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Inside the AI startup frenzy: ‘Everyone’s pivoting, then pivoting again’

Meaning founder and former Verge reporter Ellis Hamburger on the ethical vacuum in AI and what founders aren’t saying publicly.

Snap will start selling AR glasses next year

Details about the hardware are scarce, but CEO Evan Spiegel says the first consumer pair of Specs glasses will definitely cost less than the Vision Pro.

Why one obscure app could help crumble Meta’s empire

The government’s case could come down to whether the judge thinks MeWe is a closer competitor to Instagram than TikTok.

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The Verge
Lauren Feiner
Apple, Google, and Snap accuse Meta of being reckless with their confidential info.

We’re getting started with day three of Meta’s antitrust trial with some controversy. A Snap attorney complains to Judge Boasberg that Meta released slides with inadvertently flawed redactions. He also accuses Meta’s lead attorney of openly referencing Snap’s competitive assessments that should have been private.

An Apple attorney echoes Snap’s charges of “egregious” disclosures, saying Apple can’t be confident that Meta will protect its internal information moving forward. Google’s attorney says its data has been jeopardized by Meta, too.

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Lauren Feiner
The FTC is referring a complaint over Snap’s AI chatbot to the Justice Department.

After investigating Snap for compliance with a 2014 privacy settlement, the agency found “reason to believe Snap is violating or is about to violate the law” related to its My AI chatbot. We don’t yet know the details of the complaint, but Snap spokesperson Monique Bellamy says it’s “based on inaccuracies, and lacks concrete evidence.”

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Alex Heath
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel’s childhood home was burned in the Palisades fire.

The LA-based tech company has 150 employees who have been displaced from the wildfires, Spiegel wrote in a letter published on the company’s website. Snap has donated $5 million to local relief efforts and “will do more,” he says.

Side by side photos of Snap’s original office burned in the LA fires.
From Spiegel’s post on Snap’s website.
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Emma Roth
Snapchat’s year-end recap arrives next week.

In case you haven’t gotten your fill from Spotify Wrapped and Google Photos’ yearly recaps, you’ll be able to swipe up on your Snapchat camera to see all your highlights from 2024 starting December 17th.

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Alex Heath
Snapchat to the Trump campaign: We’ll take your money but not your posts.

An interesting look at how Snap has diverted from other platforms in its handling of former President Trump:

Unlike other major tech platforms, Snap has not lifted the ban on Mr. Trump’s personal account, which has drawn angry pushback from his campaign. Despite not allowing Mr. Trump to post personally, the company has said it would sell his campaign political advertisements, which must all go through an internal fact-check.

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Alex Heath
Evan Spiegel is demoing Snap’s new Spectacles live onstage.

Here at Snap’s annual Partner Summit in Santa Monica, he’s asking for suggestions from the audience as he generates AR effects with AI while wearing a pair. (You can read my full impressions of the hardware here.) Bring back more live tech demos like this, please!

Alex Heath / The Verge
Snap’s new Spectacles inch closer to compelling AR

Will developers finally help Snap take AR glasses mainstream?

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The Verge
Alex Heath
Live from Snap’s Partner Summit.

I’m here at Snap’s annual conference in Santa Monica where the company just announced its biggest redesign to Snapchat in years. You can read more about that below. They keynote is still going and I hear there’s some other big news coming, so stay tuned for more.

A Snap exec is out following HR complaintsA Snap exec is out following HR complaints
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