Thursday, April 6, 2023

Sources: Chinese state-owned telecom companies are planning a $500M undersea fiber internet cable network linking Asia, the Middle East, and Europe (Joe Brock/Reuters)

Joe Brock / Reuters:
Sources: Chinese state-owned telecom companies are planning a $500M undersea fiber internet cable network linking Asia, the Middle East, and Europe  —  Chinese state-owned telecom firms are developing a $500 million undersea fiber-optic internet cable network that would link Asia …



Research: Chinese officials and state media pushed back on a US TikTok ban on Twitter, echoing the Huawei defense, showing Beijing's investment in TikTok's fate (New York Times)

New York Times:
Research: Chinese officials and state media pushed back on a US TikTok ban on Twitter, echoing the Huawei defense, showing Beijing's investment in TikTok's fate  —  The company has tried to distance itself, but the information push shows just how deeply invested Beijing is in its fate.



Google Pixel Tablet FCC listing reveals connectivity options: What to expect

Google's is expected to unveil the Pixel 7a smartphone, Android 14 OS, and Pixel Tablet at the company's annual developer conference, I/O 2023, . The Pixel Tablet was teased last year but is yet to obtain a release date. Reportedly, Google's product with model number GTU8P is the Pixel Tablet with UWB connectivity, but a launch date remains unknown. The tablet may use UWB for transferring media, working with the upcoming Finder Network, and relying on a docking station which is capable of supporting 30W chargers. https://ift.tt/FgJ1AEl

Sundar Pichai says Google plans to add generative AI to Search, dismissing the threat to its ads business, and more work is needed to become 20% more productive (Miles Kruppa/Wall Street Journal)

Miles Kruppa / Wall Street Journal:
Sundar Pichai says Google plans to add generative AI to Search, dismissing the threat to its ads business, and more work is needed to become 20% more productive  —  ‘More work left to do’ in efficiency drive, chief executive says  —  Google plans to add conversational artificial-intelligence features …



Wednesday, April 5, 2023

MobileCoin Chief Product Officer Bob Lee, an ex-Square CTO who worked on CashApp and before that Android, dies after reportedly being stabbed in San Francisco (Romain Dillet/TechCrunch)

Romain Dillet / TechCrunch:
MobileCoin Chief Product Officer Bob Lee, an ex-Square CTO who worked on CashApp and before that Android, dies after reportedly being stabbed in San Francisco  —  Bob Lee, the chief product officer at MobileCoin, was killed in a fatal stabbing in San Francisco.



Nintendo and Sony embracing direct-to-audience streams, added to the pandemic, led to E3's demise; fan conventions and networking events have survived the shift (Megan Farokhmanesh/Wired)

Megan Farokhmanesh / Wired:
Nintendo and Sony embracing direct-to-audience streams, added to the pandemic, led to E3's demise; fan conventions and networking events have survived the shift  —  These days, video game companies can just promote their hardware and new releases via prepackaged livestreams.  Why would they bother with a trade show?



Sources detail Apple's efforts to shift production from China, including wooing other countries and assembling "tiger teams" to solve supply chain weaknesses (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources detail Apple's efforts to shift production from China, including wooing other countries and assembling “tiger teams” to solve supply chain weaknesses  —  In late March, when Tim Cook made his first public appearance in China since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic …



Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth says the company plans to begin commercializing its generative AI in 2023 and remains at the "very forefront" of the LLM field (Kazuyuki Okudaira/Nikkei Asia)

Kazuyuki Okudaira / Nikkei Asia:
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth says the company plans to begin commercializing its generative AI in 2023 and remains at the “very forefront” of the LLM field  —  Facebook parent expects tech to help clients better reach audiences, reduce costs  —  TOKYO — Facebook owner Meta intends …



OnePlus Nord Buds 2 vs Oppo Enco Air3: How the two affordable earbuds compare

OnePlus Nord Buds 2 is now official in India. Along with the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite, the Chinese smartphone maker also launched its latest Nord series true wireless earbuds in the country. Successor to the last year launched OnePlus Nord Buds, the TWS comes with Active Noise Cancellation, OnePlus Fast Pair support and several other improvements over its predecessor. https://ift.tt/o6JXvPT

Q&A with Brex co-CEO Henrique Dubugras on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, launching Brex travel to compete with SAP Concur and Navan, and more (Nilay Patel/The Verge)

Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with Brex co-CEO Henrique Dubugras on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, launching Brex travel to compete with SAP Concur and Navan, and more  —  Everybody hates Concur.  Brex wants to replace it. … Brex is what you might call a neobank — not a traditional bank but, rather …



Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Apple reports an issue with its Weather app on iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and macOS, ongoing for over five hours; some users have had issues for over a week (Tim Hardwick/MacRumors)

Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:
Apple reports an issue with its Weather app on iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and macOS, ongoing for over five hours; some users have had issues for over a week  —  Apple is currently experiencing issues with its weather data provider, leaving many users unable to see live weather forecasts for selected regions in the Weather app.



ISRO's reusable rocket mission boosts indigenous tech

As India moved a step ahead in getting its own reusable launch vehicle or reusable rocket with the country's space agency successfully completing the Reusable Launch Vehicle Autonomous Landing Mission (RLV LEX), the entire country rejoiced at this unique milestone with several firsts. https://ift.tt/M5KoA2C

NASA names first woman, man of colour for 2024 Moon mission

After over 50 years, the first humans to fly to the vicinity of the Moon in 2024 on the Artemis II mission includes a woman and a man of colour, NASA announced on Tuesday. https://ift.tt/WNqFakG

Byju's all set to raise $500-$700 million led by top VC firms

Edtech major BYJU's is all set to raise around $500-$700 million in its latest funding round at a flat valuation of $22 billion, led by a couple of top private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds, which can happen anytime soon this month, reliable sources told IANS on Tuesday. https://ift.tt/YGPSTQg

US jury orders Tesla to pay $3.5 million to worker over racial abuse

Elon Musk-run Tesla has been ordered to pay $3.2 million to a worker over his racist treatment at the company. https://ift.tt/Dfhptgm

OpenAI pauses the use of the Sky voice in ChatGPT after users said it sounded too much like Scarlett Johansson, says voice was not chosen to be an "imitation" (Amy Thomson/Bloomberg)

Amy Thomson / Bloomberg : OpenAI pauses the use of the Sky voice in ChatGPT after users said it sounded too much like Scarlett Johansson,...