Here is the daily technology #threadcast for 2/11/25. The goal is to make this a technology "reddit".
Drop all question, comments, and articles relating to #technology and the future. The goal is make it a technology center.
Here is the daily technology #threadcast for 2/11/25. The goal is to make this a technology "reddit".
Drop all question, comments, and articles relating to #technology and the future. The goal is make it a technology center.
Revenge of the GPT Wrappers: Defensibility in a world of commoditized AI models
The war between 'GPT wrappers' will cause traditional defensibility strategies, particularly sustained advantages in distribution and network effects, to return to the forefront.
#technology #gpt #ai
What Happens to SaaS in a World with Computer Using Agents?
Many of the elements that once differentiated SaaS products will lose their importance in an agent-driven future.
#technology #saas #ai #agents
Meta to start laying off 3,000 employees today as company shifts focus to AI hiring
The layoffs will affect employees across multiple countries - employees will receive their notifications between February 11 and February 18.
#technology #meta #layoffs #ai
Reasoning models are just LLMs
Reasoning models show how large language models are not a dead end.
#technology #ai #llm
OpenAI’s secret weapon against Nvidia dependence takes shape
OpenAI plans to send its chip designs to TSMC for fabrication within the next few months.
#technology #chips #openai #nvidia
The Anthropic Economic Index
The Anthropic Economic Index is an initiative aimed at understanding AI's effects on labor markets and the economy over time. The Index's reports provide data and analysis based on millions of anonymized conversations on Claude.ai. It paints a clear picture of how AI is being incorporated into real-world tasks across the modern economy. Usage is concentrated on software development and technical tasks. AI use leans towards augmentation - its use is more prevalent for tasks associated with mid-to-high wage occupations but lower for both the lowest- and highest-paid roles.
#technology #ai #economy
Chinese scientists created mice with 2 dads — and they survived to adulthood
Scientists in China have unveiled a new method for breeding mice with two male parents - the resulting babies can survive to adulthood. It is not the first time scientists have bred mice with two dads, but previous attempts did not result in mice that could live to adulthood. The resulting mice had deficits, including shorter lifespans and infertility. The research could result in a better understanding of imprinting disorders, potentially paving the way to treatments that use gene editing to fix them in humans.
#technology #science #china #biotech
Gyroscope-on-a-Chip Targets GPS’s Dominance
Anello Photonics and OSCP showcased their gyroscope-based navigation systems at CES earlier this year. Anello's devices, which can fit in the palm of a person's hand, deliver high precision for multiple applications. OSCP's multi-gyroscope inertial measurement units provide location accuracy to within centimeters. These systems are designed to work alongside GPS as a fallback in case GPS interference is detected.
#technology #oscp #gps
T-Mobile’s Starlink messaging service is now free to try, even if you aren’t on T-Mobile
T-Mobile's Starlink-powered direct-to-cell satellite messaging service is now open for anyone in the US to try for free. Verizon and AT&T customers can also try the service for free. T-Mobile customers will pay $15 per month after the free testing period ($10 for customers who participated in the beta trial) while other customers will pay $20 a month per line. The service will be included in T-Mobile's Go5G Next plan.
#technology #starlink #tmobile
Elon Musk-Led Group Makes $97.4 Billion Bid for Control of OpenAI
A group of investors led by Elon Musk offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, but the offer was quickly rejected. OpenAI's structure ensures that no individual can take control of the company. Sam Altman and Musk co-founded OpenAI as a charity in 2015. Musk left the company in 2019 and has since filed a series of legal complaints against OpenAI accusing the company of betraying its original nonprofit mission by creating a for-profit arm and colluding with Microsoft to dominate the development of AI.
#technology #ai #openai #elonmusk
BlackRock Increases Ownership of Strategy to 5%
BlackRock now owns 5% of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), up 0.91% since September 2024.
#technology #crypto #blackrock #strategy
Memecoins: From Fun PvP to Predatory Insider Games
Memecoins once functioned like high-RTP casino games, giving casual players a real shot at big wins. However, with insiders now dominating launches and draining the odds, the game has turned predatory, stripping away the thrill and fairness that made it fun in the first place.
#technology #crypto #memecoins
Launching an agent on Virtuals
The article explains how to launch an AI Agent on Virtuals, discussing tokenomics, bonding curve mechanics, and the importance of using at least 40% of the token supply to "align long-term incentives". Teams must balance financial investment with operational sustainability to make sure they have enough runway for development, marketing, and liquidity while graduating from the bonding curve to a Uniswap pool.
#technology #crypto #ai #agent #virtuals
New Satoshi Wallet Insights
A new onchain analysis of Satoshi Nakamoto's wallet reveals potential connections to CaVirtEx, a Canadian exchange later acquired by Kraken. The research estimates Satoshi controls 1.096M BTC (worth over $100B), with evidence of last onchain activity in 2014, including 24 documented outbound transactions and 200 BTC sent to the Bitcoin faucet. Satoshi's connections to a centralized exchange were previously unknown and suggest that Kraken may possess relevant KYC information from its acquisition.
#technology #crypto #satoshinakamoto
Pendle 2025: Zenith
Pendle experienced massive growth in 2024, with TVL increasing 20x to $4.4B and daily trading volume surging 100x to nearly $100M, establishing itself as a dominant player in DeFi yield trading. The protocol is now expanding through three strategic initiatives: enhancing V2 with permissionless listings and dynamic fees, launching Citadels to target non-EVM ecosystems and institutional markets, and introducing Boros as a new product to capture the $150B perpetual futures funding rate market. Pendle aims to become a comprehensive yield layer for both crypto-native and traditional finance users.
#technology #crypto #defi
Inside Look at a Historical Liquidation Event
A historic liquidation event in the crypto market wiped out $14 billion in open interest within 24 hours, with ETH contracts experiencing the most volatility. Ethena successfully navigated the turmoil, capturing profits from discounted perpetual futures contracts and proving the resilience of USDe, which remained stable throughout the sell-off.
#technology #crypto #liquidation
Memecoin Madness Returns as Barstool Sports, BNB Chain, and an Entire African Country Dabble With Meme Tokens
Memecoins have yet again taken center stage, with a BNB chain tutorial token (TST) reaching a $300 million market cap and getting a Binance listing after it was used in a video and mentioned by founder Chengpeng Zhao. Barstool Sports' David Portnoy promoted JAILSTOOL, which peaked at $200 million and has since fallen. Most surprisingly, the Central African Republic's president announced a national memecoin (CAR) that surpassed a $500 million market cap, though questions about its authenticity remain.
#technology #crypto #memecoins
!summarize #tesla #cybercans #autonomous
Single paragraphs
!summarize #matthewstafford #nygiants #nfl
Still, there is a paradox in the label, because the high point of the Polis was also the beginning of the end. The accomplishments of the Athenians made them arrogant and they abused their partners in the Delan League. Hubris had them believing they could defeat the Spartan Army so they launched the Peloponnesean War in 431 B.C, only to see their political system destroyed after twenty seven years of conflict.
With Athens weak, Sparta felt it had to control Greece to protect itself but did not have the skill. She was engaged in a series of adventures during the thirty year period after the Peloponnesian War until Leuctra, when her military might was destroyed for forever. Thebes stepped in and spent nine years (371-62) trying to control northern Greece, but following the Battle of Mantinea its hegemony came to an end. Greece was now vulnerable as a divided people and that division would leave it ripe for the taking by an autocrat.
!summarize #qualcomm #glennbeck
In 52 B.C. Julius Caesar, near the end of his war against Gaul, had one great enemy left – the charismatic Arvernian, Vercingetorix. Expelled from Gergovia, for being too rash, Vercingetorix raised an army on his own, and assumed the role of commander. His strategy against Caesar was simple -- use superior cavalry to harass the Romans and drive them away. Caesar, understanding his own weakness, compensated by recruiting Germans to strengthen his own cavalry units. After a series of reversals, Vercingetorix was forced to retreat to the walled city of Alesia with his army of 80,000.
No obstacle would deter Caesar, however. He knew direct attack was impossible because of the hilltop position of the city, so he planned a siege to starve the Gauls into surrender. Caesar had 12 legions with auxiliaries ready to bring to bear on the enemy. It was mid-summer, 52 B.C.
"A decade from now, we will look back and recognize how quixotic it was for the U.S. government of the mid-2020s to attempt to limit the ability of people in 150 countries to perform fast multiplications," wrote John Villasenor, a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings and professor of electrical engineering, law, public policy, and management at UCLA.
!summarize #automotive #global #trade
Before the circumvallation could be completed, however, Vercingetorix sent a party of tribal leaders through the breech on a mission to recruit allies and bring them back as reinforcements. We move on to chapter LXXII.
In any technology war, questions about what countermove the U.S. should make next inevitably run up against the awareness that any notion of controlling innovation through measures like restricting exports is not guaranteed to work – and may even backfire. Among the risks cited by Brookings: spurring the development of a global AI ecosystem anchored outside the U.S.; pushing more nations into building stronger technology ties with China; and allowing non-U.S. makers of advanced chips to grow global market share at the expense of the U.S. companies behind the original innovations.
“Caesar, on learning these proceedings from the deserters and captives, adopted the following system of fortification; he dug a trench twenty feet deep, with perpendicular sides, in such a manner that the base of this trench should extend so far as the edges were apart at the top. He raised all his other works at a distance of four hundred feet from that ditch; [he did] that with this intention, lest (since he necessarily embraced so extensive an area, and the whole works could not be easily surrounded by a line of soldiers) a large number of the enemy should suddenly, or by night, sally against the fortifications; or lest they should by day cast weapons against our men while occupied with the works.
Having left this interval, he drew two trenches fifteen feet broad, and of the same depth; the innermost of them, being in low and level ground, he filled with water conveyed from the river. Behind these he raised a rampart and wall twelve feet high: to this he added a parapet and battlements, with large stakes cut like stags' horns, projecting from the junction of the parapet and battlements, to prevent the enemy from scaling it, and surrounded the entire work with turrets, which were eighty feet distant from one another.”
!summarize #unitedstates #population
These stakes being sunk into this trench, and fastened firmly at the bottom, to prevent the possibility of their being torn up, had their branches only projecting from the ground. There were five rows in connection with, and intersecting each other; and whoever entered within them were likely to impale themselves on very sharp stakes. The soldiers called these "cippi." Before these, which were arranged in oblique rows in the form of a quincunx, pits three feet deep were dug, which gradually diminished in depth to the bottom. In these pits tapering stakes, of the thickness of a man's thigh, sharpened at the top and hardened in the fire, were sunk in such a manner as to project from the ground not more than four inches; at the same time for the purpose of giving them strength and stability, they were each filled with trampled clay to the height of one foot from the bottom:
!summarize #artlaffler #waste #government #economy
!summarize #nyjets #aaronrodgers #nfl
The tech sector was quick to do its outreach to the new administration, with several major CEOs at the inauguration, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang meeting with President Trump at the White House in recent weeks for a discussion that included chip restrictions to China.
Trump also called Deepseek a "wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win."
Particularly relevant to Deepseek in the AI diffusion rules are controls surrounding closed AI model weights, essential to the training process that develops how AI systems think and respond to queries.
"In part, DeepSeek was able to get around the speed limit imposed on chips allowed for sale to China in 2022, but banned in 2023, when the U.S. realized that the limit imposed was the wrong one," said Chorzempa.
!summarize #howardmarks #investing #emotions #money
And I quote Toynbee’s description of the villages and clans:
“Thus, about 700 B.C., there were at Sparta, over and above the three privileged clan groups, five locally organized communities, embracing both the clansmen and a large unprivileged population besides. These five were: Pitane, the seat of the Agiadai-clan and their clients (containing the burial place of the Agiad phratria: N.W. of the agora: Limnai, the seat of the Eurypontidai clan and their clients (tombs of the Eurypontid phratria, on the street which seems to have branched N.E. from the agora) on the low lands bordering the Eurotas-bed: Kynosoura, the long ridge S. of Limnai, occupied by the community from Lakedaimon: and Mesoa, between these three, and S. of the agora, occupied by the Minyai from Therai and their clients. Lastly, Amyklai, two miles S. of the Tiasa (Magoula) river, left in possession of its old inhabitants.”
"DeepSeeks seems to have optimized heavily with clever software and hardware engineering to sort of neuter the speed limit meant to hold those chips back," Chorzempa said.
AI rivals will continue to do more with less
There are other aspects to the evolving AI race which show gaps that are narrowing for other reasons.
"The story is really about the gap being closed between open source and closed source models," said Alexandra Mousavizadeh, CEO of Evident, an AI consulting firm. "Now the open source models are getting much closer to the capabilities of the closed ones, and we see the price driving down to zero," Mousavizadeh said.
Pyrrhus was born in 319 B.C, the son of Aeacides, King of Epirus, and Phthia, second cousin to Alexander the Great. Aeacides was deposed in 317 B.C. and his family took refuge with Glaukias, King of the Taurantians. Aeacides died in 313 B.C. so Pyrrhus, as heir, was placed his father’s throne by Glaukias in 306 at the age of 13. Deposed again in 302 B.C, Pyrrhus went on to serve under his brother-in-law Demetrius Poliorcetes, son of Antigonus, satrap of Alexander. In 298 B.C. he was sent to Egypt as a hostage after a treaty was concluded between Ptolemy and Demetrius.
!summarize #amc #stock #price #trade #investing
"You can't really gatekeep," Mousavizadeh said, noting that there is lots of sharing that occurs in the open source environment, "regardless of governmental policy."
If DeepSeek's success leads to export controls on advanced chips intended to slow Chinese AI efforts that become even stricter, it should also be clear they are no silver bullet. "They're not a way to duck the competition between the US and China," wrote Dario Amodei, CEO of gen AI startup Anthropic, in a blog post last week. "In the end, AI companies in the US and other democracies must have better models than those in China if we want to prevail. But we shouldn't hand the Chinese Communist Party technological advantages when we don't have to."
!summarize #payroll #economy
His issue isn't with the AI researchers in China, but the government to which they are ultimately beholden. "In interviews they've done, they seem like smart, curious researchers who just want to make useful technology," Amodei wrote about DeepSeek. "But they're beholden to an authoritarian government that has committed human rights violations, has behaved aggressively on the world stage, and will be far more unfettered in these actions if they're able to match the US in AI."
"The second-mover can move very quickly, especially if we've already done the innovation," Karp said, describing DeepSeek as derivative of U.S. models with "improvements at the margins."
He expects a "huge policy discussion" to make sure innovations are not exported, but Karp added that in the end, "the real advantage goes to the first mover as long as the first mover is running hard. ... We have the lead, we have to focus on making sure we keep it. Our adversaries are gonna copy anything they can."
In its earnings report last week, Affirm reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue and posted a surprise profit from the holiday period. The stock rocketed 22% after the announcement.
Affirm's active consumer base grew 23% year over year to 21 million users. The Affirm Card now has 1.7 million active users, up more than 136% from the year-ago quarter. Card volume has more than doubled.
In June, Affirm and Apple announced plans for U.S. Apple Pay users on iPhones and iPads to be able to apply for loans directly through Affirm.
But now Pyrrhus had become bored with Italy and looked to move on once again. As Plutarch tells it, “there came to him from Sicily men who offered to put into his hands the cities of Agrigentum, Syracuse, and Leontini, and begged him to help them to drive out the Carthaginians and rid the island of its tyrants; and from Greece, men with tidings that Ptolemy Ceraunus with his army had perished at the hands of the Gauls, and that now was the time of all times for him to be in Macedonia, where they wanted a king.”
Pyrrhus decided Sicily would be more interesting because it could serve as a gateway to Africa, so he proceeded there.
Musk has his own AI company called xAI which is behind the chatbot Grok.
CNBC has reached out to Toberoff, Tesla and X for comment.
'I'm not the one who tweeted funding secured'
Altman also dismissed a suggestion from Musk earlier this year that OpenAI lacks the money to contribute to President Donald Trump's multi-billion-dollar "Stargate" joint venture aimed at investing in U.S. computing infrastructure needed to train and run frontier AI models.
Named king, he sought to rid the island of Carthaginians, but his popularity quickly declined after he began to act like a tyrant. The Sicilians sought aid to expel him, but before they took action, Pyrrhus sailed back to Tarentum. The Romans used two consular armies to push him out of Italy in 275 B.C. and he was finished with Rome for good. Returning to Epirus, Pyrrhus sought war with Antigonus over Macedonia. After a few victories, he became restless once again.
Cleonymus, pretender to the Spartan throne asked Pyrrhus to back his claim with an army so he headed south to Sparta in 272 B.C. He was hesitant to destroy the city with no walls and delays caused by indecision allowed the Spartans to prepare a defense. The attack was unsuccessful.
Plutarch tells us what happened next. “He could accomplish nothing, and met with fresh losses, he went away, and fell to ravaging the country, purposing to spend the winter there. But Fate was not to be escaped. For at Argos there was a feud between Aristeas and Aristippus; and since Aristippus was thought to enjoy the friendship of Antigonus, Aristeas hastened to invite Pyrrhus into Argos. Pyrrhus was away entertaining one hope after another, and since he made one success but the starting point for a new one, while he was determined to make good each disaster by a fresh undertaking, he suffered neither defeat nor victory to put a limit to his troubling himself and troubling others.”
Pyrrhus took his army to Argos and fought a difficult battle within the city walls. His army took the market place but the fighting was treacherous because the streets were too narrow for elephants and he did not know the city. During a street battle, Pyrrhus was injured by a roof tile thrown down on him by an old woman and, before he could regain his senses, was beheaded by an adversary. The head was sent to Antigonus who wept at the death of such a renowned family member.
Von der Leyen said Europe needed to focus on a unique approach to AI development, including a focus on science and technology, adoption in complex applications using its wealth of industrial manufacturing data, and bringing together talent from different countries and sectors.
She added that the EU wants to ensure every innovative European company has the ability to access the AI power it needs through supercomputers, and to replicate the collaborative success of CERN, the world's largest particle physics laboratory based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Positive uses of AI will include boosting competitiveness, protecting security, shoring up public health and democratizing access to information, she explained.
So the world lost an enigma – a man of many talents as a strategist and military leader, an aristocrat who was comfortable as king, but also a man who bored easily and gave up what he had won more often than not. When politics made his conquests stale, Pyrrhus invariably moved on to the next battle hoping for a better outcome.
Plutarch states “…Pyrrhus would seem to have been always and continually studying and meditating upon this one subject (warfare), regarding it as the most kingly branch of learning; the rest he regarded as mere accomplishments and held them in no esteem. For instance, we are told that when he was asked at a drinking-party whether he thought Python or Caphisias the better flute-player, he replied that Polysperchon was a good general, implying that it became a king to investigate and understand such matters only.
!summarize #china #jimfarley #automotive #battery #ford
Vance also took aim at Europe on Tuesday, saying that officials in the continent have become too heavily focused on regulating AI and adding guardrails to the tech rather than embracing the opportunity and its growth potential.
Touting America as "the leader" in AI, Vance said that the U.S. wants its European allies to foster a more favorable attitude to the technology than it has done to date.
"Just because we're the leader doesn't mean we want to or need to go it alone, of course," Vance said, adding that "America wants to partner with all of you, and we want to embark on the AI revolution before us with the spirit of openness and collaboration."
!summarize #elonmusk #rondesantis #doge #government
!summarize #tesla #stock #price #Robotaxi
A list of some of the biggest AI funding rounds in 2024 speaks to the different areas that are attracting attention. Anthropic (large language models, generative AI), Waymo (self-driving), Anduril (defense), xAI (applications), Databricks (processing and managing data, especially AI data) and Vantage (data centers and infrastructure) were among the top-ten biggest fundraisers of 2024.
Although OpenAI feels like the poster child for AI right now, it did not raise the most money last year. That spot was taken by Databricks, which raised $10 billion, compared to OpenAI’s $6.6 billion.
With the advent of the phalanx, arms buried with the dead went out of favor because they lost their value as a status symbol. The new middle class could afford the weapons that would make them equals.
The Dealroom report was commissioned to coincide with a week of AI events in Paris around the French government’s AI Action Summit. Part of the event’s agenda is focused on the question of how to champion more equitable AI development across more markets, beyond the U.S.
For those who believe AI companies are under-supported outside of that market, Dealroom’s figures lay bare how that works. A full 42% ($80.7 billion) of venture capital raised in the U.S. went to AI startups last year, compared to just 25% ($12.8 billion) in Europe, and 18% across the rest of the world. China was the standout last year with $7.6 billion invested.
My subject matter derives from a combination of influences, including efforts to broadly cover the subject matter, finding the truth (and excitement) in history, and reflecting on topics that stimulate me. But my readers matter too, because a major goal of this blog is to stimulate interest in ancient history, so if the posts are not relevant and interesting, I will have failed.
Looking at the 279 posts, I see about ¼ which have been read in high volume, ½ in moderate volume, and ¼ largely ignored. In some cases the former and the latter make me scratch my head at the number of reads, but I won’t question why people read a particular post in high volume. I'm very interested, however, in determining why good posts have not been read.
As for VC firms, Dealroom found that Antler made the most investments in the field last year, with a16z, General Catalyst, Sequoia and Khosla Ventures rounding out the top five.
Insurance co's stand to lose billions from disasters like the LA fires; Comulate raises $20M to build tech to help them work more smoothly
Unimaginable disasters like the fires in Los Angeles with their hundreds of billions of dollars in destruction put a huge focus on the role the insurance industry plays in the process of rebuilding. Those events will also lead to major financial losses at the insurance companies themselves. And longer term, all of this will put a spotlight on how well insurance companies are run behind the scenes. Today, a startup that’s building technology for that purpose is announcing a funding round on the back of fast growth.
Comulate company had previously only raised $5 million from investors that included Spark Capital. It’s not disclosing valuation.
Jordan Katz, the CEO who co-founded the company with CTO Michael Mattheakis, said in an interview that the pair did not set out to build a startup targeting the insurance industry.
Initially, the two — who respectively worked at Asana and Brex — wanted to build tools for people like themselves. “SaaS for SaaS,” said Katz. There was one small problem, however.
!summarize #jdvance #ai #regulation
For example, in the case of billing and revenue management, a lot of the tooling that companies have been using has been generic enterprise at best, and at worst populated with a lot of manual processes that are error-prone and time-consuming. (Workday, the co-lead investor here, is a prime example of that wide-platform approach: Comulate’s narrow focus was one reason why Workday invested.)
The problem that Comulate is targeting is a classic one in enterprise IT: typically, a process is largely ignored and accepted for what it is, until something critical happens where systems are stretched and they break under pressure.
While the startup does not bill itself as an “AI” startup, it does lean into the idea that “every company is now an AI company.” Comulate uses machine learning to speed up processes and AI tooling in areas like analytics. The company claims that it has saved customers some 260,000 hours in work as a result.
!summarize #ai #roadmap #technology
Caesar’s plan was to hurry to Domitius who was shadowing Scipio in Thessaly. Pompey read Caesar’s mind and began a march to Scipio. Domitius foraging west ran into advance scouts of Pompey who bragged Pompey’s plan to him. Sensing danger to himself, Domitius diverted south to join Caesar at Aeginium.
Pompey had spread the lie of a total victory at Dyrrhachium, endangering Caesar’s march east, because cities would not open their gates to him. Gomphi resisted and sent word to Scipio saying they were strong enough to hold out until his rescue, but Caesar took the city in a 24 hour siege and plundered it as an example. The next town, Metropolis wisely embraced Caesar as a friend and opened its doors to him.
Authorities say they have seized more than 40 pieces of evidence, including mobile phones, laptops, and digital wallets, and took down more than 100 servers linked to the criminal network, according to the Justice Department, Europol notes that authorities were able to able to warn more than 400 companies of “ongoing or imminent ransomware attacks.”
Last year, the U.S. government said it had secured the extradition of an alleged Russian hacker who allegedly served as a key administrator of the prolific Phobos ransomware operation. Another Phobos affiliate was arrested in Italy in 2023 on a French arrest warrant.
Meanwhile, Scipio diverted to Larissa and requested that Pompey join him there.
Pompey’s speeches to his troops were so full of confidence his commanders got into arguments about the offices and villas they would commandeer after returning to Rome, following the defeat of Caesar.
Caesar evolved a plan to entice Pompey to battle, not knowing that Pompey’s lieutenants had already pushed him to engage. With Pompey settled in Pharsalus, Caesar employed a moveable camp strategy designed to wear down Pompey if he pursued, but Pompey declined. Then, one day, Caesar noticed Pompey’s lines farther down from the mountain and decided to offer battle.
Rivals in the space like Joby Aviation and Beta Technologies also have military contracts to test their aircraft for surveillance, logistics, and reconnaissance missions. Archer has its own such contracts with the military, but what it’s chasing now via the program of record is guaranteed funding, a path to scale, and a serious competitive moat.
Goel confirmed that the $300 million from investors will mainly be used to accelerate the work Archer is doing with Anduril to build a hybrid VTOL, though he didn’t share any updates on the company’s bid with the DOD.
“The sound profile is why we are so well positioned to [build aircraft] for defense,” Goel said. “If you look at the traditional helicopters that the defense industry uses, they’re very loud and have very noticeable heat signatures. And so that makes helicopters not a great fit for more discrete missions.”
Archer’s Midnight is built with 12 sets of engines and propellers – six in the front, six in the back. That distributed propulsion among smaller rotors that spin slightly slower, rather than a single large main rotor and tail rotor that operate at high speeds, creates much less noise.
But Caesar still needed money and assumed the role of arbiter over the dispute between Cleopatra and her brother to gain position in the battle for control of the Egyptian treasury. Once Cleopatra became his mistress, Ptolemy and his minions rebelled, were defeated, and the king was killed. The end result was an alliance with Egypt, rather than annexation, because Caesar knew he could not trust any governor to manage an Egyptian province.
Ignoring the unrest in Rome, Caesar decided to seek additional tribute in the east, so he headed north with the goal of reducing Pontus as punishment for the murder of Crassus. Then, after its defeat on August 1, 47 B.C, he headed home via Athens and Tarentum, where he met with Cicero.
2026 isn’t that far away, and Archer has pushed out its timelines before. That’s partly because Archer is still working towards validating the safety of its eVTOLs and securing the necessary certification from the Federal Aviation Administration.
In the U.S., eVTOL companies need to secure type certification to approve the design of an aircraft, production certification to prove they can mass produce a vehicle that meets its approved design, and airworthiness certification to ensure an aircraft is safe for flying.
Employees in Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands will not be included in the staffing cuts "due to local regulations," while those in more than a dozen other countries across Europe, Asia and Africa will receive the termination notifications between Feb. 11-18, according to the memo, Reuters reported, citing an internal memo authored by Meta's Head of People Janelle Gale.
!summarize #elonmusk #openai #ai
After DeepSeek, the AI version of a global trade war is one the U.S. won't win easily
Chip export controls were supposed to prevent China from rivaling U.S.-based gen AI. DeepSeek got around that, and tougher rules may not do much better.
The U.S. government's effort to curtail AI development in China through tightened controls of chip exports, including restrictions on the most advanced offerings from Nvidia, didn't stop DeepSeek from creating its generative AI app efficiently, and at a level that rivals the best the U.S. has to offer from companies such as OpenAI.
#deepseek #ai #tradewar #china #unitedstates
While the details on just how DeepSeek did it remain incomplete, and its success doesn't mean export controls don't have a place in markets and national security policy, it does show that a focus on stopping the competition can't keep pace with innovation. Now, the debate is underway over just how far the U.S. government should go in the future in blocking access to U.S. chip technology.
President Biden's Department of Commerce issued its rules to "regulate the global diffusion" of AI chips and models in the administration's waning days. The rules already have been heavily criticized by tech companies, including Nvidia, as well as policy experts. A Brookings analysis argues the the AI diffusion rules seek to create "a centrally planned global computing economy."
!summarize #tsmc #chips #taiwan
Affirm plans to bring Buy Now, Pay Later debit cards to more users through deal with FIS
Affirm is working with fintech company FIS to bring its debit card to more banks.
Affirm, the online lender founded by Max Levchin, expanded beyond credit and entered the debit market four years ago with a card that let users pay over time. Now the company is making it possible for banks to offer that service to their customers.
Affirm, which pioneered the buy now, pay later business (BNPL), has partnered with FIS in a deal that will allow the fintech company to offer the pay-over-time service to its banking clients and their millions of individual customers.
#affirm #buynow #paylater #debit #cards
Any bank that partners with FIS will be able to provide its own version of the Affirm Card, which launched in 2021, without asking customers to adopt a new piece of plastic. Consumers can access Affirm's biweekly and monthly installment plans and have the money automatically deducted from their checking account.
There are approximately 230 million debit card users in the U.S., according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. BNPL services have traditionally been tied to credit cards or standalone financing products, rather than to debit offerings.
!summarize #elonmusk #openai #nonprofit #ai
Sam Altman says Musk aims to 'slow down a competitor' with his $97.4 billion bid for OpenAI
Elon Musk is leading a group of investors in offering to buy control of OpenAI for $97.4 billion. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Musk is aiming to "slow down a competitor."
Elon Musk aims to "slow down a competitor" when the investor group he led put forward a $97.4 billion proposal for control of OpenAI, the company's CEO Sam Altman told CNBC on Tuesday.
Asked how seriously he is taking Musk's bid, which Altman previously declined in a X social media post, the OpenAI chief said: "Not particularly."
#elonmusk #samaltman #openai #ceo
"I think it's to slow down a competitor and catch up with his thing, but I don't really know ... to the degree anybody does," Altman added, in response to another reporter's questions on the sidelines of the AI Action Summit in Paris.
Elon Musk is leading a group of investors in offering to buy control of OpenAI for $97.4 billion, CNBC confirmed on Monday. The offer is for the nonprofit that oversees the artificial intelligence startup behind ChatGPT.
"It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff said, adding that he submitted an offer on Monday.
EU says AI race 'far from over' as bloc pledges 50-billion-euro investment boost
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday that the race for AI leadership had not yet been won by China or the U.S.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday said the EU would mobilize a total of 200 billion euros ($206.5 billion) for artificial intelligence investments in Europe, stressing that the race for AI leadership had not yet been won by China or the U.S.
The sum includes previously-announced 150-billion-euro funding from investors and industry, which Von der Leyen said the bloc will top up by another 50 billion euros.
#eu #ai #race #investment
Speaking at the AI Action Summit in Paris, Von der Leyen said it would be the "largest public-private partnership in the world for the development of trustworthy AI," focused on industrial and mission-critical applications and powering European "gigafactories" for processing large models.
"We want Europe to be one of the leading AI continents, and this means embracing a way of life where AI is everywhere," Von der Leyen told an audience of big-name tech figures and political leaders in the French capital.
JD Vance says U.S. will defend American AI and block efforts to weaponize the tech
Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. will safeguard American artificial intelligence and chips and block efforts to "weaponize" the critical technologies.
Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday said that the U.S. will safeguard American artificial intelligence and chips and block efforts to "weaponize" the critical technologies.
"Some authoritarian regimes have stolen and used AI to strengthen their military intelligence and surveillance capabilities, capture foreign data and create propaganda to undermine other nations' national security," Vance said in an address at France's AI Action Summit in Paris.
#jdvance #unitedstates #ai #technology
"I want to be clear, this administration will block such efforts, full stop," Vance added. "We will safeguard American AI and chip technologies from theft and misuse, work with our allies and partners to strengthen and extend these protections and close pathways to adversaries attaining AI capabilities that threaten all of our people."
Much of the focus from the the AI Action Summit this week has been centered on China's AI model DeepSeek, which claimed to achieve performance on par with OpenAI's o1 reasoning model at a far lower cost. Vance didn't mention DeepSeek by name — however, Trump's second in command took aim at cheap, heavily subsidized technologies.
!summarize #byd #automaker #china
AI investments surged 62% to $110B in 2024 while startup funding overall declined 12%
Venture capitalists are gobbling up term sheets for startups peddling artificial intelligence, but they’re remaining picky when it comes to funding the wider spectrum of technology.
According to new figures from analytics firm Dealroom, AI startups raised $110 billion last year, 62% more than the year before. At the same time, privately-backed companies (startups and scale-ups) across the technology spectrum raised $227 billion in 2024, down 12% from 2023.
#ai #investments #startsups #funding
Yoram Wijngaarde, the founder of Dealroom, has been analyzing and advising in the tech industry for decades. Although marketplaces had a barnstorming moment in the late 1990s and early 2000s in terms of investor attention, nothing has come close to the impact AI has had on investing in terms of activity and value. “This is the biggest wave ever by absolute amounts invested,” he said. “There’s never been anything like it.”
Part of the reason for that, it seems, is the fact that there is a wider ecosystem being touched by AI, covering hardware and infrastructure, applications, foundational models and more.
!summarize #florida #bitcoin #state #reserve #crypto
Authorities arrest four suspected 8base ransomware operators in global takedown
A global law enforcement operation has led to the arrest of four Russian nationals, who authorities accuse of involvement in more than 1,000 ransomware attacks worldwide.
The operation, named “Phobos Aetor,” saw four suspected hackers arrested in Phuket, Thailand, according to Bavarian police. The four individuals have been linked to the 8base ransomware group, which authorities say is the largest affiliate of the Phobos ransomware-as-a-service operation.
#8base #ransomware #cyberattack
Phobos has long been linked to the 8base data extortion gang, which also saw its dark web leak site seized as part of the operation.
The Justice Department on Wednesday unsealed charges against two of the suspects, named as Roman Berezhnoy, 33, and Egor Nikolaevich Glebov, 39, who stand accused of operating the 8base ransomware affiliate organization, which “victimized public and private entities through the deployment of Phobos ransomware.”
The FBI last year warned that Phobos had been used in attacks targeting local governments, emergency services, public healthcare, and other critical infrastructure entities across the United States.
Archer Aviation doubles down on defense aircraft with $300M raise
Escalating geopolitical tensions and a new administration with a hawkish defense agenda has led many startups to embrace dual-use strategies to secure revenue through military applications. It’s a trend that is already heating up in aerospace.
Take Archer Aviation, a California-based startup building eVTOLs (electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles). Until very recently, Archer’s go-to-market strategy was an air taxi networks across several cities in the U.S. and abroad.
Archer’s focus is now more acutely on defense, and it has attracted fresh capital to further that mission.
#archeraviation #defense #funding #aircraft #evotl
The company, which went public in September 2021 via a special purpose acquisition merger (SPAC), on Tuesday announced a $300 million equity raise from institutional investors like Blackrock and Wellington. The raise brings Archer’s total funding to around $3.36 billion. This fresh capital comes off the back of a $430 million round in December to fund its new Archer Defense program.
As part of that program, Archer signed an exclusive deal with weapons manufacturer Anduril to jointly develop a hybrid gas-and-electric-powered VTOL aircraft for critical defense applications. Together, the two are targeting a program of record from the Department of Defense, which is a budgeted acquisition program with guaranteed funding over a set period.
!summarize #arkinvest #bigideas #2025 #cathiewood
Moderne raises $30M to solve technical debt across complex codebases
Florida-based Moderne has raised $30 million to help enterprises solve technical debt across complex codebases.
When companies take shortcuts to build their software stack, prioritizing speed and quick-fixes over quality and long-term scalability, they can end up with what’s known as “technical debt.” Essentially, if a codebase is not constructed properly, as it grows, it will become more complex, cost more to maintain, and it’ll become ever harder to add new features. And as with most kinds of debt, the problems can grow exponentially if left unaddressed.
#moderne #funding #codebases #debt
!summarize #cathiewood #crypto #innovation #technology
T-Mobile's Starlink-Powered Satellite Texting Is Here
T-Mobile just opened its Starlink-powered satellite messaging service to everyone in the US—yes, even Verizon and AT&T users can try it for free. After the trial, T-Mobile customers pay $15/month ($10 for beta testers), while others pay $20. It’s also included in the Go5G Next plan. This could be a game-changer for staying connected in dead zones.
#tmobile #starlink #satellite #wireless #technology
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Tiny Gyroscopes, Big Impact: The Future of Navigation
at ces earlier this year, anello photonics and oscp showed off their next-gen navigation tech. anello's palm-sized gyroscopes pack serious precision for all kinds of uses, while oscp’s multi-gyro units can pinpoint locations down to centimeters. these systems aren’t just cool—they're essential backups when gps signals get jammed, making them a game-changer for everything from autonomous vehicles to defense.
#navigation #gps #innovation #ces #technology
> S👁️URCE <
AI Breakthrough: Smarter Math, Deeper Thinking
a new 3.5b ai model is making waves with its ability to handle latent reasoning—basically, thinking through problems without needing every detail spelled out. what's even wilder? it’s crushing math problems like never before. unlike standard ai, this one uses a recurrent architecture, meaning it processes information in loops, refining its answers over time. this could mean big improvements for fields like science, finance, and even everyday ai assistants.
#ai #machinelearning #math #innovation #technology
> S👁️URCE <
deepseek’s ai had a major security oops—wiz caught it first
wiz researchers found unencrypted sensitive data in deepseek’s open-source ai, exposing serious security risks. reaching deepseek was tough, but once contacted, they locked it down in an hour. still, wiz warns that these kinds of slip-ups show deepseek isn’t ready for handling sensitive info. a reminder: even open-source ai needs rock-solid security.
#ai #cybersecurity #opensource #infosec #technology
> S👁️URCE <
AI on a Budget: UC Berkeley's $30 Breakthrough
jiayi pan and his team at uc berkeley just pulled off something wild—they recreated deepseek’s r1-zero model for only $30. their open-source version, "tinyzero," challenges the idea that cutting-edge ai needs big tech’s billion-dollar budgets. this could shake up the industry, making ai research way more accessible. if high-performance ai can run on pocket change, what does that mean for the future of big ai companies?
#ai #opensource #machinelearning #ucberkeley #technology
> S👁️URCE <
Meta Sets the Rules for AI’s Wild West
meta just dropped its frontier ai framework, setting strict conditions for when it won’t release certain ai models. if an ai is flagged as “high-risk” or “critical-risk”—think deepfake generators that could sway elections or autonomous systems with real-world control—meta says it might keep it under wraps. this move signals growing caution from big tech as ai gets more powerful.
#meta #ai #bigtech #ethics #technology
> S👁️URCE <
DeepSeek Challenges OpenAI with Cheaper AI
Chinese startup DeepSeek is shaking up the AI scene by replicating OpenAI's chatbots at a fraction of the cost. This bold move is reigniting the conversation about open-source AI, showing how innovation in China is pushing the limits of what’s possible. Imagine using the same powerful tech but at a price you can actually afford – DeepSeek’s making that happen. Will this change the game for the future of AI?
#AI #DeepSeek #OpenAI #costeffective #technology
> S👁️URCE <
AI Invents Game-Changing Ultrastrong, Featherlight Substance
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has long been a subject of both fascination and apprehension.
While dystopian narratives often depict AI as a potential threat to humanity, recent advancements reveal a more optimistic and transformative role for AI, particularly in the field of materials science.
https://inleo.io/threads/view/mickymouse/re-leothreads-dxk7lknf?referral=mickymouse
#technology
New York State Bans DeepSeek From Govt Devices
New York State has banned Chinese-tied artificial intelligence application DeepSeek from government devices over data privacy concerns and censorship, according to The Wall Street Journal on Monday.
New York State has banned Chinese-tied artificial intelligence application DeepSeek from government devices over data privacy concerns and censorship, according to The Wall Street Journal on Monday.
A bipartisan duo in the U.S. House have proposed legislation to ban DeepSeek from federal devices, similar to the policy already in place for the popular social media platform TikTok.
#newyork #deepseek #ban #government
The news comes as artificial intelligence is in focus at a Paris, France summit where world leaders, executives, and experts will hammer out pledges on guiding the development of the rapidly advancing technology.
Vice President JD Vance — making his first trip abroad since taking office — is attending the Paris AI Action Summit starting, while China's President Xi Jinping will be sending his special envoy, signaling high stakes for the meeting.
Heads of state and top government officials, tech bosses and researchers are gathering in Paris for the two-day summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The event aims to address how to harness artificial intelligence's potential so that it benefits everyone, while containing the technology's myriad risks.