Monday, March 24, 2025

Apple says the AirPods Max will get 24-bit, 48 kHz lossless audio, including Personalized Spatial Audio, and ultra‑low latency in April via a software update (Chris Welch/The Verge)

Chris Welch / The Verge:
Apple says the AirPods Max will get 24-bit, 48 kHz lossless audio, including Personalized Spatial Audio, and ultra‑low latency in April via a software update  —  A new firmware update coming in April will also include ultra low-latency for the $549 headphones.



A survey of 730 software engineers: 75% have tried AI, 35.6% are AI optimists and 38.4% pessimists, freelance coders use AI more, 50% pay for AI tools, and more (Wired)

Wired:
A survey of 730 software engineers: 75% have tried AI, 35.6% are AI optimists and 38.4% pessimists, freelance coders use AI more, 50% pay for AI tools, and more  —  We surveyed 730 coders and developers about how (and how often) they use AI chatbots on the job.  The results amazed and disturbed us.



Google confirms a "technical issue" on Google Maps "that caused the deletion of Timeline data for some people", but says those with backups can restore the data (Hadlee Simons/Android Authority)

Hadlee Simons / Android Authority:
Google confirms a “technical issue” on Google Maps “that caused the deletion of Timeline data for some people”, but says those with backups can restore the data  —  Update: Google has confirmed the issue, and it indeed advises affected users to restore their data via a previous backup.



Sunday, March 23, 2025

Browser Use, whose open-source tool converts website elements into a "text-like" format that AI agents can better understand, raised a $17M seed led by Felicis (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Browser Use, whose open-source tool converts website elements into a “text-like” format that AI agents can better understand, raised a $17M seed led by Felicis  —  We may not have an agreed-upon definition of AI “agent” yet, but a multitude of startups want to create “agentic” tools to automate various tasks online.



Sources: Apple plans to build its own AI models for Visual Intelligence and add cameras to the Watch; the redesigned plastic Apple Watch SE faces serious issues (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple plans to build its own AI models for Visual Intelligence and add cameras to the Watch; the redesigned plastic Apple Watch SE faces serious issues  —  Apple is exploring the idea of adding cameras and visual intelligence features to its smartwatch, thrusting the company into the AI wearables market.



Elon Musk's ties to President Trump can complicate Starlink's global rollout; Morgan Stanley estimates Starlink could make $16.3B in revenue in 2025, up 74% YoY (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
Elon Musk's ties to President Trump can complicate Starlink's global rollout; Morgan Stanley estimates Starlink could make $16.3B in revenue in 2025, up 74% YoY  —  Satellite internet service is expanding fast but some politicians worry whether the SpaceX owner is a reliable partner



Saturday, March 22, 2025

Filings review: Builder.ai, which raised $450M from Microsoft and others, used an auditor with links to founder Sachin Duggal; Duggal resigned as CEO last month (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
Filings review: Builder.ai, which raised $450M from Microsoft and others, used an auditor with links to founder Sachin Duggal; Duggal resigned as CEO last month  —  Findings related to one of UK's best-funded tech start-ups raises alarm with corporate governance experts



X suspends several accounts belonging to opposition figures in Turkey, amid extensive protests sparked by the arrest of President Erdogan's main political rival (Eliza Gkritsi/Politico)

Eliza Gkritsi / Politico:
X suspends several accounts belonging to opposition figures in Turkey, amid extensive protests sparked by the arrest of President Erdogan's main political rival  —  Suspensions affect accounts spreading information about the widespread demonstrations.  —  Elon Musk's social media platform X …



An interview with Affirm co-founder Max Levchin on hitting profitability, international expansion, building an "Affirm mafia", DOGE, friendship with Musk, more (Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson/Semafor)

Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson / Semafor:
An interview with Affirm co-founder Max Levchin on hitting profitability, international expansion, building an “Affirm mafia”, DOGE, friendship with Musk, more  —  This article first appeared in The CEO Signal.  Request an invitation.  —  THE SIGNAL INTERVIEW



A profile of Jed McCaleb, the billionaire who was behind Mt. Gox and XRP, as his aerospace startup Vast looks to build a private space station with SpaceX (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
A profile of Jed McCaleb, the billionaire who was behind Mt. Gox and XRP, as his aerospace startup Vast looks to build a private space station with SpaceX  —  Crafting and launching a space station that can keep humans alive comfortably in orbit is no easy feat.  —  Jed McCaleb made a fortune in cryptocurrency.



Friday, March 21, 2025

Report: North Korea is launching a new cybersecurity research unit called Research Center 227 focused on AI-based hacking and stealing digital assets (Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai/TechCrunch)

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / TechCrunch:
Report: North Korea is launching a new cybersecurity research unit called Research Center 227 focused on AI-based hacking and stealing digital assets  —  The North Korean government is reportedly establishing a new hacking group within the intelligence agency Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB).



Micron Q2: revenue up 38% YoY to $8.05B vs. $7.89B est., net income up 99% to $1.58B, says data center revenue tripled, offers better-than-expected Q3 guidance (Ashley Capoot/CNBC)

Ashley Capoot / CNBC:
Micron Q2: revenue up 38% YoY to $8.05B vs. $7.89B est., net income up 99% to $1.58B, says data center revenue tripled, offers better-than-expected Q3 guidance  —  Micron shares popped 6% in extended trading Thursday after the company reported second-quarter results that beat analysts' estimates …



A profile of Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport, who served in Israel's elite cyber intelligence unit 8200; sources say Wiz was on track to surpass $1B of ARR in 2025 (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
A profile of Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport, who served in Israel's elite cyber intelligence unit 8200; sources say Wiz was on track to surpass $1B of ARR in 2025  —  Cybersecurity start-up's fast-moving CEO agrees higher sale price after turning down Alphabet's $23bn offer last summer



Alibaba's DAMO Academy releases RynnBrain, an open-source foundation model to help robots perform real-world tasks like navigating rooms, trained on Qwen3-VL (Saritha Rai/Bloomberg)

Saritha Rai / Bloomberg : Alibaba's DAMO Academy releases RynnBrain, an open-source foundation model to help robots perform real-worl...