News Today

Techmeme Latest Headlines

Memo: CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz says the company will cut ~500 jobs, or 5% of its global workforce, and expects to incur $36M to $56M in charges (Dean Seal/Wall Street Journal)

Ox Security, which scans for vulnerabilities in both AI- and human-generated code, raised a $60M Series B led by DTCP and says it scans 100M+ lines per day (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)

OpenAI unveils OpenAI for Countries, an initiative to help build out AI infrastructure and customize OpenAI's products for specific languages and local needs (Shirin Ghaffary/Bloomberg)

Uber reports Q1 revenue up 14% YoY to $11.5B, Gross Bookings up 14% YoY to $42.8B, vs. $43.1B est., trips up 18% YoY to 3B, and $1.8B net income; UBER falls ~5% (Natalie Lung/Bloomberg)

Amsterdam-based neobank Finom raised '92.7M from General Catalyst and says it serves 100K+ SMBs in Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Italy (Mary Ann Azevedo/TechCrunch)

At a Manhattan event, TikTok executives tried to reassure brands and ad clients, saying "we are absolutely confident" in TikTok "and confident in the future" (Sapna Maheshwari/New York Times)

FCC listings show two new Asus ROG Ally 2 handheld models with an Xbox button, AMD chips, 64GB of RAM, larger grips, and two USB-C, likely set for Computex 2025 (VideoCardz.com)

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says China's AI market will likely reach ~$50B in the next two to three years, and missing out on it would be a "tremendous loss" (Ashley Capoot/CNBC)

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna says the company used AI agents to replace the work of 200+ HR employees and, as a result, hired more programmers and salespeople (Belle Lin/Wall Street Journal)

Amazon unveils Vulcan, a sorting robot with a sense of touch and will be capable of grabbing ~75% of warehouse items, rolling out globally in the next few years (Sarah Butler/The Guardian)

A look at the hype and reality surrounding AI agents, currently used primarily by companies to boost efficiency and cut costs, rather than drive top-line growth (Lucy Colback/Financial Times)

US credit and debit card data: Shein's US sales dropped 23% during the week of April 25 to May 1 compared to the prior seven days, while Temu's sales fell 17% (Bloomberg)

Leaked audio and memos: Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi defended increasing the RTO to three days per week at a heated all-hands meeting, saying "it is what it is" (Jennifer Elias/CNBC)

The AI arms race between employers and jobseekers isn't going well for anyone, as applicants turn to GenAI to speed up a process that already feels dehumanized (Sarah O'Connor/Financial Times)

A look at the impact of ChatGPT use on energy consumption, as analysis suggests AI usage is still a rounding error on a person's total electricity footprint (Hannah Ritchie/Sustainability)

Doppel, which provides an AI-powered social engineering detection service for enterprises, raised a $35M Series B led by Bessemer at a $205M valuation (Maria Deutscher/SiliconANGLE)

An in-depth look at the impact of stratospheric pollution from satellite reentries on the ozone layer, as Starlink and others launch more internet satellites (Bloomberg)

Duolingo's "AI-first" announcement highlights the unfolding AI jobs crisis, with attrition in creative fields, hiring cuts, declining freelance incomes, more (Brian Merchant/Blood in the Machine)

Sensor Tower: Temu cut US digital ad spending by an estimated 31% and Shein by 19% in the two week period from March 31 as the de minimis exemption is closed (New York Times)

Inside Japan's Disco Corp, which has a radical HR system where no employee has a boss and manufactures ~75% of the machines used to cut and dice semiconductors (Financial Times)

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs calls crypto an "untested investment" and vetoes a bill that would have allowed the state to invest in bitcoin using seized funds (Francisco Rodrigues/CoinDesk)

Sources: Apple plans to launch iPhone 18 Pro models, a thin iPhone 18, and a foldable iPhone in 2026 fall but the standard iPhone 18 in spring 2027 (Wayne Ma/The Information)

Some international startup founders say they are canceling travel plans or reconsidering moving to the US due to Trump administration's immigration crackdown (Madeline Renbarger/Newcomer)

How Namma Yatri, an open-source ride-hailing app, forced Uber, Ola, and Rapido to adopt its no-commission, subscription model for auto-rickshaw drivers in India (Indulekha Aravind/Rest of World)

Advocacy groups push California's AG to ensure that OpenAI's becoming a for-profit adheres to the law; OpenAI formed an advisory commission in response (Paresh Dave/Wired)

The US DOD transfers its AI-based Open Price Exploration for National Security program to nonprofit Critical Minerals Forum to boost Western supply deals (Ernest Scheyder/Reuters)

Veza, which helps company administrators manage employee access to applications and data, raised a $108M Series D led by NEA at a valuation of just over $800M (Jordan Novet/CNBC)

Eric Schmidt-backed nonprofit FutureHouse, which aims to build an "AI scientist", launches a platform and API with four AI-based tools to assist scientific work (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)

Singapore-based cross-border B2B payment service Thunes raised a $150M Series D co-led by Apis Partners and Vitruvian Partners to accelerate its US expansion (PYMNTS.com)

Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom says AI companies are trying too hard to "juice engagement" through follow-up questions, instead of providing useful insights (Charles Rollet/TechCrunch)

TPG agrees to acquire Sabre's hospitality solutions unit, which provides SaaS to hotel brands, for $1.1B in cash, as Sabre focuses on its core airline business (Sean O'Neill/Skift)

US v. Google: Google says its controls for publishers to opt out of AI training only cover work by Google DeepMind, not training by its other units for search (Davey Alba/Bloomberg)

Sources: Decagon, which is building customer service-focused AI agents, is in talks to raise $100M in new funding led by a16z and Accel at a $1.5B valuation (Rashi Shrivastava/Forbes)

At the adtech remedy hearing, Google says it's open to giving competitors access to real-time bidding data from its ad exchange AdX, but it rejects a breakup (Trishla Ostwal/Adweek)

Source: Anthropic offers to buy back shares from current and former employees, the first transaction of its kind for Anthropic, valuing the startup at $61.5B (Stephanie Palazzolo/The Information)

A hacking group called DragonForce takes credit for ransomware attacks targeting British retailers M&S, Harrods, and Co-Op over the past two weeks (Ryan Gallagher/Bloomberg)

The US DOJ tells a judge it will seek to force Google to divest its ad exchange and publisher ad server units and share real-time ad bidding data with rivals (Financial Times)

Temu stops shipping products from China directly to US shoppers and lists only products shipped from US warehouses, as Trump closes the de minimis exemption (Annie Palmer/CNBC)

Google plans to roll out Gemini next week for children under 13 whose parents use Family Link and says it will not use the under-13 users' data to train its AI (Natasha Singer/New York Times)

Sources: Apple is working with Anthropic for a new version of Xcode that will use Claude Sonnet to write, edit, and test code, with plans to roll out internally (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

OpenAI shares details on how an update to GPT-4o inadvertently increased the model's sycophancy, why OpenAI failed to catch it, and the changes it is planning (OpenAI)

Sources: eToro is considering launching its US IPO as soon as next week, after pausing its plans in April amid tariff-related stock volatility (Bloomberg)

Uber partners with Chinese self-driving startup Momenta to launch robotaxi services outside the US and China, starting with Europe in early 2026 (MacKenzie Sigalos/CNBC)

A US judge schedules the US government's remedies trial in the Google antitrust case regarding its advertising tech to begin on September 22 (Hayden Field/CNBC)

Filing: Amazon restructured part of its $8B Anthropic investment from convertible notes into stock in Q1, creating a $3.3B pre-tax gain that boosted its profits (Todd Bishop/GeekWire)

Livestream marketplace Whatnot says it hit $3B+ worth of goods sold through its app last year and viewers spend 80+ minutes per day on average on the app (Ann Gehan/The Information)

An investigation finds 70+ content-farm YouTube channels using AI to produce cartoon content featuring gore and child abuse, featuring characters like minions (Laura Holliday/Wired)

The UK FCA plans to ban retail investors from borrowing money to buy cryptocurrencies, as it aims to bring much of the crypto market under its regulatory remit (Martin Arnold/Financial Times)

The US designates Cambodia's Huione Group as a money-laundering operation, saying it laundered $4B+ since August 2021 for criminals such as North Korean hackers (Selam Gebrekidan/New York Times)

Filing: Jeff Bezos plans to sell up to $4.75B worth of AMZN, or 25M shares, via an orderly trading plan, set up in March, running through the end of May 2026 (Tim Bradshaw/Financial Times)

Sources: Nvidia told ByteDance, Alibaba, Tencent, and others that it is tweaking its AI chips so they can be sold in China without breaching US export rules (Qianer Liu/The Information)

Twilio reports Q1 revenue up 12% YoY to $1.17B, 335K+ active customer accounts vs. 313K+ in Q1 2024, and Q2 revenue forecast above est.; TWLO jumps 8%+ (Yahoo Finance)

Apple plans to source more than 19B chips from the US this year, including from TSMC's expanding Arizona facilities, as it seeks to lessen its reliance on China (Bloomberg)

Rockstar Games delays the release of Grand Theft Auto VI from fall 2025 to May 26, 2026, says it needs extra time to deliver the expected quality (Tom Warren/The Verge)

Microsoft says new accounts will be "passwordless by default", asking people to use more secure methods like passkeys, push notifications, and security keys (Umar Shakir/The Verge)

Ireland's DPC fines TikTok '530M for illegally sending user data to China, ordering a halt to EU data transfers in six months if protections aren't guaranteed (Sam Schechner/Wall Street Journal)

The Google search antitrust trial is effectively a fight about AI's future, as lawyers and rivals argue Google's monopoly could make it the dominant AI player (David McCabe/New York Times)

Kuwait cracks down on crypto miners for being a "major" cause of blackouts; energy consumption in the Al-Wafrah region fell by 55% after the crackdown (Ahmed Hagagy/Reuters)

A California man pleads guilty to illegally accessing Disney's Slack channels and stealing 1.1TB of data in 2024; he later posed as hacktivist group "NullBulge" (Lawrence Abrams/BleepingComputer)

Sources: Beijing's decision to exempt eight types of US-made chips from tariffs came after auto industry lobbying, exposing China's dependence on US auto chips (Wall Street Journal)

Memo: the US DOD seeks to secure right-to-repair provisions in Army contracts to access tools, software, and technical data without IP constraints (Reuters)

Apple updates its App Store Guidelines to comply with a US judge's April 30 injunction, including allowing app developers to link to external payments in the US (Chance Miller/9to5Mac)

Temu appears to have removed all products in the US version of its online store that ship directly from China to US consumers, confusing suppliers and customers (Zeyi Yang/Wired)

Atlassian reports Q3 revenue up 14% YoY to $1.36B, vs. $1.29B est., and a net loss of $70.8M, vs. a $12.8M net profit a year ago; TEAM drops 16%+ after hours (Duncan Riley/SiliconANGLE)

MoviePass launches Mogul, a daily fantasy sports-inspired, blockchain-based platform for movie buffs, and says over 400K people have signed up for early access (Lauren Forristal/TechCrunch)

Reddit plans to add Reddit Answers, its AI search tool that was launched in beta in December 2024, to its main search bar and says the tool has 1M weekly users (Karissa Bell/Engadget)

Trump's World Liberty Financial says Abu Dhabi's MGX fund is making a $2B investment in Binance using World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin, raising ethical concerns (David Yaffe-Bellany/New York Times)

Spotify says it submitted an iOS app update letting US customers use other payment options beyond Apple's; Patreon earlier said it would do the same (Jay Peters/The Verge)

Aurora launches its commercial driverless trucking service, making deliveries between Dallas and Houston, and plans to expand to El Paso and Phoenix this year (Andrew J. Hawkins/The Verge)

Apple expects that a majority of iPhones sold in the US in the June quarter will come from India and a majority of its other devices will come from Vietnam (Rolfe Winkler/Wall Street Journal)

Tim Cook says Apple estimates tariffs will add $900M in costs for the June quarter, assuming the current tariff policy remains in place (Benjamin Mayo/9to5Mac)

Block reports Q1 revenue down 3% YoY to $5.77B, vs. $6.2B est., gross profit up 9% to $2.3B, below est., issues weak profit guidance; XYZ drops 18%+ after hours (MacKenzie Sigalos/CNBC)

Instacart reports Q1 revenue up 9% YoY to $897M, gross transaction volume up 10% to $9.1B, forecasts Q2 adjusted EBITDA above est.; CART jumps 4%+ after hours (Natalie Lung/Bloomberg)

Roku reports Q1 revenue up 16% YoY to $1.02B vs. $1.01B est., a net loss of $27.4M, compared to $50.9M a year ago; ROKU drops 5%+ after hours (Todd Spangler/Variety)

Apple reports Q2 revenue from Services, which includes the App Store, Apple TV+, and Apple Music, up 12% YoY to $26.65B, a new record but below $26.7B est. (Todd Spangler/Variety)

Apple Q2: iPhone up 2% YoY to $46.84B, vs. $45.84B est., Mac up 7% to $7.95B, iPad up 15% to $6.4B, and Wearables, Home, and Accessories down 5% to $7.52B (Kif Leswing/CNBC)

Sources: AWS is developing an AI-assisted coding service that offers features similar to Cursor and goes beyond its current coding assistant Amazon Q Developer (Kevin McLaughlin/The Information)

Game developer Scopely says Monopoly Go! crossed $5B in gross bookings in just 24 months, significantly ahead of the previous benchmark of 40 months (Rachel Kaser/VentureBeat)

Data integration company Fivetran acquires Census, which helps companies move data out of databases and into operational tools and was valued at $630M in 2022 (Rebecca Szkutak/TechCrunch)

Redis, the popular in-memory data store, returns its main system to open source license AGPL, after facing criticism in 2024 for moving to a dual-license model (Lindsay Clark/The Register)

Features Headlines Today
[Fri-30-May-2025]

14 suspected kidnappers, robbers arrested in Nasarawa - The Sun

80th Anniversary: PPF Underscores Importance Of Pan-African Unity - New Telegraph

Adeleke Eulogizes Abiodun On His Birthday - New Telegraph

Alleged N76bn and $31.5m Fraud: Former Union Bank chief testifies on Arik airlines controversial loan - Premium Times

APC Lauds Gov Okpehbolo On Appeal Court Victory - New Telegraph

Biafra Day: Anambra Shut Down As Police Continues Show Of Force - New Telegraph

Bolt driver shot dead in Bayelsa - Premium Times

Buratai Hails Tinubus Economic Policies, Urges Govs To Ensure Security - New Telegraph

Constitution Review: LG Autonomy, Devolution Of Powers Top Priority Kalu - New Telegraph

Danlami Samuel Ibrahim and Ngg wa Thiongo: In memoriam, By Jibrin Ibrahim - Premium Times

Day after devastating disaster, NEMA engages Niger stakeholders on flood preparedness - Premium Times

Delta clinches fifth consecutive victory at National Sports Festival - Premium Times

Delta State asserts sporting dominance as Gateway Games 2024 concludes in grand style - Premium Times

Eid-El-Kabir: Gov Aliyu Approves Early Payment Of June Salaries - New Telegraph

Ending amnesty and empowering the military to crush terrorists, By Mukhtar Yau Madobi - Premium Times

Enugu Ritual Killing: Immigration hands over arrested native doctor to police - Premium Times

Enugu State vows to outdo Ogun as next National Sports Festival host - Premium Times

EXCLUSIVE: EFCC charges Emefiele with stealing, illegal acquisition of 753 housing units - Premium Times

FCT: NSCDC trains personnel on basic administrative practice - Daily Trust

Fitch upgrades Fidelity Banks National Rating to A+(nga), affirms long-term IDR at B - Premium Times

Friday Sermon: The day of Arafah and sacrifice of animals (Udhiyyah), By Murtadha Gusau - Premium Times

Gov Lawal Celebrates Improved Security In Zamfara - New Telegraph

Gov Zulum Offers Scholarship To Children Of 8 Slain CJTF - New Telegraph

Ground rent: You cant seal, take over peoples properties, Kingibe tells Wike - Daily Trust

How BUA Group persistently violated its contractual obligations to Nigeria, By Hadiza Bala Usman - Premium Times

I havent collected a single loan in two years- Governor Sani - Premium Times

ILCS Seeks Ethical Leadership To Rebuild Nigeria - New Telegraph

Inclusivityll Give Legitimacy To Democratic Governance Sulaiman - New Telegraph

INEC announces date for Ekiti, Osun off-cycle elections - Premium Times

INEC Sets Dates For Ekiti, Osun Govship Elections - New Telegraph

INEC swears in, deploys six RECs - Premium Times

Insecurity: Lawmaker Seeks Govts Intervention - New Telegraph

Insecurity: Olowu Reiterates Call For Support Of Nigerian Army - New Telegraph

Kano LG Election: ACourt Nullifies Federal High Courts Judgement - New Telegraph

Katsina governor commissions 16km road linking Musawa to Kano State - Premium Times

Kwara South Residents Laud Abdulrasaq On Devt, Infrastructure - New Telegraph

Margaret Olele speaks on leading with intent, lifting other women and building beyond the boardroom - Premium Times

Menstrual Hygiene Day: FCT secretariat mobilises support for girl child - Daily Trust

Midterm Review: Tinubus gender inclusion agenda falls short of promises - Premium Times

MINILS DG: Mgt Denies Issa Aremus Re-Appointment Claim - New Telegraph

MURIC attacks Amnesty International, says report on Nigeria jaundiced - Premium Times

N5bn Defamation Suit: Akpoti-Uduaghan asks court to order substituted service on Ebonyi senator - Premium Times

NANS blasts WAEC over late-night English exam, cites student safety risks - Guardian

NDYC Cautions Amnesty Intl Over Unverified Report - New Telegraph

NFF President visits injured Awoniyi in UK - Premium Times

NGF Commiserate With Niger Govt Over Flood - New Telegraph

Nigerias gutter democracy: Twenty-six years after, By Ahmed Aminu-Ramatu Yusuf - Premium Times

Nigerias Wildlife Protection Bill passes final reading in Reps - Premium Times

Onunkwo Secures Skill Acquisition Training For Anambra Youths - New Telegraph

Osun Is Birthplace Of Adire, Rasheed Replies Ogun Adire Traders - New Telegraph

Oyo PDP ex-chair backs Makinde for president in 2027 - Punch

Police kill three suspected kidnappers Official - Premium Times

Poverty, insecurity driving 14.8m kids out of school, says FG - Guardian

Relief for air travellers in Niger - The Sun

Reps panel scolds WAEC over alleged exam irregularities - Guardian

Revisit the power rotation bill - The Sun

Security Breach: Im With You, Kogi Gov Assures Yagba West Residents - New Telegraph

Simon Ekpa denies terrorism charges as Finnish court begins trial - Premium Times

Sokoto Govt Approves Projects To Boost Farming, Infrastructure Devt - New Telegraph