Automattic-owned Beeper is releasing redesigned desktop and iOS apps

February 25, 2025

WordPress.com owner Automattic last year acquired the multi-service messaging app Beeper for $125 million and said it would merge it with Texts.com, an earlier acquisition in the same category. Now, Beeper is releasing the first set of redesigned apps for iOS and desktop in beta after the merger. In a blog post, Beeper said that […]

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1,000 artists release ‘silent’ album to protest UK copyright sell-out to AI

February 25, 2025

The U.K. government wants to move full steam ahead on big plans to use and build AI across the country, but not everyone is marching to the beat of its drum. On Monday, a group of 1,000 musicians released a “silent album”, in protest of planned changes to copyright law — changes the artists say […]

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UK’s internet watchdog toughens approach to deepfake porn

February 25, 2025

Ofcom, the U.K.’s internet safety regulator, has published another new draft guidance as it continues to implement the Online Safety Act (OSA) — the latest set of recommendations aim to support in-scope firms to meet legal obligations to protect women and girls from online threats like harassment and bullying, misogyny, and intimate image abuse. The […]

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Web Summit attendees aren’t buying Scale AI CEO’s push for America ‘to win the AI war’

February 25, 2025

In a bold move last month, Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang took out a full-page ad in the Washington Post, telling President Trump that “America must win the AI war.” The statement sparked mixed reactions, as seen during Wang’s appearance Sunday during the opening night of Web Summit Qatar. When Wang’s interviewer Axios’s Felix Salmon […]

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Anthropic reportedly ups its next funding round to $3.5B

February 25, 2025

Anthropic’s next funding round is reportedly growing larger. Anthropic, which makes the AI chatbot Claude, is finalizing a $3.5 billion fundraising round that values the company at $61.5 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. Anthropic initially set out to raise $2 billion, but investors have now agreed to a larger tranche, per the WSJ. […]

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Chegg sues Google over AI search summaries

February 24, 2025

Edtech company Chegg has sued Google claiming that the tech giant’s AI summaries of search results have hurt Chegg’s traffic and revenue. In the suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Chegg accuses Google of unfair competition — specifically reciprocal dealing, monopoly maintenance, and unjust enrichment. Google, Chegg claims, forces […]

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Even Elon Musk forgets that X isn’t Twitter sometimes

February 24, 2025

Do you sometimes refer to X by its old name, Twitter? That’s okay. Even Elon Musk, the man who changed Twitter’s name to X, still occasionally refers to the social media platform he runs as Twitter. “Twitter added far more features with fewer people,” said Musk in a post on X Monday. The owner of […]

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Holmes and Balwani’s appeal falls flat as court upholds fraud convictions

February 24, 2025

Elizabeth Holmes and Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani’s appeals to overturn their fraud convictions and reduce their prison sentences were denied Monday by the Northern District Court of California, which also refused to soften their $452 million joint restitution order. Holmes, the founder of Theranos, and Balwani, its former COO, were convicted in separate trials in 2022 […]

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