Small-business owners and activists who rely on TikTok say the US House measure forcing a sale or ban would damage their livelihoods and harm their communities
Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post :
After the House vote, Chinese officials say the US has shown “robber's logic” toward TikTok, and Washington must “stop unfairly suppressing foreign companies”
TIKTOK IS LESS OF A DANGER TO THE USA THAN META (FACEBOOK!), WHICH IS A TRUE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE. Jessica Kwong / Metro.co.uk : Trump's ex-treasury secretary is trying to buy TikTok amid ban threat Mo...
The FCC raises its broadband speed benchmark to 100Mbps for downloads and 20Mbps for uploads, from the previous standard of 25Mbps and 3Mbps set in January 2015
Standard of 100Mbps down and 20Mbps up replaces old 25Mbps/3Mbps benchmark. — The Federal Communications Commission today voted …
Lawyers warn that the bill banning TikTok unless it's sold gives POTUS unchecked power to ban any app or site the President deems a “national security threat”
Maxwell Zeff / Gizmodo :
El Salvador moved 5,689.68 BTC, “a big chunk” or ~$400M worth, into a cold wallet this week; public trackers had estimated El Salvador had less than 3,000 BTC
The Central American nation moved $400 million in BTC into a cold storage wallet this week.
Walmart starts selling Macs directly for the first time, partnering with Apple to sell the M1 MacBook Air for $699 a week after Apple stopped selling the laptop
Walmart is teaming up with Apple to sell the Mac for the first time. In a press release today, the company said that it is now selling …
Apple reaches a $490M settlement to resolve a class-action lawsuit that alleged Tim Cook defrauded shareholders in 2019 by hiding falling iPhone demand in China
Apple (AAPL.O) has reached a $490 million settlement to resolve a class-action lawsuit that alleged Chief Executive Tim Cook …
Researchers detail how a side channel can be used to read encrypted responses from AI assistants, except Google's Gemini; OpenAI and Cloudflare made mitigations
All non-Google chat GPTs affected by side channel that leaks responses sent to users. — AI assistants have been widely available …
An investigation into Onerep.com, which helps people remove their personal data from people-search sites, suggests its CEO founded dozens of people-search sites
The data privacy company Onerep.com bills itself as a Virginia-based service for helping people remove their personal information from almost 200 people-search websites. Mastodon: @ben@werd.social , @...
Sources: Apple acquired DarwinAI, which makes tech for inspecting components during manufacturing and focuses on making AI systems smaller and faster
- Canada's DarwinAI was quietly acquired earlier this year — The iPhone maker has promised a big AI announcement in 2024
Sources: TikTok's US revenue hit a record $16B in 2023 while ByteDance saw revenue grow ~40% YoY to $120B in 2023 and recorded a $28B net profit
Parent company ByteDance on track to become world's biggest social media group with $120bn in global sales — TikTok has hit $16bn in sales in the US …
Binance CEO Richard Teng, who has been in the role for only four months, quietly spun out Binance Labs, the company's $10B venture capital arm, earlier in 2024
- Investment arm is now independent from the trading platform — Industry is monitoring for changes at Binance under CEO Teng
At the UN, the US pushes for global AI regulations, with a draft resolution calling for “effective safeguards”; the push contrasts with a lack of US regulations
aimed at ensuring world has access United States Mission to the United Nations : Joint Statement on the Proposed UNGA Resolution on Seizing the Opportunities of Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy AI System...
Vodafone sells its Italian business to Switzerland's Swisscom for €8B in cash and plans a ~€4B stock buyback; Swisscom will merge Vodafone Italia with Fastweb
- Vodafone also announced plans for a €4 billion share buyback — Sale to Swisscom will create a new market dynamic in Italy
Sources: the US plans to award over $6B to Samsung to help the company expand beyond its $17B chip fab in Taylor, Texas, under the 2022 Chips and Science Act
Why Are Deepfakes Everywhere? Can They Be Stopped? — QuickTake — What Is Bitcoin ‘Halving’ and Does It Push Up the Cryptocurrency's Price?
How Amazon refund fraud gangs, which promote their schemes on Reddit, TikTok, and Telegram, are exploiting lenient refund policies at the company
- Refund fraud groups, organized like businesses, are exploiting lenient refund policies, robbing retailers of billions of dollars, experts told CNBC.
Spotify emails the European Commission to say Apple is holding up an iPhone app update that adds pricing information and links to its subscription options
holding up app updates as a result. https://www.theverge.com/... Forums: r/apple : Spotify says its iPhone app updates in the EU are getting held up by Apple MacRumors Forums : Spotify Complains That ...
Pornhub blocks access to users in Texas, after a federal appeals court upheld a Texas law last week requiring porn sites to institute age-verification measures
Todd Spangler / Variety :
Google schedules I/O 2024 for May 14, where details on Android 15 and Android XR, AI announcements, and more are expected; the date was hidden behind a puzzle
here's what to expect Nadeem Sarwar / SlashGear : Google I/O 2024 Event Date Revealed Following ‘Break The Loop’ Puzzle Ian Carlos Campbell / Pocket-lint : Google I/O 2024 will kick off May 14. Here's...
The Competition Commission of India orders an antitrust investigation into Google for charging app developers an “unfair” Play Store service fee of 10% to 30%
India's antitrust regulator has ordered an investigation into Alphabet's Google, alleging the U.S. tech giant abused …
Sources: X declined requests by the UK's Labour party to take down a deepfake audio clip of leader Keir Starmer, raising concerns ahead of the general election
- Firm rebuffed Labour's request to take down clip, people say — Opposition party is training candidates on disinformation risk
How Facebook Marketplace keeps Gen Z thrift-shoppers coming back to Facebook, which they see not as a place to socialize but as a place to score some deals
For a generation that loves thrift-shopping, Facebook isn't a place to socialize online — it's the best place to score some deals. X: @lindzeeelee , @melissalrohman , and @tylergreenleaf X: @lindzeeel...
Damage to the West Africa Cable System, MainOne, and ACE sea cables disrupts internet services across Africa; the cause of the faults has not been determined
In an open letter to Nick Clegg, 36 MEPs urge Meta to scrap its “pay or okay” choice for EU users and to “align your business with the principles of the GDPR”
Meta is facing a call from lawmakers in the European Union to scrap its controversial “consent or pay” tactic on Facebook and Instagram. Mastodon: @ppb1701@ppb.social Mastodon: Patrick / @ppb1701@ppb....
Google adds real-time URL protection to Chrome's Safe Browsing Standard on desktop and iOS, claiming to guard users' privacy; Android will get the feature soon
X removes a graphic video shared by Elon Musk purporting to show cannibalism in Haiti, for violating its rules; there's no evidence the video was shot in Haiti
Taiwan is building its own satellite internet network, as China's threats, Ukraine war, and Elon Musk's total control over Starlink make Taiwan's leaders wary
New York Times :
Intel launches the $689 Core i9-14900KS Special Edition processor, with clock speeds up to 6.2GHz on two cores to become the company's fastest mainstream chip
A deep dive into Reddit's history and the power of its 60K+ unpaid moderators, based on interviews with 60+ current and former mods, employees, and contractors
mods and Reddit employees, current and former—to document the company's very bumpy history in unprecedented detail. By @peard33 @RobertHPeck https://www.wired.com/... Paresh Dave / @peard33 : Seven mo...
Bethesda, Maryland-based HiLabs, whose AI-powered tools provide clean data for health care organizations, raised a $39M Series B led by Eight Roads and Denali
The Economic Times :
Microsoft launches Copilot Pro worldwide with a one-month free trial; Pro subscribers can use the AI assistant in Office web apps without a Microsoft 365 sub
across life and work Chris Yanasak / Microsoft 365 Developer Blog : Action required: ensure your Microsoft Teams apps are ready for upcoming domain changes TechRadar : Microsoft just gave Copilot Pro ...
Adobe reports Q1 revenue up 11% YoY to $5.18B, vs. $5.14B est., Digital Media revenue up 12% YoY to $3.82B, and Q2 revenue guidance below est.; ADBE drops 10%+
Jordan Novet / CNBC :
Zephyr AI, which uses AI to generate insights into improving patient care and research in oncology and cardiometabolic diseases, raised a $111M Series A
We're pleased to announce the close of our oversubscribed #SeriesA fundraising round, propelling us forward in our mission to democratize precision medicine. …
Reddit launches free-form ads, an ad format that looks similar to posts made by users, but with a “Promoted” label, to help advertisers get maximum engagement
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch :
The EU opens a DSA investigation into Alibaba's AliExpress over illegal content concerns, ad and product recommendations, and more, the third DSA investigation
This time it's Alibaba due to counterfeit goods. Both TikTok and X are also currently under investigation for not protecting minors and disinformation related to the Isreal-Hamas War respectively. … ...
Sources: China quietly asked EV makers like BYD and Geely to sharply increase their purchases from local auto chipmakers, to reduce reliance on Western imports
Bloomberg : X: @joshuaogundu and @mackhawk X: Josh / @joshuaogundu : Isolationism is in, globalization is out Mackenzie Hawkins / @mackhawk : SCOOP: The Chinese government has quietly asked EV makers...
Snapchat is testing Infinite Retention Mode, which lets users save DMs indefinitely, bringing it closer to a pure-play messaging app like iMessage or WhatsApp
US cybersecurity company Zscaler acquires Israel-based cybersecurity startup Avalor for $350M; Avalor was founded in 2022 and has raised just $30M to date
Oil companies are increasingly using AI and remote operations to drill faster, suggest better ways to frack, and predict when active well pumps will fail
David Wethe / Bloomberg :
WarpStream, which is building a cloud-native data streaming service based on the Apache Kafka protocol, raised $20M led by Greylock and Amplify
Ron Miller / TechCrunch :
Sources: Binance tightened the requirements for listing new tokens, including extending partial coin supply lockups from up to six months to at least a year
Bloomberg :
Netherlands-based TheyDo, which helps companies map customer journeys, raised a $34M Series B led by Blossom Capital, bringing its total funding to about $50M
Kimberly Chin / Axios :
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.