The Hard Reset
Digg shut down for the third time in its 22-year history. Each death diagnosed a different disease. The first was platform hubris. The second was irrelevance. The third is the one that should worry everyone else.
Meta says Instagram will no longer support end-to-end encrypted messages starting May 8, saying “very few people” were using E2EE in their DMs
Can you imagine a world where WhatsApp stops offering end-to-end encryption (E2EE)? That's not happening, but a different Meta-owned company …
Sources: Elon Musk pushed out two more xAI co-founders after getting frustrated with xAI's coding product progress and brought in “fixers” from SpaceX and Tesla
Tesla and SpaceX managers sent in to review work as billionaire's start-up struggles to keep pace with rivals
Sources: Travis Kalanick prepares to launch a self-driving car company with backing from Uber and has been discussing acquiring Anthony Levandowski's Pronto.ai
Former Uber CEO and cofounder Travis Kalanick is preparing to launch a new self-driving car company with major backing …
Sources: the Trump administration is set to receive a ~$10B fee from investors in TikTok's US business for the government's role in brokering the TikTok US deal
Investors in social-media platform's U.S. business, including Oracle and Silver Lake, agreed to give the government several multibillion-dollar payments, sources say
AWS plans to deploy Cerebras' Wafer-Scale Engine chip for AI inference functions; AWS will still offer slower, cheaper computing using its Trainium processors
Amazon Web Services says the partnership will allow it to offer lightning-fast inference computing
Travis Kalanick renames CloudKitchens' parent company as Atoms, focused on creating “gainfully employed robots” for the food, mining, and transport industries
Uber Technologies Inc. co-founder Travis Kalanick has launched a new venture that will focus on creating …
Amazon Prime Video plans to raise the price of its ad-free plan, Ultra, to $4.99 per month, and add support for up to five simultaneous streams, from April 10
The revamped Prime Video ‘Ultra’ tier will now cost $4.99 per month and come with ‘exclusive’ access to 4K/UHD streams.
Adobe will pay a $75M fine and provide $75M in free services to users to resolve a US government lawsuit accusing it of concealing termination fees, and more
Adobe (ADBE.O) said on Friday it will pay $75 million to resolve a U.S. government lawsuit accusing the Photoshop and Acrobat maker …
Claude Opus 4.6 and Sonnet 4.6 now offer a 1M context window at standard pricing; it is the default for Claude Code Max, Team, and Enterprise users on Opus 4.6
Standard pricing now applies across the full 1M window for both models, with no long-context premium. Media limits expand to 600 images or PDF pages.
MacBook Neo teardown: most repairable MacBook in ~14 years, with no parts pairing issues, a screwed-down battery, and relatively easy keyboard replacement
Is Apple's most affordable laptop ever also one of its most repairable? For years, opening a MacBook has usually meant fighting your way through glue and buried parts.
Alex Karp says AI disrupts the economic power of “humanities-trained, largely Democratic voters” and strengthens that of “working-class, often male voters”
In a new interview, Palantir CEO Alex Karp predicted who will be hit hardest by shifts in technology ... and it wasn't the typical MAGA base.
Peacock adds a new feature to its app that uses AI to curate personalized vertical video playlists, narrated by a generative AI avatar of host Andy Cohen
Peacock is making a clear bet on two things: AI and mobile-first entertainment. — Based on what the streamer previewed at a press event yesterday …
Didi reports Q4 revenue up 10.5% YoY to $8.46B, international revenue up 47% YoY to $638M, and a net loss of $43.48M amid an overseas expansion push
Didi Global reported on Friday a net loss for the fourth quarter, as China's largest ride-hailing platform ramped up its international expansion, boosting costs.
Amazon wins its appeal against a €746M GDPR fine imposed by Luxembourg's privacy watchdog after a court finds the watchdog had not properly done its analysis
Amazon (AMZN.O) on Friday won its appeal against a record 746-million-euro ($854.4 million) fine imposed by Luxembourg's privacy regulator …
Uber is relaunching a robotaxi service with Hyundai-backed Motional in Las Vegas; the service will have a safety driver behind the wheel until the end of 2026
Uber Technologies Inc. is relaunching a robotaxi service with the Hyundai Motor Co.-backed company Motional in Las Vegas …
Digg announces a “hard reset” and shuts down operations two months after it was relaunched by Kevin Rose and Alexis Ohanian, citing the scale of AI bot spam
Digg's Reddit-like relaunch failed fast, but its CEO is already planning another comeback.Forums:Hacker NewsandSlashdotForums:Hacker News:Digg is gone againBeauHD /Slashdot:Digg Relaunch Fails
Adobe says CEO Shantanu Narayen will step down after it names his successor; Narayen became CEO in 2007 and will stay on as chair of the board; ADBE drops 6%+
Adobe said CEO Shantanu Narayen will step down after a successor has been appointed, and he will remain as the design software company's chair.
Facebook launches new tools to help creators detect and report impersonation, and updates guidelines to better define what it considers to be “original content”
After numerous accusations claiming that Facebook has turned into an “AI slop hellscape,” Meta on Friday announced …
xAI hires senior Cursor leaders Andrew Milich and Jason Ginsberg; Elon Musk said he expects xAI to “catch up and exceed our competitors” in coding by mid-2026
Elon Musk's xAI is hiring two senior Cursor leaders as part of an effort to catch up with AI rivals in coding …
Sources: Mirendil, founded by former Anthropic researchers to develop AI models for scientific research, is in talks to raise $175M at a $1B valuation
Former Anthropic researchers are in talks to raise $175 million at a $1 billion valuation for a new startup that aims to conduct AI-driven research …
Sources: Meta delayed the launch of its Avocado model to at least May over performance concerns and discussed temporarily licensing Gemini to power its products
The tech giant pushed back the timeline after spending billions to be on the cutting edge of artificial intelligence.
Developers on AI coding: many are enthusiastic and now feel more like architects than construction workers, some say software jobs openings may grow, and more
Lately, Manu Ebert has been trying to keep his A.I. from humiliating him. — I recently visited Ebert, a machine-learning engineer …
Banking, manufacturing, and other EU businesses warn “tech sovereignty” could hit profits and competitiveness as Brussels aims to cut reliance on US tech giants
Companies argue that ‘tech sovereignty’ drive could hit profits and undermine continent's competitiveness
STMicro says it will retrain workers and deploy humanoid robots in its older chip plants for repetitive and physically demanding tasks, aiming to avoid closures
STMicroelectronics (STMPA.PA) unveiled plans on Thursday to retrain workers and deploy robots in its older chip manufacturing plants …
Sources: HSBC and Standard Chartered are set to be among the first licensed stablecoin issuers in Hong Kong, as the city pushes to become a crypto hub
HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc are set to be among the first licensed stablecoin issuers in Hong Kong …
China approves the market launch of an invasive BCI system that helps restore hand movement, the world's first approval of such a device for commercial use
China's drug regulator said on Friday that it has given the nod for a brain-computer interface (BCI) system that helps restore hand-movement ability …
Docs: Binance investigators found accounts, including of a VIP Chinese trader and a suspected Iranian gold smuggler, that helped move $1B to Iran-linked groups
In early 2025, an embattled Iranian regime was turning increasingly to crypto in order to thwart sanctions choking its economy.
Source: the perpetrators of the wiper attack on Stryker appear to have used Microsoft Intune to issue a “remote wipe” command against all connected devices
A hacktivist group with links to Iran's intelligence agencies is claiming responsibility for a data-wiping attack against Stryker …
Sources: ByteDance is working with Aolani Cloud to deploy ~500 Nvidia Blackwell systems in Malaysia, totaling ~36,000 B200 chips; the hardware could cost $2.5B+
TikTok parent, pushing global expansion, plans to tap Blackwell processors that are barred for export to China
The European Commission says “X has submitted remedies in relation to its blue check mark” in the EU and the commission will now “assess the proposed remedies”
Elon Musk's X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, has agreed to change its verification mechanism …
A survey of US adults: 75% say they have heard a lot or a little about data centers; 39% say they are bad for the environment, and 38% bad for home energy costs
A broad majority of Americans have heard about data centers - the often-sprawling computing facilities that are popping up nationwide.
A US appeals court voids much of a March 2025 injunction blocking California's online child safety law, while keeping some of the law's provisions blocked
A federal appeals court on Thursday threw out much of an injunction that had blocked California from enforcing a state law meant …
Apple is lowering its commission for its App Store in mainland China from 30% to 25%, starting on March 15, “following discussions with the Chinese regulator”
Apple Inc. is lowering the fees it collects from app developers for software and in-app purchases in China …
Gumloop, which helps companies deploy reliable AI agents that handle complex, multi-step tasks, raised a $50M Series B led by Benchmark
Telus Digital confirms a security incident after ShinyHunters claimed to have stolen nearly 1PB of data from the Canadian BPO giant in a multimonth breach
Canadian business process outsourcing giant Telus Digital has confirmed it suffered a security incident after threat actors claimed …
PayPay shares jump 19% in their Nasdaq debut after the company's $879.8M US IPO, the biggest listing by a Japanese company on a US stock exchange in a decade
Swarm Aero, which is developing large swarming drones capable of carrying missiles and cargo, raised a $35M Series A, following a $22M seed in 2023
Adobe reports Q1 revenue up 12% YoY to $6.4B, vs. $6.28B est., adjusted EPS above estimates, and forecasts Q2 revenue between $6.43B and $6.48B, vs. $6.43B est.
as pressure on the company mounts to deliver on AIDigiTimes:Adobe reports strong earnings as CEO announces planned departure
Paris-based Waiv, which uses AI to enable more precise testing of cancer, raised $33M after spinning out of AI diagnostics and drug discovery platform Owkin
DOD CTO Emil Michael says Anthropic's Claude models would “pollute” the DOD's supply chain because they have “a different policy preference” that is baked in
Defense Department CTO Emil Michael on Thursday said Anthropic's Claude artificial intelligence models would …
Tinder unveils updates meant to reinvigorate its product, bolster safety, and harness AI, including an Events tab and a virtual speed dating test in Los Angeles
Tinder held its inaugural product keynote on Thursday, unveiling an ambitious slate of updates designed to reinvigorate its product, bolster safety, and harness AI.
Sources: Qualified Health, which helps health care organizations assess and orchestrate AI tools, is raising a ~$100M Series A from NEA, SignalFire, and others
Qualified Health, a health care AI evaluation and implementation startup, is raising around $100 million in Series A funds …
Sunday, which is building autonomous home robots, raised a $165M Series B led by Coatue at a valuation of $1.15B, and aims to begin testing in homes this year
Sunday Inc. has raised $165 million to build a dream robot for any household: a friendly looking machine capable of performing tasks …
Sources: Meta has paused the Persian Gulf section of its 2Africa subsea cable project as the war in the Middle East freezes activity in the region
Sources: Amazon plans to move its Prime Day sale from July to late June; the shift affects its financial reporting, with event sales coming in Q2 rather than Q3
Amazon.com Inc. is moving up its annual Prime Day sale to June from July, according to people familiar with the matter …
Allen Institute for AI CEO Ali Farhadi steps down after two and a half years to pursue research ambitions; founding member Peter Clark will serve as interim CEO
Ali Farhadi is stepping down as the CEO of the Allen Institute for AI (Ai2), after a two-and-a-half-year tenure …
Social media addiction trial: the plaintiff, Meta, and YouTube make their closing arguments; jurors begin deliberations on the liability for harms to children
After about a month of hearing from addiction experts, therapists, platform engineers and executives, including Mark Zuckerberg …
Sources: UK-based cloud provider Nscale is in talks to buy a major data center site in West Virginia; Amazon and Meta have also expressed interest in the site
Nscale, an upstart cloud provider heavily backed by Nvidia whose customers include OpenAI and Microsoft, is in talks to take control …
Sources: Greenoaks founder Neil Mehta is pitching an endowment-type fund to Silicon Valley billionaires to influence CA politics, aiming to raise $100M to $500M
A US DOJ-led international law enforcement operation disrupted SocksEscort, a residential proxy network used to exploit residential routers worldwide
International cops stuck down 23 servers in 7 countries — Cops from eight countries this week disrupted SocksEscort …
BackOps, which makes automation tools for supply chain operations, raised a $26M Series A led by Theory Ventures
Amazon announces new personality styles for Alexa+, including an adult-only “Sassy” option, which it says won't get into areas like explicit sexual content
Anthropic says Claude can now generate custom charts, diagrams, and other visualizations directly in a conversation, turned on by default for all users in beta
Claude will automatically generate interactive visuals based on your conversation, or you can ask it directly, too.
Microsoft says EVP of Experiences and Devices, Rajesh Jha, plans to retire on July 1 after 35+ years at Microsoft and promotes four of his direct reports to EVP
European video game age ratings body PEGI plans to add four new categories in June to tackle elements of addictive design in games, including loot boxes
Loot boxes and in-game purchases targeted. — Follow EA Sports FC 27 — Video game age-ratings are about to change in Europe.
Ukraine's defense minister says Ukraine is opening up access to its battlefield data for its allies to train AI models
Qdrant, which develops an open-source vector search engine for production AI systems, raised a $50M Series B led by AVP
Microsoft launches Copilot Health, which integrates medical records, biometric data from wearables, and lab test results to give personalized advice, in the US
Bumble jumps 30%+ after reporting Q4 revenue above estimates and unveils an AI-driven app overhaul to lure back users; BMBL is down 90% since its 2021 IPO
Google launches Ask Maps, a Gemini-powered conversational Google Maps feature that lets users ask “complex, real-world questions”, available in the US and India
'Where's the closest public bathroom that's not completely disgusting' is going to get asked a lot in my household.
Disney+ is rolling out Verts, its new short-form video feed, to US users on its mobile app, featuring clips from movies and TV shows on Disney+
Oro Labs, which uses AI to streamline corporate procurement, raised a $100M Series C led by Goldman Sachs Growth Equity and Brighton Park Capital
Stockholm-based AI coding startup Lovable reaches $400M in ARR, up from $300M in January; rival Cursor hit $2B in annualized revenue in February, per a source
Michael Dell says “I don't think a company can dictate to a sovereign government what it does with its tools”, answering a question about the Anthropic-DOD feud
Maggie Eastland /Bloomberg:
Elon Musk says xAI “was not built right first time around, so is being rebuilt from the foundations up”
Elon Musk admitted today that xAI, his artificial intelligence venture, “was not built right first time around” and “is being rebuilt from the foundations up.”