~techmeme | Bookmarks (1013)

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat: Nvidia completes its $700M acquisition of Israel-based Run:ai, which helps orchestrate GPU clouds for AI, and plans to open source Run:ai's software  —  Nvidia has completed its acquisition of Run:ai, a software company that makes it easier for customers to orchestrate GPU clouds for AI, and said that it would open-source the software.

Zack Abrams / The Block: Three industry groups sue the IRS, challenging a rule that would require some DeFi brokers to report users' personal information to the agency starting in 2027  —  - The Blockchain Association and two other groups sued the IRS to challenge a recently-finalized rule that would require DeFi front-ends …

Bloomberg: RWA.xyz estimates the total value of tokenized real-world assets, excluding stablecoins, is $13B, as Opimas says just 0.003% of global asset value is tokenized  —  - ‘It may even be bigger than the internet,’ proponent says  — BlackRock, Trump's election win have re-energized efforts

Kelcee Griffis / Bloomberg: AT&T and Verizon say their networks are now clear after the Salt Typhoon intrusion; AT&T says a few “individuals of foreign intelligence interest” were targeted  —  - Carriers said hackers targeted political, intelligence figures  — White House said nine telecom companies were victims

A.J. Vicens / Reuters: The US plans to update HIPAA with new cybersecurity rules to protect patients' private data, including mandatory encryption and multifactor authentication  —  Healthcare organizations may be required to bolster their cybersecurity, to better prevent sensitive information from being leaked …

Jon Levine / New York Post: Trump supports H-1B visas, saying “I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I've been a believer in H-1B”, siding with Musk in the MAGA debate on the issue  —  President-elect Trump told The Post Saturday he supports immigration visas for highly skilled workers …

Matt Burgess / Wired: Finland, Canada, the US, and other countries are testing tech for passport-free travel, including facial recognition and a “digital travel credential”  —  Smartphones and face recognition are being combined to create new digital travel documents.  The paper passport's days are numbered—despite new privacy risks.

Jennifer Elias / CNBC: A look at Google's pressure-filled 2024 under Sundar Pichai, notching some AI wins with new Gemini models and navigating product mishaps, layoffs, and more  —  Google's blowout earnings report in April, which sparked the biggest rally in Alphabet shares since 2015 and pushed …

Clara Murray / Financial Times: Analysis: mentions of deepfakes or AI-made content in X's Community Notes were more correlated with new image generation model releases than elections in 2024  —  The panic over AGI disinformation in this year's political cycle seems to have been overblown  —  Around this time last year …

Wall Street Journal: What to expect in 2025: increased hype around AI agents, new generative AI-powered gadgets, better weather forecasts due to Google DeepMind's GenCast, and more  —  Weather forecasts will get smarter, EVs could get pricier, crypto will be for everyday investors and AI will be everywhere

Bloomberg: Analysis: 50%+ of the US households showing highly-distorted power readings from February to October were within 20 miles of significant data center activity  —  AI data centers are multiplying across the US and sucking up huge amounts of power.  New evidence shows they may also be distorting …

Coco Feng / South China Morning Post: Four districts in southern China formed a pilot framework to mutually recognize qualifications and open roads for autonomous robotaxis to travel across cities  —  After having registered and been certified in one area, autonomous-driving cars can travel on open roads in other regions

Ian Carlos Campbell / Engadget: Microsoft acknowledges that Xbox Cloud Gaming has been experiencing issues with launching games for more than a day, with the problems yet to be resolved  —  Games take an unusually long time to load if they don't disconnect first.  —  If you've tried to use Xbox Cloud Streaming …

Jordan Novet / CNBC: Oracle's shares are up ~63% in 2024, lifting Larry Ellison's net worth to $217B+, as the company enjoyed its biggest stock rally since 1999 and the dot-com boom  —  It's been a good year for Larry Ellison.  —  Oracle's co-founder has gained roughly $75 billion in paper wealth as the software company …

Callum Booth / The Verge: A look at the EU's common charging regulations, which come into force on Dec. 28 and cover USB-C ports, fast charging, unbundling of charging bricks, and more  —  The common charging standard brings USB PD support, improved labelling, and less e-waste.

Vicky Ge Huang / Wall Street Journal: A profile of Tron founder Justin Sun, who wants to be the “Elon Musk of the crypto world” and advises the Trump-backed crypto project World Liberty Financial  —  The Tron blockchain entrepreneur courts attention, and backs the president-elect  —  President-elect Donald Trump's newest ally …

Angrej Singh / Axios: Some conservative critics of Elon Musk allege censorship and claim they were stripped of their X verification badges after challenging his views on H-1B visas  —  - Since Musk purchased Twitter and implemented sweeping staff cuts, it's often been difficult to get answers as to whether …

Greg Stohr / Bloomberg: Filing: Trump asks SCOTUS to pause the law that could ban TikTok, saying the court should give him time to “pursue a political resolution” of the dispute  —  - Biden administration says Chinese control of app is threat  — TikTok says law infringes rights of 170 million Americans

Mohar Chatterjee / Politico: OpenAI is tripling the size of its DC policy team to 12 and beefing up its lobbying as it tries to promote a sweeping plan for cheaper energy to data centers  —  The AI industry wants Trump's Washington to embrace it as a bulwark against China.  OpenAI is trying to lead the pack.

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: DeepSeek-V3 sometimes identifies itself as ChatGPT when asked which model it is; some speculate that its training datasets may contain text generated by ChatGPT  —  Earlier this week, DeepSeek, a well-funded Chinese AI lab, released an “open” AI model that beats many rivals on popular benchmarks.

Natasha Mascarenhas / The Information: Bookkeeping startup Bench, which raised $100M+ including from Shopify, closes down effective immediately; several employees say Bench also laid off staff  —  Bench, a Vancouver, Canada-based bookkeeping startup that had raised more than $100 million from well-known venture capital firms …

Todd Spangler / Variety: Eight free-speech groups, including the EFF, and three members of Congress file briefs with SCOTUS in support of TikTok's appeal against the divest-or-ban law  —  Groups alleging China's government has engaged in human-rights violations argue U.S. Constitution does not protect TikTok as “an unregistered foreign agent”

Reuters: Experts say hackers compromised several companies' Chrome browser extensions, including Cyberhaven's, in a series of intrusions dating back to mid-December  —  Hackers have compromised several different companies' Chrome browser extensions in a series of intrusions dating back to mid-December …

Greg Otto / CyberScoop: The US says it has identified a ninth telecom company impacted by the Salt Typhoon hacks, and the number of individuals directly impacted is “less than 100”  —  In an update Friday, the White House says nine telecom companies were impacted by the Chinese espionage effort.  —  Learn more.