The Biden administration awards $504M in funding for 12 regional tech hubs, including in New York and Florida, to expand research in AI, chip making, and more (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
The Biden administration awards $504M in funding for 12 regional tech hubs, including in New York and Florida, to expand research in AI, chip making, and more  —  - Effort aims to draw private investment around more of the US  — Awards cover twelve centers, including in New York and Florida

Singapore is emerging as a destination for Chinese AI startups due to less stringent AI regulations and access to Nvidia's latest chips amid US chips ban (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Singapore is emerging as a destination for Chinese AI startups due to less stringent AI regulations and access to Nvidia's latest chips amid US chips ban  —  - AI founders lured by access to foreign capital, technologies  — Young AI companies finding it hard to go global from China

Japan-based SmartHR, which offers a cloud human resources and labor management software, raised a $140M Series E led by KKR and Teachers' Ventures Growth (Kate Park/TechCrunch)

Kate Park / TechCrunch:
Japan-based SmartHR, which offers a cloud human resources and labor management software, raised a $140M Series E led by KKR and Teachers' Ventures Growth  —  SmartHR, a cloud-based human resources and labor management software startup, said on Monday that it has raised $140 million …

Government data: the value of South Korea's chip shipments reached $13.4B in June, up 51% YoY; exports of display products up 26% YoY and computers up 59% YoY (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Government data: the value of South Korea's chip shipments reached $13.4B in June, up 51% YoY; exports of display products up 26% YoY and computers up 59% YoY  —  - Chip export tally reaches highest ever value in June  —  South Korea's export growth accelerated last month …

A look at the history of and challenges facing Meta's Oversight Board as it works on its second act: a body to help social media platforms comply with EU's DSA (Naomi Nix/Washington Post)

Naomi Nix / Washington Post:
A look at the history of and challenges facing Meta's Oversight Board as it works on its second act: a body to help social media platforms comply with EU's DSA  —  Once hailed as a model for internet governance, Meta's Oversight Board has been criticized as slow-moving and increasingly irrelevant.

Kuo: Apple plans to mass produce new AirPods with camera modules by 2026, which will include an IR camera similar to the iPhone Face ID receiver (Chance Miller/9to5Mac)

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Kuo: Apple plans to mass produce new AirPods with camera modules by 2026, which will include an IR camera similar to the iPhone Face ID receiver  —  According to a new report from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is targeting to begin mass production of new “AirPods with camera modules” by 2026.

Sources: Apple is actively working to bring the AI features to Vision Pro, rejiggers Vision Pro's retail demos, and starts developing 2025's operating systems (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is actively working to bring the AI features to Vision Pro, rejiggers Vision Pro's retail demos, and starts developing 2025's operating systems  —  Apple's strategy to make its devices last longer will mean AI and software are even more important to its business.

Kaiko: the proportion of Bitcoin traded over weekends has fallen to 16% in 2024 so far, down from 28% in 2019, a trend likely accelerated by Bitcoin ETFs launch (Benjamin Taubman/Bloomberg)

Benjamin Taubman / Bloomberg:
Kaiko: the proportion of Bitcoin traded over weekends has fallen to 16% in 2024 so far, down from 28% in 2019, a trend likely accelerated by Bitcoin ETFs launch  —  - Weekend trading drops to 16% of total volume, Kaiko says  — ETFs, dwindling volatility lessen appeal, researcher says

The US finalizes rules requiring custodial crypto platforms to report user transaction info to the IRS; DeFi platforms are exempt amid fierce crypto lobbying (Paul Kiernan/Wall Street Journal)

Paul Kiernan / Wall Street Journal:
The US finalizes rules requiring custodial crypto platforms to report user transaction info to the IRS; DeFi platforms are exempt amid fierce crypto lobbying  —  Treasury finalizes rules to deter crypto tax evasion—but softens them after industry lobbying push

How some doctors are using the Apple Watch to diagnose and help their patients manage medical conditions, despite the availability of FDA-approved devices (Christopher Mims/Wall Street Journal)

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:
How some doctors are using the Apple Watch to diagnose and help their patients manage medical conditions, despite the availability of FDA-approved devices  —  Some doctors are telling patients to get the watch to manage their conditions.  Researchers study how it could be used for heart disease …

Filings and DOJ officials describe how a gang threatened, assaulted, and tortured 11 victims in likely the worst crypto-focused serial extortion case in the US (Wired)

Wired:
Filings and DOJ officials describe how a gang threatened, assaulted, and tortured 11 victims in likely the worst crypto-focused serial extortion case in the US  —  More than a dozen men threatened, assaulted, tortured, or kidnapped 11 victims in likely the worst-ever crypto-focused serial extortion case of its kind in the US.

Baidu unveils an upgraded version of its AI model, Ernie 4.0 Turbo, and says Ernie has reached 300M users since its launch (Reuters)

Reuters:
Baidu unveils an upgraded version of its AI model, Ernie 4.0 Turbo, and says Ernie has reached 300M users since its launch  —  Chinese search engine giant Baidu(9888.HK) on Friday unveiled an upgraded version of its artificial intelligence (AI) model, Ernie 4. Turbo, as it seeks to maintain …

Surface Pro Copilot+ review: the best Microsoft tablet yet, with a versatile Flex keyboard and decent AI features, but has noticeable heat and fan noise issues (Devindra Hardawar/Engadget)

Devindra Hardawar / Engadget:
Surface Pro Copilot+ review: the best Microsoft tablet yet, with a versatile Flex keyboard and decent AI features, but has noticeable heat and fan noise issues  —  Microsoft finally solved the Windows on Arm dilemma.  —  It's taken 12 years, but Microsoft has finally made an Arm-powered Surface tablet …

Apple launches the Vision Pro in mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore, the first time the device has been officially available outside of the US (Tim Hardwick/MacRumors)

Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:
Apple launches the Vision Pro in mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore, the first time the device has been officially available outside of the US  —  Apple's Vision Pro spatial computing headset today arrived at Apple Store locations across China mainland, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore.

Margrethe Vestager says Apple's decision not to launch its AI features in the EU is a "stunning, open declaration" of its anticompetitive behavior (Eliza Gkritsi/Euractiv)

Eliza Gkritsi / Euractiv:
Margrethe Vestager says Apple's decision not to launch its AI features in the EU is a “stunning, open declaration” of its anticompetitive behavior  —  Apple's decision not to launch its own artificial intelligence (AI) features in the EU is a “stunning declaration” …