Tech

As lawmakers consider a slate of bills focused on protecting children on the internet, Apple CEO Tim Cook had a closed-door meeting today to push for his preferred solutions, as reported by Bloomberg:

As reported by the Washington Post, an investigation by the Tech Transparency Project found apps on both platforms that were owned by sanctioned organizations, including Russian banks and a Chinese paramilitary group.

According to a report from Wired, sources at OpenAI say the company “has become more reluctant to release work that highlights the economic downsides of AI.” At least two employees have reportedly left as a result of research restrictions, including former researcher Tom Cunningham:

A report by Gudea, which tracks online conversations, describes how accusations of white supremacy and Nazism spread following Swift’s album release this fall. According to the report, just 3.77 percent of users accounted for more than a quarter of the conversation; it also found overlap between the users driving the Swift discourse and users active in an “astroturf campaign attacking Blake Lively.” Naturally, the inauthentic discourse then prompted real backlash and responses, making it an even bigger discussion.

Back in the mists of time, in ancient 2009, the European Union fined Intel €1.06 billion ($1.2 billion) for anticompetitive behaviors. The two have been in court ever since, and after Intel got the fine cut to €376 million, it’s now dropped again to €237.1 million ($275 million). How low can it go?

Who could have seen that coming? UK regulator Ofcom’s annual Online Nation report shows that major porn sites took a traffic hit following the introduction of mandatory age checks, while VPN use shot up — but has been steadily declining since, which may ease fears that a VPN ban is next on the agenda.

Microsoft seems to have gotten the message that Linux is becoming real competition and that the Xbox Ally needs more work! “[W]e will continue refining system behaviors that matter most to gaming: background workload management, power and scheduling improvements, graphics stack optimizations, and updated drivers,” the company writes.

Jeff Williams, who recently retired from Apple, will stand for election “as a new independent director at the company’s 2026 annual meeting of shareholders,” Disney says. The board will be expanded to 11 members.

SpaceX is planning to go public at a valuation that would make it the biggest listing of all time, Bloomberg reports. “The Elon Musk-led company is targeting a valuation of about $1.5 trillion for the entire company” and while they’re saying they plan for next year, it’s a Musk company so you know what that means: “the timing could slip until 2027.” SpaceX expects $15 billion in 2025 revenue, and $22 billion to $24 billion in 2026, mostly due to Starlink.