Sunday, April 13, 2025

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says consumer electronics exempt from tariffs may be included in semiconductor tariffs likely coming in "a month or two" (Aime Williams/Financial Times)

Aime Williams / Financial Times:
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says consumer electronics exempt from tariffs may be included in semiconductor tariffs likely coming in “a month or two”  —  Commerce secretary says products included in reprieve may be subject to separate regime



Sources: Apple is working on a lighter and cheaper Vision Pro and a Mac-tethered model with ultra-low latency; iPadOS 19 overhaul will make it more like macOS (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on a lighter and cheaper Vision Pro and a Mac-tethered model with ultra-low latency; iPadOS 19 overhaul will make it more like macOS  —  Also: company prepares more macOS-like features for iPadOS 19.  —  Apple is readying two new Vision Pro headsets, but glasses have become a bigger goal in the long run.



A look at Bitcoin Commons, a coworking hub in Austin where ex-staffers of companies like Apple are building crypto startups, as Trump rolls back regulations (MacKenzie Sigalos/CNBC)

MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:
A look at Bitcoin Commons, a coworking hub in Austin where ex-staffers of companies like Apple are building crypto startups, as Trump rolls back regulations  —  WATCH NOW  —  AUSTIN — On a Friday morning last spring, Mark Suman called out sick from his job as a senior engineering project manager …



A 2024 Louisiana parole law cedes much of the parole board's power to TIGER, an algorithm with immutable risk scores, blocking thousands from early release (Richard A. Webster/ProPublica)

Richard A. Webster / ProPublica:
A 2024 Louisiana parole law cedes much of the parole board's power to TIGER, an algorithm with immutable risk scores, blocking thousands from early release  —  A Louisiana law cedes much of the power of the parole board to an algorithm that bars thousands of prisoners from a shot at early release.



Saturday, April 12, 2025

India's JioHotstar now has 200M+ paid subscribers, driven by multi-language IPL cricket streams, ranking third-largest globally after Netflix and Prime Video (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
India's JioHotstar now has 200M+ paid subscribers, driven by multi-language IPL cricket streams, ranking third-largest globally after Netflix and Prime Video  —  JioHotstar, India's largest streaming platform, has increased its paying subscriber base to over 200 million …



The Trump administration excludes smartphones, laptops, hard drives, processors, memory chips, and machines used to make semiconductors from reciprocal tariffs (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
The Trump administration excludes smartphones, laptops, hard drives, processors, memory chips, and machines used to make semiconductors from reciprocal tariffs  —  President Donald Trump's administration exempted smartphones, computers and other electronics from its so-called reciprocal tariffs …



The Trump administration excludes smartphones along with selected computers and laptops from reciprocal tariffs (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
The Trump administration excludes smartphones along with selected computers and laptops from reciprocal tariffs  —  Tech including routers and selected computers get reprieve after a week of turbulence in US markets  —  The Trump administration has excluded smartphones from its steep …



A look at the battle between Uber and its unlikely ally, Chinese-owned rival 99, against the São Paulo city government, which banned motorcycle taxis in 2023 (Gabriela Sá Pessoa/Rest of World)

Gabriela Sá Pessoa / Rest of World:
A look at the battle between Uber and its unlikely ally, Chinese-owned rival 99, against the São Paulo city government, which banned motorcycle taxis in 2023  —  The ride-hailing rivals are taking on the government of São Paulo, which banned motorcycle taxis.



Friday, April 11, 2025

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cuts $5.1B in IT and consulting contracts, including with Accenture and Deloitte, calling them "wasteful spending" (Business Insider)

Business Insider:
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cuts $5.1B in IT and consulting contracts, including with Accenture and Deloitte, calling them “wasteful spending”  —  - US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered cuts at the Pentagon including some consulting contracts.



AI reasoning models cost more to benchmark, making it harder to independently verify claims; Artificial Analysis: OpenAI's o1 costs $2,767.05 to evaluate (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
AI reasoning models cost more to benchmark, making it harder to independently verify claims; Artificial Analysis: OpenAI's o1 costs $2,767.05 to evaluate  —  AI labs like OpenAI claim that their so-called “reasoning” AI models, which can “think” through problems step by step …



Madrid-based Jobandtalent, which connects gig workers with companies, raised a $103M Series F at a $1.5B valuation, down from its $500M Series E at $2.35B (Ingrid Lunden/TechCrunch)

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Madrid-based Jobandtalent, which connects gig workers with companies, raised a $103M Series F at a $1.5B valuation, down from its $500M Series E at $2.35B  —  Jobandtalent, an AI-based “workforce as a service” marketplace that connects people with companies looking for hourly workers …



Samsung says it sent the first commercial HBM4 shipments to customers, as it seeks to supply Nvidia and compete with memory rivals like SK Hynix and Micron (Yoolim Lee/Bloomberg)

Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg : Samsung says it sent the first commercial HBM4 shipments to customers, as it seeks to supply Nvidia and compete ...