The Rails
On a quiet Saturday, five stories landed that looked unrelated — an AI super-PAC paying TikTok influencers, retail traders unleashing AI agents on Polymarket, an Iranian crypto exchange exposed as a sanctions conduit, the Trump family token sold privately in "white glove" transactions, and a Ripple exec putting $3.5M behind an AI-regulation congressional race. The shared infrastructure is the story.
Apple has stopped offering a 256GB storage option for the Mac mini globally; Mac mini now starts at 512GB for $799 in the US
Apple this week stopped offering a 256GB storage option for the Mac mini worldwide. As a result, the desktop computer now has a higher starting price.
Servers operated by Ubuntu and its parent company Canonical have been down for more than a day, following a “sustained, cross-border attack”
Servers operated by Ubuntu and its parent company Canonical were knocked offline on Thursday morning and have remained down ever since …
Study: OpenAI's o1 correctly diagnosed 67% of emergency room patients using electronic records and a few sentences from nurses, vs. to 50-55% for triage doctors
Researchers say results mark a ‘profound change in technology that will reshape medicine’ — From George Clooney in ER …
Sources: GameStop is preparing to make an offer for eBay after quietly building a stake; GameStop had a market cap of ~$11B as of May 1, while eBay had ~$45B
Retailer's CEO Ryan Cohen has been eyeing a major deal, in part to clinch a huge payday — GameStop is preparing to make an offer for eBay …
Meta acquires Assured Robot Intelligence, a startup developing AI models for robots; Assured Robot Intelligence's team will join Meta Superintelligence Labs
Meta Platforms Inc. has acquired Assured Robot Intelligence, a startup developing artificial intelligence models for robots …
A bug in popular cPanel, WHM, and WP Squared software has reportedly been exploited since Feb.; CISA it gives a 9.8 CVSS score, tells agencies to patch by May 3
Federal agencies have until May 3 to resolve a security issue impacting a critical system for server and website management.
Experts say supply chain attacks compromised SAP and Intercom npm packages, plus the PyPI package Lightning, in a campaign that calls itself Mini Shai-Hulud
The wave of supply chain attacks aimed at security and developer tools has washed up more victims, namely SAP and Intercom npm packages, plus the lightning PyPI package.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issues new rules saying acting and writing must be performed by humans and not AI to be eligible for Oscars
Academy Awards organizers issued new rules on Friday to clarify that acting and writing must be performed by humans …
Analysis: after Trump's World Liberty raised $550M from investors, tokens worth hundreds of millions in USD were privately sold in “white glove” transactions
The pitch was straightforward: Invest in the cryptocurrency venture of Donald Trump and his family …
Investigation: Nobitex was founded by two brothers from Iran's elite Kharrazi family; the crypto exchange processed hundreds of millions beyond US sanctions
Two brothers from the elite Kharrazi family, using an alternative surname, started up Nobitex in 2018.
A Chinese court ruled that companies cannot terminate staff just to replace them with AI, following a similar ruling by another Chinese court in December 2025
A Chinese court ruled that companies cannot terminate employees just to replace them with artificial intelligence systems …
How influencers boosting US-based AI and opposing Chinese AI are paid with money tied to Leading the Future, funded by execs from OpenAI, Palantir, a16z, others
Build American AI, a nonprofit linked to a super PAC bankrolled by executives at OpenAI and Andreessen Horowitz …
xAI launches Grok 4.3, featuring “always-on reasoning”, 1M token context window, and low API pricing, and releases a voice cloning suite called Custom Voices
While Elon Musk faces off against his former colleague and OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman in court, Musk's rival firm xAI …
Ripple Labs investor and exec Chris Larsen plans to spend $3.5M to help Alex Bores, a NY congressional candidate at the center of a proxy war over AI regulation
Chris Larsen, who hails from California, plans to spend $3.5 million to help Alex Bores, a New York congressional candidate …
Waymo says it is continuing to “refine” its system preventing kids under 18 from riding alone, after adult riders reported new age-verification checks
As adult riders report new age-verification checks, the self-driving car company says it's continuing to “refine” …
Sources: Nigerian mobile payments service OPay is preparing for a US IPO at a $4B valuation with Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, and JPMorgan Chase advising
Opay Digital Services Ltd. is working with Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. as the Nigeria-focused payments platform prepares …
A profile of OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar, who sources say helped keep OpenAI's Microsoft deal on track and has privately suggested waiting until 2027 for an IPO
The chief financial officer is managing Sam Altman—and ambitions for one of the biggest IPOs ever. She has pulled off impossible ones before.
Sources: Anthropic is in early talks to buy AI inference chips from UK-based Fractile when they become available in 2027
As Anthropic's sales explode, straining the servers it uses, the company is considering adding another source of AI server chips in addition to existing suppliers Google, Amazon and Nvidia.
A look at casino-style games, considered gambling in some US states, where player “whales” spend tens of thousands via IAP on Apple, Google, and Meta platforms
“please remove this game from my computer ..thank you,” read the email to a customer service representative for High 5 Casino …
A UK court orders Samsung to pay ZTE $392M for patents needed to enable phone network access; Samsung faces similar suits from ZTE in China, Germany, and Brazil
Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) must pay a $392 million lump sum for a licence to use ZTE's (000063.SZ) patents for mobile phones …
Avoca, whose AI agents let physical services businesses handle inbound calls and dispatch, raised $125M+ across seed, Series A, and Series B at a $1B valuation
Tyson Chen and Apurva Shrivastava were chasing restaurants when they found an HVAC company. — The two engineers had first met …
The DOD strikes deals with AWS, Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle, and Reflection AI to use their AI tools on classified military networks “for lawful operational use”
The FBI warns of rising cyber cargo theft, where attackers hack freight brokers' accounts and dupe carriers; 2025 cargo theft losses in N. America rose 60% YoY
Fun, which builds fiat and crypto payment rails for platforms like Polymarket and Aave, raised a $72M Series A in January, co-led by Multicoin and SignalFire
Sources: Cerebras is seeking to raise as much as $4B in its IPO and is targeting a valuation of about $40B
Cerebras Systems Inc. is seeking to raise as much as $4 billion in its initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter, as demand for the artificial intelligence chipmaker …