Alvaro Lopez Ortega / 2026-05-06 Briefing

Created Thu, 07 May 2026 01:34:28 +0000 Modified Thu, 21 May 2026 01:16:58 +0000
7580 Words

Anthropic is scaling Claude by leveraging SpaceX’s Colossus datacenter and 220,000 GPUs. Meanwhile, Elon Musk plans a massive $119 billion semiconductor facility in Texas. In AI efficiency, navigating websites via visual clicking costs 45 times more tokens than using APIs. Cybersecurity risks also loom as 13% of employees admit to selling work credentials, while Iranian-linked groups use ransomware tactics to mask espionage.

🤖 AI & Machine Learning

Using AI to click around on a website burns 45x as many tokens as just using APIs

Relying on AI agents to navigate websites through visual clicking instead of using APIs consumes 45 times more tokens. This significant increase in token usage makes visual-based interaction much more expensive for AI agents.

Anthropic leverages SpaceX’s compute capacity

Anthropic has partnered with SpaceX to utilize the full 300MW+ capacity of the Colossus 1 datacenter, gaining access to over 220,000 NVIDIA GPUs. This significant increase in computing power enables the company to double Claude Code rate limits and remove peak-hour usage reductions for its Pro and Max subscribers.

AWS lets agents drive its virtual cloudy desktops - which could cost 500,00 tokens per click

AWS is previewing a new service that allows AI agents to access and operate Amazon WorkSpaces virtual desktops using managed endpoints and unique identities. While this enables automated software interaction in isolated environments, research suggests that vision-based agentic actions can be significantly more expensive and less efficient than using APIs.

AWS lets agents drive its virtual cloudy desktops – which could cost 500,000 tokens per click

A vendor benchmark indicates that using APIs to allow agents to manage AWS virtual desktops can be faster and cheaper, despite potential costs of 500,000 tokens per click. Other notable news includes Arctic Wolf’s layoffs to fund AI and a survey finding that some employees are willing to sell work credentials.

DeepSeek V4 Pro at 75% off until 31 May

DeepSeek has released pricing for its DeepSeek-V4-Flash and DeepSeek-V4-Pro models, both of which feature a 1M context length and support for JSON output and tool calls. The DeepSeek-V4-Pro model is currently available at a 75% discount through May 31, 2026.

Learning the Integral of a Diffusion Model

Flow maps provide an alternative to traditional diffusion models by predicting any point on a path from any other point rather than iteratively estimating tangent directions. This approach enables faster sampling and offers additional advantages, such as improved sampling steerability and more efficient reward-based learning.

Time to add option in Hacker News “AI excluded Show HN”

A user is proposing that Hacker News implement a feature allowing readers to exclude AI-related content from their feed. The suggestion follows growing frustration with the increasing volume of LLM updates and AI-centric posts on the platform.

Israel’s AI targeting system: How data from a phone become a death sentence

The Israeli military uses an AI-powered targeting system that integrates data from sources such as smartphones, drones, and surveillance cameras to track Hezbollah members in Lebanon. While this technology enables high-precision strikes, experts warn that the reliance on massive data pipelines increases the risk of misidentifying civilians.

TikTok’s algorithm favored Republican content in 2024 US elections, study finds

A study published in Nature found that TikTok’s algorithm systematically prioritized pro-Republican content in New York, Texas, and Georgia leading up to the 2024 US elections. Using dummy accounts, researchers observed that pro-Democratic users were disproportionately exposed to anti-Democratic content designed to target political vulnerabilities.

Adam – An embeddable cross-platform AI agent library

Adam is an embeddable C library that provides a complete AI agent loop featuring tool calling, memory, and voice capabilities. It supports both cloud APIs and local models through a unified interface and is compatible with macOS, Linux, Windows, mobile, and WASM.

Visualize Any Hugging Face Model

hfviewer.com is a new web-based tool that provides interactive, architectural visualizations of Hugging Face models by simply pasting a model URL. The platform features zoomable graphs that range from high-level overviews to specific technical substructures, eliminating the need for local installations or complex workflows.

Telus Uses AI to Alter Call-Agent Accents

Telus is using AI technology from Tomato.ai to alter the accents of offshore call-center agents in real time to reduce “accent-related friction.” The practice has sparked significant backlash from labor groups and the public, with critics calling for mandatory disclosure to customers.

Google’s Prompt API

Google has implemented the Prompt API in Chrome despite opposition from major web standards bodies like Mozilla and WebKit. The move is criticized for requiring developers to adhere to Google’s proprietary terms of use, as the API is currently tied specifically to the Gemini Nano model.

cursed_browser: A browser with no rendering engine; VLM reads HTML and hallucinates the page

Cursed Browser is an experimental web browser that replaces traditional rendering engines with Visual-Language Models (VLMs). The system uses LLM token prediction and VLM hallucination to interpret HTML and CSS, generating webpage visuals based on the provided code.

Open weights are quietly closing up - and that’s a problem

Open-weights models provide essential competition against closed-model oligopolies by offering more private, flexible, and cost-effective alternatives. However, tightening model licenses threaten to diminish this competitive pressure, potentially allowing frontier labs to increase their pricing power.

Scale AI wins $500M DOD contract for data and decision-making after $100M 2025 deal

The Pentagon has awarded Meta-backed Scale AI a $500 million contract to assist with data analysis and decision-making for the U.S. military. This agreement represents a five-fold increase from a $100 million deal the company secured in September 2025.

Zilis testifies Musk relationship didn’t affect her OpenAI board duties in Musk v. Altman

Former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis testified during a trial over the company’s restructuring that her relationship with Elon Musk did not compromise her professional duties. Zilis, who resigned in 2023 after Musk launched the competing firm xAI, maintained that her primary allegiance remained focused on the organization’s mission.

Musk v. Altman: Murati testifies Altman lied about OpenAI safety standards and hindered her work

During the Musk v. Altman trial, former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati testified that CEO Sam Altman lied to her regarding the safety standards required for a new AI model. Murati also alleged that Altman’s lack of transparency and tendency to undermine executives made her leadership role significantly more difficult.

SpaceX to provide Anthropic access to Colossus 1; eyes orbital compute partnership.

SpaceX has signed an agreement with Anthropic to provide access to Colossus 1, a massive AI supercomputer featuring over 220,000 NVIDIA GPUs. Anthropic plans to use this additional compute to enhance its Claude Pro and Claude Max services and has expressed interest in partnering with SpaceX to develop orbital AI compute capacity.

Anthropic adds “dreaming” to Claude Managed Agents for memory updates (research preview)

Anthropic has introduced new capabilities to its Claude Managed Agents, including a “dreaming” process that enables agents to review recent work and update their memory. The update also features multi-agent orchestration and outcome-based evaluation to improve the handling of complex tasks.

Google DeepMind takes minority stake in Eve Online maker to train AI on the game

Google DeepMind is acquiring a minority stake in the developer of the space-themed role-playing game Eve Online. The company plans to utilize the game’s environment to train its artificial intelligence technology.

Google AI Overviews add “Expert Advice” from social media and Reddit

Google is updating its AI Mode and AI Overviews to include “a preview of perspectives” from firsthand sources like Reddit and social media, presented under an “Expert Advice” label. The update also introduces enhanced contextual links, related topic suggestions, and easier access to content from a user’s news subscriptions.

OpenAI, Microsoft, AMD, Broadcom, Nvidia, and Intel detail MRC protocol to scale compute

OpenAI and a coalition of researchers from Microsoft, AMD, Broadcom, Nvidia, and Intel have introduced the Multipath Reliable Connection (MRC) protocol to improve the efficiency and reliability of GPU clusters. The protocol utilizes techniques like packet spraying and rapid rerouting to mitigate network congestion and failures, enabling more scalable and energy-efficient AI training.

Finnish AI lab QuTwo raises €25M at €325M valuation, secures $23M in partnership revenue

Finnish AI lab QuTwo has raised a €25 million angel round, reaching a valuation of €325 million. Led by former Silo AI CEO Peter Sarlin, the company provides an orchestration layer for classical, quantum, and hybrid computing and has already secured $23 million in committed partnership revenue.

Medical student reverse-engineers AI tools to probe application filtering, raising hiring concerns

A medical student, Chad Markey, reverse-engineered AI tools used by medical colleges to investigate whether automated screening was filtering his residency applications. His investigation highlights growing concerns regarding the potential for AI-driven algorithms to unfairly penalize applicants based on specific language in their records.

China’s Big Fund seeks to lead DeepSeek fundraising at ~$45B valuation

DeepSeek is reportedly in discussions to raise new funding at a valuation of approximately $45 billion. China’s state-backed “Big Fund” is seeking to lead the investment, with interest also noted from major investors such as Tencent.

Security camera companies use AI for detailed but often wildly wrong footage descriptions.

Security camera companies are increasingly using AI to provide detailed descriptions of surveillance footage beyond simple motion alerts. While these descriptions can be helpful, the technology is prone to significant errors, such as misidentifying brake lights as house fires or humans as bears.

💻 Software & Development

We’ve only gone and done it: Changed what you’re used to

This news digest covers recent developments in technology and cybersecurity, including Arctic Wolf’s layoffs to fund AI initiatives and a survey regarding the sale of corporate credentials. It also highlights the impact of DRAM shortages on AMD chips and recent challenges faced by the Mars rover.

Ruby inventor Matz working on native compiler with AI help

Ruby inventor Matz is collaborating with Anthropic’s Claude to develop an experimental ahead-of-time compiler for Ruby. The project is currently in an experimental stage and faces many limitations.

IBM tried to kill Tab navigation. Microsoft told it Bill Gates’ mother wasn’t interested

IBM attempted to remove Tab navigation from the OS/2 operating system, prompting a management-level dispute with Microsoft. Despite escalating the issue through several layers of leadership, Microsoft ultimately rejected the proposal.

It’s always DNS: Denic says sorry for crashing Germany’s internet

Denic has apologized for an hours-long outage affecting major .de domains in Germany. The disruption was caused by the registry distributing faulty signatures.

Firefox integrates an ad-blocker, but not to block ads

This news digest highlights Firefox’s integration of a new ad-blocker and Arctic Wolf’s layoff of 250 employees to fund AI development. It also covers a DRAM drought affecting AMD chips and a survey revealing that some employees are willing to sell work credentials.

GNOME may rule Ubuntu Resolute Raccoon, but X.org isn’t roadkill yet

The default GNOME desktop in the new Ubuntu 26.04 release is Wayland-only, removing the ability to log in using X.org. However, X.org support remains available through five of the seven official Ubuntu flavors, providing alternatives for users who need traditional X11 tools.

Planning and land searches hit by IT problems in 3 councils following SaaS migration

Following a SaaS migration, three councils are experiencing IT disruptions affecting planning and land searches. These issues have resulted in missing records, failed house sales, and the accidental installation of a 5G mast.

PHP-fts – Full-text search engine in pure PHP, no extensions

php-fts is a self-contained, dependency-free full-text search engine written in pure PHP. Designed for environments like shared hosting, it offers features such as BM25 relevance ranking and typo-tolerant trigram indexing for small to medium-sized datasets.

Go-joker – a much faster Clojure interpreter written in Go and WASM

Go-joker is an optimized fork of the Joker Lisp interpreter for the gi coding agent, utilizing a four-tier execution system ranging from WASM-based JIT to a tree-walker. This implementation achieves massive performance gains, including a 4200x speedup for Mandelbrot execution and 10–500x faster general Clojure code.

Inkscape 1.4.4

Inkscape 1.4.4 has been released as a maintenance and bugfix update, featuring 20 crash fixes, performance improvements, and a new palette. This version also serves as a bridge release, enabling users to convert documents between the upcoming Inkscape 1.5 multipage format and previous versions.

Going Full Time on Open Source

The creator of the developer tool mise has left Figma to focus full-time on their suite of open-source projects under a new company, en.dev. To ensure sustainability, the author is introducing several revenue streams, including individual memberships, corporate sponsorships, and professional consulting services.

From Supabase to Clerk to Better Auth

Val Town has transitioned its authentication system from Clerk to Better Auth to resolve significant architectural challenges. The move addresses issues regarding heavy rate limiting and the complexities of synchronizing user data between a third-party service and a local database.

Companies Will Stop Making Software

Drawing an analogy from the automation of sneaker manufacturing, the author argues that AI will soon commoditize the software development process. As coding becomes increasingly automated, the primary competitive advantage will shift from the technical execution of writing code to the strategic ability to define product vision and understand customer demand.

Tilde.run – Agent Sandbox with a Transactional, Versioned Filesystem

Tilde.run provides a secure, transactional sandbox environment for running AI agents on production data. The platform features a versioned, composable filesystem that integrates sources like GitHub and S3, allowing for isolated, auditable, and reversible agent executions.

Our Continuation of MkDocs

The community has launched ProperDocs, a fork of MkDocs, to provide a maintained alternative following the original project’s unmaintained state and the planned release of a breaking “MkDocs 2.0.” Serving as a drop-in replacement with critical bug fixes, ProperDocs is already being adopted by various plugin and theme maintainers.

Emacs Completion Showcase

A video showcase demonstrates practical Emacs workflows using the VOMPECCC completion stack, featuring integrated tools such as Consult and Orderless. The demonstration highlights how these packages streamline advanced tasks, including multi-file refactoring, unified searching, and efficient documentation navigation.

NFC tags are good material for pranks on Android

NFC tags can be used as a tool for performing pranks on Android devices. This method leverages Near Field Communication technology to trigger specific actions on compatible hardware.

Building a Deployment Tool

Ruud van Asseldonk has developed Deptool, a custom deployment tool designed for fast and reliable cluster configuration management. The tool enhances predictability and safety through features such as sub-second updates, a distinct plan-and-apply phase, and automatic rollbacks to prevent service disruptions.

Setting up a Sun Ray server on OpenIndiana Hipster 2025.10

This guide details how to set up a Sun Ray server using OpenIndiana Hipster 2025.10 within a Proxmox virtual machine. It covers specific VM configuration settings, system update procedures, and the installation of necessary Sun Ray Server Software packages and dependencies.

Fedora is now the default Linux recommendation, and Ubuntu did this to itself

Ubuntu is losing its status as the preferred Linux distribution due to Canonical’s decision to prioritize the Snap packaging system over the more widely adopted Flatpak. As a result, Fedora is increasingly being recommended as the new standard for new Linux users.

Reverse-engineering the 1998 Ultima Online demo server

A developer has released a complete reverse-engineering of the 1998 Ultima Online demo server, translating over 5,000 functions from the original binary into portable C99. The project includes reconstructed map data and various fixes for stability and gameplay to create an almost perfect replica of the classic server.

Multi-stroke text effect in CSS

The author describes a method for creating a retro multi-stroke text effect in CSS by stacking elements with varying stroke widths and colors. While effective for experimentation, the technique is not recommended for production use due to performance drawbacks similar to CSS filters.

Google tools for customizing searches

As Google’s AI-generated summaries and personalized algorithms increasingly mediate search results, users are encountering fewer direct links to original sources. To bypass these interpretations, the article explains how to use advanced search operators, such as site-specific queries and exact phrase searches, to perform more precise and unmediated searches.

Branimir Lambov from IBM on Cassandra

IBM Cassandra committer Branimir Lambov highlights his significant contributions to the database, including the development of the Unified Compaction Strategy for Cassandra 5. He also discusses his ongoing work on replacing the LSM Tree’s Skiplist with a Trie to improve memory and storage efficiency.

Arguments parsing in Guile

The author proposes a new, simplified API for command-line argument parsing in Guile Scheme to address the complexities of existing libraries like ice-9 getopt-long. This new interface aims to provide a more intuitive and memorable way to manage tasks such as positional arguments and help messages.

How an HTTP header caused time.gov to skew from UTC

An issue with an HTTP header caused NIST’s time.gov website to display inaccurate time offsets compared to UTC. The discrepancy stemmed from errors in calculating HTTP request round-trip times and was limited to the website’s displayed clock, leaving NIST’s other time services unaffected.

Peer Production License

The Peer Production License, created by John Magyar and Dmytri Kleiner, is a Copyfarleft license model derived from the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. It establishes legal definitions for terms such as Adaptation and Collection to govern the use and distribution of protected literary and artistic works.

Solod v0.1: Go ergonomics, practical stdlib, native C interop

The release of Solod v0.1 introduces a ported Go standard library and enhanced native C interoperability to the system-level language. This update enables developers to seamlessly integrate C APIs, such as SQLite, while utilizing Go-style syntax and a zero-runtime environment.

Scroll-Driven Animations

The new CSS Animation Timeline API enables developers to implement scroll-driven animations using native CSS instead of JavaScript. By mapping keyframe animations to an element’s progress through the viewport, the API allows animations to be controlled by scroll distance rather than a set duration.

A new filesystem for pidfds (2024)

A new Linux kernel filesystem for pidfds is being developed to provide more robust capabilities and better security module integration for process management. However, the implementation recently caused system boot failures because existing SELinux policies did not account for the new file descriptor operations.

🔒 Security & Privacy

1 in 8 employees totally cool with selling work credentials

A recent survey reveals that 13% of employees have either sold work credentials or know someone who has. This suggests that approximately one in eight workers may be involved in or aware of the unauthorized sale of company login information.

Iran cybersnoops still LARPing as ransomware crooks in espionage ops

A cyber group linked to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) is using ransomware-style tactics to disguise its ongoing espionage operations. By mimicking ransomware attacks, the group aims to mask the use of backdoors for covert access.

India orders infosec red alert in case Mythos sparks crime spree

India’s Securities and Exchange Board has issued an advisory to equity market participants to strengthen cybersecurity defenses against potential attacks enabled by AI-driven vulnerability tools like Anthropic’s Mythos. The regulator has established a taskforce to monitor these emerging risks and recommended that companies implement measures such as zero-trust networking and regular vulnerability audits.

India orders infosec red alert in case Mythos sparks crime spree

India’s securities regulator has issued an information security red alert to prepare for potential mass cyberattacks fueled by AI models such as Mythos. The regulator is urging market participants to strengthen cybersecurity fundamentals and develop new defense strategies to mitigate these emerging threats.

Mickey Mouse is watching you: Disneyland deploys facial recognition

Disneyland has implemented facial recognition technology at certain entrance lanes to prevent fraud and streamline guest re-entry. While visitors can opt out of using these lanes, the move has sparked renewed debate over privacy and surveillance.

Let’s Get EFF to Accept Monero Donations

The article calls on readers to contact the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) to advocate for the acceptance of Monero donations. To assist with this campaign, the post provides a list of specific EFF staff email addresses related to donor relations and operations.

FBI investigating leaks to journalist who wrote explosive article on Kash Pate

The FBI is reportedly conducting an unusual investigation into The Atlantic journalist Sarah Fitzpatrick following her report on Director Kash Patel’s alleged erratic behavior. While the FBI denies the existence of the probe, sources claim the investigation focuses on leaks to the reporter rather than the disclosure of classified information.

Mythos is the best cybersecurity news in a decade

Although Anthropic’s Mythos model is feared for its ability to exploit software vulnerabilities, it could potentially revolutionize cyber defense by automating the discovery and patching of flaws. This technology offers the possibility of eliminating the traditional advantage held by attackers, shifting the industry toward a more stable and automated security paradigm.

1000 third parties could have stolen RIPE NCC session tokens - by design

A vulnerability in RIPE NCC’s single sign-on system allowed attackers to steal session tokens by exploiting a wide cookie scope covering all *.ripe.net subdomains. This flaw granted full access to critical internet routing databases and enabled attackers to maintain persistent access through the silent creation of new administrative users or API keys.

DefiLlama: $14B pulled from DeFi after North Korea-linked hacks hit Aave and Drift

Investors have withdrawn approximately $14 billion from the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector following several major security breaches. These include North Korea-linked hacks that resulted in the theft of $290 million from Aave and $280 million from Drift.

🚀 Space & Hardware

Mars rover hits rocky snag with power tool

This news digest highlights recent developments in AI and cybersecurity, such as Arctic Wolf’s layoffs to fund AI initiatives and the risks involving the sale of employee credentials. It also covers hardware challenges like the DRAM drought affecting AMD and ongoing cyber espionage threats from Iran-linked groups.

DRAM drought to dog AMD’s chips this year

AMD’s chips are expected to face challenges this year due to a shortage in DRAM. However, demand for commercial PCs is anticipated to help mitigate the impact of the broader slowdown.

UK puts £20.5M behind ’numberplate for the skies’ to keep tabs on drones

The UK government is investing £20.5 million into a Remote ID system to track the identity and location of drones. This initiative, described as a “numberplate for the skies,” aims to prevent unauthorized drone flights from disrupting airport operations.

Britain says Skyhammer drone interceptor passed Jordan tests with flying colors

The Skyhammer drone interceptor, developed by Cambridge Aerospace, has successfully completed testing in Jordan. Following these desert trials, the UK Ministry of Defence is considering exporting the system to the Middle East.

Google to sell TPU chips to select customers

Alphabet plans to sell its custom Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) to select customers for installation in their own data centers. This strategic shift from renting cloud capacity aims to expand Alphabet’s market opportunity and increase competition with Nvidia in the growing AI chip industry.

SoundOff: Low-Cost Passive Ultrasound Tags

SoundOff is an ultra-low-cost, passive sensing system that uses electronics-free ultrasound tags attached to everyday objects to monitor indoor movements. These tags generate unique, non-intrusive ultrasonic signals detectable by wearable devices, providing a scalable and privacy-preserving solution for smart home and industrial automation.

Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

Valve has released a complete set of CAD files for the Steam Controller, including external shell files and engineering diagrams. The release, governed by a Creative Commons license, is intended to enable modders to create custom accessories such as skins, charging stands, and mounts.

Detection of an atmosphere on a trans-Neptunian object beyond Pluto

A stellar occultation of the trans-Neptunian object (612533) 2002 XV93 has revealed evidence of a thin atmosphere with a surface pressure of 100–200 nbar. This discovery suggests that even small icy minor planets can host transient atmospheres, potentially sustained by cryovolcanic activity or recent impacts.

The Soul of Maintaining a New Machine

Anthropologist Julian Orr’s study of Xerox service technicians in the 1980s revealed that maintaining complex photocopiers relied on a social community of practice. Through the sharing of “war stories,” technicians exchanged vital knowledge to resolve machine failures that standard operational procedures could not address.

245TB Micron 6600 ION Data Center SSD Now Shipping

Micron’s 245TB 6600 ION Data Center SSD is now available for shipment. This high-capacity solid-state drive is designed to meet the storage demands of data center environments.

After a 40-year wait, technology enables three-sided zipper design

New technological advancements have enabled the creation of a three-sided zipper design after a 40-year wait. This breakthrough represents a significant development in manufacturing capabilities for fastening mechanisms.

iPhone dumbphone

Using Apple Configurator, a business-oriented tool, the author has transformed their iPhone into a “dumb phone” by restricting access to distracting apps and websites. This setup retains essential utility apps while creating enough friction to prevent easy changes, effectively reducing daily screen time by approximately two hours.

reMarkable Paper Pure review: the new $399 e-paper slate has a great display, responsiveness, and…

Google, Microsoft, and xAI have agreed to grant the US Commerce Department early access to their AI models. The department will use this access to conduct security evaluations.

Corning and Nvidia partner to open 3 US optical tech plants, boosting US capacity 10x

Nvidia and Corning are partnering to establish three new advanced manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Texas focused on optical technologies for AI infrastructure. The deal, which includes Nvidia’s right to invest up to $2.7 billion in Corning, aims to increase the company’s U.S. optical manufacturing capacity tenfold and create at least 3,000 jobs.

Blue Origin outlines new stock plan to quell staff unrest and rival SpaceX

Jeff Bezos is restructuring staff incentives at Blue Origin by introducing a new employee stock plan. This move aims to quell staff unrest and make the company’s compensation more competitive with SpaceX.

eleQtron raises €57M Series A for trapped-ion quantum processors, led by Schwarz Digits

German deeptech company eleQtron has raised €57 million in a Series A funding round led by Schwarz Digits. The capital will be used to scale its proprietary trapped-ion quantum computing technology and expand production capacity for industrial deployment.

💰 Business & Finance

Musk has never built a wafer fab, but he wants to burn $119B on one anyway

Elon Musk is planning to launch a semiconductor manufacturing facility known as the Terafab project in rural Texas. The massive undertaking is expected to involve significant investment, with total costs projected to reach $119 billion.

Pope Leo called his bank’s customer service line. They hung up on him

Pope Leo XIV encountered difficulties updating his bank account information after a customer service representative refused his request and hung up on him. Following intervention from the bank’s president, the institution eventually made an exception to its in-person policy to complete the update.

UK businesses brace for jet fuel rationing

Goldman Sachs has warned that the UK is the most vulnerable European economy to a potential jet fuel crisis triggered by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Due to depleted stockpiles and diminished domestic refining capacity, the shortage threatens to increase airline costs and disrupt vital supply chains for British businesses.

David Sacks crashed and burned in the White House

The Trump administration is considering implementing federal oversight and reviews for AI models before their release, marking a reversal of its previous pro-deregulation stance. This policy shift is driven by emerging national security concerns, international regulatory trends, and the loss of influence of David Sacks within the White House.

McDonald’s is a premium product now (2024)

Despite missing Q2 estimates, McDonald’s stock rose as the brand increasingly serves as a premium option for the upper-middle class. This reflects a broader consumer trend where Americans prioritize flavorful, calorie-dense food despite rising inflation and health concerns.

Appearing Productive in the Workplace

Generative AI enables individuals to produce work that mimics professional expertise in disciplines where they lack formal training, often resulting in fundamentally flawed outcomes. This issue is compounded by organizational incentives that prioritize the appearance of productivity and momentum over the verification of actual competence and quality.

CNN founder Ted Turner, a pioneer of cable TV news, dies at 87

Ted Turner, the media entrepreneur who revolutionized television by founding CNN, has died at the age of 87. Beyond his media empire, he was a prominent philanthropist, environmentalist, and owner of professional sports teams like the Atlanta Braves.

Ted Turner, cable TV visionary who created CNN, dies at 87

Media mogul Ted Turner, the visionary behind CNN and the superstation TBS, has died at the age of 87. His expansive legacy includes significant contributions to cable television, professional sports, philanthropy, and environmental conservation.

Why is southern Italy poorer than northern Italy?

This article explores the economic divergence between Northern and Southern Italy, examining whether the disparity stems from differing civic traditions or deeper environmental factors. While historical differences in social capital and institutions provide a proximate explanation, the author suggests that geography and malaria-related disease stress may be the ultimate causes.

Microsoft weighs delaying 2030 renewable energy goal amid data center boom

Microsoft is considering delaying or abandoning its 2030 goal to match 100% of its hourly electricity use with renewable energy purchases. The company is weighing this decision to address power supply challenges driven by its expanding data center operations.

UK FCA probes PayPal, Mastercard and Visa for alleged anti-competitive behavior

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is investigating PayPal, Mastercard, and Visa for alleged anti-competitive behavior. Visa has indicated that the probe specifically pertains to the PayPal digital wallet.

Morgan Stanley launches E*Trade crypto pilot with lower fees than rivals; wider launch in 2026

Morgan Stanley has launched a cryptocurrency trading pilot on its ETrade platform, featuring transaction fees of 50 basis points to undercut rivals like Coinbase and Robinhood. The bank plans to expand access to all 8.6 million ETrade clients later this year.

Crypto miner Hut 8 signs $9.8B+ 15-year computing power lease in Texas

Hut 8 Corp. has signed a 15-year lease worth at least $9.8 billion to provide computing power for an AI data center in Nueces County, Texas. The agreement with an unnamed high-investment-grade company could reach a total value of $25.1 billion if all contract extensions are exercised.

🌍 Science & Society

Young evil genius forces hamster to run on wheel to power his gadgets

A young individual is using a hamster running on a wheel to generate power for his electronic gadgets. The rodent is reportedly a willing participant in the process in exchange for treats.

Taiwan cops say student’s radio kit brought bullet trains to a standstill

Taiwanese police have concluded that a student’s radio kit project caused bullet trains to come to a standstill. Investigators spent several weeks unraveling the impact of the enthusiast’s bedroom project.

Kash Patel’s Personalized Bourbon Stash

FBI Director Kash Patel reportedly distributes personalized, engraved bottles of Woodford Reserve bourbon to both FBI personnel and civilians. The practice has raised concerns regarding the use of Department of Justice aircraft to transport the alcohol and allegations of erratic behavior.

MIT’s virtual violin offers luthiers a new design tool

MIT engineers have developed a physics-based simulation tool to assist luthiers in the violin design process. Unlike traditional sampling-based software, this model uses the instrument’s fundamental physical properties to accurately reproduce realistic sounds.

RFK Jr. clears path for minors to use tanning beds, much to dermatologist dismay

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has withdrawn a proposed FDA rule that would have prohibited minors from using indoor tanning lamps and required users to acknowledge the risks of skin cancer. Dermatologists have expressed significant alarm over the decision, warning that such devices expose users to intense ultraviolet radiation that substantially increases the risk of melanoma.

Babies Are Bleeding to Death as Parents Reject a Vitamin Shot Given at Birth

An increasing number of parents are declining the standard newborn vitamin K shot due to unfounded fears and social media misinformation. This growing trend is contributing to preventable, fatal cases of vitamin K deficiency bleeding in infants.

Egg Intake and the Incidence of Alzheimer’s Disease in Adventist Health Study-2

The Adventist Health Study-2 examines the relationship between egg intake and the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. However, the provided text contains only a security verification prompt and lacks the full article details.

Colombia hosts talks on exiting fossil fuels as global energy crisis deepens

Over 50 countries, including both oil producers and major consumers, are meeting in Colombia to develop practical roadmaps for transitioning away from fossil fuels. This “coalition of the willing” aims to overcome the stalemate in United Nations climate negotiations by focusing on actionable implementation and energy security.

Life During Class Wartime

The article argues that extreme wealth inequality is facilitating the rise of a hereditary aristocracy through the preservation of generational wealth via tax loopholes. Using the potential takeover of the Vancouver Whitecaps by a billionaire’s heir as an example, the author warns of the damaging social and economic consequences of concentrated economic power.

Mexico City is sinking so quickly, it can be seen from space

New NASA satellite imagery reveals that Mexico City is sinking at a rate of nearly 10 inches per year, making it one of the world’s fastest-subsiding metropolises. This rapid subsidence, driven by extensive groundwater pumping on an ancient lake bed, is damaging critical infrastructure and exacerbating a chronic water crisis.

The Disadvantages of an Elite Education (2008)

While an elite education provides significant intellectual and professional advantages, it can also create a profound socioeconomic disconnect that leaves graduates unable to relate to those outside their privileged circle. The author argues that the broader system of educational advantage fosters a sense of homogeneity that separates the academic elite from the working class.

Rumors of my death are slightly exaggerated

An AI-generated review on Facebook recently falsely claimed that author Cliff died in May 2024. This hallucination led several individuals to contact him to inquire whether his Klein bottle business was still operating.

B.C. residents baffled as shape floats through night sky

Residents across British Columbia and parts of Alberta reported seeing a large, white, slow-moving shape in the night sky on Tuesday evening. While theories range from weather balloons to SpaceX rocket plumes, experts suggest such sightings are becoming more common due to increased satellite, drone, and rocket activity.

OpenAI president forced to read his personal diary entries to jury

OpenAI President Greg Brockman testified in Elon Musk’s lawsuit against the company, where his personal journal entries were unsealed as evidence. Musk’s legal team alleges the entries prove OpenAI abandoned its nonprofit mission for personal profit, while Brockman argues the stream-of-consciousness notes are difficult to interpret out of context.

NZ Government to Disestablish the BSA

The New Zealand Government plans to disestablish the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) to better align with the modern, multi-platform media landscape. Officials will investigate self-regulation options, with the expectation that the New Zealand Media Council will eventually become the primary regulator for journalism.

Singapore introduces caning for boys who bully others at school

Singapore has introduced new guidelines allowing male students in upper primary school and above to face up to three strokes of the cane for bullying as a last resort. The measure will only be implemented when other disciplinary actions are deemed insufficient and must follow strict safety protocols and student monitoring.

Knitting bullshit

The author critiques the rise of unvetted, AI-generated content in hobbyist niches, using Harry Frankfurt’s definition of “bullshit” to highlight an indifference to truth. Using the high-volume podcast factory Inception Point AI as an example, the piece argues against the notion that low-stakes topics like knitting can be produced without editorial oversight or concern for accuracy.

Ombudsman column: The Pentagon is trying to silence me

The Stars and Stripes ombudsman has been fired by the Pentagon, an action the author claims is retaliation for defending the newspaper’s editorial independence. The author alleges that Pentagon leadership is attempting to exert control over the publication’s content by undermining legal protections against interference.

Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere just hit a ‘depressing’ new record

Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels reached a record high of approximately 431 parts per million in April, according to data from NOAA’s Mauna Loa Observatory. This increase follows a long-term upward trend and comes as rising electricity demand from artificial intelligence data centers has begun to reverse recent declines in U.S. emissions.

David Sacks: The self-interested White House AI/crypto adviser behind the GENIUS Act

Venture capitalist David Sacks has transitioned from a critic of Donald Trump to a prominent supporter and fundraiser for the MAGA movement. Now serving as a White House adviser for AI and crypto, Sacks exemplifies a growing alliance between Silicon Valley and the Trump administration.

US school cellphone bans boost student well-being but don’t raise test scores.

A new large-scale study shows that strict cellphone bans in US schools have successfully reduced device usage but have not yet led to improved academic test scores. However, the research found that students in these schools reported a greater sense of well-being and teachers experienced fewer classroom distractions.