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April 1, 2025, 12:15 PM
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WeSmirchTop News
| CNBC: |
OpenAI closes a $40B round, the most raised by a private tech company, at a $300B post-money valuation; SoftBank led with $30B; source: ~$18B is for Stargate — OpenAI on Monday announced it had closed what amounts to the largest private tech funding round on record.
More: OpenAI, The Verge, Financial Times, DataBreachToday.com, Cautious Optimism, GZERO, Laptop Mag, Wall Street Journal, Sherwood News, Reuters, VentureBeat, Fortune, Axios, Nairametrics, Digital Trends, StrictlyVC, TechSpot, Forbes, Cryptopolitan, YourStory.com, Maginative, Benzinga, Neowin, TechCrunch, Tech Xplore, Yahoo Finance, Tech in Asia, SiliconANGLE, Decrypt, PYMNTS.com, San Francisco Business Times, Thurrott, The Wrap, AIN, and VC News Daily
Bluesky: @carnage4life, @edzitron.com, @andrewparker, @edsbs, and @edzitron.com
X: @sama, @mikeisaac, @garymarcus, @rogoswami, @kyliebytes, @apompliano, @edzitron, @danprimack, @mikebutcher, and @gavinpurcell
LinkedIn: LinkedIn, Hayden Field, and Geoff Lewis
Forums: Hacker News, r/OpenAI, r/singularity, and r/technology
| Bloomberg: |
Sources: SoftBank is seeking a bridge loan of as much as $16.5B to help fund AI investments in the US, its largest-ever borrowing denominated solely in USD — The bridge loan under discussion has a tenor of about 12 months, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters.
More: PYMNTS.com, Global Corporate Venturing, Sherwood News, Fortune, and Tech in Asia. LinkedIn: Kari Lindberg
| Shirin Ghaffary / Bloomberg: |
More: Entrepreneur, DatacenterDynamics, SoftBank Group Corp., MarketWatch, Barron's Online, Reuters, New York Post, Digital Music News, WinBuzzer, Global Corporate Venturing, PitchBook, CNBC, Washington Post, The Decoder, Yahoo Finance, Wall Street Journal, Benzinga, Quartz, New York Times, Euronews, Silicon Republic, YourStory.com, Business Today, Proactive, Tech Funding News, Blockonomi, TNGlobal, Pulse 2.0, Arabian Business, Interesting Engineering, Financial Express, Times of India, The Information, Hindustan Times, Verdict, Australian Financial Review, The Crypto Times, CRN, Sherwood News, Nikkei Asia, The Japan Times, and DigiTimes
Forums: r/Economics and Beehaw
| Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch: |
OpenAI's new GPT-4o-powered image generator is now available to all users; Sam Altman last week mentioned a limit of three images per day for free-tier users — OpenAI's new image generator, powered by its GPT-4o model, is now available to all users, CEO Sam Altman said in a post on X … | Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: |
More: OpenAI, Reuters, Tech Monitor, The Decoder, Tom's Guide, Business Standard, The Indian Express, Silicon UK, Cointelegraph, Analytics India Magazine, WinBuzzer, Digit, The Crypto Times, Benzinga, CoinGape, SiliconANGLE, VentureBeat, Neowin, CNET, Business Insider, Decrypt, The Information, and Wired
X: @sama, @joheidecke, @clementdelangue, @garrytan, @dorialexander, @thexeophon, @gdb, @altcap, @levie, @joheidecke, and @sama
LinkedIn: Jake Saper and Romain Huet
Forums: r/LocalLLaMA and Slashdot
| Wall Street Journal: |
Sources: in recent weeks, Meta executives including Mark Zuckerberg have pressed US trade officials to oppose an impending EU fine and cease-and-desist order — Facebook owner presses trade officials to push back against European law that could undermine its ad business
More: The Verge, PYMNTS.com, Newsmax, Hindustan Times, The Independent, and WinBuzzer
| Jess Weatherbed / The Verge: |
Google rolls out a new Gmail encryption model for enterprises in beta that doesn't require senders or recipients to use custom software or exchange certificates — The beta feature for enterprise accounts allows Gmail users to simply toggle encryption for external emails.
More: Google Workspace Blog, BleepingComputer, How-To Geek, The New Stack, PCMag, 9to5Google, CyberInsider, ComputerWeekly.com, WinBuzzer, Infosecurity, TechRepublic, Forbes, and SiliconANGLE. Forums: Slashdot
| Sean Endicott / Windows Central: |
Microsoft expands Copilot+ PC features exclusive to Snapdragon, like Live Captions, Cocreator, Restyle Image, and Image Creator, to PCs with AMD or Intel chips — Staggered feature releases make me ask “what even is a Copilot+ PC?” — Microsoft has a big update for Copilot+ PCs powered by Intel or AMD processors.
More: Windows Experience Blog, HotHardware, Business Standard, PCWorld, Tom's Hardware, The Verge, Beebom, WinBuzzer, Ghacks, TechRadar, Guru3D, BetaNews, Cryptopolitan, Digital Trends, TechPowerUp, MakeUseOf, Liliputing, CRN, VideoCardz.com, XDA Developers, Neowin, and Thurrott
X: @zacbowden, @pavandavuluri, @windowsblog, @sasamarinkovic, @dylanonchips, @yusuf_i_mehdi, @amdryzen, and @dylanonchips. LinkedIn: Mark Linton
| Ian King / Bloomberg: |
Intel Vision conference: CEO Lip-Bu Tan says that Intel plans to spin off non-core assets, create new products including custom chips, hire engineers, and more — Intel Corp. Chief Executive Officer Lip-Bu Tan said the chipmaker will spin off assets that aren't central to its mission …
More: XDA Developers, Investor's Business Daily, TechRadar, TechCrunch, Intel, Benzinga, PC Guide, Reuters, Intel on YouTube, Financial Times, PC Gamer, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, Cryptopolitan, Capacity Media, TrendForce News, Tech in Asia, Oregonian, MarketWatch, Nikkei Asia, Wall Street Journal, CRN, PCWorld, Portland startups …, Barron's Online, and Thurrott
Threads: @sung.kim.mw. X: @greengart, @intelnews, @iancutress, @iancutress, @greengart, @firstadopter, @underfox3, @underfox3, @intelnews, @iancutress, @intelnews, @intelnews, @iancutress, and @iancutress. Forums: r/intel
| The Information: |
OpenAI says ChatGPT has hit 20M paid subscribers, up from 15.5M at the end of 2024, suggesting the company is making at least $415M in monthly revenue — Before today's main column about the AI attention war between OpenAI and Google, there's OpenAI news from my colleague Natasha … | Takashi Mochizuki / Bloomberg: |
Ahead of the Switch 2, Nintendo is branching out to use its characters in cinema, theme parks, and merch in a Disney-like way to create more consistent revenue — Tech Across the Globe … Sequoia Capital and Spark Capital are in talks to co-lead the round. — Revalued
More: PCMag
| Bloomberg: |
More: Gameranx, Forbes, The Indian Express, Tech4Gamers, Tom's Guide, Comic Book, Laptop Mag, T3, and Engadget
| Financial Times: |
Current and former Google DeepMind scientists say a tougher vetting process and more bureaucracy at the Google AI arm have made it harder to publish AI research — Google's AI arm led by Demis Hassabis makes it harder for its researchers to publish studies in major change in approach| Bloomberg: |
Sources: US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick signals withholding promised CHIPS Act grants as he pushes companies to substantially expand their US projects — Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has signaled he could withhold promised Chips Act grants as he pushes companies in line … | Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg: |
Samsung says TM Roh, who oversees mobile, will temporarily step into a broader role overseeing its consumer electronics, after the death of co-CEO Han Jong-Hee — Roh will fill the vacancy at the top of Samsung's Device Experience group until the company's board approves a formal successor to Han …
More: Samsung Newsroom, Thurrott, GSMArena.com, and SamMobile
| Kendra Barnett / Adweek: |
Google is bringing its immersive Rewarded Video ads to Roblox, letting users watch ads in exchange for in-game benefits like virtual currency or power-ups — Advertisers can buy Rewarded Video ads on Roblox via Google Ad Manager, the company announced Tuesday| Financial Times: |
The Alan Turing Institute, the UK's flagship AI agency, plans to focus on defense, environment, and health, after staff criticized its leadership in December — Agency responds to criticism and rapidly evolving technology by cutting back initiatives — Britain's flagship artificial intelligence agency … | Zoë Schiffer / Wired: |
The USPTO suspends xAI's Grok trademark application, saying the name could be confused with companies Groq and Grokstream; startup Bizly claims it owns “Grok” — Elon Musk said he borrowed the name from a 1960s science fiction novel, but another AI startup applied to trademark it before xAI launched its chatbot.
More: WinBuzzer and eWeek
Bluesky: @paleofuture, @destroyer267, @mikewilsoninoz, and @elleisanisland
Forums: r/NewsOfTheStupid and r/inthenews
| New York Times: |
Xiaomi says it is cooperating with a Chinese police probe into a fatal crash by a car using its autonomous features; its stock is down 10%+ over the past week — A popular electric vehicle made by the Chinese consumer electronics giant Xiaomi crashed into a concrete guardrail while deploying its autonomous driving feature.
More: Bloomberg, South China Morning Post, Nikkei Asia, Reuters, Sherwood News, Business Insider, CnEVPost, and Tech in Asia
Forums: Hacker News and Beehaw
| Nicole Sperling / New York Times: |
In a new strategy, Amazon plans to release 14 to 16 movies per year in theaters, rivaling other major studios, with most running for 45 days before streaming — The streaming giant is planning to release at least 14 movies a year in theaters around the country, rivaling other major studios.| Financial Times: |
TTP: Apple's and Google's app stores host popular “private browsing” apps operated by Shanghai-listed Qihoo 360, sanctioned by the US in 2020 for military ties — New findings reveal free ‘private browsing’ apps popular with US users have ties to blacklisted Qihoo 360| Megan Specia / New York Times: |
Some UK parents created Smartphone Free Childhood, a charity with a pact signed by 124K+, after the UK government watered down a bill banning phones in schools — In Britain, amid growing evidence of harm to young people from extreme content online, a “Smartphone Free Childhood” campaign is going viral.| Marcus Hutchins / MalwareTech: |
The US needs a new cybersecurity strategy, but offensive cyber operations are unlikely to deter Chinese state-sponsored hacking and come with significant risk — Ever since China's ‘Salt Typhoon’ hacking operations against US telecom networks was uncovered, there's been a lot of discussion about “hacking back”.
More: Cybersecurity Insiders, Decrypt, and The Maritime Executive
Bluesky: @malwaretech.com, @malwaretech.com, and @swiftonsecurity.com
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