Apple unveils App Store updates for the EU, including letting qualifying developers offer apps on their websites via a Web Distribution tool from spring 2024
Last week, Apple released iOS 17.4 with big changes to the iPhone and App Store ecosystem to comply with the Digital Markets Act in the European Union.
Google, Apple, Mozilla, and Microsoft launch Speedometer 3.0, a benchmark to “create a shared understanding of web performance”; Speedometer 2.0 debuted in 2018
Speedometer has long been Google's preferred benchmark, previously noting how it's the “most reflective of the real world” …
Nigeria has held Binance executives Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla in Abuja without any charges or their passports since February 26, per their families
Tigran Gambaryan, a former crypto-focused US federal agent, and a second Binance executive, Nadeem Anjarwalla, have been held in Abuja without passports for two weeks.
Sources: in summer 2023, Donald Trump asked Elon Musk if he wanted to buy Truth Social, but no deal was made; Trump advisers say the pair have talked politics
The idea went nowhere, but the former president and the billionaire X owner have continued to communicate more than was previously known
Analysis: TikTok's app code shows a separate TikTok Photos app, a potential Instagram rival that syncs with the main app and may debut “soon” on iOS and Android
Tiktok has dominated the short form video market from a long time and other platform like Instagram and YouTube copied …
A survey of US teens: 38% say they spend too much time on their phone, vs. 27% for too much social media; girls are more likely to report too much time on both
Most teens at least sometimes feel happy and peaceful when they don't have their phone, but 44% say this makes them anxious.
Sources: Intel's Trump-era license to sell laptop chips to Huawei remains, despite pressure on Biden from AMD; source: AMD requested a similar license in 2021
Intel has survived an effort to halt hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of chip sales to Huawei, two people familiar with the matter said …
An interview with Pavel Durov on running Telegram, which has ~50 full-time staff, its Dubai HQ, reaching 1B MAUs in 12-14 months, Russia, moderation, and more
As the messaging platform gears up for a potential stock market flotation, it is under pressure to curtail use by criminals
A profile of several AI “doomers”, including AI Impacts researcher Katja Grace, and “effective accelerationists”, as both make arguments about the future of AI
Some people think machine intelligence will transform humanity for the better. Others fear it may destroy us.
As Google removes nonconsensual deepfake porn video URLs after complaints, experts urge Google to remove the biggest deepfake sites from search results entirely
Content creators are using copyright laws to get nonconsensual deepfakes removed from the web.
Self-driving startup Applied Intuition raised a $250M Series E led by Lux, Elad Gil, and Porsche at a $6B valuation and works with “18 of the top 20 automakers”
Autonomous vehicle software company Applied Intuition has raised $250 million in a round that values the startup at $6 billion …
Epic plans to charge non-game developers $1,850 per seat per year to use Unreal Engine from late April with version 5.4, as opposed to a royalty-based game fee
Fortnite developer Epic Games will charge non-game developers an annual subscription of $1,850 “per seat” to use its Unreal Engine …
Google confirms rolling out restrictions to limit Gemini surfacing answers on election queries globally; the update is live in the US and rolling out in India
If you want to ask Google's AI chatbot a question about an upcoming election, you will have to do it from a country where there are no elections taking place.
Airbnb will no longer let hosts use indoor security cameras, starting April 30, citing renters' privacy; previously, cameras in common areas had been allowed
The IRS launches Direct File, a free online tool to let some taxpayers in 12 US states file their federal income taxes; the IRS says 19M people may be eligible
Associated Press :
Nanonets, which offers AI tools to process business invoices in as little as one minute, raised a $29M Series B led by Accel, for $40M in total funding
Nanonets, which uses artificial intelligence to help businesses square accounts and manage budgets, raised $29 million in an early round led by Accel.
Oracle reports Q3 revenue up 7% YoY to $13.3B, meeting expectations, and cloud services and license support revenues up 12% YoY to $9.96B; ORCL jumps 9%+
despite the fact we are opening new and expanding existing cloud datacenters very, very rapidly” $ORCL: +9.4% AH [image] LinkedIn: Craig Guarente : Three problems with Oracle earnings today...."Oracle...
EU privacy watchdog EDPS says the European Commission using Microsoft 365 breached privacy rules and the EU didn't implement adequate data transfer safeguards
❗ The EDPS (European Data Protection Supervisor) has found that the European Commission … Forums: r/technology : European Commission's use of Microsoft 365 infringes data protection law for EU institu...
Elon Musk says xAI plans to open source Grok this week; xAI released Grok in November 2023, offering access to “real-time” data via X's $16/month subscription
and takes another swipe at OpenAI Stefanie Schappert / Cybernews.com : Musk makes xAI's Grok open source in latest dig at OpenAI Inc.com : Elon Musk's Open-Source ‘Grok’ Takes on ChatGPT Brian Bushard...
CoinShares: as bitcoin topped $72K, a record $2.7B flowed into crypto assets last week; in 2024 so far, $10.3B flowed to crypto assets, close to 2021's $10.6B
Elijah Nicholson-Messmer / Bloomberg :
Sources: Apple is testing an AI-powered ad tool that automatically decides where to place ads within the App Store, similar to Google's Performance Max ad tool
Lara O'Reilly / Business Insider :
Filing: OpenAI rebuts Elon Musk's lawsuit, saying OpenAI didn't violate its founding agreement because “there is no founding agreement, or any agreement at all”
right idea, wrong messenger South China Morning Post : ChatGPT creator OpenAI slams Elon Musk's claims as ‘incoherent’ in Microsoft-backed start-up's first legal response to tech billionaire's lawsuit...
EU countries reach a compromise deal on gig economy workers' rights, breaking a logjam by letting states make decisions; EU Parliament and members must approve
Max Ramsay / Bloomberg :
AI-powered robot maker Covariant debuts RFM-1, an AI model the company says can process physics, may limit the need for bespoke robotics programming, and more
Copied! — Watch Covariant's demos to view an overview of RFM-1's language and physics capabilities. Maria Deutscher / SiliconANGLE : Covariant develops video-generating AI model for powering warehou...
Eye Security, which provides cyber protection, incident response, and cyber insurance tools, raised a €36M Series B led by JP Morgan Growth Equity Partners
Isaac Taylor / Wall Street Journal :
Sources: Samsung and SK Hynix are storing, instead of selling, second-hand chipmaking machines over fears of breaking US export controls and sanctions
Financial Times :
An Autopilot trial over a fatal 2018 crash, starting next week, may show Tesla did not study how fast drivers can retake control, testing Tesla's safety claims
Meta sues former VP Dipinder Singh Khurana for allegedly stealing employee pay and performance documents and private contracts before leaving for an AI startup
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg :
Discord plans to launch an Embedded App SDK on March 18 that will let developers build new games and apps that can be “played directly on the platform”
Tom Warren / The Verge :
Cognition AI, which offers a Copilot-like coding assistant that, the startup says, can finish whole projects, raised $21M from Founders Fund, Elad Gil, and more
A new startup called Cognition AI can turn a user's prompt into a website or video game. — A new installment of Silicon Valley's … LinkedIn: Ashlee Vance . Forums: r/programming , r/technology , and...
Empathy, a startup offering an AI-backed service to help users navigate the bereavement process, raised a $47M Series B, sources say at a nearly $400M valuation
Changing How the World Deals with Loss — Loss is a universal human experience. Mastodon: @Kierkegaanks@beige.party : @Techmeme “If you don't get out of the denial phase by next week Rhonda, you will...
TikTok uses a non-disparagement clause in RSU contracts, perhaps to silence staff, an unusual practice; one ex-staffer claims a share buyback offer was withheld
A profile of Ryan Breslow, the founder of Bolt, whose $355M Series E in 2022 set off 18 months of acrimonious lawsuits and a showdown with early backer Activant
Forbes : X: @_iainmartin , @friedmandave , @lukejohnsonrcp , @leomschwartz , @sarahnemerson , @dannygroner , and @alexrkonrad X: Iain Martin / @_iainmartin : Ryan Breslow was dancing barefoot in a ge...
Eclipse Labs, which is developing an Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain using the Solana Virtual Machine, raised a $50M Series A co-led by Placeholder and Hack VC
Shopify: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26
Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control
Picture this: It's Monday morning. You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data
Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.