Techmeme: 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 (Jason Koebler/404 Media)

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May 13, 2024, 11:35 AM

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: Ars Technica, Thurrott, BetaNews, TechRadar, Benzinga, Computerworld, 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, Bloomberg, Proactive, TechCrunch, The Verge, Tech Startups, Quartz, Benzinga, and DealStreetAsia

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, TechPowerUp, 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, 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, Euractiv, European Commission, Reuters, and Tech Xplore

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

New York Times:

A look at how Elon Musk uses X to support right-wing world leaders like Narendra Modi who could 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, Elon Musk posted on X: “Prosperity is ahead for Argentina.”

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

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: The Verge, PCMag, ZDNet, Pocket-lint, and Digital Trends

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

Sudip Kar-Gupta / Reuters:

Brad Smith says Microsoft plans to invest €4B in France, mostly focused on AI, and the company will 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 of the annual ‘Choose France’ business summit …

More: Microsoft, Reuters, Business Today, PYMNTS.com, Quartz, DatacenterDynamics, Unite.AI, CNBC, TNW, Tech Funding News, Neowin, TechRadar, Proactive, Bloomberg, and Benzinga

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 — Chinese authorities have a message for the local tech industry: Buy Chinese. — Officials with government agencies in recent months …

More: PCWorld, Silicon Valley Business …, and Benzinga

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 — Apple builds a bonus system around sign-ups, viewer loyalty and production costs. — Good afternoon from 30,000 feet.

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

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

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From Mediagazer

NBC News:

Trump says he was “only kidding” about offering UFC CEO Dana White the press secretary job, after White posted an AI image of himself at the White House lectern

Ed Christman / Billboard:

CISAC Global Collections Report: global music publishing collections grew to nearly $15.89B in 2025, up 5.3% YoY, with digital royalties of $7.25B, up 28% YoY

Washington Post:

An ex-Trump campaign aide and others say Trump ally Laura Loomer was paid $3K-$5K per political X post; she announced a hiatus from her show after an inquiry

More News

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

More: PYMNTS.com

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

More: MakeUseOf

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

More: Reuters and The Technology Innovation …

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

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

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, Blockworks, CoinGape, Benzinga, Nextgov/FCW, Axios, Financial Times, Nikkei Asia, 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: Associated Press, Forbes, The Guardian, Reuters, Financial Times, 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: Associated Press, Financial Times, Reuters, Proactive, Benzinga, Tech in Asia, Bloomberg, and RTÉ

Earlier Picks

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

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: The Sunday Times, City A.M., Watcher Guru, TechNode, The Guardian, and Proactive

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

Henry Mance / Financial Times:

Researcher Sonia Livingstone says constraining tech companies and empowering young people and parents are better alternatives to banning kids from social media

X: @soph_butch, @henrymance, @mollyroseorg, @henrymance, @cooksimon, @katebevan, @henrymance, @alecmuffett, @ciesiolkiewicz, @henrymance, and @livingstone_s. LinkedIn: Sonia Livingstone

Matthew Green / @matthew_d_green:

Following attempts to malign Signal as insecure by Telegram's CEO and Elon Musk, a look at why Signal is widely regarded by experts as more secure than Telegram

More: Business Insider, Financial Express, and Benzinga

Threads: @renee.diresta, @renee.diresta, @renee.diresta, and @renee.diresta

X: @elonmusk, @jack, @nicoleperlroth, @huntclancy, @aukehoekstra, @jamesstout, @zarawesome, @vitalikbuterin, @deftechpat, @matthew_d_green, @erratarob, @matthew_d_green, @nkulw, @matthew_d_green, @samadlerbell, @matthew_d_green, @thebluematt, and @mer__edith. Forums: Hacker News