SCOTUS upholds a Texas law that requires porn websites to verify that their visitors are 18 or older, rejecting a First Amendment challenge to the law
The Supreme Court has upheld a Texas law that requires porn websites to verify that their visitors are 18 or older.
Apple overhauls EU App Store to comply with DMA: developers can push offers and alt payments, and the Core Technology Fee will be swapped for tiered commission
Apple has announced several major changes to its App Store guidelines in the European Union as part of its ongoing efforts to comply with the Digital Markets Act.
At an all-hands, Andrew Bosworth says Sam Altman is not happy about Meta getting OpenAI talent and is “being dishonest” about Meta offering $100M bonuses
A Meta exec calls Sam Altman “dishonest,” my conversation with the startup CEO who is suing OpenAI, and AI is coming for games.
Google launches Doppl, an experimental AI app to let users virtually try on outfits by generating videos from photos, available on iOS and Android in the US
Google is launching a new experimental app called Doppl that uses AI to visualize how different outfits might look on you, the company announced on Thursday.
Germany's DPC says DeepSeek's app illegally transfers user data to China and asks Apple and Google to block it from their app stores in the country
Germany has taken steps towards blocking Chinese AI startup DeepSeek from the Apple (AAPL.O) and Google (GOOGL.O) app stores due to concerns …
Google fully releases Gemma 3n, an open weights, multimodal AI model that can run on as little as 2GB of memory; the model was previously available as a preview
Google has announced Gemma 3n, the next generation of its open AI models, and it is a significant step up from what we saw before.
Swift, a coding language developed by Apple, is working to add Android support; Android apps are generally coded in Kotlin
Apple usually doesn't give Android the time of day, but that's not stopping the company's Swift coding language from expanding over to Android app development.
Sources: executives in Meta's AI division discussed “de-investing” in Llama and also discussed using models from competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic
Unhappy with his company's artificial intelligence efforts, Meta's C.E.O. is on a spending spree as he reconsiders his strategy …
Q&A with Peter Thiel on economic and technological stagnation, US growth and dynamism, supporting President Trump in 2016, the future and risks of AI, and more
The original tech right power player on A.I., Mars and immortality. — 1.7k … Ross Douthat: Is Silicon Valley recklessly ambitious?
SCOTUS upholds a broadband subsidy program for low-income users, schools, and others, rejecting claims that its funding mechanism is unconstitutional
The Supreme Court rejected claims that the way the Universal Service Fund is implemented is unconstitutional.
Kraken secures a MiCA license from the Central Bank of Ireland to offer crypto services across the EU, following Coinbase's approval in Luxembourg last week
Approval from Ireland's central bank gives Kraken the ability to operate across 27 EU states as it races to catch up to rival Coinbase.
PitchBook: US VC investment in AI startups rose 33% QoQ to $65B in Q1, up 550% from the quarter prior to ChatGPT's 2022 release
Companies like OpenAI, Amazon and Meta have supersized their spending on artificial intelligence, with no signs of slowing down. Bluesky: @beyerstein Bluesky: Lindsay Beyerstein / @beyerstein : The fr...
Google has been banned from selling the Pixel 7 in Japan due to a patent dispute related to 4G connectivity; further bans against the Pixel 8 and 9 are possible
A patent dispute in Japan has led to Google no longer being able to sell select older Pixel devices, and the company behind it is gunning for newer generations too.
Kraken launches Krak, a payments app that lets users send funds P2P across 110 countries using 300+ assets, including crypto, stablecoins, and fiat currencies
I've been overseeing the operational side of this launch, and getting it out the door is a real milestone. …
Alibaba unveils text-to-image and image-to-image generation model Qwen VLo, with progressive generation tech, which shows the image creation process
The Hangzhou-based company introduced Qwen VLo, part of a series of AI services under the company's Qwen brand.
Battery recycler Redwood Materials and Project Stargate member Crusoe launch a 2,000-GPU data center in Nevada powered by repurposed EV batteries
It's the world largest deployment of batteries on their second life and shows the lengths cloud operators are going to find power.
Sources: mass production of Microsoft's next AI chip is delayed to 2026 and is expected to underperform Nvidia's Blackwell chip, released in late 2024
Microsoft has spent years designing its own artificial intelligence chips, in part to reduce its dependence on Nvidia. It isn't going so well.
Dinari, which offers blockchain-based US stocks, secures a broker-dealer registration to become the first tokenized equity platform to secure approval in the US
Dinari, a startup that offers blockchain-based U.S. stocks, has secured a broker-dealer registration for its subsidiary …
European Commission says Meta has proposed limited changes to its pay-or-consent ad model, and Meta faces daily fines if it determines they are not sufficient
Meta Platforms made only limited changes to its pay-or-consent model, and EU regulators cannot confirm compliance with an antitrust order.
Brazil's supreme court rules that platforms like Facebook and X can be held liable for user posts, requiring them to remove content even without a court order
Ruling risks stoking tensions with US amid accusations of censorship of social media groups — Brazil's supreme court has ruled …
Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old DOGE staffer known as “Big Balls” online, has joined the Social Security Administration days after resigning from the GSA
www.wired.com/story/big-ba... X: Sovey / @sovey_x : Edward “Big Balls” Coristine is 19. He just got hired to fix the retirement system. I'm 28 and don't know how to unsubscribe from Sephora emails. [i...
Microsoft plans to replace the Blue Screen of Death in Windows 11 with a simplified black screen “providing better information” in an update “later this summer”
will be replaced by new black Windows 11 ‘unexpected restart screen’ Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch : Windows killed the Blue Screen of Death Reece Bithrey / The Shortcut : Windows ‘Blue Screen of Dea...
At a “couples retreat” for human-AI pairs, users of services like Replika and Nomi grapple with the virtual reality and emotional limits of their partners
I found people in serious relationships with AI partners and planned a weekend getaway for them at a remote Airbnb. We barely survived. Bluesky: @wired.com , @manishakrishnan , @rusty.todayintabs.com...
Sources: Trump is planning EOs on July 23 to help US AI growth, including easing grid access for new power projects and offering federal land for data centers
The Trump administration is readying a package of executive actions aimed at boosting energy supply to power the U.S. expansion …
Elon Musk says X will charge for ads “based on vertical size”, with an ad taking up the whole screen costing more than one that takes up a quarter of the screen
Matt Swider / The Shortcut :
Sources: Senate Parliamentarian raised concerns that the tax bill's ban on states from enforcing AI regulations may violate Senate rules, advising a rewrite
Bloomberg :
Sources: Uber is in talks with Travis Kalanick to help fund his acquisition of Pony.ai's US arm; Pony.ai has permits to operate robo taxis in the US and China
and Uber might help Natalie Lung / Bloomberg : Uber in Talks With Kalanick to Fund Pony.AI Bid, NYT Says Mike Isaac / The Straits Times : Uber in talks with founder to help buy US unit of China's self...
Marc Benioff says “AI is doing 30% to 50% of the work at Salesforce”, like software engineering and customer service, and its AI product has hit ~93% accuracy
This ratio sounds hard to fathom but if true I expect shareholders will push to see increased business results or layoffs as they have 30%-50% more employees than they need. Brutus / @itsillegaltobeme...
Internal emails: ICE is using Mobile Fortify, an app that uses facial recognition and fingerprint scanning via phone cameras to identify people in the field
www.404media.co/ice-is-using... [image] Ryan Teague Beckwith / @ryanbeckwith : The men wearing masks as they shove people in unmarked vans with swapped license plates are using a facial recognition a...
New Zealand-based Halter, which provides smart collars and geofencing software for the dairy industry, raised a $100M Series D led by Bond at a $1B valuation
Kritika Lamba / Reuters :
A look at The Browser Company's AI-first browser Dia, which merges AI models and hides that complexity for end users, pointing to the future of web browsing
Here Are 3 Smart Reasons You Should, Too Vyom Ramani / Digit : Dia the AI-powered browser: How does it stack against Chrome and ChatGPT Davey Winder / Forbes : Microsoft Confirms Google Chrome Block A...
Sources: Instagram and TikTok are working on versions of their apps customized to run on TV screens, following YouTube's success in attracting a TV audience
people engage, they post, they engage more, they buy, etc. Scraps of attention being fought over get smaller and smaller. Dev Sethi / @devssethi : brought this idea up while at IG in 2018. Was told by...
Sources: Meta is in advanced talks to buy PlayAI, which uses AI to replicate voices for interfaces that are as “responsive as a conversation between two people”
Bloomberg :
Sources: Shein plans to file confidentially for a Hong Kong IPO; filing confidentially remains relatively rare in Hong Kong
Anthropic releases preliminary results showing users who discuss emotional issues with Claude tend to grow more positive as conversations progress
a small % of conversations might be companionship, but that doesn't mean that a higher percentage are using it for this reason. plus I don't think Anthropic's Claude is the AI of choice for companions...
Sources: UK mobile bank Starling is looking to buy a nationally chartered bank with ~$2B of assets in the US as it seeks to expand in the country
they're acquiring infrastructure. A U.S. bank charter = regulatory passport + trust upgrade.
OpenAI hires the team behind Crossing Minds, which raised $13.5M and works with e-commerce companies to improve their personalization and recommendation systems
Crossing Minds, a startup that provides AI recommendation systems to e-commerce businesses, said on Thursday that its team is joining OpenAI.
Palantir signs a deal with The Nuclear Company under which the startup will pay Palantir $100M over five years to develop AI software for the nuclear industry
Miquela Thornton / Bloomberg :
YouTube launches an AI Overviews-like carousel for searches related to shopping, places, and things to do in a specific place, for Premium users in the US
this Google AI Overviews clone might finally sell me on the $14/month Premium subscription Ryan Whitwam / Ars Technica : Google begins rolling out AI search in YouTube Isaiah Richard / Tech Times : Yo...
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