The demand for AI chips is driving fierce competition among HBM chipmakers, as Samsung and Micron race to catch up to SK Hynix, which has over 52% market share (Nikkei Asia)

Nikkei Asia:
The demand for AI chips is driving fierce competition among HBM chipmakers, as Samsung and Micron race to catch up to SK Hynix, which has over 52% market share  —  Demand for high-bandwidth memory is driving competition — and prices — higher  —  SEOUL/TAIPEI/SAN JOSE, Calif. …

Google releases a Chrome security update to fix the fifth zero-day vulnerability exploited in the wild in 2024; the vulnerability is in the Visuals component (Bill Toulas/BleepingComputer)

Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
Google releases a Chrome security update to fix the fifth zero-day vulnerability exploited in the wild in 2024; the vulnerability is in the Visuals component  —  Google has released a security update for the Chrome browser to fix the fifth zero-day vulnerability exploited in the wild since the start of the year.

Smartphone shipments in India grew 8% in Q1, 2024; Vivo leads for the first time with 19.2% of market share, followed by Xiaomi with 18.8%, and Samsung 17.5% (Counterpoint Research)

Counterpoint Research:
Smartphone shipments in India grew 8% in Q1, 2024; Vivo leads for the first time with 19.2% of market share, followed by Xiaomi with 18.8%, and Samsung 17.5%  —  - For the first time ever, vivo led the market by volume in a single quarter.  — Samsung led the market by value after capturing …

Bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi announces plans to shut down its web platform by May and partners with Coinbase to allow clients to access and withdraw funds (Amaka Nwaokocha/Cointelegraph)

Amaka Nwaokocha / Cointelegraph:
Bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi announces plans to shut down its web platform by May and partners with Coinbase to allow clients to access and withdraw funds  —  The plan administrator will continue to use Coinbase for upcoming distribution rounds, potentially involving recovered funds from FTX.

Baidu VP Qu Jing posted several videos on Douyin demeaning staff, intended to promote Baidu, that reignited criticism of Chinese tech companies' work culture (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
Baidu VP Qu Jing posted several videos on Douyin demeaning staff, intended to promote Baidu, that reignited criticism of Chinese tech companies' work culture  —  PR boss at Chinese search giant warns she can ruin careers in series of social media videos  —  The head of public relations …

Hands-on with LinkedIn's new games Pinpoint, Crossclimb, and Queens: shamelessly following the NYT's formula, all three take ~10 minutes, and they are very fun (David Pierce/The Verge)

David Pierce / The Verge:
Hands-on with LinkedIn's new games Pinpoint, Crossclimb, and Queens: shamelessly following the NYT's formula, all three take ~10 minutes, and they are very fun  —  I almost didn't get Pinpoint this morning. … I'm kidding!  But I have to admit something: I've been going on LinkedIn every day recently, and I'm having a great time.

Google launches Google Wallet for Android in India and partners with 20+ brands to let users store boarding passes, loyalty cards, event tickets, and more (Aamir Siddiqui/Android Authority)

Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority:
Google launches Google Wallet for Android in India and partners with 20+ brands to let users store boarding passes, loyalty cards, event tickets, and more  —  - Google Wallet is now available in India, where it can be used as a digital wallet for storing passes, tickets, and more, but not for payments.

Sources and messages: Binance compliance officer Tigran Gambaryan told executives and Nigerian contacts of a $150M crypto bribe request, prior to his arrest (New York Times)

New York Times:
Sources and messages: Binance compliance officer Tigran Gambaryan told executives and Nigerian contacts of a $150M crypto bribe request, prior to his arrest  —  A compliance officer for the cryptocurrency exchange told senior executives and Nigerian contacts that the company had been asked to pay $150 million in crypto.

US and Chinese diplomats plan to meet later in May to find common ground on AI usage and situations where AI should be banned, like controlling nuclear arsenals (David E. Sanger/New York Times)

David E. Sanger / New York Times:
US and Chinese diplomats plan to meet later in May to find common ground on AI usage and situations where AI should be banned, like controlling nuclear arsenals  —  The new U.S. approach to cyberthreats comes as early optimism about a “global internet” connecting the world has been shattered.

OpenSecrets: crypto sector-backed super PACs have raised $102M+ so far, the third-most of 2024 election PACs, including $54M from companies like Coinbase (Rick Claypool/Public Citizen)

Rick Claypool / Public Citizen:
OpenSecrets: crypto sector-backed super PACs have raised $102M+ so far, the third-most of 2024 election PACs, including $54M from companies like Coinbase  —  Key Findings  — Super PACs backed by the cryptocurrency sector have raised more than $102 million, the third-most of all super PACs engaged …

YouTube rolls out Jump Ahead, which uses AI to let users jump to parts of a video where most viewers skip ahead, to all US Premium members using its Android app (Adamya Sharma/Android Authority)

Adamya Sharma / Android Authority:
YouTube rolls out Jump Ahead, which uses AI to let users jump to parts of a video where most viewers skip ahead, to all US Premium members using its Android app  —  It's currently available in the US on the YouTube Android app.  —  •  —  TL;DR  — YouTube Premium members in the US …

iPhone 15 Pro Max was Q1's best-selling smartphone; Pro phones were 50% of Apple's sales, up from 24% in 2020; Apple and Samsung each had five phones in top 10 (Counterpoint Research)

Counterpoint Research:
iPhone 15 Pro Max was Q1's best-selling smartphone; Pro phones were 50% of Apple's sales, up from 24% in 2020; Apple and Samsung each had five phones in top 10  —  - Apple and Samsung dominated the list of top 10 best-selling smartphones in Q1 2024.  — This was the first quarter in which the top 10 smartphones were all 5G capable.

Biden administration announces plans to invest $285M, from the CHIPS Act fund, in efforts to improve semiconductor manufacturing by using digital twins (Anthony Ha/TechCrunch)

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Biden administration announces plans to invest $285M, from the CHIPS Act fund, in efforts to improve semiconductor manufacturing by using digital twins  —  President Joe Biden's administration is looking to fund efforts that improve semiconductor manufacturing by using digital twins.

Over 40K Audible books are marked as having been made with an AI "virtual voice", saving authors hundreds or thousands of dollars per title on narration costs (Ashley Carman/Bloomberg)

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Over 40K Audible books are marked as having been made with an AI “virtual voice”, saving authors hundreds or thousands of dollars per title on narration costs  —  While authors appreciate the new revenue stream, audiobook listeners are complaining about the influx of new material

Jack Dorsey replies "no" to an X user who asked if he was still on the Bluesky board; it's not clear when he left, as Bluesky's FAQ still lists him as a member (Anthony Ha/TechCrunch)

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Jack Dorsey replies “no” to an X user who asked if he was still on the Bluesky board; it's not clear when he left, as Bluesky's FAQ still lists him as a member  —  It sounds like Bluesky's most prominent backer is no longer on its board.  —  On Saturday, Jack Dorsey posted on X …