Sunday, January 5, 2025

A look at Chinese hackers' attacks on US infrastructure and telecoms; sources: Charter, Consolidated Communications, and Windstream networks were also breached (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal:
A look at Chinese hackers' attacks on US infrastructure and telecoms; sources: Charter, Consolidated Communications, and Windstream networks were also breached  —  Massive ‘Typhoon’ cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure and telecoms sought to lay groundwork for potential conflict with Beijing …



Foxconn reports Q4 revenue of ~$64.6B, up 15% YoY and exceeding analyst expectations for a 13% rise, with December 2024 bringing in ~$19.8B, up 42% YoY (Jane Lanhee Lee/Bloomberg)

Jane Lanhee Lee / Bloomberg:
Foxconn reports Q4 revenue of ~$64.6B, up 15% YoY and exceeding analyst expectations for a 13% rise, with December 2024 bringing in ~$19.8B, up 42% YoY  —  - Company sees significant sales growth for the first quarter  — December sales NT$655 billion up 42% on strong AI server sales



PitchBook: AI startups developing medical note-taking apps raised $800M in 2024, compared to $390M in 2023, as Microsoft and others compete for market share (Madhumita Murgia/Financial Times)

Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:
PitchBook: AI startups developing medical note-taking apps raised $800M in 2024, compared to $390M in 2023, as Microsoft and others compete for market share  —  Investment in the apps has doubled as Big Tech and start-ups compete to grab share of market  —  Investment in artificial …



The UK CMA is testing an AI tool to help catch companies that collude when bidding for public contracts, amid a "significant risk of bid-rigging" by contractors (Suzi Ring/Financial Times)

Suzi Ring / Financial Times:
The UK CMA is testing an AI tool to help catch companies that collude when bidding for public contracts, amid a “significant risk of bid-rigging” by contractors  —  Agency is trialling an AI-backed programme that scrapes data to identify bid-rigging



Saturday, January 4, 2025

A look at India's draft DPDP rules, which require platforms to verify the age and identity of a parent when obtaining consent to process data of users under 18 (Kamya Pandey/MEDIANAMA)

Kamya Pandey / MEDIANAMA:
A look at India's draft DPDP rules, which require platforms to verify the age and identity of a parent when obtaining consent to process data of users under 18  —  The newly released draft Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Rules, 2025 say that online platforms must check the age …



Industry insiders hope the success of Black Myth: Wukong, which has earned an estimated $1.1B from ~25M copies sold, will boost Chinese gaming sector investment (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
Industry insiders hope the success of Black Myth: Wukong, which has earned an estimated $1.1B from ~25M copies sold, will boost Chinese gaming sector investment  —  As Beijing eases regulations, developers are tooling up to produce big-budget titles with international appeal



Inside the fall and last-minute revival of accounting startup Bench, which struggled with implementing automation tools and faced tumult in its executive suite (Charles Rollet/TechCrunch)

Charles Rollet / TechCrunch:
Inside the fall and last-minute revival of accounting startup Bench, which struggled with implementing automation tools and faced tumult in its executive suite  —  Friday, December 27, was supposed to be the start of a relaxing holiday weekend.  —  But it was chaos for thousands …



Religious leaders are experimenting with AI, spurring an industry of faith-based tech companies that offer AI tools to do theological research and write sermons (Eli Tan/New York Times)

Eli Tan / New York Times:
Religious leaders are experimenting with AI, spurring an industry of faith-based tech companies that offer AI tools to do theological research and write sermons  —  Rabbi Josh Fixler at Congregation Emanu El in Houston worked with a data scientist to create his experimental “Rabbi Bot.”



Friday, January 3, 2025

Apple and Strava partner to feature Strava athletes in Fitness+ programming, add more detailed Fitness+ workout summaries in the Strava app, and more (Victoria Song/The Verge)

Victoria Song / The Verge:
Apple and Strava partner to feature Strava athletes in Fitness+ programming, add more detailed Fitness+ workout summaries in the Strava app, and more  —  Apple Fitness Plus is getting a fresh makeover in the Strava app.  The two companies just announced they're collaborating to revamp …



Foreign smartphone shipments, including iPhones, to China fell 47.4% YoY in November, following a 44.25% YoY drop in October, marking four months of decline (Reuters)

Reuters:
Foreign smartphone shipments, including iPhones, to China fell 47.4% YoY in November, following a 44.25% YoY drop in October, marking four months of decline  —  Shipments to China of foreign-branded smartphones, including Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iPhone, fell by 47.4% in November from a year earlier …



A look at the Texas Responsible AI Governance Act, which was formally introduced in Texas legislature and has very broad negligence liability for developers (Dean W. Ball/Hyperdimensional)

Dean W. Ball / Hyperdimensional:
A look at the Texas Responsible AI Governance Act, which was formally introduced in Texas legislature and has very broad negligence liability for developers  —  Texas' onerous AI regulation is formally introduced  —  Happy new year, everyone.  —  Introduction



Taiwan's National Security Bureau says daily average cyberattacks on government departments doubled in 2024 vs. 2023 to 2.4M, mostly from Chinese cyber forces (Yimou Lee/Reuters)

Yimou Lee / Reuters : Taiwan's National Security Bureau says daily average cyberattacks on government departments doubled in 2024 vs....