Alvaro Lopez Ortega / 2026-04-13 Briefing

Created Mon, 13 Apr 2026 20:05:30 +0000 Modified Mon, 13 Apr 2026 20:06:43 +0000
7101 Words

Cybersecurity threats are mounting as hackers claim access to Venice’s flood pumps and target AI agents via routers to steal data. Simultaneously, a fake Claude website is spreading malware to users. In a violent escalation, a member of the PauseAI community allegedly attacked Sam Altman’s home amid “doomer” rhetoric. Elsewhere, Missouri voters ousted their entire city council over a massive $6 billion data center deal.

🤖 AI & Automation

Claude.ai down

Users can subscribe to Claude.ai status updates via email or SMS to receive notifications regarding service incidents and their resolutions. The platform also provides a comprehensive list of supported countries for receiving these updates through text message.

Nothing Ever Happens: Polymarket bot that always buys No on non-sports markets

The “Nothing Ever Happens” bot is an asynchronous Python tool designed to automatically purchase “No” positions on non-sports markets on Polymarket. It features a dashboard for tracking positions and supports both live and paper trading modes.

Meta Developing AI Clones

Meta is reportedly developing photorealistic AI 3D characters, including an avatar of Mark Zuckerberg that mimics his voice and mannerisms to interact with employees and provide feedback. The company may eventually expand this technology to allow creators to build similar AI versions of themselves for follower engagement.

Point Cloud Allemansrätten

The Swedish LiDAR viewer, Point Cloud Allemansrätten, has been upgraded to the Cloud Optimized Point Cloud (COPC) format, enabling the display of approximately 194 million points. The update introduces hierarchical data loading, shareable URLs, and new data layers including land cover classification and moose migration camera locations.

I built a social media management tool in 3 weeks with Claude and Codex

BrightBean Studio is an open-source, self-hostable social media management platform designed for creators, agencies, and small businesses. It allows users to plan, schedule, and monitor content across various social networks through direct first-party API integrations without per-seat or per-channel limitations.

Apple’s accidental moat: How the “AI Loser” may end up winning

As intelligence becomes a commodity due to narrowing performance gaps, Apple may benefit from its position despite being perceived as an “AI loser.” While leading AI labs face significant financial risks from massive infrastructure and training expenditures, Apple is well-positioned to leverage efficient, deployable models within its hardware ecosystem.

2026 AI Index: AI accelerating, US-China gap closed, US leads in AI investment (Stanford HAI)

Stanford HAI has released its latest AI Index Report, which indicates that AI capabilities are accelerating and the model gap between the U.S. and China has closed. The report also highlights the United States’ leadership in AI investment and data center development.

50% of US employees now use AI at work; leaders see more positive impact.

Half of employed U.S. adults now use AI at least a few times a year, as organizational adoption of the technology has risen to 41%. While AI integration is linked to increased workplace disruption and shifts in staffing, frequent users report improved productivity.

SoftBank, Sony, Honda & 6 others launch new AI firm for 1T-parameter ‘physical AI’ model by 2030

SoftBank has launched a new artificial intelligence company in partnership with seven other Japanese firms, including Sony, Honda, and NEC. The venture aims to develop a 1-trillion-parameter foundation model for “physical AI” by 2030.

Nvidia Blackwell GPU rent up 48% to $4.08/hr in 2 months on agentic AI demand: Ornn Index

Driven by demand for agentic AI, the hourly rent for Nvidia Blackwell GPUs has risen 48% to $4.08 over the past two months. This growing computing power shortage is forcing companies to ration products and causing reliability issues, potentially threatening the continued growth of the AI industry.

Anthropic debuts Claude for Word beta with AI editing and citations for enterprise users

Anthropic has launched a beta version of Claude for Word, targeting professionals in document-heavy fields such as law and finance. The add-in features AI-driven tools including clickable citations, text editing that preserves formatting, and a tracked changes mode, and is currently available to Team and Enterprise users.

Show: /digest – a Claude Code skill for daily dev news digest

The /digest skill for Claude Code aggregates developer RSS and Atom feeds from sources like Hacker News and Lobste.rs into a structured daily news recap. It features automatic deduplication, vote-count filtering, and full customizability via a YAML configuration file.

A Dumb Introduction to z3

The author explores using the Z3 theorem prover via its Rust bindings to solve constraint-based problems, such as those found on Leetcode. The article discusses the practical applications of solvers in scheduling and resource allocation while explaining fundamental terminology like “sorts” and “constants.”

Notepad sheds Copilot from toolbar as Microsoft gives subtlety a try

Microsoft is removing the Copilot button from the Notepad toolbar as part of a broader effort to reduce intrusive AI entry points across Windows applications. While the dedicated icon is being eliminated, the underlying AI features will remain accessible under a new “Writing Tools” menu.

🛠️ Software Engineering

Building a CLI for All of Cloudflare

Cloudflare has released a technical preview of a rebuilt CLI, cf, intended to provide a unified interface for all its products and improve support for developers and AI agents. The initiative utilizes a new TypeScript-based schema system to automate the generation of commands and configurations across the company’s vast service surface.

IceGate – Observability data lake engine

The first open-source release of IceGate, a Rust-native observability data lake engine, has been launched under the Apache 2.0 license. The engine is designed to reduce observability costs and prevent vendor lock-in by storing logs in Apache Iceberg tables on a user’s own object storage.

Make Tmux Pretty and Usable (2024)

This article provides a guide on customizing tmux by editing the ~/.tmux.conf configuration file to improve usability. Suggested modifications include remapping the prefix key for easier access, implementing more intuitive pane-splitting commands, and setting up an easy way to reload configurations.

DuckLake v1.0

DuckLake v1.0 has been released as a production-ready lakehouse format specification that centralizes metadata in a database instead of scattered files. Its reference implementation, the ducklake extension for DuckDB v1.5.2, supports SQLite, PostgreSQL, and DuckDB as catalogs.

Servo 0.1.0 available on crates.io

The Servo team has released version 0.1.0 of the servo crate on crates.io, enabling the engine to be used as a library via its embedding API. This release also introduces a long-term support (LTS) version to provide stability and security updates for users who prefer a scheduled upgrade cycle.

The History of Algorithms

While Ada Lovelace’s 1843 algorithm for calculating Bernoulli numbers is recognized as the first computer algorithm, modern “galactic algorithms” represent a theoretical extreme in computational performance. Although currently impractical due to massive computational overhead, these galactic algorithms are valuable for advancing computational theory and introducing new techniques.

Equirect – a Rust VR video player

A developer has created “Equirect,” a Rust-based VR video player, primarily using Claude AI to write the code. Despite having no prior experience with Rust, OpenXR, or wgpu, the author leveraged AI prompting to build the application’s core functionalities.

A Canonical Generalization of OBDD

Researchers have introduced Tree Decision Diagrams (TDD) as a more succinct generalization of Ordered Binary Decision Diagrams (OBDD) that retains key tractability properties like model counting and enumeration. Unlike OBDDs, TDDs enable the FPT-size representation of CNF formulas with treewidth $k$. The study also examines the complexity of compiling CNF formulas into deterministic TDDs.

Haunt, the 70s text adventure game, is now playable on a website

The 1970s text adventure game “Haunt” is now available to play directly through a website. The online version features a retro terminal-style interface for users to experience the classic game.

Single Binary Operator for Elementary Functions

A new study has identified a single binary operator, $eml(x, y) = \exp(x) - \ln(y)$, that can generate all standard elementary functions when paired with the constant 1. This uniform mathematical structure enables efficient gradient-based symbolic regression for recovering exact closed-form expressions from numerical data.

Can we finally use C++ Modules in 2026?

While C++ modules can significantly improve compile times in simple use cases using modern CMake, significant integration hurdles remain for more complex projects. The author notes that despite successful compilation on MSVC, ongoing limitations in the ecosystem continue to hinder widespread adoption.

Claude Code Running Claude Code in 4-Second Disposable VMs

A developer has created a system using Firecracker MicroVMs to run Claude Code in highly secure, disposable environments. By utilizing hardware-enforced isolation instead of traditional Docker containers, the system allows Claude Code to execute autonomous tasks with full permissions in Linux VMs that boot in approximately four seconds.

More tools for testing SQL dialects

The author introduces a “fence” operator in a SQL planner to facilitate metamorphic testing by selectively blocking optimization rules. This method effectively identifies bugs in rules spanning multiple operators but cannot detect errors within rules that affect only a single operator.

Everything Should Be Typed: Scalar Types Are Not Enough

The article argues that relying on scalar types for function parameters is insufficient because it fails to distinguish between the semantic meanings of different data, such as various IDs or monetary amounts. While using structs can mitigate positional errors, the author contends that true type safety requires a system that prevents assigning values of the same underlying type to incorrect semantic fields.

NetBSD/MacPPC 9.4 Installation on a QEMU emulated PowerPC Macintosh

This technical guide details the process of installing NetBSD 9.4 on a PowerPC Macintosh emulated via QEMU. It provides instructions for creating virtual disks and configuring boot scripts to allow for PowerPC architecture exploration without the need for physical hardware.

Running the first program

The article examines Ada Lovelace’s “Note G,” which contains the first published computer program designed for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine. The author describes an attempt to transliterate the historical algorithm for calculating Bernoulli numbers into a modern programming language to better understand the original sequence of operations.

OpenStreetMap Carto version v6.0.0 released

OpenStreetMap Carto maintainers have released version 6.0.0, which migrates the default stylesheet to the osm2pgsql flex backend. This major update also introduces a positive list for common shop and office tags and removes landuse fading at lower zoom levels.

hyperscript 0.9.90 has been released

The release of hyperscript 0.9.90 introduces a major internal restructuring, featuring a new experimental reactivity system and a core-integrated templating engine. This update also adds DOM morphing support, an experimental components mechanism, and several new commands for managing element states and interactions.

Debloat your async Rust

Async Rust can suffer from “async bloat,” which leads to increased memory usage, larger binary sizes, and reduced performance. This overhead stems from the compiler-generated state machines required to implement the async/await syntax.

Lean proved this program was correct; then I found a bug

A researcher used an AI agent and fuzzing tools to test lean-zip, a version of zlib formally verified using the Lean theorem prover. While the verified Lean code remained free of memory vulnerabilities, the experiment uncovered a heap buffer overflow in the Lean 4 runtime and a denial-of-service bug in an unverified archive parser.

Generating universes within universes with a single seed

A seed is an integer used to initialize random number generators, enabling reproducible and consistent results in processes involving randomness. Manually setting a seed ensures that random outputs remain identical across different runs, a principle applicable to various programming languages and software.

Autoscaling Forgejo Runner

The Forgejo community has introduced new building blocks that enable developers to create autoscaling integrations for Forgejo Runner. These capabilities allow external systems to monitor job queues and manage runner lifecycles across repository, user, organization, and instance scopes.

Configuration flags are where software goes to rot

While intended to provide flexibility, configuration flags often mask underlying design flaws and create significant long-term maintenance burdens. These flags increase software complexity and testing requirements, acting as technical debt that makes systems increasingly difficult to manage and evolve.

Little LaTeX Pearls

This article provides a collection of LaTeX macros and configuration tips for optimizing the typesetting of academic papers. It details various technical adjustments, including proper package ordering, spacing for abbreviations and italics, and the fine-tuning of math environments and document layouts.

Reflecting on deserialization. Why you should explicitly decode your JSON

This article examines the use of reflection-based JSON deserialization in statically typed languages like C#, explaining how libraries map JSON keys to object properties via runtime inspection. The author also emphasizes the importance of using separate data transfer objects to maintain a clean separation of concerns between the serialization layer and domain logic.

xtrace — Command-line CPU Profiling for macOS as a skill

xtrace is a command-line profiling tool for macOS that provides a Unix-style, composable interface for analyzing CPU, GPU, and memory utilization. It bridges the gap between Apple’s GUI-only Instruments and terminal-based workflows, and can be integrated as a skill for AI coding agents such as Cursor and Claude Code.

Did you notice the command error exit in the shell?

A developer has created a custom Zsh function to visually alert users when Git commands fail. The script monitors the exit status of the most recent command and displays a red error banner in the terminal if a Git command returns a non-zero exit code.

IT manager approved downtime over lunch, but made a meal of it

An IT manager accidentally caused a hard drive to fail while cleaning server cables during a scheduled lunch-hour downtime. The incident led to extended downtime while waiting for manufacturer support and a replacement drive, ultimately prompting the company to implement RAID for better hardware redundancy.

Linux 7.0 debuts: Torvalds weighs AI’s impact on bug-finding and release process

The Linux 7.0 kernel has been released, officially introducing Rust support for development and providing updates for architectures including ARM, RISC-V, Alpha, and SPARC. Additionally, Linus Torvalds highlighted the growing role of AI tools in identifying software bugs and their potential impact on the kernel release process.

🔒 Security & Privacy

A fake website impersonating Claude is distributing malware to its visitors. The site exploits the popularity of the AI platform to infect users with malicious software.

AI agents targeted via routers to inject payloads and steal your secrets

Attackers are targeting AI agents by using routers to inject malicious payloads and steal sensitive information. This method exploits network infrastructure to compromise AI systems and extract secrets.

Hackers claim access to pump system protecting Venice’s iconic St. Mark’s Square from flooding

Hackers have claimed to have gained access to the pump system responsible for protecting Venice’s St. Mark’s Square from flooding. This breach poses a potential threat to the city’s critical flood defense infrastructure.

Who’s Been Impersonating This ProPublica Reporter?

An investigative reporter for ProPublica is being impersonated on messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal using his professional headshot. These scammers target potential sources, including military and business officials, to attempt to solicit sensitive information regarding military technology and drone development in Ukraine.

Michigan ‘digital age’ bills pulled after privacy concerns raised

Michigan lawmakers have withdrawn the Digital Age Assurance Act bills after advocacy groups raised concerns regarding privacy and data collection risks. The bill sponsors are now working with policy groups to develop replacement legislation that incorporates more robust consumer data protections.

Convenient Trust Management for Emacs

The trust-manager.el Emacs package streamlines the management of trusted and untrusted buffers introduced in Emacs 30 to mitigate arbitrary code execution vulnerabilities. It provides safe defaults for common files like init files and Elisp sources while prompting users to authorize new projects upon their first visit.

Roblox unveils Kids accounts for ages 5-8 and Select accounts for ages 9-15, with age verificatio…

Roblox is launching “Roblox Kids” and “Roblox Select” accounts in June to improve safety for users aged five to fifteen through mandatory age verification. These new account types will limit access to games that have passed a rigorous three-step review process and adhere to specific content maturity labels.

Trump’s WLFI faces investor revolt; Justin Sun claims ‘backdoor’ could blacklist investors

World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture linked to the Trump family, is facing an investor revolt led by billionaire Justin Sun. Sun has accused the project of implementing secret controls that could allow insiders to freeze the funds of token holders.

Hybrid Constructions: The Post-Quantum Safety Blanket

The author advocates for hybrid Key Encapsulation Mechanisms (KEMs) to protect against “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks by combining classical and lattice-based security. However, they oppose hybrid signature schemes, arguing that signatures do not face a comparable retroactive threat from future quantum computers.

Fake Linux leader using Slack to con devs into giving up their secrets

An attacker impersonating a Linux Foundation official on Slack is targeting open-source developers to steal credentials and compromise systems. The campaign uses fraudulent Google Sites pages to trick users into installing a malicious root certificate and malware designed to intercept encrypted traffic.

Booking.com warns reservation data may have checked out with intruders

Booking.com has notified users that unauthorized third parties may have accessed reservation details, including names, contact information, and messages exchanged with hotels. While the company states that financial data was not compromised, it has reset booking PINs as a precaution and warned customers to remain vigilant against potential phishing attempts.

Gym giant Basic-Fit confirms data on a million members stolen in cyberattack

Basic-Fit, Europe’s largest gym chain, has confirmed that a cyberattack compromised the personal and bank details of approximately one million members across six countries. The stolen information includes names, addresses, and dates of birth, though the company noted that passwords were not accessed. An investigation into the unauthorized access is currently underway with the assistance of external specialists.

🏗️ Hardware & Infrastructure

Nordics and Estonia rolling out offline card payment backup in case internet cut

Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Estonia are implementing offline card payment systems to ensure transaction continuity during potential internet outages caused by sabotage or geopolitical instability. These initiatives aim to enhance financial resilience by reducing dependency on vulnerable international data links and major payment processors.

MEMS Array Chip Can Project Video the Size of a Grain of Sand

Researchers have developed a one-square-millimeter photonic chip capable of projecting over 68 million scannable pixels per second. While initially designed to help control the millions of laser beams required for quantum computing, the technology also offers potential applications in augmented reality and biomedical imaging.

Initial mainline video capture and camera support for Rockchip RK3588

Collabora has successfully upstreamed drivers for the Rockchip RK3588’s video capture (VICAP) and MIPI CSI-2 receiver units into the mainline Linux kernel. This milestone provides official support for multimedia hardware blocks that previously required the use of vendor-specific kernels.

Struggling to heat your home? How about 500 Raspberry Pi units? (2025)

UK Power Networks is piloting the SHIELD program, which installs Raspberry Pi-powered “HeatHub” units in low-income households to replace traditional gas boilers. These compact datacenters capture waste heat from cloud computing workloads to provide domestic heating, aiming to reduce energy bills by 20 to 40 percent.

Amazon Leo unveils Aviation Antenna: 1 Gbps/400 Mbps in-flight Wi-Fi

Amazon Leo has unveiled its new Aviation Antenna, designed to provide commercial aircraft with high-speed in-flight Wi-Fi featuring download speeds of up to 1 Gbps. The system aims to compete with Starlink by offering a rapid, single-day installation process for airlines. Deployment on carriers like Delta and JetBlue is expected to begin between 2027 and 2028.

Intel market cap hits $300B+ after 53% stock jump on Ireland fab and Terafab plans

Intel Corp.’s stock surged 53% in nine sessions, adding more than $100 billion to its market value and pushing its market cap above $300 billion. The rally follows news that the company plans to join Terafab and acquire a manufacturing facility in Ireland.

Biological Computing Company uses living neurons for AI chips, backed by $25M seed

The Biological Computing Company (TBC) is developing energy-efficient AI algorithms and hardware using living human neurons as an alternative to traditional silicon. Backed by $25 million in seed funding, the startup leverages biological neural responses to enhance tasks such as generative video and computer vision.

Gray failure: the Achilles’ heel of cloud-scale systems

Gray failure occurs when client applications perceive a system as unhealthy while internal monitors continue to report it as healthy. These subtle and intermittent failures are a primary cause of major availability breakdowns and performance anomalies in cloud-scale systems.

curl DNS 2026

Starting with curl 8.20.0, the threaded resolver now uses a multi-handle-owned thread pool to reduce the resource overhead of creating individual threads and socketpairs. This change allows for a configurable maximum number of threads and prevents DNS resolution stalls from blocking the cleanup of easy handles.

UK defense startup to supply drone interceptors for Britain and allies

The UK Ministry of Defence plans to rapidly procure the Skyhammer interceptor system from Cambridge Aerospace to counter Iranian-style attack drones. The agreement aims to equip both British armed forces and partners in the Persian Gulf, with the first deliveries expected as early as May.

💼 Business & Policy

‘Yes to fields of wheat, no to fields of iron’: how Denmark soured on solar

Right-wing populist parties in Denmark are leveraging rural opposition to solar farms, framing renewable energy expansion as an encroachment on agricultural land by the urban elite. This political backlash has already led to the cancellation of several solar energy projects across various Danish municipalities.

Missouri town fires half its city council over data center deal

Voters in Festus, Missouri, ousted all four incumbent city council members up for reelection following the council’s approval of a $6 billion data center development agreement. The election results reflect widespread community frustration regarding the project’s potential local impacts and a perceived lack of transparency in the approval process.

Von der Leyen uses Orbán defeat to push for end of veto in EU foreign policy

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is calling for the EU to adopt qualified majority voting in foreign policy to prevent individual member states from blocking critical decisions. Following the removal of Viktor Orbán from office in Hungary, she aims to streamline processes for essential issues such as Russia sanctions and Ukraine funding.

Will Musk ever be forced to explain what he did inside DOGE?

Legal challenges regarding the dismantling of federal agencies by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are currently stalled due to difficulties in serving Elon Musk with subpoenas. Despite numerous attempts to reach him, the Justice Department continues to resist efforts to compel his testimony regarding his role in the agency’s actions.

The Affordable Car Is Dead. What Happened?

The disappearance of affordable entry-level vehicles and rising car prices are driving a debt and repossession crisis among working- and middle-class Americans. This trend threatens economic and physical mobility, especially in areas with limited public transit, leading to calls for opening the U.S. market to more international competition.

Programming Used to Be Free

The emergence of private large language models like Mythos has raised concerns regarding the potential restriction of powerful computational tools. Reflecting on a personal history of learning to program through free, open-access resources, the author highlights the importance of maintaining accessibility in software development.

The Economics of Software Teams: Why Most Engineering Orgs Are Flying Blind

Many organizations lack clear visibility into the actual costs of their software engineering teams, often making development decisions based on technical preferences rather than measurable economic value. This lack of financial context makes it difficult for companies to determine if initiatives, such as building internal platforms, generate enough productivity gains to justify their expenses.

Reddit now demands to know why you won’t use their app

Reddit has implemented a new feature on its mobile website that interrupts users attempting to dismiss the app promotion prompt. Instead of disappearing, the prompt is now replaced by a poll asking users for the primary reason they choose not to download the official Reddit app.

Anthropic says its $20M donation to Public First Action can’t be “used to influence federal elect…

Anthropic has clarified that its $20 million donation to Public First Action is restricted from being used to influence federal elections and is instead intended to educate the public on AI policy. This revelation contradicts previous reports that the funds would be used to finance political advertising for candidates supporting stronger AI safeguards.

Microsoft gaming chief: Game Pass is too expensive, needs better value equation

In a leaked internal memo, Microsoft’s new Xbox chief Asha Sharma admitted that Xbox Game Pass has become too expensive for players. She noted that the company needs to find a “better value equation” and intends to evolve the subscription service into a more flexible system over the long term.

OpenAI CRO claims Anthropic overstates run rate by $8B via Amazon and Google revenue share

OpenAI’s Chief Revenue Officer, Denise Dresser, issued an internal memo outlining a strategic shift toward becoming a platform company to build a competitive moat. The memo also criticizes rival Anthropic, alleging the company has overstated its run rate by approximately $8 billion and is inflating revenue shares with Amazon and Google.

Dell and HP shares jump as Nvidia negotiates to buy a large company, reshaping PC landscape

Shares of Dell Technologies and HP Inc. rose following reports that Nvidia Corp. is seeking an acquisition to “reshape the PC landscape.” According to the website SemiAccurate, Nvidia has been negotiating the purchase of a large company for over a year.

EU’s new competition chief Anthony Whelan to pursue Big Tech probes despite Trump pressure

The EU has appointed Anthony Whelan as its new top competition official. Whelan has vowed to proceed with investigations into Big Tech companies despite potential pressure from President Trump.

OpenAI CRO says Microsoft deal limits Bedrock access, touts Amazon deal

OpenAI Chief Revenue Officer Denise Dresser highlighted the company’s Amazon partnership as a key driver for enterprise growth through the Bedrock platform in a recent internal memo. While acknowledging its foundational Microsoft alliance, Dresser noted that the partnership has also limited OpenAI’s ability to reach certain clients as the company competes with rivals like Anthropic and Google.

OpenAI to open first permanent London office for 500+ staff, its largest non-US research hub

OpenAI has announced it is opening its first permanent London office in King’s Cross, with a capacity to house over 500 employees. This expansion follows the company’s plan to make London its largest research hub outside the U.S., despite the recent pause of its UK-based Stargate AI infrastructure project due to high energy costs and regulatory concerns.

Law firms may raise fixed fees as lawyers spend more time on AI-generated documents.

Lawyers are spending more time responding to an increasing volume of AI-generated client communications, such as emails and letters. This rise in workload may lead law firms to raise the prices of their fixed-fee contracts.

11 of 12 US data center moratorium bills stalled; Maine bill final vote on April 15

US lawmakers introduced 12 bills in 2026 to temporarily halt new data center construction in response to growing concerns regarding environmental and infrastructure impacts. While 11 of these legislative efforts have already stalled or been voted down, Maine is proceeding toward a final vote on April 15 that could pause developments until late 2027.

Server PCB maker Victory Giant plans April 21 HK listing to raise up to $2.2B at $37B valuation

Victory Giant Technology Huizhou Co., a manufacturer of printed circuit boards for AI servers, is planning a Hong Kong listing on April 21. The company aims to raise up to $2.2 billion through the offering, with the potential to increase the deal size to nearly $3 billion.

US FTC in settlement talks with ad companies over alleged boycotts of Elon Musk’s X

The Federal Trade Commission is negotiating a potential settlement with several major advertising firms to resolve an antitrust probe. The investigation examines whether these companies engaged in anticompetitive behavior by coordinating boycotts to withhold ad revenue from platforms such as Elon Musk’s X.

US AI chip export push at risk from BIS bottlenecks, staff attrition, and unclear policy

The US effort to boost global sales of American AI chips is being threatened by licensing bottlenecks, staffing shortages, and unclear policies at the Bureau of Industry and Security. The agency is currently struggling to manage an increasing workload, which includes vetting Nvidia’s export requests and conducting industry probes for new tariffs.

WARNING: Oracle’s AI obsession could mean higher prices and worse support

Oracle customers are facing potential price increases and declining support quality as the company aggressively invests in AI datacenter expansion. Advisors report that reduced cloud discounts, intensified Java licensing audits, and widespread layoffs are contributing to more expensive renewals and slower technical assistance.

Microsoft attempts to untangle ‘confusing’ Windows Insider program

Microsoft is restructuring its Windows Insider program by replacing the Dev and Canary channels with a new Experimental channel. The overhaul also eliminates gradual feature rollouts in the Beta channel and introduces easier in-place upgrades between most program tiers to reduce user confusion.

Veterans Affairs has lost track of software licenses amid $985M bill

The Department of Veterans Affairs is struggling to accurately track software licenses within its $985 million annual software budget, according to a GAO report. To address these discrepancies and manage restrictive vendor practices, the VA plans to implement a centralized software license inventory system by early 2026.

NHS pays £46K to prep next Microsoft licensing round

NHS England has commissioned IDC for a £46,000 benchmarking and advisory contract to prepare for upcoming large-scale software licensing procurement. The initiative aims to evaluate current pricing and licensing terms ahead of renegotiating major agreements, such as the organization’s existing £774 million Microsoft deal.

🌐 Tech & Society

Outcry in the Netherlands as inmates are given tablets with access to erotica

A public outcry has emerged in the Netherlands after it was revealed that inmates were provided with tablets that allow access to erotic content. The use of these digital devices in prisons has sparked significant controversy and criticism.

Trump deletes post depicting him as Jesus-like figure after backlash

Donald Trump deleted an AI-generated Truth Social post depicting him as a Jesus-like figure following intense backlash from political and religious leaders. Although Trump defended the imagery as a portrayal of himself as a doctor, critics condemned the use of religious symbols.

The Rational Conclusion of Doomerism Is Violence

Daniel Moreno-Gama, a member of the PauseAI community, allegedly attacked Sam Altman’s home with a Molotov cocktail and threatened OpenAI headquarters. The author argues that this violent incident is a direct consequence of the escalating existential risk rhetoric and radicalization within the AI “doomer” movement.

An Oligarchy of Old People

Political and economic power in the United States is increasingly concentrating among older generations, characterized by a growing gerontocracy in leadership and campaign finance. This shift has led to a significant rise in the share of national wealth held by Americans over 55, contributing to widening intergenerational inequality.

I went to America’s worst national parks so you don’t have to

An author recounts their experiences visiting the lowest-rated national parks in the United States. The piece serves as a cautionary guide to help travelers avoid potentially disappointing destinations.

The hottest college major [Computer Science] hit a wall. What happened?

After 15 years of being a top choice, computer science enrollment has recently experienced a significant decline. This drop follows a period of high interest driven by widespread advice for students to learn coding.

Pope says he has ’no fear of Trump administration’ after president slams him

Pope Leo XIV has defended his commitment to peace following criticisms from US President Donald Trump, who labeled the pontiff’s foreign policy stances “terrible.” The Pope asserted that he has no fear of the Trump administration and emphasized that his role is to advocate for the Gospel rather than engage in political diplomacy.

Caffeine, cocaine, and painkillers detected in sharks from The Bahamas

Traces of caffeine, cocaine, and painkillers have been detected in sharks found in The Bahamas. The discovery highlights the presence of various human-related substances within these marine predators.

Kindle users in uproar over update rendering oldest devices virtually unusable

Amazon will end support for Kindle and Kindle Fire devices released in 2012 and earlier starting May 20, 2026, preventing users from purchasing, borrowing, or downloading new content. The announcement has sparked significant backlash from users who feel the update renders their older hardware partially unusable.

23 news sites and Reddit block Internet Archive crawler; journalists sign support letter

Twenty-three major news websites and Reddit are blocking the Internet Archive’s web crawler to prevent AI companies from scraping their content. In response, over 100 journalists and advocacy groups have signed a letter of support, emphasizing the Wayback Machine’s essential role in preserving digital history and aiding investigative reporting.

Elon Musk’s verified TikTok hits 2M+ views on first SpaceX/Tesla video; Instagram yet to post.

A verified @elonmusk TikTok account recently posted its first video, featuring promotional content for SpaceX and Tesla. A verified Instagram account with the same handle has also appeared, though it has yet to post any content.

App Store Reviews are Busted

The App Store review system is criticized because 4-star reviews can unintentionally lower an app’s average rating, effectively acting as negative feedback. This has led developers to use manipulative tactics to ensure only 5-star reviews are submitted, meaning ratings now reflect review-solicitation strategies rather than actual product quality.

Apps and programming: two accidental tyrannies

Coding agents may dismantle the limitations of rigid, one-size-fits-all application models and the barrier of specialized programming expertise. By enabling the creation of malleable and composable interfaces, these agents could empower individuals to invent personalized, transformative tools for thought.

Recovering a Lost Document: Habitat Anecdotes (1988)

The author has recovered his lost 1988 paper, “Habitat Anecdotes,” from a CVS archive. The document details early observations regarding user types and social dynamics during the Lucasfilm Habitat Beta and Pilot tests.

What are you doing this week?

Readers are invited to share their plans for the upcoming week. The post also emphasizes that it is perfectly acceptable to have no scheduled activities.

AI went viral among attorneys. We have the numbers on what happened next

The widespread adoption of AI among attorneys has led to a rise in fabricated case citations caused by AI “hallucinations.” This trend threatens the integrity of the judicial system, as convincingly written but false legal precedents can evade essential fact-checking by lawyers.

China wants AI to prepare school lessons and mark homework

China has launched an action plan to integrate AI into its education system to assist with lesson preparation, grading, and curriculum development. Meanwhile, India’s Reserve Bank is proposing a one-hour delay for large digital payments to combat fraud, and SK Telecom is partnering with Arm to develop efficient AI inference servers.