Steve Ballmer blasts founder he backed who pleaded guilty to fraud: ‘I was duped and feel silly’
Steve Ballmer wrote a fiery letter in the sentencing of disgraced founder Joseph Sanberg documenting all the harm that's befalling him as an investor.
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Palantir is reportedly helping the IRS investigate financial crimes
The IRS has used Palantir's software since at least 2018, The Intercept reports.
Cohere acquires, merges with Germany-based startup to create a ‘transatlantic AI powerhouse’
Cohere, the Canada-based AI company that makes AI tools for businesses in regulated industries, announced Friday it would merge with Aleph Alpha, a German company that also builds AI systems for businesses and governments.
CVSS scored these two Palo Alto CVEs as manageable. Chained, they gave attackers root access to 13,000 devices.
During Operation Lunar Peek in November 2024, attackers gained unauthenticated remote admin access — and eventual root — across more than 13,000 exposed Palo Alto Networks management interfaces. Palo Alto Networks scored CVE-2024-0012 at 9.3 and CVE-2024-9474 at 6.9 under CVSS v4.0. NVD scored the same pair 9.8 and 7.2 under CVSS v3.1. Two scoring systems. Two different answers for the same vulnerabilities. The 6.9 fell below patch thresholds. Admin access appeared required. The 9.3 sat queued f
Two college kids raise a $5.1 million pre-seed to build an AI social network in iMessage
Series, a social networking app that's grown popular on college campuses, announced a $5.1 million pre-seed round from some big names in tech.
Europe’s child safety laws require collecting the data its privacy laws forbid
Summary: Europe’s effort to protect children online has collided with its own privacy architecture. The ePrivacy derogation allowing voluntary CSAM scanning expired on April 3 after Parliament voted 311-228 to reject its extension, the EU’s new age verification app announced April 15 was hacked in under two minutes, and the CSA Regulation (“Chat Control”) remains […]This story continues at The Next Web
Meta’s loss is Thinking Machines’ gain
Meta has been poaching talent from Thinking Machines Lab. But it's a two-way street.
X-Energy’s failed $1 billion SPAC became a $1 billion IPO. The reactor did not change. The market did.
In short: X-Energy raised $1.02 billion in the largest nuclear IPO on record, pricing at $23 (21% above range) on the Nasdaq, with shares surging 31% on opening to imply a $12 billion market cap. The offering was 15x oversubscribed. The same company failed to close a $1 billion SPAC in 2023. The difference is […]This story continues at The Next Web
X-energy stock pops 27% on first day of trading following upsized IPO
Investors flocked to nuclear power startup X-energy in its first day of public trading on the Nasdaq.
US government’s Intel stake jumps 300% to $36B after CHIPS Act grants were converted to equity under Trump
In short: The US government’s 9.9% stake in Intel, acquired for $8.9 billion last August by converting CHIPS Act grants and Secure Enclave funds into equity at $20.47/share, is now worth approximately $36 billion after Intel’s stock surged 20%+ on a massive Q1 earnings beat. The $26.5 billion unrealised gain is one of the most […]This story continues at The Next Web
SoftBank is converting a Sharp LCD factory into a battery plant for AI data centres. The data centres cannot wait five years.
Summary: SoftBank Corp. plans to convert part of the former Sharp LCD factory in Sakai, Osaka into one of Japan’s largest battery production lines for AI data centres, with production expected within five years (~2031). The move completes a vertical integration stack spanning chips (Arm, Graphcore, Ampere), modular data centre manufacturing (Lordstown), energy generation (SB […]This story continues at The Next Web
ComfyUI hits $500M valuation as creators seek more control over AI-generated media
ComfyUI, whose tools give creators more control over AI image, video, and audio generation, just raised $30 million.
X launches stand-alone XChat app on iOS
X's new app promises private chats, disappearing messages, audio and video calls, and more.
Google is investing up to $40 billion in a company that is beating Gemini. That is the point.
Summary: Google is investing up to $40 billion in Anthropic ($10B cash now at $350B valuation, $30B conditional on performance targets) plus five gigawatts of compute over five years, bringing its total commitment to ~$43B. The deal arrives as Anthropic’s revenue hit $30B ARR (up from $1B in January 2025) and its secondary market valuation […]This story continues at The Next Web
Google to invest up to $40B in Anthropic in cash and compute
Google plans up to $40B investment in Anthropic as AI rivals race to secure massive compute capacity, following the limited release of its powerful, cybersecurity-focused Mythos model.
Marked-up Mac minis flood eBay amid shortages driven by AI
Apple’s sold-out Mac mini is spawning marked-up eBay listings as demand surges for the compact desktop, now favored for running local AI models and tools.
DeepSeek-V4 arrives with near state-of-the-art intelligence at 1/6th the cost of Opus 4.7, GPT-5.5
The whale has resurfaced. DeepSeek, the Chinese AI startup offshoot of High-Flyer Capital Management quantitative analysis firm, became a near-overnight sensation globally in January 2025 with the release of its open source R1 model that matched proprietary U.S. giants.It's been an epoch in AI since then, and while DeepSeek has released severalupdates to that model and its other V3 series, the international AI and business community has been largely waiting with baited breath for the follow
Tesla earnings recap: Elon Musk braces investors for a big spending increase but says it will pay off
Tesla's earnings beat estimates. But TSLA stock slipped into the red after hours as Elon Musk gave timeline updates and warned of a big capex spike.
Is Elon Musk The Father of Amber Heard's Children? Tech Billionaire Already Has 14 Children With 4 Women
Speculation linking Elon Musk to Amber Heard's children persists due to their past relationship, but it remains unconfirmed and has been denied by Heard's representatives.
Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s Epic Fight Heads to Court
A jury trial that is set to start on Monday could shift the course of the A.I. race, with Mr. Musk seeking billions of ...