Tech Meme

New York Times: Elon Musk’s first moves suggest DOGE will be closer to an IT project than the sweeping operation to slash $2T+ from the federal budget that he once predicted  —  The rebranding of a former White House digital office into the new Department of Government Efficiency signals its potential limits, budget experts said. Lees verder op Tech Meme

The Guardian: An investigation reveals how the Israeli military’s reliance on Microsoft’s cloud and AI systems surged during the most intensive phase of the Israel-Hamas war  —  Leaked documents shed light on how Israel integrated the US tech giant into its war effort to meet growing demand for cloud and AI tools Lees verder op Tech Meme

Drew Harwell / Washington Post: Sources outline negotiations between the Biden administration and TikTok ahead of the ban, as company insiders refute claims that a blackout helped their case  —  When TikTok pleaded with outgoing Biden officials and threatened to go offline, the White House pushed back, declaring it all a “stunt.” Lees verder op Tech Meme

Bloomberg: Trump’s EO to protect the dollar bars any further work on a CBDC and aligns the government’s interests with those of stablecoin issuers like Tether and Circle  —  – US crypto czar sees potential for extending dollar dominance  — USDT, USDC account for almost 90% of total stablecoin value Lees verder op Tech Meme

Reuters: Uber denies setting fares based on phone models in India, after a government body alleged Uber and Ola use differential pricing for Android and iOS users  —  Uber (UBER.N) said it does not set ride prices based on a user’s phone model, shortly after an Indian government body alleged … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Financial Times: Industry insiders say DeepSeek’s focus on research makes it a dangerous competitor as it’s willing to share breakthroughs rather than protect them for profits  —  Hedge fund billionaire Liang Wenfeng builds model on tight budget despite US attempt to halt China’s high-tech ambitions Lees verder op Tech Meme

Kate Clark / Bloomberg: Source: Lightspeed has invested a total of $2.2B in AI deals, excluding the $2B Anthropic funding round it is leading, and is close to raising a $7B fund  —  The 25-year-old venture capital firm is embracing tech’s new era of enormous artificial intelligence deals Lees verder op Tech Meme

Jiahui Huang / Wall Street Journal: Chinese self-driving company WeRide aims to make more inroads overseas in 2025; WeRide operates in nine countries and secured new deals in Switzerland and Japan  —  WeRide already operates driverless vehicles in 30 cities across nine countries  —  Chinese autonomous-driving company WeRide … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Simon Willison / Simon Willison’s Weblog: OpenAI updates ChatGPT’s Canvas feature with o1 model support and HTML and React code rendering, making it a direct competitor to Claude’s Artifacts  —  Talk about burying the lede!  The ability to render HTML leapfrogs Canvas into being a direct competitor to Claude Artifacts … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Kate Clark / Bloomberg: Source: Lightspeed has invested a total of $2.2B in AI deals, excluding the $2B Anthropic funding round it’s leading and is close to raising a $7B fund  —  The 25-year-old venture capital firm is embracing tech’s new era of enormous artificial intelligence deals Lees verder op Tech Meme