Saturday, April 26, 2025

US v. Google: Chrome General Manager Parisa Tabriz testified that only Google can run Chrome, given the browser's "interdependencies" on other parts of Google (Leah Nylen/Bloomberg)

Leah Nylen / Bloomberg:
US v. Google: Chrome General Manager Parisa Tabriz testified that only Google can run Chrome, given the browser's “interdependencies” on other parts of Google  —  Google is the only company that can offer the level of features and functionality that its popular Chrome web browser has today …



Q&A with Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas on Motorola partnership, Perplexity's upcoming browser Comet, TikTok bid, ChatGPT's scale, Google's DOJ trial, and more (Alex Heath/The Verge)

Alex Heath / The Verge:
Q&A with Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas on Motorola partnership, Perplexity's upcoming browser Comet, TikTok bid, ChatGPT's scale, Google's DOJ trial, and more  —  Aravind Srinivas discusses his partnership with Motorola, fighting Google, and why AI assistants are coming for browsers.



A look at efforts by Apple and others to become carbon neutral by investing in eucalyptus farms in Brazil's Cerrado region, amid skepticism from some ecologists (Gregory Barber/MIT Technology Review)

Gregory Barber / MIT Technology Review:
A look at efforts by Apple and others to become carbon neutral by investing in eucalyptus farms in Brazil's Cerrado region, amid skepticism from some ecologists  —  We were losing the light, and still about 20 kilometers from the main road, when the car shuddered and died at the edge of a strange forest.



Friday, April 25, 2025

Sources: Tencent Music is in advanced talks to buy Chinese podcasting startup Ximalaya in a $2.4B deal (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Sources: Tencent Music is in advanced talks to buy Chinese podcasting startup Ximalaya in a $2.4B deal  —  An agreement could be reached as soon as the coming weeks, the people said.  —  Talks are ongoing and no final decisions have been made, the people said.



Baidu CEO Robin Li says demand for text-based models like DeepSeek's is "shrinking" and claims its model had a higher propensity for "hallucinations" (Eleanor Olcott/Financial Times)

Eleanor Olcott / Financial Times:
Baidu CEO Robin Li says demand for text-based models like DeepSeek's is “shrinking” and claims its model had a higher propensity for “hallucinations”  —  Search group's chief makes rare criticism of China's generative artificial intelligence darling



Toshiba Europe researchers say they used quantum key distribution cryptography to send messages over a 250km German commercial telecommunications network (Michael Peel/Financial Times)

Michael Peel / Financial Times:
Toshiba Europe researchers say they used quantum key distribution cryptography to send messages over a 250km German commercial telecommunications network  —  Researchers harness quantum mechanics to create communications system that can avoid being hacked  —  Scientists have sent messages …



Monday, April 21, 2025

Brand aggregator Upexi says it is raising $100M to accumulate Solana, causing its shares to surge over 400%, part of a trend of companies investing in crypto (Ryan Weeks/Bloomberg)

Ryan Weeks / Bloomberg:
Brand aggregator Upexi says it is raising $100M to accumulate Solana, causing its shares to surge over 400%, part of a trend of companies investing in crypto  —  Upexi Inc. is raising $100 million as part of a pivot that will see the company start to accumulate the cryptocurrency Solana, according to a Monday statement.



Sources: Circle, BitGo, and other firms plan to apply for bank charters or licenses, as the Trump administration pushes to bring crypto into mainstream finance (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Circle, BitGo, and other firms plan to apply for bank charters or licenses, as the Trump administration pushes to bring crypto into mainstream finance  —  Circle, BitGo and other crypto firms plan to apply for bank charters or licenses  —  Crypto is pushing deeper into the banking system.



TSMC says its role in the semiconductor supply chain limits its ability to comply with export rules, after reports its tech was used in Huawei's Ascend 910B (Jane Lanhee Lee/Bloomberg)

Jane Lanhee Lee / Bloomberg:
TSMC says its role in the semiconductor supply chain limits its ability to comply with export rules, after reports its tech was used in Huawei's Ascend 910B  —  “TSMC's role in the semiconductor supply chain inherently limits its visibility and information available to it regarding …



Sources: amid the Iran war, Asian bankers say rising power prices and energy security are becoming a bigger consideration in data center financing decisions (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg : Sources: amid the Iran war, Asian bankers say rising power prices and energy security are becoming a bigger consideration in ...