Sources: Bill Gates remains intimately involved in Microsoft's operations, advising on strategy, nurturing Microsoft's relationship with Sam Altman, and more (Ashley Stewart/Business Insider)

Ashley Stewart / Business Insider:
Sources: Bill Gates remains intimately involved in Microsoft's operations, advising on strategy, nurturing Microsoft's relationship with Sam Altman, and more  —  Insiders say he's still pulling the strings at Microsoft  —  In 2017, just before Microsoft forged a partnership …

Germany says it found evidence that Russian state-backed hacker Fancy Bear was behind a cyberattack in 2023 that took down several German government websites (Lisa O'Carroll/The Guardian)

Lisa O'Carroll / The Guardian:
Germany says it found evidence that Russian state-backed hacker Fancy Bear was behind a cyberattack in 2023 that took down several German government websites  —  Foreign minister says investigation found Fancy Bear group was behind attack that took down several websites

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 (Steve Lohr/New York Times)

Steve Lohr / New York Times:
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  —  Amit P. Mehta, a judge in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, will issue a landmark antitrust ruling.

A look at Ukraine's combat drone startup industry, based on commercial first-person-view or photography drones; an estimated ~200 local companies produce drones (Justin Ling/Wired)

Justin Ling / Wired:
A look at Ukraine's combat drone startup industry, based on commercial first-person-view or photography drones; an estimated ~200 local companies produce drones  —  Ukraine needs small drones to combat Russian forces—and is bootstrapping its own industry at home.

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 (Matthew Goldstein/New York Times)

Matthew Goldstein / New York Times:
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  —  Andy Litinsky, who helped start the former president's social media company, revealed Mr. Trump's last-minute doubts about an agreement that made them all very wealthy.

DOJ 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)

Bloomberg:
DOJ 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  —  - Google faces US antitrust case about its dominance in search  — Microsoft's communications deemed relevant to defense by judge

Rabbit releases its first R1 software update, with "up to 5x" improved idle battery performance, a better music playback UI, more reliable Bluetooth, and more (Allison Johnson/The Verge)

Allison Johnson / The Verge:
Rabbit releases its first R1 software update, with “up to 5x” improved idle battery performance, a better music playback UI, more reliable Bluetooth, and more  —  Just a week after its initial launch, the Rabbit R1's first software update is here — and not a moment too soon.

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 (Brody Ford/Bloomberg)

Brody Ford / Bloomberg:
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  —  - Internal documents show California remains largest office hub  — Chairman Larry Ellison said Oracle will move to Nashville

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+ copies and hits 170K+ concurrent players on Steam  —  The Manor Lords video game released this weekend by a small independent studio in Poland has sold more than a million copies …

The European Commission designates iPadOS under the DMA, giving Apple six months to comply; iOS, the App Store, and Safari are already DMA designated (Samuel Stolton/Bloomberg)

Samuel Stolton / Bloomberg:
The European Commission designates iPadOS under the DMA, giving Apple six months to comply; iOS, the App Store, and Safari are already DMA designated  —  The move means Apple has six months to make sure its tablet ecosystem complies with a raft of preemptive measures under the EU's flagship Digital Markets Act.

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

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.