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July 12, 2025, 9:00 AM
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| Hayden Field / The Verge: |
Google hires Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen, and some of Windsurf's R&D employees to focus on agentic coding efforts at DeepMind — Key researchers from the AI coding startup are also heading to Google. … OpenAI's deal to buy Windsurf is off …
More: Business Standard, Tech Startups, DNA India, CNBC, New York Times, Reuters, TechCrunch, Moneycontrol, Cryptopolitan, Tech in Asia, Financial Express, implicator.ai, Neowin, The Indian Express, Analytics India Magazine, DevOps.com, WinBuzzer, Maginative, Bloomberg Law, and Business Insider
X: @jeffwsurf, @jeffwsurf, @officiallogank, @deedydas, @haydenfield, @demishassabis, @mikeisaac, @morqon, @gergelyorosz, @thdxr, @pitdesi, @luke_metro, @garymarcus, @prashant_1722, @gergelyorosz, @hipcityreg, @koraykv, @varunramg, @devahaz, and @kyleasay_
LinkedIn: Dan Hockenmaier, Giovanni D'Antonio, and Ariel Serber
Forums: Hacker News, r/cursor, r/OpenAI, r/singularity, and Slashdot
| Bloomberg: |
Sources: Google is paying $2.4B for a nonexclusive license to certain Windsurf tech and hire some of its employees, but won't be taking a stake in the company — Google is hiring Windsurf Chief Executive Officer Varun Mohan and co-founder Douglas Chen, along with a small group of staffers … | The Information: |
Sources: OpenAI and Windsurf talks ended after Windsurf raised concerns over how its tech would fit into OpenAI's agreement to share tech with Microsoft — OpenAI's discussions to buy Windsurf, the maker of a popular artificial intelligence coding assistant formerly known as Codeium, have ended.
More: Livemint, The Hans India, Tech in Asia, The Decoder, The Indian Express, and Thurrott
X: @alexeheath and @theo
| Allie Garfinkle / Fortune: |
The exclusivity period for OpenAI's $3B offer to acquire coding startup Windsurf, entered into in May, has expired — The exclusivity period on OpenAI's $3 billion offer to acquire coding startup Windsurf has expired, an OpenAI spokesperson told Fortune. — The expiration of the exclusivity … | Financial Times: |
Sources: xAI prepares a new fundraising round, its third in two months, targeting a valuation of $170B to $200B, up 10x from its May 2024 valuation of $18B — Grok chatbot maker in early talks with investors to boost its value as much as 10 times from last year
More: Cryptopolitan, Toronto Star, StrictlyVC, Benzinga, Reuters, SiliconANGLE, WinBuzzer, Yahoo Finance, and NewsMax.com
Bluesky: @kbsutt, @dmnd.me, @caseynewton, @skeet.best, @kingkool68.com, @wilkos, @jentrification.com, @doghousereilly, @b1gd1ll, @richburroughs.dev, @billthepony, @creamcityjw, @joshuaerlich, @self.agency, and @wagatwe.com. Mastodon: @carnage4life@mas.to. Threads: @simondowens
| Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch: |
Sam Altman announces another delay for OpenAI's open-weight model, for further safety testing; the model was slated to be released next week — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Friday the company is delaying the release of its open model, which was already pushed back a month earlier in this summer.
More: Moneycontrol, Business Insider, Livemint, The Decoder, The Economic Times, Benzinga, and Tech in Asia
Bluesky: @quinnypig.com. X: @sama, @_aidan_clark_, @fadalaudza_, @ai_for_success, @sog_on_bird_app, @n30n_41, @miles_brundage, @scaling01, @generatorman_ai, @traskjd, @lidothegreat, @kalomaze, @daniel_mac8, @angaisb_, @dee_bosa, @david_kasten, @jachiam0, @cryptopunk7213, @deliprao, and @lukeolympus
Forums: Hacker News and r/singularity
| Reuters: |
More: South China Morning Post, The Decoder, The Hans India, Simon Willison's Weblog, Tech in Asia, VentureBeat, MarkTechPost, and WinBuzzer
X: @kimi_moonshot, @awnihannun, @yuchenj_uw, @teknium1, @reach_vb, @ai_for_success, @chetaslua, @youjiacheng, @aibattle_, @yulun_du, @ivanfioravanti, @elaina43114880, @zxytim, @crystalsssup, @pigeon__s, @chetaslua, @jasonbotterill3, @shalev_lif, @phill__1, @roteksong, @testingcatalog, @victormustar, @prashant_1722, @zrdianjiao, @khazzz1c, @cedric_chee, @chetaslua, @airesearch12, @youjiacheng, @khazzz1c, @cedric_chee, @test_tm7873, and @deedydas. Forums: r/singularity
| Tripp Mickle / New York Times: |
Nvidia's rise after ChatGPT's release is reminiscent of dot-com era titans like Cisco and Juniper; Cisco's share price grew over 1000x between 1990 and 2000 — The A.I. chip maker reached the landmark before Apple and Microsoft, as its value rose more than tenfold after ChatGPT's release in late 2022.| Gregorio Sorgi / Politico: |
The European Commission drops plans to impose a digital tax on tech giants in its upcoming 2028-2034 budget proposal, amid ongoing EU-US trade negotiations — BRUSSELS ― The European Commission has dropped plans to levy a tax on digital companies, a move that hands victory to Donald Trump …
More: Financial Times, Reuters, The European Union, and Politico
Forums: r/EU_Economics, r/europeanunion, and r/worldnews
| Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg: |
Meta has completed a deal to acquire AI voice technology startup PlayAI, and the “entire PlayAI team” is set to join Meta next week, per an internal memo — The “entire PlayAI team” is set to join Meta next week, according to an internal memo that was reviewed by Bloomberg.| Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg: |
Studios like Do Big are buying Roblox games for $1M+ in a thriving secondary market; Naavik: seven of the 15 highest-earning games in June have been acquired — Game service spawns a busy after market for the most-popular titles … It sold a few months later for more than $3 million.| SemiAnalysis: |
A look at Meta's revamped GenAI strategy, as Mark Zuckerberg poaches top AI talent for the Superintelligence team with a typical offer of $200M over four years — Meta's shocking purchase of 49% of Scale AI at a ~$30B valuation shows that money is of no concern for the $100B annual cashflow ad machine.
X: @mjolley22, @staysaasy, @lefttailguy, and @blader
| Kelcee Griffis / Bloomberg: |
T-Mobile has received FCC and DOJ approval for its $4.4B acquisition of US Cellular, after agreeing to phase out DEI programs to comply with FCC policy — The approval comes after T-Mobile committed to eliminating diversity and inclusion programs to win the favor of the commission.| Zach Vallese / CNBC: |
A New Hampshire court rejected TikTok's request to dismiss the state AG's suit accusing the company of using manipulative design features aimed at kids — A judge this week rejected TikTok's attempt to dismiss a lawsuit by the state of New Hampshire accusing it of using manipulative design features aimed at children and teens.
Zoho:
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| The Economic Times: |
Analysis: YC picked just four Indian startups in 2024 vs. 66 in 2021, amid a growing trend of startups shifting their parent entities to India for domestic IPOs — Y Combinator's selection of Indian startups has decreased significantly. This decline is attributed to factors …
LinkedIn: Tanishka Dubey and Ramesh Loganathan
| Natalia Kniazhevich / Bloomberg: |
PitchBook: 27 VC-backed companies went public in the US in the first half of 2025, the smallest number in at least 10 years, raising a total of $44.4B — Venture capital-backed companies are on track for the fewest US initial public offerings in a decade, according to data provider PitchBook …
More: PitchBook
| Politico: |
French prosecutors open a criminal investigation into X over allegations that the company manipulated its algorithms for the purposes of “foreign interference” — The probe is based on complaints from a lawmaker and an unnamed senior civil servant.
More: Le Monde, Politico, Digital Journal, Cryptopolitan, Cointelegraph, Mashable, TechCrunch, Daily Sabah, Associated Press, and Semafor
Bluesky: @mortenc, @laurenmeidasa, @bremaininspain.com, @stevepeers, @alexvonwitzleben, and @marietjeschaake
X: @democrats_eu, @fatima_khatun01, and @menchosint
Forums: r/anime_titties, r/law, r/worldnews, and r/technology
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Newest
Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg:
Studios like Do Big are buying Roblox games for $1M+ in a thriving secondary market; Naavik: seven of the 15 highest-earning games in June have been acquiredFind
80 minutes ago
SemiAnalysis:
A look at Meta's revamped GenAI strategy, as Mark Zuckerberg poaches top AI talent for the Superintelligence team with a typical offer of $200M over four yearsFind
6 hours ago
Zach Vallese / CNBC:
A New Hampshire court rejected TikTok's request to dismiss the state AG's suit accusing the company of using manipulative design features aimed at kidsFind
7 hours ago
The Economic Times:
Analysis: YC picked just four Indian startups in 2024 vs. 66 in 2021, amid a growing trend of startups shifting their parent entities to India for domestic IPOsFind
7 hours ago
Tripp Mickle / New York Times:
Nvidia's rise after ChatGPT's release is reminiscent of dot-com era titans like Cisco and Juniper; Cisco's share price grew over 1000x between 1990 and 2000Find
8 hours ago
Natalia Kniazhevich / Bloomberg:
PitchBook: 27 VC-backed companies went public in the US in the first half of 2025, the smallest number in at least 10 years, raising a total of $44.4BFind
8 hours ago
Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
Sam Altman announces another delay for OpenAI's open-weight model, for further safety testing; the model was slated to be released next weekFind
10 hours ago
From Mediagazer
New York Times:Lindsey Holden / Politico:
Bloomberg:
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| Bloomberg: |
More: American Banker, The Information, and Reuters
Bluesky: @wdzepper, @geoffbelknap, @quinnypig.com, and @itsterrymcd
Forums: r/MonarchMoney and r/coastFIRE
| Ange Lavoipierre / ABC: |
More: Breitbart, Biometric Update, and Mediaweek
Bluesky: @picketer, @luxalptraum.com, @socialmedialab.ca, @mikestabile, @ajsta, @flaky.blue, @mikestabile, and @vintangled
Mastodon: @futzle@old.mermaid.town, @ash@bne.social, @fox@cytag.nl, and @3TomatoesShort@disabled …
Forums: Hacker News, r/auslaw, r/worldnews, r/aus, r/LaborPartyofAustralia, r/aussie, r/AustralianPolitics, r/australian, and r/australia
| Tony Stubblebine / The Coach Life: |
| Dominic Preston / The Verge: |
Earlier Picks
| Mike Rogoway / Oregonian: |
More: Moneycontrol, SFGATE, Wccftech, AzerNews, The Verge, Gizmodo, WinBuzzer, TechRadar, The Economic Times, TechSpot, Tech in Asia, PCWorld, CTech, and The Register
Bluesky: @cptjinglepants, @economymedicine, @sillycentrist, and @carnage4life
| Steven Levy / Wired: |
| Steve Newman / Second Thoughts: |
More: METR, PCMag, The Register, Business Insider, Ace of Spades HQ, implicator.ai, Hackaday, OSnews, TechCrunch, Inc.com, The Decoder, PhoneArena, Reuters, and Cryptopolitan
Bluesky: @carnage4life, @shimminykricket, and @andrewfray.dev
Mastodon: @faassen@hachyderm.io and @hailey@hails.org
X: @metr_evals, @ruben_bloom, @bethmaybarnes, @thestalwart, @domenic, @bethmaybarnes, @johnsdvorak, @sadsciencee, @runekvist, @adamrodmanmd, and @bethmaybarnes
LinkedIn: Yonas Bekele, Adrian Booth, Chris Baker, Sara Kubik, Gerben Wierda, and Fedir Skitsko
Forums: Hacker News, r/technology, r/BetterOffline, r/programming, r/singularity, r/theprimeagen, r/slatestarcodex, and Lobsters
| Marcus Mendes / 9to5Mac: |
More: India Today, PCMag, MacRumors, iPhone in Canada, nextpit, BGR, T3, arXiv.org, PhoneArena, and AppleInsider
| Simon Willison / Simon Willison's Weblog: |
More: Associated Press, The Verge, The Intercept, CNBC, MacRumors, Windows Central, Gizmodo, Read Max, Business Insider, Neowin, Mashable, WinBuzzer, Simon Willison on GitHub, Pixel Envy, and TechCrunch
Bluesky: @andersen.buzz, @historyofthesecondworldwar …, @jjvincent, @simonwillison.net, @noupside, and @simonwillison.net
X: @jeremyphoward, @elonmusk, @ramez, @simonw, @simonw, @builtbyvibes, @jeremyphoward, @bensand, @luke_metro, and @jeremyphoward
Forums: Hacker News, r/EnoughMuskSpam, r/LocalLLaMA, r/skeptic, r/ChatGPT, r/grok, r/singularity, and MacRumors Forums
| Ben Schoon / 9to5Google: |
More: Ars Technica, The Verge, The US Sun, Android Police, PCMag, PCWorld, and Belkin US
X: @owednada, @beyondthetech, @manan, @greengart, @dpstud, and @farringtonb
Forums: Hacker News, Hacker News, r/technology, r/hardware, Slashdot, and Ars OpenForum