MSI Net, Inc. & mCloudServ

A profile of Alibaba’s next Chairman Joseph Tsai, a longterm Jack Ma ally who has become a prominent blockchain investor since co-founding the ecommerce company (Jesse Levine/Bloomberg)

Jesse Levine / Bloomberg: A profile of Alibaba’s next Chairman Joseph Tsai, a longterm Jack Ma ally who has become a prominent blockchain investor since co-founding the ecommerce company — Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is bringing back Joseph Tsai, who has become a prominent blockchain proponent and owner …

How To Land A Model Rocket Vertically

Perhaps most readers will remember when they saw the first SpaceX demonstration of a rocket stage landing vertically on the pad under control. It’s something of a shock to be reminded that their first suborbital demonstration “hops” were around a decade ago, and how quickly what was once so special has become commonplace. We’re now

A Nothing smartwatch could be in the works

Credit: Oliver Cragg / Android Authority Trademark and certification listings have been spotted for a new Nothing product in the smartwatch space. Nothing CEO Carl Pei had expressed interest in “learning about the category” earlier in the year. Nothing has been making a splash in the consumer tech space, thanks to its unique “transparent” spin

A look at the recent debates in the AI industry over existential risks, as what were once considered extreme views have now become mainstream talking points (Will Douglas Heaven/MIT Technology Review)

Will Douglas Heaven / MIT Technology Review: A look at the recent debates in the AI industry over existential risks, as what were once considered extreme views have now become mainstream talking points — “Ghost stories are contagious.” — Who’s afraid of the big bad bots? A lot of people, it seems.

Amazon plans to hold Prime Day on July 11 and July 12 and introduce an invite-only Prime Days deals program; an Indian version will be held “later this summer” (Todd Bishop/GeekWire)

Todd Bishop / GeekWire: Amazon plans to hold Prime Day on July 11 and July 12 and introduce an invite-only Prime Days deals program; an Indian version will be held “later this summer” — In-depth Amazon coverage from the tech giant’s hometown, including e-commerce, AWS, Amazon Prime, Alexa, logistics, devices, and more.

Chromebook X leaks: Google’s new badge of excellence for laptops

Credit: Kris Carlon / Android Authority Google is reportedly working on a Chromebook X initiative. Chromebooks that meet Google’s requirements will receive special branding and features. It’s believed the first models as part of this program could launch before the end of the year. Google has made an effort over the years to tout higher-end

Bundling with the Bun.js bundler

Bun.js is an exciting new project in the JavaScript ecosystem that offers a comprehensive runtime and toolchain. I’ve previously written a general introduction to the project as a drop-in replacement for Node.js. This article focuses on Bun’s new bundling feature. While it’s still in early releases, the Bun bundler is quite capable and flaunts Bun’s speed. It

3 great Git alternatives: Fossil, Mercurial, and Subversion

Git started life as version control software developed to manage the source code for the Linux kernel. It’s since become the default, go-to tool for managing source codebases for just about every open source project—and many closed-source ones, too. For all its popularity, Git also draws deep and legitimate complaints. It has a complex model

After Indian consumer tech startups refocused on profits, shares have rallied in 2023; Paytm grew 69%, adding over $2.7B, Zomato rose 28%, and Policybazaar 47% (Ashutosh Joshi/Bloomberg)

Ashutosh Joshi / Bloomberg: After Indian consumer tech startups refocused on profits, shares have rallied in 2023; Paytm grew 69%, adding over $2.7B, Zomato rose 28%, and Policybazaar 47% — India’s dream of developing a market for consumer-focused technology startups has gotten back on track as digital payments leader Paytm leads …

Spotify overhauls design of its desktop app

Spotify’s new desktop interface. | Image: Spotify Spotify has officially announced a redesign for its desktop app that aims to offer easier access to details on the song or podcast you’re currently listening to, and give you new ways to organize your playlists and other content. According to a blog post published yesterday the changes

TikTok tests “Trendy Beat”, a section selling popular items from videos, in the UK; filings and sources say the products are sold by a ByteDance-owned entity (Financial Times)

Financial Times: TikTok tests “Trendy Beat”, a section selling popular items from videos, in the UK; filings and sources say the products are sold by a ByteDance-owned entity — ByteDance experiments with selling its own products through viral app as it prepares to challenge Shein and Amazon

Discord plans to let creators sell “Downloadables”, digital products available via one-time purchases, and rolls out Media Channels in beta (Jay Peters/The Verge)

Jay Peters / The Verge: Discord plans to let creators sell “Downloadables”, digital products available via one-time purchases, and rolls out Media Channels in beta — Discord plans to give creators a new way to make money from their communities by selling digital products via one-time purchases.

Instagram now lets US users download Reels posted by public accounts for sharing outside the app, a feature TikTok has had for years (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch: Instagram now lets US users download Reels posted by public accounts for sharing outside the app, a feature TikTok has had for years — Instagram is finally letting users download Reels posted by others so they can share them outside the app. Rival short video app TikTok has had this feature

Abortion Pill Use Is Surging Post-Dobbs. Now It’s Under Threat

Telehealth allowed patients in many US states to get abortion pills by mail. New legal challenges could block that access—but providers aren’t giving up.

Repairing a $25,000 HP Workstation to Run Pac-Man

The microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s turned computers from expensive machines aimed at professionals into consumer products found in the average household. But there always remained a market for professional users, who bought equipment that was so far ahead of consumer gear it seemed to belong in a different decade. While a home

In a proposed class-action lawsuit, current and former Twitter staff allege the company refused to pay 2022 bonuses despite promising to pay 50% of the amount (Joel Rosenblatt/Bloomberg)

Joel Rosenblatt / Bloomberg: In a proposed class-action lawsuit, current and former Twitter staff allege the company refused to pay 2022 bonuses despite promising to pay 50% of the amount — Twitter Inc. employees sued the social media company claiming it refuses to pay 2022 bonuses, despite promises that they would be paid out at

Amazon Prime Day 2023 will take place on July 11th and 12th

Amazon’s Prime Day will take place in mid-July. Other retailers will likely also hold competing events around that time. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge It’s that time of year again. Amazon once again announced its annual sales event for Prime members. Amazon Prime Day officially kicks off at 3AM ET / 12AM

In a reorganization, EA splits EA Games and EA Sports, renaming the former as EA Entertainment, hinting at the company’s possible expansion beyond games (Kat Bailey/IGN)

Kat Bailey / IGN: In a reorganization, EA splits EA Games and EA Sports, renaming the former as EA Entertainment, hinting at the company’s possible expansion beyond games — EA is undergoing a major internal reorganization, with EA Games being renamed “EA Entertainment.” — Electronic Arts is undergoing …

Ant is developing an LLM for ChatGPT-style services under a project called “Zhen Yi”, which is being created by a dedicated unit using in-house research (Lulu Yilun Chen/Bloomberg)

Lulu Yilun Chen / Bloomberg: Ant is developing an LLM for ChatGPT-style services under a project called “Zhen Yi”, which is being created by a dedicated unit using in-house research — Jack Ma-backed Ant Group Co. is developing large-language model technology that will power ChatGPT-style services …

China’s ChatGPT Opportunists—and Grifters—Are Hard at Work

Chinese entrepreneurs are using AI to start content businesses and write self-help books. But the real money’s in selling the dream.

Sources say YouTube plans to launch its first official shopping channel for live commerce in South Korea on June 30 with content from about 30 brands (Yonhap News Agency)

Yonhap News Agency: Sources say YouTube plans to launch its first official shopping channel for live commerce in South Korea on June 30 with content from about 30 brands — YouTube will launch its official shopping channel in South Korea for live commerce later this month for the first time in the world, people familiar

KoBold Metals, which uses AI and ML to identify deposits of cobalt, copper, nickel, and lithium, raised ~$200M led by T. Rowe Price at a $1B+ valuation (Julie Steinberg/Wall Street Journal)

Julie Steinberg / Wall Street Journal: KoBold Metals, which uses AI and ML to identify deposits of cobalt, copper, nickel, and lithium, raised ~$200M led by T. Rowe Price at a $1B+ valuation — KoBold Metals raises $200 million to dig for copper, lithium using AI — Some of the tech industry’s most prominent investors

Was WhatsApp secretly listening to you? Google says it was just a bug

Google has confirmed a Privacy Dashboard bug affecting WhatsApp. The bug resulted in erroneous microphone usage notifications for WhatsApp. Google says you need to update WhatsApp to resolve the issue. Is WhatsApp listening to your real-world conversations? There’s a chance your Android phone’s Privacy Dashboard might think so, but Google has now revealed that this

Masayoshi Son says SoftBank plans to go on the “counteroffensive” soon by resuming AI investments; the group has $35B+ after halting investments in recent years (Kana Inagaki/Financial Times)

Kana Inagaki / Financial Times: Masayoshi Son says SoftBank plans to go on the “counteroffensive” soon by resuming AI investments; the group has $35B+ after halting investments in recent years — Billionaire chief talks up AI and reveals he had breakdown in October where he questioned his achievements as an entrepreneur

Ant is developing an LLM for ChatGPT-style services under a project called “Zhen Yi”, which is being created by a dedicated unit using in-house research (Lulu Yilun Chen/Bloomberg)

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