Monday, April 17, 2023

As Palantir vies for a £480M contract to build a "federated data platform" for the UK's NHS, experts say the company's Foundry tool is costly and hard to use (Ian Johnston/Financial Times)

Ian Johnston / Financial Times:
As Palantir vies for a £480M contract to build a “federated data platform” for the UK's NHS, experts say the company's Foundry tool is costly and hard to use  —  Internal opposition voiced over US company's bid for lucrative expansion within British health service



Google Pixel 7A tipped to launch next month

Google has already confirmed that its Google I/O 2023 event will be held on May 10. The company is said to showcase some software-related innovations at the conference. Along with this, the tech giant is also expected to unveil its latest mid-range Pixel smartphone -- Pixel 7A at the event. Now a new leak has surfaced online revealing the likely specifications and India price of the smartphone. https://ift.tt/23IoiB5

Sunday, April 16, 2023

Contract docs reveal the Georgia National Guard plans to use location-based phone surveillance to target ads using geofences around 67 local public high schools (Sam Biddle/The Intercept)

Sam Biddle / The Intercept:
Contract docs reveal the Georgia National Guard plans to use location-based phone surveillance to target ads using geofences around 67 local public high schools  —  The Georgia Army National Guard plans to combine two deeply controversial practices — military recruiting at schools …



Netflix's second ever livestream hit technical issues, leading to a 75+ minute delay and the company taping the Love is Blind reunion episode for later viewing (Amanda Silberling/TechCrunch)

Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Netflix's second ever livestream hit technical issues, leading to a 75+ minute delay and the company taping the Love is Blind reunion episode for later viewing  —  Netflix had some serious issues with the livestream of its “Love is Blind” reunion episode.  We always knew the livestream would be messy …



A US House Committee publishes a draft stablecoin bill, which proposes a moratorium on stablecoins backed by other cryptocurrencies, a CBDC study, and more (Nikhilesh De/CoinDesk)

Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
A US House Committee publishes a draft stablecoin bill, which proposes a moratorium on stablecoins backed by other cryptocurrencies, a CBDC study, and more  —  The stablecoin bill is the first major piece of crypto legislation in 2023.  —  The U.S. House Financial Services Committee published …



Q&A with Microsoft's CVP of ads on keeping Bing Chat results from being too promotional, AI-powered search threatening publishers' ad revenue, and more (Patience Haggin/Wall Street Journal)

Patience Haggin / Wall Street Journal:
Q&A with Microsoft's CVP of ads on keeping Bing Chat results from being too promotional, AI-powered search threatening publishers' ad revenue, and more  —  Kya Sainsbury-Carter, who recently was named to head the company's ad business, offers an inside look at Microsoft's game plan



Sources detail Google's project Magi, with 160+ people working full time on it, to enhance search with AI, as Samsung considers making Bing search the default (Nico Grant/New York Times)

Nico Grant / New York Times:
Sources detail Google's project Magi, with 160+ people working full time on it, to enhance search with AI, as Samsung considers making Bing search the default  —  The tech giant is sprinting to protect its core business with a flurry of projects, including updates to its search engine and plans for an all-new one.



An early look at the Jack Dorsey-backed federated social network Bluesky, which emulates Twitter's looks and feels like a simpler, positive time on the internet (Jay Peters/The Verge)

Jay Peters / The Verge:
An early look at the Jack Dorsey-backed federated social network Bluesky, which emulates Twitter's looks and feels like a simpler, positive time on the internet  —  Bluesky is really, really fun. … But after spending a few hours in Bluesky since getting my beta invite this week, it's so far the service where I feel the most joy.



The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, created by Congress in 2000, accuses Shein and Pinduoduo's Temu of data risks, IP infringement, and more (Coco Feng/South China Morning Post)

Coco Feng / South China Morning Post:
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, created by Congress in 2000, accuses Shein and Pinduoduo's Temu of data risks, IP infringement, and more  —  Chinese-backed digital platforms Shein and Temu have become the latest targets of the US government, after an official report raised concerns …



Saturday, April 15, 2023

The US military, which uses Twitch and Discord for recruitment, struggles with the risks posed by Gen Z service members who live much of their lives online (Drew Harwell/Washington Post)

Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
The US military, which uses Twitch and Discord for recruitment, struggles with the risks posed by Gen Z service members who live much of their lives online  —  Defense officials told service members not to 'post anything in Discord that you wouldn't want seen by the general public.' But by then …



Twitter faces a backlash in Brazil after it initially refused government requests to take down posts and profiles suspected of inspiring violence in schools (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Twitter faces a backlash in Brazil after it initially refused government requests to take down posts and profiles suspected of inspiring violence in schools  —  Twitter is facing condemnation in Latin America's largest economy for its laissez-faire approach on content suspected of inspiring violence in schools.



Crypto issue requires immediate attention, says FM Sitharaman

https://ift.tt/nVOJNhf

SEC reopens a draft rule, that expands its regulatory powers over crypto, for public comment, adding explicit language to cover digital asset and DeFi exchanges (Lydia Beyoud/Bloomberg)

Lydia Beyoud / Bloomberg:
SEC reopens a draft rule, that expands its regulatory powers over crypto, for public comment, adding explicit language to cover digital asset and DeFi exchanges  —  The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday altered a proposed rule to make more explicit that digital-asset exchanges …



How Apple's commitment to supporting old iPhones allowed it to capture a part of the US market once cornered by the inexpensive Android phones (Christopher Mims/Wall Street Journal)

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:
How Apple's commitment to supporting old iPhones allowed it to capture a part of the US market once cornered by the inexpensive Android phones  —  It's not just lavish marketing and the threat of green bubbles—Apple's commitment to supporting old phones has allowed it to capture a part …



Indian streaming service JioCinema plans to add 100+ films and TV series and charge for content; JioCinema had 22M viewers for an IPL cricket match on April 12 (P R Sanjai/Bloomberg)

P R Sanjai / Bloomberg:
Indian streaming service JioCinema plans to add 100+ films and TV series and charge for content; JioCinema had 22M viewers for an IPL cricket match on April 12  —  Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's streaming service will add more than 100 films and TV series to its platform, building on the popularity …



India extends a deadline for implementing a 30% cap on any company's share of transactions on UPI payments network, providing relief to Google Pay and PhonePe (Manish Singh/TechCrunch)

Manish Singh / TechCrunch : India extends a deadline for implementing a 30% cap on any company's share of transactions on UPI payment...