … - Ardoino says the company is tracking toward a record $10 billion in net profits this year. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/du0L38T

ARC Prize : o3, trained on ARC-AGI-1 Public Training set, scored 87.5% on ARC Prize's Semi-Private Evaluation in a high-compute configuration; GPT-4o scored 5% in 2024   —  OpenAI's new o3 system - trained on the ARC-AGI-1 Public Training set - has scored a breakthrough 75.7% on the Semi-Private Evaluation set … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/07vZ28y

Kelsey Butler / Bloomberg : Grindr will cover as much as $300,000 in fertility, surrogacy, and adoption costs for staffers who have been at the company for 18+ months, starting next year   —  - Few companies cover all costs associated with family building  — Dating app will grow headcount ‘moderately’ in 2025, CEO says from Techmeme https://ift.tt/zhn0Kp2

If you still need a Christmas gift this Microsoft tablet and keyboard bundle is perfect, and great for your wallet too. Just hurry; this offer ends tonight. from CNET https://ift.tt/tBi8yFc

New York Times : In 150+ X posts, Elon Musk led the charge to kill a bipartisan spending deal, in part by sharing misinfo, which may lead to a government shutdown over Christmas   —  The world's richest man led the charge to kill a bipartisan spending deal, in part by promoting false and misleading claims about it. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/bOeAypR

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch : Google releases Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental, with the ability to “reason over the most complex problems” in fields like programming and physics   —  Google has released what it's calling a new “reasoning” AI model — but it's in the experimental stages, and from our brief testing … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/4pdWh1j

If you receive a fake delivery scam message and mistakenly click the link, you'll be redirected to a site mimicking USPS, FedEx or another courier. from CNET https://ift.tt/fqtCgGy

Harry McCracken / Fast Company : Flipboard launches Surf, an app to create custom feeds from Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, RSS, podcasts, and YouTube, in beta on iOS, Android, and iPadOS   —  Fourteen years ago, when the iPad was new and bursting with unfulfilled promise, an app called Flipboard debuted. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/Ra58U3L

New York Times : Some tech leaders say they're optimistic that Trump will increase visas to highly skilled foreign workers, despite Trump curbing such programs in his first term   —  Silicon Valley hopes that tech giants like Elon Musk could help to push the incoming Trump administration toward offering more visas to highly skilled foreign workers. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/qJyNc4O

Rachel Metz / Bloomberg : OpenAI makes ChatGPT Search available to all logged in users, not just subscribers, and says ChatGPT Search can be set as their browser's default search engine   —  The product, called ChatGPT Search, will be available to any user who is logged in with an account for the chatbot across … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/9FOlgGR

Victoria Song / The Verge : Meta rolls out live AI, live translations, and Shazam to Ray-Ban smart glasses for members of its Early Access Program   —  Meta just announced three new features are rolling out to its Ray-Ban smart glasses: live AI, live translations, and Shazam.  Both live AI and live translation are limited … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/QmOoYIb

We compared popular web hosting services like A2 Hosting, HostGator and many others to help you find the best service to fit your needs now and in the future. from CNET https://ift.tt/6GJ3LwV

Jason Parham / Wired : A look at Blacksky, the Bluesky custom feed run by a team of six moderators, which is slowly turning into the main avenue for many Black users on the service   —  The curated feed, now run by a team of six moderators, is the meeting ground for hundreds of thousands of Black users on Bluesky. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/NhkwusX

Solo Stove's bonfire gear is just the ticket to a cozy winter. We'll explain how you can save and get your gear on or before Dec. 25. from CNET https://ift.tt/UYjJlLV

The latest iteration in the long-running and hugely popular Call of Duty franchise can now be yours for just $35. from CNET https://ift.tt/OLYuVJe

Bloomberg : Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski says Klarna's investment in AI let it stop hiring a year ago and its headcount fell 22% to 3,500, mostly due to attrition   —  - Company has promised workers higher salaries in age of AI  — Klarna would like to become a bank in the US one day, CEO says from Techmeme https://ift.tt/GE0cXuR

Ana Swanson / New York Times : Sources: in the past year, US chip companies have lobbied the US government against a China sales ban, citing billions in lost revenue, shocking US officials   —  An intense struggle has unfolded in Washington between companies and officials over where to draw the line on selling technology to China. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/hrb0Ttk

Kyt Dotson / SiliconANGLE : Crusoe Energy, which offers cost-effective generative AI compute at scale using clean energy, raised a $600M Series D led by Founders Fund at a $2.8B valuation   —  Crusoe Energy Systems LLC, a startup building data centers for artificial intelligence workloads, today announced it raised $600 million … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3mbWLAH