Techmeme: Abu Dhabi's Technology Innovation Institute releases Falcon 2 11B, an open-source LLM to compete with Llama and Gemini that supports five European languages (Mark Bergen/Bloomberg)

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May 13, 2024, 12:35 PM

Top News

Jason Koebler / 404 Media:

Many US farmers had to halt their planting operations after a solar storm broke critical GPS and precision farming functionality in tractors and other equipment — The solar storm that brought the aurora borealis to large parts of the United States this weekend also broke critical GPS …

More: The Register, The Verge, Engadget, New York Times, The Overspill, Silicon Republic, and John Deere

X: @josephfcox, @dbeyer123, @robotbeat, @jason_koebler, @jason_koebler, @weldpond, @jason_koebler, @dancow, @ericgeller, @agarri_fr, and @tolstoybb

Forums: Hacker News, r/interstellar, r/PrepperIntel, and r/technology

Javier Espinoza / Financial Times:

Sources: the EU is set to issue new antitrust charges against Microsoft over concerns of undermining Teams competitors, despite the company offering concessions — Tech group's effort to avoid action by unbundling videoconferencing app from its other software appears to have failed

More: Fortune, Ars Technica, Thurrott, BetaNews, Benzinga, Computerworld, TechRadar, 9to5Mac, and MSPoweruser

Mastodon: @1br0wn@eupolicy.social. X: @florian4gamers. Forums: Slashdot

Akash Sriram / Reuters:

Squarespace says private equity firm Permira plans to take the company private in a ~$6.9B all-cash deal, or $44 per share, a 15.2% premium on Friday's close — Private equity firm Permira will take Squarespace (SQSP.N) private in an all-cash deal valued at about $6.9 billion …

More: Squarespace, CNBC, PYMNTS.com, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Proactive, Tech Startups, The Verge, Quartz, Benzinga, TechCrunch, and DealStreetAsia. LinkedIn: Dylan Jones

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:

Google says Project Starline, its 3D video conferencing platform first unveiled at 2021's Google I/O, will ship in 2025 with HP as a launch partner — In 2021, Google kicked off work on Project Starline, a corporate-focused teleconferencing platform that uses 3D imaging …

More: The Keyword, The Verge, 9to5Google, Android Central, Neowin, Lifewire, and WinBuzzer. Bluesky: @coachfinstock.bsky.social

Paul Alcorn / Tom's Hardware:

Top500: the Intel-powered Aurora supercomputer, not yet fully operational, came second behind the AMD-powered Frontier, but did take first in an AI benchmark — Aurora faces stability issues from hardware failures, cooling malfunctions, and operational errors.

More: TOP500, TechSpot, DatacenterDynamics, WinBuzzer, Network World, HPCwire, LUMI, Wccftech, The Register, insideHPC, Phoronix, and OC3D

X: @glennklockwood, @mobile_dom, @cscfi, @glennklockwood, @hpc_guru, @glennklockwood, @bmabey, @hpc_guru, @hpc_guru, and @simonmcs. Forums: r/hardware

Charlotte Trueman / DatacenterDynamics:

Isambard-AI, the UK's fastest supercomputer that cost £225M and ranks 128th on the Top500 list, comes online; the system will contain 5,448 Nvidia GH200 chips

More: Tom's Hardware, TNW, ExtremeTech, ComputerWeekly.com, University of Bristol, and The Stack. X: @bristoluni

Bloomberg:

The EU designates Booking as a DMA gatekeeper, saying “holidaymakers will start benefiting from more choice and hotels will have more business opportunities” — - Travel site is designated as a ‘gatekeeper’ under EU's DMA — X avoids rules for now as officials open probe into its status

More: TechCrunch, European Commission, Euractiv, Reuters, and Tech Xplore

Bluesky: @hern.bsky.social. X: @kayjebelli, @eu_competition, @eu_commission, @adamkovac, @lewis_crofts, and @mseltzermayr

Financial Times:

How GPS warfare is causing issues for civilians; an analysis finds almost 40M people lived in areas with unreliable GPS for at least half of the past six months — Military activity blamed for surge in jamming and spoofing incidents affecting smartphones, planes and ships

More: TNW and The Quantum Insider

X: @_nickrogers_ and @snellarthur

LinkedIn: Jeremy Bennington, Benoit Figuet, and Katherine Dunn

Sudip Kar-Gupta / Reuters:

Brad Smith says Microsoft plans to invest €4B in France, mostly focused on the AI sector, and the company would set up a data center in the city of Mulhouse — Technology and software giant Microsoft (MSFT.O) will invest 4 billion euros ($4.3 billion) in France as part …

More: Microsoft, Reuters, Business Today, PYMNTS.com, Unite.AI, RCR Wireless News, DatacenterDynamics, TechRadar, Neowin, Tech Funding News, and Bloomberg

LinkedIn: Marc Lawn. Forums: r/europe

Mark Bergen / Bloomberg:

Abu Dhabi's Technology Innovation Institute releases Falcon 2 11B, an open-source LLM to compete with Llama and Gemini that supports five European languages — - Model shows UAE is a “serious player” in AI, official says — Abu Dhabi plans to commercialize Falcon with new unit AI71

More: tii.ae, Reuters, and Maginative

Keith Laing / Bloomberg:

The US NHTSA opens an investigation into Amazon's Zoox after two of its automated Toyota SUVs braked unexpectedly, resulting in motorcyclists rear-ending them — - Bikers rear-ended Zoox SUVs that suddenly, unexpectedly braked — US agency estimates 500 vehicles are subject to investigation

More: The Information, The Verge, PCMag, CNBC, Associated Press, Quartz, Reuters, and Self Drive News

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Intel is in advanced, exclusive talks for a deal in which Apollo Global Management would supply $11B+ to help the chip giant build a plant in Ireland — The investment firm is in exclusive talks to supply the chip giant with cash for a new plant.

More: The Register, Silicon Republic, Reuters, Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance, Barron's Online, Amwal Al Ghad, New Electronics, Benzinga, Irish Examiner, The Irish Times, Investing.com, and Channel NewsAsia

Nilay Patel / The Verge:

Q&A with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen on running Adobe since 2007, new AI features, AI investments, Firefly, monetizing AI, copyright, AI misuse, PDFs, and more — The tech and the consumers both might not be quite ready yet, but he's betting big on an AI future.

More: MakeUseOf

Sam Rutherford / Engadget:

Google Pixel 8a review: a 120Hz OLED display, strong battery life, excellent cameras, and great value at $499+, but slow wireless charging and thick bezels — The company didn't mess with its winning formula for the A-series, delivering another great handset for $499. — Senior Writer, Reviews

More: Ars Technica, The Verge, PCMag, ZDNet, Droid Life, Pocket-lint, and Digital Trends

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: after shelling out billions to acquire US users, Temu is now focusing more on acquiring users in Europe and elsewhere, following TikTok's US issues — App looks to reduce reliance on American shoppers as growth slows and scrutiny of TikTok grows — The bargain app Temu …

More: PYMNTS.com. LinkedIn: Rob Jewell

New York Times:

How Elon Musk uses X to back right-wing world leaders like Argentina's Javier Milei and India's Narendra Modi, who can help secure advantages for his businesses — Minutes after it became clear that Javier Milei had been elected president of South America's second-largest nation in November …

Threads: @karaswisher, @motorcityadam, @karaswisher, @yonetteajoseph, @markjacobnews, and @lorakolodny

Bluesky: @rmac.bsky.social, @delexical.bsky.social, and @kateconger.bsky.social

X: @ryp__, @flitteronfraud, @rmac18, @rmac18, @ericgeller, @kateconger, and @markjacob16

Forums: Hacker News, r/RealTesla, r/Fuckthealtright, r/musked, and r/inthenews

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From Mediagazer

Anthony D'Alessandro / Deadline:

Analysis: the 2026 Emmy nominations for acting and hosting hit an 11-year low with only 22 performers of color recognized, down 21% from the nominees in 2025

Betsy Morais / Columbia Journalism Review:

How the media's evolving coverage of sexual assault allegations against Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner shows the need for sensitive, patient reporting

Peter Kafka / Business Insider:

Q&A with Joe Kahn about NYT's push into video amidst a “race against time” to compete with AI-generated slop and influencer-generated non-original journalism

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More News

Andy Greenberg / Wired:

As crypto flows into Tornado Cash despite sanctions, a look at the trial against its co-founder, who says he cannot prevent abuse of a system beyond his control

More: Infosec Exchange, Infosec Exchange, Infosec Exchange, and CCN.com

LinkedIn: Andy Greenberg. Forums: r/CryptoCurrency

Qianer Liu / The Information:

Sources: in recent months, China told ByteDance, Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu, and others to cut back on Nvidia purchases in favor of chips made by local companies

More: PCWorld, Silicon Valley Business …, and Benzinga

The Sunday Times:

Sources: Cambridge-based Raspberry Pi is finalizing plans to float on the London Stock Exchange this month in a deal that could value the startup at up to £500M

More: The Register, Tom's Hardware, and City A.M.

Eva Dou / Washington Post:

The US and China are set to hold their first high-level AI talks on May 14 in Geneva, as the governments seek to prevent disastrous accidents and unintended war

More: Reuters, Axios, Blockworks, Nextgov/FCW, Benzinga, Financial Times, Nikkei Asia, CoinGape, Tech Xplore, and The Decoder

Zachary Small / New York Times:

Christie's confirms eight auctions will proceed this week after a “technology security issue” on May 9 knocked its website offline, the second breach in a year

More: Cybernews.com, UPI, The Guardian, New York Times, and Bloomberg

Stuart Condie / Wall Street Journal:

An Australian judge refuses the eSafety commissioner's request to extend an order for X to hide a video of a religious leader's stabbing, without giving reasons

More: Semafor, Reclaim The Net, Associated Press, The Guardian, Reuters, Financial Times, Forbes, Benzinga, and The Verge

Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:

SoftBank reports a $4.6B gain on its Vision Fund in the fiscal year to March 2024, the first gain since 2021, after ByteDance and DoorDash rose in value

More: Financial Times, Reuters, Associated Press, Proactive, Bloomberg, Tech in Asia, RTÉ, and Benzinga

Bloomberg:

The US, the EU, and other superpowers have funneled nearly $81B towards supporting chip companies, the first wave of ~$380B earmarked by global governments

More: MIT Technology Review and International Business Times

X: @mackhawk and @scottlincicome. Forums: r/singularity

Earlier Picks

Washington Post:

A look at the growing number of startups offering AI deepfake detection services, with some claiming startling levels of accuracy despite untested capabilities

Heather Somerville / Wall Street Journal:

As VC firms pivot to investing in startups developing defense tech for the US and its allies, some of their business ties with China still linger

More: EU-Startups. X: @tomaxwell and @jchengwsj

Reuters:

Sources: Shein steps up preparations for a London listing amid regulatory hurdles for a New York IPO; a source says Shein plans to file in London as soon as May

More: CNBC, Chain Store Age, The Sunday Times, Watcher Guru, TechNode, The Guardian, Proactive, and City A.M.

Saritha Rai / Bloomberg:

A look at 01.AI, which is launching Wanzhi, a free generative AI assistant focused on the Chinese market; CEO Kai-Fu Lee says 01.AI is nearing profitability

More: Cryptopolitan and Benzinga

X: @sbeastwindy, @marikakatanuma, @01ai_yi, @saritharai, @_philschmid, and @dorialexander

Forums: Hacker News and r/LocalLLaMA

Melissa Korn / Wall Street Journal:

A look at the rise and fall of 2U, which provides online degree programs for top US universities and is currently valued at ~$30M, down from $5B+ in 2018

More: Livemint. X: @melissakorn and @jillbarshay

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Sources: Apple has met with Hollywood talent representatives to propose a new performance-based compensation regime, as Amazon and Netflix work on similar plans

More: The Streamable, 9to5Mac, PhoneArena, The Information, and Associated Press

Threads: @carnage4life, @carnage4life, and @lucas_shaw. Forums: r/television