Sunday, April 28, 2024

Lawmakers, TikTok staff, and others detail how TikTok lost the war in Washington, including due to CEO Shou Zi Chew's failure to build support on Capitol Hill (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal:
Lawmakers, TikTok staff, and others detail how TikTok lost the war in Washington, including due to CEO Shou Zi Chew's failure to build support on Capitol Hill  —  Combination of coordinated efforts by its critics and missteps by the company led to the law forcing a sale or ban of the popular app



Elon Musk visits China, a source says to discuss with senior officials the rollout of FSD in the country and permission to transfer data overseas (Reuters)

Reuters:
Elon Musk visits China, a source says to discuss with senior officials the rollout of FSD in the country and permission to transfer data overseas  —  Tesla (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing on Sunday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss …



Sources: the new iPad Pro may launch with an M4 chip, kicking off Apple's AI strategy that will be expanded at WWDC; the new Pencil will have haptic feedback (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: the new iPad Pro may launch with an M4 chip, kicking off Apple's AI strategy that will be expanded at WWDC; the new Pencil will have haptic feedback  —  Apple's top rivals are revamping their strategies for smartphones and headsets in a sign they smell an opportunity.



A profile of Ethan Mollick, a University of Pennsylvania professor whose early embrace of AI made him a go-to expert for policymakers and corporate leaders (Christopher Mims/Wall Street Journal)

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:
A profile of Ethan Mollick, a University of Pennsylvania professor whose early embrace of AI made him a go-to expert for policymakers and corporate leaders  —  Ethan Mollick at the University of Pennsylvania has become the go-to authority on the new technology



Saturday, April 27, 2024

Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet disclosed that they had spent $32B+ combined on data centers and other capital expenses in Q1, as they accelerate AI spending (Karen Weise/New York Times)

Karen Weise / New York Times:
Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet disclosed that they had spent $32B+ combined on data centers and other capital expenses in Q1, as they accelerate AI spending  —  The spending that the industry's giants expect artificial intelligence to require is starting to come into focus — and it is jarringly large.



Trump is using the prospect of a TikTok ban to court younger voters, blaming Biden for setting a ban in motion, as the new law rattles pro-Biden TikTok creators (Akayla Gardner/Bloomberg)

Akayla Gardner / Bloomberg:
Trump is using the prospect of a TikTok ban to court younger voters, blaming Biden for setting a ban in motion, as the new law rattles pro-Biden TikTok creators  —  Biden's campaign is making an unprecedented effort to court influencers, even though he signed a bill that could lead to TikTok vanishing in the US.



A look at the rise in video podcasts, as YouTube leads in podcast consumption in the US and companies invest in video to gain new audiences and boost ad revenue (Reggie Ugwu/New York Times)

Reggie Ugwu / New York Times:
A look at the rise in video podcasts, as YouTube leads in podcast consumption in the US and companies invest in video to gain new audiences and boost ad revenue  —  To some, “video podcasts” are a contradiction in terms.  That hasn't made them any less popular.



Google and Apple use passkeys to capture users by locking credentials into their platforms and have made the UX of passkeys worse than that of password managers (William Brown/Firstyear's blog-a-log)

William Brown / Firstyear's blog-a-log:
Google and Apple use passkeys to capture users by locking credentials into their platforms and have made the UX of passkeys worse than that of password managers  —  At around 11pm last night my partner went to change our lounge room lights with our home light control system.



Friday, April 26, 2024

A look at Abu Dhabi-based AI startup G42, as sources say US intelligence officials fixated on CEO Xiao Peng ahead of its China divestment and Microsoft deal (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
A look at Abu Dhabi-based AI startup G42, as sources say US intelligence officials fixated on CEO Xiao Peng ahead of its China divestment and Microsoft deal  —  Abu Dhabi-based G42 found it could no longer play for both teams.  —  G42, a startup in Abu Dhabi, has made itself …



The EU Commission says Shein will have to comply with DSA rules for content handling, starting August 2024, as the retailer has more than 45M users in the EU (Clothilde Goujard/Politico)

Clothilde Goujard / Politico:
The EU Commission says Shein will have to comply with DSA rules for content handling, starting August 2024, as the retailer has more than 45M users in the EU  —  Europe tightens scrutiny of China-based tech companies.  —  BRUSSELS — Chinese fashion app Shein will face stringent rules …



Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, Jensen Huang, and others join a panel to advise US DHS on deploying AI safely within America's critical infrastructure (Dustin Volz/Wall Street Journal)

Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal:
Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, Jensen Huang, and others join a panel to advise US DHS on deploying AI safely within America's critical infrastructure  —  Panel will advise Department of Homeland Security on deploying artificial intelligence safely within America's critical infrastructure



Thursday, April 25, 2024

Google Meet rolls out an update to let users seamlessly transfer calls between devices "without hanging up and rejoining" via its Android, iOS, and web apps (Abner Li/9to5Google)

Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google Meet rolls out an update to let users seamlessly transfer calls between devices “without hanging up and rejoining” via its Android, iOS, and web apps  —  Let's say you start a call on your phone because you're not at your desk yet.  Once you get to a computer …



Garry's Mod is removing "all Nintendo related stuff" from its Steam Workshop, covering "20 years of uploads", after receiving a takedown request from Nintendo (Andy Chalk/PC Gamer)

Andy Chalk / PC Gamer:
Garry's Mod is removing “all Nintendo related stuff” from its Steam Workshop, covering “20 years of uploads”, after receiving a takedown request from Nintendo  —  Fans aren't happy, as you can imagine.  —  Following a takedown request issued by Nintendo …



Interviews with 24+ current and ex-ByteDance staff: the Beijing-based company has increasingly taken a grip over TikTok's operations, leading to a culture clash (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
Interviews with 24+ current and ex-ByteDance staff: the Beijing-based company has increasingly taken a grip over TikTok's operations, leading to a culture clash  —  Insiders say ByteDance exerting increasing influence over platform despite US pressure over ownership



Monday, April 22, 2024

UK-based users sue Grindr in the UK, alleging the app shared personal data, including HIV status, with ad companies like Localytics between 2018 to 2020 (Katharine Gemmell/Bloomberg)

Katharine Gemmell / Bloomberg:
UK-based users sue Grindr in the UK, alleging the app shared personal data, including HIV status, with ad companies like Localytics between 2018 to 2020  —  - LGBTQ+ dating app accused of breaking data protection laws  — Grindr was previously fined $6 million in Norway over breaches



A profile of Aleksanteri Kivimäki, a prolific hacker wunderkind with a mean streak, who stood trial over a ransomware attack on Finnish health provider Vastaamo (Drake Bennett/Bloomberg)

Drake Bennett / Bloomberg:
A profile of Aleksanteri Kivimäki, a prolific hacker wunderkind with a mean streak, who stood trial over a ransomware attack on Finnish health provider Vastaamo  —  Aleksanteri Kivimäki was a hacker wunderkind with a mean streak.  Now he's on trial for the largest crime in Finland's history.



Researchers: files on a misconfigured North Korean server suggest local animators worked on upcoming Prime Video and HBO TV shows, possibly via a Chinese front (Matt Burgess/Wired)

Matt Burgess / Wired:
Researchers: files on a misconfigured North Korean server suggest local animators worked on upcoming Prime Video and HBO TV shows, possibly via a Chinese front  —  Thousands of exposed files on a misconfigured North Korean server hint at one way the reclusive country may evade international sanctions.



African tech investor TLcom Capital raised $154M for a new fund, attracting US and Europe investment; Africa-focused VCs have raised $655M since November 2023 (Aanu Adeoye/Financial Times)

Aanu Adeoye / Financial Times:
African tech investor TLcom Capital raised $154M for a new fund, attracting US and Europe investment; Africa-focused VCs have raised $655M since November 2023  —  TLcom Capital doubles previous amount to raise $154mn for continent's start-ups in a move that could help ease sector gloom



Sunday, April 21, 2024

A look at Home Assistant, an open-source smart home platform with an estimated 1M users, as its creators announce a foundation to help it reach the mainstream (Jennifer Pattison Tuohy/The Verge)

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge:
A look at Home Assistant, an open-source smart home platform with an estimated 1M users, as its creators announce a foundation to help it reach the mainstream  —  How Home Assistant plans to transition from an enthusiast platform to a mainstream consumer product.



Tesla cuts the price of its Full Self-Driving software to $8K from $12K in the US, following a price cut from $15K to $12K in September 2023 (Jameson Dow/Electrek)

Jameson Dow / Electrek:
Tesla cuts the price of its Full Self-Driving software to $8K from $12K in the US, following a price cut from $15K to $12K in September 2023  —  Tesla has once again lowered the price of its Full Self-Driving software by $4,000, now costing $8,000, down from a previous price of $12,000 in the US.



Antenna: 29M+ people, or ~25% of US streaming subscribers, canceled 3+ services over the last two years as Americans increasingly jump between services (John Koblin/New York Times)

John Koblin / New York Times:
Antenna: 29M+ people, or ~25% of US streaming subscribers, canceled 3+ services over the last two years as Americans increasingly jump between services  —  Many more people are jumping from one streaming subscription to another, a behavior that could have big implications for the entertainment industry.



How some parents, seeking the ability to reach their kids at all times, have become unexpected but forceful opponents of schools' attempts to ban phones (Julie Jargon/Wall Street Journal)

Julie Jargon / Wall Street Journal:
How some parents, seeking the ability to reach their kids at all times, have become unexpected but forceful opponents of schools' attempts to ban phones  —  Students' phone use is disruptive, but teachers and administrators seeking a fix face an unlikely opponent  —  A rural school district in Colorado tried to ban smartphones.



Manor Lords, a new medieval city building game from Polish indie developer Grzegorz Styczen, sells 1M+ copies and hits 170K+ concurrent players on Steam (Konrad Krasuski/Bloomberg)

Konrad Krasuski / Bloomberg : Manor Lords, a new medieval city building game from Polish indie developer Grzegorz Styczen, sells 1M+ copi...