Bluesky is booming partly because it isn't hindered by bad adtech, AI slop, throttled links, and largely hostile user experiences, unlike some of its big rivals — No bad adtech, no AI, no throttling links. Bluesky is a booming because it's…
Memo: Amazon employees have found there is too much of a delay between asking a question to the new AI-based Alexa and getting a response or completing a task — Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. — Amazon's race to create an AI-based successor to its…
Sources: Apple has raised its offer to invest in Indonesia from about $10M to almost $100M, in a bid to persuade the government to lift its iPhone 16 sales ban — - Company increases investment proposal tenfold, sources say — Indonesia…
The US Library of Congress says hackers accessed some email communications between congressional offices and library staff between January and September 2024 — The Library of Congress didn't specify who was behind the hack. — The Library…
Internal document: Amazon has held talks with several partners for handling specific tasks on the AI-powered Alexa, including Uber, Ticketmaster, and Instacart — - Amazon discussed partnerships with other companies for an AI-powered Alexa…
Amazon and SpaceX argued the NLRB, which recently found issues at the companies, is unconstitutional; 5th Circuit judges questioned the timeline of the charges — A panel of U.S. judges on Monday seemed likely to rule that Amazon.com (AMZN…
Perplexity debuts a shopping feature offering product recommendations, one-click checkout, and more for Pro users in the US, alongside a merchant program — AI-powered search engine Perplexity is venturing into e-commerce. On Monday, the…
Sources: DOJ antitrust officials plan to ask a judge to force Google to sell Chrome, license Search data, uncouple Android from Search and Google Play, and more — - Antitrust officials also to seek data licensing, AI measures — Google says…
Xiaomi, the second largest smartphone vendor in India, plans to replace its app store there with one from PhonePe in January, amid ongoing geopolitical tensions — Xiaomi will replace its app store with fintech PhonePe's offering for…
Sources: Trump Media is nearing an all-share purchase of Intercontinental Exchange's crypto trading platform Bakkt; DJT closed up 16.65%, BKKT up 162.46% — Truth Social owner is close to an all-share takeover of Intercontinental Exchange's…
A look at emails between Musk and Altman from the early days of OpenAI, discussing its partnership with Microsoft, fundraising, employee compensation, AGI, more — Emails in Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI expose the startup's rocky origins.…
Trump's new FCC nominee promises to bring Project 2025-style governance to media — In September, I went through all the proposals from Project 2025 — the Heritage Foundation's policy blueprint for a second Trump term — that would have a…
Goldman Sachs says it is reaching out to potential partners about plans to spin out its digital-assets platform within 12 to 18 months — - The bank is looking to create separate industry-owned company — Tech allows firms to issue and…
India fines Meta ~$25M and imposes new data rules, over antitrust issues from 2021 when it removed a way to opt out of sharing WhatsApp data with Meta companies — India's competition watchdog has ordered WhatsApp to stop sharing user data…
News influencers survey: 20% of US adults say they get news from social media influencers, 85% of influencers are on X and 27% identify as right-wing, and more — The creators and consumers in the world of news and information on social…
MicroStrategy bought ~51,780 bitcoin for ~$4.6B between November 11 and November 17, its largest purchase since starting in 2020, and now holds $29B+ in bitcoin — - Firm announced a $21 billion equity sale plan last month — Sold 13.6…
PitchBook: in 2023, US VCs returned $26B worth of shares back to investors, the lowest amount since 2011, and invested $60B more than they collected, a record — Investors hope the Trump administration will make tech acquisition deals…
Tim Berners-Lee's Inrupt trials its digital wallet in Belgium to let 7M citizens receive social services and share data with businesses, as he worries about AI — The inventor of the World Wide Web is on a laudable mission to give everyone…
How Substack is betting on politics content and recruiting stars like Nate Silver, as profits remain elusive; sources: Elon Musk sought to buy it in April 2023 — The newsletter start-up, which once drew an overture from Elon Musk, is…
Xiaomi reports Q3 revenue up 31% YoY to ~$12.8B, above ~$12.4B est., and a ~$738.5M net income, above ~$653M est., and expects smartphone and EV growth in 2025 — - Xiaomi again raises delivery target for SU7 sedan for 2024 — Handset…
Sources and ads: Foxconn tells recruiters that help hire iPhone assembly workers in India to remove age, gender, and marital criteria and its name from job ads — Apple supplier Foxconn has ordered the hiring agents that help recruit iPhone…
Samsung unveils a ~$7.2B share buyback plan, its first since 2017, aimed at boosting its stock, which is down 30%+ in 2024 amid concerns over Chair Lee Jae-yong — First repurchases in seven years are aimed at boosting stock and may help…
Q&A with The Verge EIC Nilay Patel on a likely FCC Chair Brendan Carr, Elon Musk's alliance with Donald Trump and how it threatens the First Amendment, and more — “All of these men are now hopelessly trapped in a problem their own…
How Wall Street is preparing to cash in on AI hysteria; analysis: delivering on AI's promise will require $1T+ for data centers, electricity, and comms networks — Finance's biggest names are ready to gatecrash the artificial-intelligence…
Chinese smartphone makers are ramping up efforts in Europe to grab market share from Apple and Samsung with foldables, advanced cameras, and superfast chargers — Realme, Oppo and Honor are looking to challenge Samsung and Apple on the…
Edison: 31% of US weekly podcast listeners aged 13 and up say they use YouTube the most to listen to podcasts, passing Spotify at 27% and Apple Podcasts at 15% — One of the most powerful companies in entertainment has become the king of…
Trump names FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr as FCC chair; Carr floated limiting Section 230 and says the FCC has “an important role to play reining in Big Tech” — - Senior Republican on panel seeks to rein in tech, backs Musk — Carr wrote a…
Sources detail efforts by Alphabet and Meta to sink KOSA, which passed in the Senate almost unanimously, by dividing US House lawmakers using culture war issues — Tech giants and their allies lean on culture-war issues to splinter…
Sources: Trump's transition team is looking for candidates to lead the US Department of Transportation and develop a framework to regulate autonomous vehicles — - Policy leaders are being pursued for key Musk priority — Tesla CEO, named to…
An interview with Juan Carlos Reyes, who heads El Salvador's digital asset regulator CNAD, which employs 35, on the agency's crypto regulation approach and more — The National Commission of Digital Assets is the agency in charge of…