Techmeme River
Saturday, May 4, 2024
2:05 PM
US Air Force plans a fleet of 1,000+ AI-controlled jets, the first of them operating by 2028; some AI versions already beat human pilots in air-to-air combat
Associated Press
12:55 PM
Meta launches quote post controls for all Threads users, who can allow quotes from everyone on Threads, only the people they follow, or disable quote posts
TechCrunch
12:00 PM
Biden is expected to sign the REPORT Act next week; the bipartisan bill targets child sextortion online through new CSAM reporting requirements and more
NBC News
9:55 AM
A look at Runway's second International AI Film Festival, which it says grew from 300 short-video submissions in 2023 to 3,000 in 2024 with 10 finalists chosen
Bloomberg
8:40 AM
As chipmakers move into or expand in the region around Germany's Dresden, skeptics say more government subsidies, skilled workers, and end customers are needed
Nikkei Asia
5:35 AM
Q&A with Nick Bostrom on his book Deep Utopia: Life and Meaning in a Solved World, which considers a future in which AI solves all of humanity's problems
Wired
2:30 AM
A look at AI companies gathering data from real people to create “digital twins”, to use as fashion models, focus group members, or clinical trial participants
Wall Street Journal
2:20 AM
Defense lawyers question the accuracy and reliability of Cybercheck, an AI tool used in thousands of US cases to identify suspects' locations and other details
NBC News
2:05 AM
A look at news publishers' conflicting approaches toward AI companies, and how the lack of a data marketplace makes it hard for buyers and sellers to set rates
Axios
1:35 AM
Synergy Research: cloud revenue grew 21% YoY in Q1 2024 to $76B; Altimeter: AWS now has 31% market share followed by Azure with 25% and Google with 11%
TechCrunch
1:20 AM
Ukraine unveils an AI-generated foreign ministry spokesperson called Victoria Shi, who will make official statements “written and verified by real people”
Agence France-Presse
12:55 AM
Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses are a simple, reliable, and smartly priced AI gadget, whereas Humane's AI Pin and the Rabbit R1 are more akin to science projects
Wall Street Journal
12:40 AM
Sources: Swedish PE firm EQT acquires a “significant majority” stake in WSO2, valuing the enterprise API and identity management company at “more than” $600M
TechCrunch
12:25 AM
Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal's Krutrim launches its developer offerings, including cloud infrastructure access, and an Android app for its eponymous AI chatbot
Moneycontrol
Friday, May 3, 2024
11:55 PM
Filing: CRM software maker Freshworks acquires Connecticut-based Device42, which helps companies manage their IT infrastructure and had raised $38.5M, for $230M
TechCrunch
11:25 PM
How the AI-generated music video for Washed Out's The Hardest Part was created entirely using OpenAI's Sora, a first from a major record label
Los Angeles Times
10:45 PM
Natron Energy starts production of sodium-ion batteries that it says charge and discharge 10x faster than lithium-ion, initially for use at data centers
New Atlas
10:00 PM
Google employees have mostly ignored the DOJ's antitrust case, and some expect only small business tweaks and some fines; closing arguments concluded on May 3
New York Times
8:05 PM
Russian national Alexander Vinnik, one of the operators of crypto exchange BTC-e from 2011 to 2017, pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering
CoinDesk
7:55 PM
Google updates its ad policy to ban the promotion of services that generate, distribute, or store synthetic sexually explicit content, starting May 30, 2024
Search Engine Roundtable
6:00 PM
CSET: global AI research more than doubled between 2017 and 2022; Chinese Academy of Sciences was the top producer of highly cited AI papers, followed by Google
Axios
4:30 PM
X launches Stories on X, with news curated and summarized by Grok AI, available for Premium subscribers in the Explore tab on iOS and on the web
TechCrunch
4:10 PM
In a letter, several Democrats serving as their state's top election officials ask Meta to repeal a policy allowing ads that claim the 2020 election was stolen
Associated Press
2:55 PM
Elon Musk says he wants Grok to create news summaries by relying solely on X posts, without looking at article text, and improved story citations are coming
Big Technology
2:00 PM
Sources: Fei-Fei Li raised a seed round for a “spatial intelligence” startup using human-like visual data processing to create AI capable of advanced reasoning
Reuters
1:00 PM
Global smartphone market grew 6% YoY to 296.9M units in Q1; Samsung recaptured the top spot with a 20% market share; Apple shipments fell 13% but ASP grew 2%
Counterpoint Research
11:55 AM
SVB agrees to sell its VC arm SVB Capital, which manages ~$9.8B in assets, to a new entity backed by Brookfield and Sequoia Heritage for $340M in cash
Axios
11:20 AM
Microsoft outlines security principles and goals tied to executive compensation packages, following a scathing US Cyber Safety Review Board report in April 2024
The Verge
10:00 AM
The FCC warns that US rural areas may lose cell service if Congress does not fill a $3B funding shortfall for US carriers to replace Huawei and ZTE equipment
Washington Post
9:10 AM
What to expect from Apple's May 7 event: OLED iPad Pros possibly with M4 chips, 10.9" and 12.9" iPad Airs, and updates to the Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard
Bloomberg
7:45 AM
Sources: Bill Gates remains intimately involved in Microsoft's operations, advising on strategy, nurturing Microsoft's relationship with Sam Altman, and more
Business Insider
6:05 AM
Germany “unambiguously” finds that Russian state-backed hacker Fancy Bear was behind cyberattacks in 2023 that took down several German government websites
The Guardian
5:35 AM
A committee of UK legislators says the government's “reticence” to address alleged copyright theft is a “de facto endorsement” of how tech companies build LLMs
The Register
4:55 AM
Estonian ride-hailing and scooter rentals startup Bolt Technology secures a €220M credit facility which it believes will help prepare the company for an IPO
Bloomberg
4:45 AM
Filing: Google pushes back on Epic's demands after its antitrust win, saying the proposed remedies are “unnecessary” and “far beyond the scope” of the verdict
TechCrunch
4:05 AM
Stock photographers prepare for AI disruption, as stock photo companies say traditional photography still has a market but work on building their own AI tools
Wall Street Journal
1:25 AM
Sources: cloud security startup Wiz no longer plans to acquire competitor Lacework; the deal, valued at $150M-$200M, fell apart during the due diligence process
CTech
1:15 AM
A look at Chinese generative AI startups Zhipu AI, Moonshot AI, MiniMax, and 01.ai, which have all been valued between $1.2B and $2.5B in the past three months
Financial Times
12:25 AM
Tim Cook says half of Fortune 100 companies have purchased Apple Vision Pro units and that Apple's focus is on getting more apps and more enterprises engaged
AppleInsider
Thursday, May 2, 2024
11:40 PM
Mimic, which helps businesses detect, deflect, and quickly recover from ransomware attacks, emerges from stealth with a $27M seed led by Ballistic Ventures
SecurityWeek
10:35 PM
Japan's PM Fumio Kishida unveils an international voluntary framework for regulation and use of generative AI and says 49 countries and regions have signed up
Associated Press
9:45 PM
Hubble Network, which is building a satellite network for Bluetooth devices, says it has made a Bluetooth connection directly to a satellite for the first time
TechCrunch
9:15 PM
Onur Aksoy, who pleaded guilty to selling fake Cisco equipment on Amazon and eBay from 2013 to 2022, making over $100M, is sentenced to over six years in prison
PCMag
9:00 PM
Microsoft announces new anti-hacking initiatives and adds deputy chief information security officers to its product groups after several serious cyberattacks
Bloomberg
8:25 PM
X tweaks its block feature to let users see replies to their posts even by users who have blocked them, with the aim of identifying and reporting “bad content”
Engadget
7:50 PM
Cloudflare reports Q1 revenue up 30% YoY to $378.6M, vs. $373.7M est., and forecasts Q2 revenue below estimates
Bloomberg
7:35 PM
Apple reports Q2 revenue down 8.1% YoY to $16.4B in Greater China, down 12.7% YoY to $6.3B in Japan, and down 17.2% YoY to $6.7B in the rest of Asia-Pacific
Nikkei Asia
6:50 PM
The US FDA approves Apple Watch's AFib history feature for clinical studies, the first digital health tech qualified under the FDA's MDDT program
MyHealthyApple
6:20 PM
Block plans to invest 10% of its gross profit from bitcoin products each month into buying bitcoin; Block's $220M BTC investment grew by ~160% to $573M as of Q1
Bloomberg
5:55 PM
Apple not making major AI news at upcoming product event, WWDC still expected venue [Updated]
9to5Mac
5:25 PM
Apple reports Q2 revenue from Services, which includes Apple TV+ and Apple Music, up 14% YoY to $23.9B, vs. $23.12B estimated, an all-time record
Variety
5:05 PM
Coinbase reports Q1 net revenue up 116% YoY to $1.59B, vs. $1.32B est., net income of $1.18B, consumer transaction revenue of $935M, up 99% QoQ
Bloomberg
4:53 PM
Apple Q2 revenue: iPhone down 10% YoY to $45.96B, Mac up 4% to $7.45B, iPad down 17% to $5.56B, and Wearables, Home, and Accessories down 10% to $7.91B
CNBC
4:42 PM
Apple Q2 revenue: iPhone down 10% YoY to $45.96B, Mac up 4% to $7.45B, iPad down 17% to $5.56B, and Wearables, Home, and Accessories down 10% to $7.91B
Bloomberg
4:35 PM
Block reports Q1 revenue up 19% YoY to $5.96B, vs. $5.82B est., gross profit up 22% to $2.09B, Square profit up 19%, and Cash App profit up 25%
CNBC
4:32 PM
Apple reports Q2 revenue down 4% YoY to $90.75B, net income down 2% to $23.64B, and announces a $110B share buyback, its largest yet
Apple
4:10 PM
WhatsApp told Delhi High Court last week that it will be forced to leave India if required to maintain “traceability” for messages as part of 2021's IT rules
Rest of World
3:35 PM
Tether partners with Chainalysis to identify risky crypto addresses that could be used for bypassing sanctions or illicit activities, like terrorist financing
CoinDesk
3:05 PM
Microsoft bans law enforcement from using its real-time facial recognition tech on mobile cameras to ID a person in “uncontrolled, in-the-wild” environment
TechCrunch
2:25 PM
Hyundai invests $475M in self-driving startup Motional and plans to spend another $448M to buy 11% of Aptiv's common equity interest in Motional
TechCrunch
2:05 PM
A US federal judge grills the DOJ and Google in the closing arguments of US v. Google, as the most consequential tech antitrust case since the 1990s concludes
New York Times
1:35 PM
[Thread] California State Senator Scott Wiener defends his AI safety bill, SB 1047, after criticism that it will “crush OpenAI's competitors” and open-source AI
@scott_wiener
12:55 PM
Rabbit R1 review: $199 is the right price, fun design, and a good mic, but the best features are all MIA, finicky and slow, and using a phone is better
The Verge
12:20 PM
Brazil-based Indicium, which helps enterprises become “data-driven” using data stacks from AWS and others, raised $40M to expand its operations in the US
SiliconANGLE
12:05 PM
Some developers are releasing versions of Llama 3, which has a context window of 8K+ tokens, with longer context windows, thanks to Meta's open-source approach
The Information
11:30 AM
LayerX, which makes a browser extension to let companies secure their devices and SaaS apps, raised a $26M Series A, bringing its total funding to $34M
CTech
11:10 AM
Apple adds carveouts to its EU core tech fee, exempting free app developers and giving those with annual global revenue under €10M a three-year “free on-ramp”
TechCrunch
11:00 AM
Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy steps down, as the company lays off ~15% of its workforce, or ~400 people, its fifth cut since its 2021 peak, when it had 8,600 staff
The Verge
10:20 AM
Microsoft rolls out passkey support for all consumer accounts; Microsoft account owners can generate passkeys across Windows, Android, and iOS
The Verge
9:50 AM
LA-based wealth management startup Altruist, whose software and app help with trading and more, raised a $169M Series E led by Iconiq at a $1.5B valuation
Bloomberg
8:50 AM
Sony plans to remove Horizon Zero Dawn, one of its biggest first-party PS4-only games, from PlayStation Plus on May 21, adding to speculation of a PS5 remaster
Eurogamer.net
8:35 AM
Microsoft confirms the April 2024 Windows security updates break VPN connections across client and server platforms on Windows 11, 10, and Server 2008 or later
BleepingComputer
8:25 AM
Karius, which uses AI to help analyze blood tests in 400 hospitals, raised $100M led by Khosla, after raising $165M in early 2020 led by Vision Fund II
Bloomberg
8:15 AM
Google says 400M+ Google Accounts have used passkeys since the rollout, logging 1B+ authentications, and expands passkeys to its Advanced Protection Program
The Verge
7:55 AM
Starlink users in some unauthorized regions can seemingly still use the internet, despite SpaceX telling users the service would be unavailable to them by May 1
Bloomberg
7:40 AM
Tech Transparency Project: US extremist militias are quietly coordinating across ~200 Facebook groups and profiles, after lying low since the January 6 riot
Wired
7:15 AM
Sources and documents: Huawei is secretly funding cutting-edge research at US universities including Harvard through an independent Washington-based foundation
Bloomberg
6:55 AM
A profile of US District Court judge Amit P. Mehta, who is presiding over the US v. Google case, which could set a precedent for other US tech antitrust cases
New York Times
6:35 AM
A look at Ukraine's combat drone startup industry; Kyiv estimates ~200 local startups produce drones based on commercial first-person-view or photography drones
Wired
6:15 AM
As people yearn for the web's “good old days”, bringing those days back is possible with new tech, the possibility of new protocols, and more internet users
Citation Needed
5:50 AM
TMTG co-founder Andy Litinsky, testifying as a witness in an insider trading case, says Trump nearly derailed the DWAC deal in October 2021, before signing on
New York Times
5:05 AM
AI has the potential to ease the US meat industry's labor vulnerability by letting robots perform some of the high precision tasks required to butcher meat
Bloomberg
4:35 AM
As social media platforms pivot away from news distribution, a look at news sites like The Verge, which feel more like social media, with aggregation and more
New Yorker
4:10 AM
Universal Music Group and TikTok strike a new music licensing deal to bring UMG music back to the platform, including “improved remuneration” and AI protections
Variety
2:35 AM
Anonymous social media app Sidechat has become both a place for dialog and a breeding ground for hate speech amid US college protests over the Israel-Hamas war
Wired
2:00 AM
A look at Intel's efforts to build Ohio One, a “mega fab” that could become the world's largest chip factory and to which the company has committed $28B
Bloomberg
1:30 AM
Cybersecurity experts say responses to the new US data breach disclosure rules, which have raised legal risks for public companies and their CISOs, have varied
Financial Times
12:50 AM
Microsoft announces plans to invest $2.2B in cloud and AI services infrastructure in Malaysia over four years and train 200K people in AI skills in the country
Bloomberg
12:35 AM
Trend Micro: cybercriminals and nation-state spies are coexisting inside the same compromised name-brand routers, using the devices to disguise their attacks
Ars Technica
12:25 AM
SK Hynix says its capacity to make HBM chips is almost fully booked through 2025, and now aims to begin mass production of its next-generation HBM chip in Q3
Bloomberg
12:05 AM
The US DOJ sentences Ukrainian national Yaroslav Vasinskyi to 13+ years in prison and orders $16M in restitution for helping REvil conduct ransomware attacks
CNN
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
10:40 PM
Chennai-based CRM software maker Freshworks redesignates CEO Girish Mathrubootham as the executive chairman and names Dennis Woodside as his replacement
Moneycontrol
10:10 PM
Ethan Zuckerman sues to stop Meta from blocking his planned Unfollow Everything 2.0 extension that would let Facebook users tune or even turn off their Feed
Wired
9:05 PM
The US CFTC appoints Ted Kaouk as its first chief AI officer; Kaouk currently serves as the regulator's chief data officer and director of its data division
Wall Street Journal
8:45 PM
An NLRB judge finds Amazon CEO Andy Jassy violated US labor law with his comments in 2022 suggesting workers would be “less empowered” if they voted in a union
CNBC
7:30 PM
Testimony: UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty says the Change Healthcare hack impacted “maybe” 30% of US citizens; UnitedHealth will notify users in “several months”
TechCrunch
7:20 PM
Snap announces Snapchat users can edit messages within five minutes of sending them, “coming soon” to Snapchat+ subscribers “first”, map reactions, and more
The Verge
6:45 PM
US v. Google: Google paid Apple $20B in 2022 to be the default search engine in Safari; in 2020, Google's payments constituted 17.5% of Apple's operating income
Bloomberg
6:10 PM
Unity names ex-Zynga COO Matthew Bromberg as its new CEO, president, and board member; ex-CEO John Riccitiello resigned in October 2023 after a pricing fiasco
VentureBeat
5:30 PM
Nvidia updates its experimental ChatRTX chatbot, formerly “Chat with RTX”, to support voice queries and AI models Google's Gemma, ChatGLM3, and OpenAI's CLIP
The Verge
4:30 PM
eBay reports Q1 revenue up 2% YoY to $2.56B, vs. $2.53B est., GMV up 1% to $18.6B, net income down 23% to $439M, and forecasts Q2 revenue below estimates
Reuters
4:20 PM
DoorDash reports Q1 revenue up 23% YoY to $2.51B, vs. $2.45B est., total orders up 21% YoY, and forecasts Q2 core profit below est.; DASH drops 9%+
Reuters
4:15 PM
Qualcomm reports Q2 revenue up 1% YoY to $9.39B, vs. $9.34B est., handset sales up 1% YoY to $6.18B, and forecasts Q3 revenue above estimates
CNBC
3:50 PM
Substack now lets writers paywall their Chat discussion spaces and says active Chat participants are 12% more likely to retain their subscriptions
TechCrunch
3:15 PM
Airbnb launches Icons, a new category of experiences that lets users meet celebrities and stay in outlandish venues, like a replica of the house from Pixar's Up
New York Times
2:35 PM
US Senate hearing: UnitedHealth's CEO says the company paid a $22M ransom to the hackers who accessed a Change Healthcare server that wasn't protected by MFA
CNBC
1:50 PM
Sources: Google laid off 200+ employees from its Core teams, including IT and its Python developer team, and plans to move some roles to India and Mexico
CNBC
12:40 PM
Atlassian debuts Rovo, an AI product giving businesses contextual search, insights, and the ability to add custom agents to handle tasks and “complete projects”
TechCrunch
12:00 PM
Q&A with White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Arati Prabhakar on her role, working at DARPA, AI, showing ChatGPT to Biden, and more
Wired
11:40 AM
Sources: US federal prosecutors are digging into internal practices at Block, discussing with an ex-employee alleged widespread and yearslong compliance lapses
NBC News
11:30 AM
LastPass separates from GoTo, which announced the spinoff in December 2021, six years after acquiring LastPass; the service suffered high-profile hacks in 2022
The Verge
11:06 AM
Anthropic launches a free iOS app and Team, its first enterprise plan, which offers access to its Claude 3 Opus, Sonnet, and Haiku models for $30/user/month
CNBC
10:51 AM
New Jersey-based CoreWeave, which offers GPUs in the cloud, raised $1.1B led by Coatue at a $19B valuation, up from $7B after raising $642M in December 2023
Wall Street Journal
10:25 AM
Reuters/Ipsos poll: ~58% agree with the statement that the Chinese government uses TikTok to “influence American public opinion”, and 50% support banning TikTok
Reuters
10:10 AM
Meta unveils Batman: Arkham Shadow, a VR game and the next entry in the iconic Batman: Arkham game series, launching exclusively on the Quest 3 later in 2024
The Verge
9:40 AM
LinkedIn debuts three Wordle-style puzzle games: theme-based guessing game Pinpoint, Sudoku- and Minesweeper-style crossover Queens, and trivia game Crossclimb
Engadget
9:30 AM
In a letter to the US Labor Department, Google says the US could lose out on valuable AI and tech talent if some of its immigration policies are not modernized
The Verge
9:20 AM
Elliptic, MIT, and IBM release an AI detection model and its 200M-transaction training dataset to help identify money laundering on Bitcoin's blockchain
Wired
9:10 AM
How an informal supper club became a US tech lobbying force, helping draft the TikTok bill; sources: the group plans an EO for Trump to reverse Biden's AI rules
Washington Post
8:25 AM
Changpeng Zhao's short sentence suggests he had some leverage, and the hearing referred to sealed documents and “cooperation”, perhaps over Binance user details
The Verge
8:10 AM
US NTIA head Alan Davidson says Starlink is an option in extremely remote areas where running fiber is pricey, as part of the $42B high speed internet program
Washington Post
7:32 AM
Ofcom opens an investigation into OnlyFans over its measures to stop children from accessing porn, after reviewing its “response to formal information requests”
Reuters
7:15 AM
A look at GM's risky bet to replace Apple's CarPlay with its own infotainment system, gambling on its software group, as carmakers worry over Apple's power
Bloomberg
6:35 AM
US v. Google: Microsoft invested in OpenAI over fears of falling behind Google; Kevin Scott said he was “very, very worried” in a 2019 email to Satya Nadella
Bloomberg
6:10 AM
Sources: Huawei moves Yu Chengdong, the high-profile chief of its consumer business who has held the job since 2012, to a new role as chair of the unit
Reuters
5:45 AM
Rabbit releases the R1's first software update, with “up to 5x” improved idle battery performance, a better music playback UI, more reliable Bluetooth, and more
The Verge
5:15 AM
China implements a revised State Secrets Law, requiring Tencent, Weibo, and other internet companies to delete leaked information and comply with investigations
Nikkei Asia
4:55 AM
How all the bills under consideration in US states meant to address AI bias contain loopholes that would make it too easy for companies to avoid accountability
Politico
4:25 AM
A Chinese seller details how he ships civilian electronics, which could be repurposed for military uses, to Russia via distributors and Russian e-commerce sites
Nikkei Asia
4:00 AM
Experts say Spamouflage Dragon, China's yearslong disinformation campaign targeting the US, has largely failed due to China missing cultural context and more
Wired
2:45 AM
Walmart discontinues its telehealth service Health Virtual Care, citing “escalating operating costs”; Walmart acquired telehealth provider MeMD in May 2021
The Verge
2:25 AM
A backlash against data centers has triggered laws in Arizona, Georgia, and other parts of the US to restrain the rapidly growing, energy-intensive industry
Washington Post
2:05 AM
In tests run by executives in advertising, animation, and real estate, OpenAI's Sora generated people with more realistic facial features than Runway or Pika
Financial Times
1:00 AM
Taiwan's KYEC, one of the largest chip testing and packaging services firms, divests its entire stake in a Suzhou, China-based subsidiary citing US restrictions
South China Morning Post
12:25 AM
Google Phone's beta app gets “Audio Emoji”, letting callers select an emoji to play animations with sound: clapping, laughing, party, crying, poop, and sting
9to5Google
12:05 AM
Filing: API Holdings, the parent company of Indian online pharmacy PharmEasy, raises $216M at a $710M valuation, down ~90% from its $5.6B peak valuation in 2021
Entrackr
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
11:20 PM
A look at gpt2-chatbot, a mysterious AI chatbot that became available on LLM benchmarking site LMSYS Org and is believed to have similar capabilities to GPT-4
Gizmodo
11:05 PM
Elisity, which is developing AI tools for companies to anticipate and pre-empt cyber threats, raised a $37M Series B from Insight Partners and others
FinSMEs
10:10 PM
Esther Crawford joins Meta's Messenger team as director of product; Crawford was Twitter's director of product management before being laid off in February 2023
Business Insider
9:15 PM
US House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry accuses Gary Gensler of misleading Congress on the SEC's position on whether ether is a security
CoinDesk
8:35 PM
Over 50 ex-Google employees, fired in connection with a sit-in protest against Google's business ties to Israel, file an NLRB complaint for unlawful retaliation
The Verge
8:00 PM
AMD projects its MI300 lineup to generate ~$4B in revenue in 2024, up $500M from an earlier forecast, but short of expectations; AMD drops 6%+
Bloomberg
7:50 PM
Sam's Club has deployed its exit tech, which uses computer vision to check members' purchases against their receipts, at 120+ locations, or 20% of its stores
TechCrunch
7:25 PM
An APK review suggests Rabbit's R1 runs Android, and its entire UI is powered by a single Android app; founder Jesse Lyu says “rabbit r1 is not an Android app”
Android Authority
7:10 PM
Twitch rolls out its TikTok-like discovery feed, launching as a tab within the Twitch iOS and Android apps, showing live streams and clips
TechCrunch
6:50 PM
IBM wins a US court decision overturning $1.6B in damages to pay to BMC in 2022 for swapping in its own software while servicing AT&T, a mutual client
Bloomberg
6:10 PM
Coinbase adds support for the Bitcoin Lightning Network via payments startup Lightspark, letting customers transfer bitcoin faster and at a lower cost
Cointelegraph
4:55 PM
Screenshots seem to show TikTok circumventing Apple's App Store fees by showing some users a link to a site for buying digital coins, instead of using IAPs
TechCrunch
4:50 PM
Amazon reports Q1 ad revenue up 24% YoY to $11.8B, vs. $11.7B est., driven by the growth of its Stores and Prime Video businesses
Variety
4:40 PM
Amazon reports Q1 AWS revenue up 17% YoY to $25.04B, vs. $24.49B est., and AWS operating income of $9.42B, vs. $7.52B est., up from $5.12B YoY
CNBC
4:35 PM
AMD reports Q1 revenue up 2% YoY to $5.47B, vs. $5.46B est., Data Center revenue up 80% YoY to $2.3B, and a $123M net income, up from a $139M net loss YoY
CNBC
4:24 PM
Pinterest reports Q1 revenue up 23% YoY to $740M, vs. $700.3M est., MAUs up 12% YoY to 518M, and Q2 revenue forecast above est.; PINS jumps 15%+
Bloomberg
4:14 PM
Amazon reports Q1 revenue up 13% YoY to $143.3B, a $10.4B net income, vs. $3.2B YoY, $15.3B operating income, vs. $4.8B YoY, subscription sales up 11% to $10.7B
Amazon
4:05 PM
Letter from US senators: only five of 14 automakers require police to have a warrant before requesting user data, and only Tesla tells users about such requests
New York Times
3:25 PM
The US DOJ charges Roger Ver, a well-known figure from the early days of Bitcoin, with filing false tax returns and more to evade paying nearly $50M
Fortune
3:02 PM
A US judge sentences Binance founder Changpeng Zhao to four months in prison; Zhao pled guilty in November 2023
The Verge
2:45 PM
Game emulator Delta has been the top US iOS app for weeks, after Apple lifted its ban on such apps, likely due to regulatory pressure and alt stores in the EU
Washington Post
1:55 PM
SafeBase, which helps companies automate software security reviews using AI, raised a $33M Series B led by Touring Capital, bringing its total funding to $50M+
TechCrunch
1:10 PM
SCOTUS declines to block a Texas online porn restriction law, after critics said an age-verification mandate violates 1A by forcing viewers to submit their info
NBC News
12:53 PM
Satellite telco SES has agreed to buy Starlink-rival Intelsat for $3.1B in cash
Bloomberg
12:52 PM
Marriott quietly admits to not encrypting some user data impacted by a 2018 breach, after arguing in court for the case's dismissal because it used encryption
CSO
12:25 PM
The Browser Company debuts Arc on Windows, after testing began in December 2023, and says the Windows app has 150K+ users; the macOS app shipped in July 2023
TechCrunch
12:05 PM
Network security startup Corelight raised a $150M Series E led by Accel, in a deal valuing it at $900M, says it is on track to hit $100M in ARR within months
Bloomberg
11:40 AM
Sources: Google has agreed to pay News Corp $5M to $6M annually to develop new AI-related content and products, as part of its Google News Initiative
The Information
11:20 AM
Source: Apple is testing Safari 18 features, including more advanced content blocking and an AI-powered Intelligent Search tool, expected to debut later in 2024
AppleInsider
11:11 AM
Eight daily newspapers owned by Alden, the second-largest US newspaper operator, sue OpenAI and Microsoft for allegedly using copyrighted articles to train AI
New York Times
10:50 AM
Amazon makes its AI assistant Amazon Q generally available and adds an “app creator” in preview to let employees build generative AI apps based on company data
GeekWire
10:29 AM
Beats announces $200 Solo 4 on-ear wireless headphones, with up to 50 hours of battery life, and $80 wireless Solo Buds shipping in June 2024, both without ANC
The Verge
9:35 AM
In its first TikTok Shop Safety Report, TikTok reports 500K+ sellers in the US and 15M+ sellers worldwide in December 2023, adding 6M+ in H2 2023
Bloomberg
9:20 AM
NYC-based newsletter platform beehiiv raised a $33M Series B led by NEA, taking its total raised to $46.5M, and says the service has ~20K active newsletters
TechCrunch
9:11 AM
Instagram updates its recommendation algorithms to demote aggregator accounts, hoping to promote original content and increase distribution to smaller accounts
The Verge
9:00 AM
A Finnish court sentences hacker Julius Kivimäki to six years and three months, after he breached a healthcare database and tried to blackmail 33,000 people
BBC
8:50 AM
Bumble redesigns its app and adds Opening Moves, to let women ask a question men can answer, a major shift that ends the requirement that women message first
New York Times
8:00 AM
Enterprise browser startup Island raised $175M led by Sequoia and Coatue at a $3B valuation, up from $1.5B in October 2023, taking its total funding to $487M
Bloomberg
7:50 AM
PayPal reports Q1 revenue up 9% YoY to $7.7B, payment volume up 14% YoY to $404B, and transaction margin dollars up 4% YoY to $3.5B; PYPL rises 5%+
Bloomberg
7:25 AM
UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty plans to say before a US House panel on May 1 that hackers exploited a Citrix vulnerability to breach UnitedHealth on February 12
Reuters
7:10 AM
Since pleading guilty in November 2023, Changpeng Zhao has networked across the US to set up his next act; sources say CZ and Sam Altman exchanged text messages
New York Times
6:50 AM
Huawei reports Q1 revenue up 37% YoY to ~$24.7B and net profit up 564% YoY to ~$2.7B, rising for the fourth consecutive quarter, buoyed by smartphone sales
Bloomberg
6:40 AM
How an empty, private AWS S3 bucket had ~100M PUT requests in a day, racking up a $1,300+ bill, due to a popular open-source tool using the same bucket name
Maciej Pocwierz
6:30 AM
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says a TikTok ban is “not excluded” and “we know exactly the danger of TikTok”, during a 2024 election debate
Politico
6:20 AM
The EU opens a DSA investigation into Meta over deceptive Facebook and Instagram ad and political content; sources say the probe is about a pro-Kremlin campaign
Bloomberg
6:00 AM
Internal Oracle documents: ~6,900 workers are assigned to California offices, compared to 2,500 in Texas, despite Oracle moving its HQ to Texas three years ago
Bloomberg
5:30 AM
Lithuanian second hand marketplace Vinted reports 2023 revenue up 61% YoY to €596.3M and a €17.8M net profit, up from a €20.4M loss in 2022
Sifted
4:30 AM
Tesla's FSD is set to face tough competition in China, after at least 10 automakers and suppliers announced driver-assistance systems over the past two years
Reuters
4:00 AM
Tech journalism is often characterized by scandals, sensationalism, and shoddy research; publishers hesitate to invest in nuanced reporting without a clear ROI
Asterisk
2:25 AM
A look at the contrast between CZ/Binance and SBF/FTX, as Binance claims the crypto exchange's global users increased 30% YoY to 170M in 2023
Bloomberg
12:45 AM
Microsoft announces plans to invest $1.7B in cloud and AI infrastructure in Indonesia over four years and train 840,000 people with AI skills in the country
Bloomberg
12:15 AM
Analysis: Apple has poached at least 36 AI experts from Google since 2018 and has a secretive European laboratory in Zurich to develop AI models and products
Financial Times
Monday, April 29, 2024
11:35 PM
A profile of, and interview with, Rabbit CEO Jesse Lyu, on the origins of the R1, taking “10 minutes to design” the device, the AI gadget competition, and more
Inverse
10:45 PM
Rabbit R1 review: $199 is reasonable but emblematic of a trend of selling unfinished products at full price while vowing to fix the issues later to win a “race”
Marques Brownlee on YouTube
9:55 PM
Blaize, which designs AI chips for edge devices and data centers, raised $106M; the company announced in December 2023 plans to go public via a SPAC merger
SiliconANGLE
8:55 PM
Multiple US House aides say ByteDance's video editing app CapCut could also be subject to the same divest-or-ban requirement as TikTok
Washington Post
8:35 PM
Samsung reports Q1 revenue up 12.81% YoY to ~$52.3B, vs. ~$51.6B est., operating profit up 932.8% YoY to ~$4.8B, vs. ~$4.3B est., as memory chip prices rebound
CNBC
8:00 PM
NBCUniversal plans to raise the prices of Peacock Premium by $2 to $7.99/month and Premium Plus by $2 to $13.99/month from July 18, its second hike in a year
Variety
7:30 PM
A survey of 10,133 US adults: 78% say social media companies have too much political power; 51% say Big Tech should be regulated more than the companies are now
Pew Research Center
6:15 PM
Sources detail Techstars under CEO Mäelle Gavet, facing departures of senior executives and corporate sponsors at times, and a $7.2M loss on operations in 2023
TechCrunch
5:45 PM
NIST launches a new program to assess generative AI technologies, with plans to release benchmarks, help create “content authenticity” detection tech, and more
TechCrunch
4:45 PM
Google rejected 2.28M “policy-violating” Android apps and blocked ~333K developer accounts from Google Play in 2023, up from 1.5M apps and 173K accounts in 2022
BleepingComputer
4:11 PM
The FCC fines T-Mobile $80M, AT&T $57M, and Verizon $47M for allegedly illegally sharing customers' location data with aggregators “without customer consent”
The Verge
2:35 PM
OpenAI rolls out an optional feature called Memory, letting ChatGPT Plus users tell ChatGPT things they want the chatbot to remember across chats
The Decoder