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Showing posts from March 30, 2025

Sources: DOGE is hosting a "hackathon" in Washington DC next week to build a "mega API" for accessing all IRS data, with Palantir as a possible partner (Makena Kelly/Wired) https://ift.tt/zM4OFt9

Makena Kelly / Wired : Sources: DOGE is hosting a “hackathon” in Washington DC next week to build a “mega API” for accessing all IRS data, with Palantir as a possible partner   —  DOGE operatives have repeatedly referred to the software company Palantir as a possible partner in creating a “mega API” at the IRS, sources tell WIRED.

Meta updates Meta AI in WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram Direct, and the Meta.AI website with Llama 4 in 40 countries; multimodal features are US-only in English (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch) https://ift.tt/WsQHOkA

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch : Meta updates Meta AI in WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram Direct, and the Meta.AI website with Llama 4 in 40 countries; multimodal features are US-only in English   —  Meta has released a new collection of AI models, Llama 4, in its Llama family — on a Saturday, no less.

Meta launches Llama 4 Maverick with 400B parameters and Scout with 109B parameters and a 10M context window, and previews Behemoth with 2T total parameters (Meta) https://ift.tt/mOLsxkv

Meta : Meta launches Llama 4 Maverick with 400B parameters and Scout with 109B parameters and a 10M context window, and previews Behemoth with 2T total parameters   —  Takeaways  — We're sharing the first models in the Llama 4 herd, which will enable people to build more personalized multimodal experiences.

OpenAI and Google reject the UK's proposal to allow training AI on copyrighted work without permission unless rights holders opt out to "reserve their rights" (Joseph Bambridge/Politico) https://ift.tt/V70eb6R

Joseph Bambridge / Politico : OpenAI and Google reject the UK's proposal to allow training AI on copyrighted work without permission unless rights holders opt out to “reserve their rights”   —  The U.K. government's AI copyright plans can't seem to please anyone.  —  LONDON — Leading AI companies OpenAI …

Judge orders Trump administration to return Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador prison https://ift.tt/rA2xJEF

A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to immediately make arrangements for the return of a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to an El Salvador prison.  U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said that Kilmar Abrego Garcia had been illegally deported to El Salvador and said he must be returned by Monday before midnight. This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

GitHub announces "premium requests" for GitHub Copilot, a new system that imposes rate limits when users switch from the base GPT-4o to other AI models (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch) https://ift.tt/taAzvEc

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch : GitHub announces “premium requests” for GitHub Copilot, a new system that imposes rate limits when users switch from the base GPT-4o to other AI models   —  GitHub Copilot, Microsoft-owned GitHub's AI coding assistant, could soon become costlier for some users.

Dem senator looks to hijack key Trump budget process with tariff challenge https://ift.tt/j4dvGt7

FIRST ON FOX : Sen. Jacky Rosen plans to introduce amendments ahead of Friday night's "Vote-A-Rama" that would roll back President Donald Trump's tariffs on certain materials on key tourism partners, likely forcing her Republican colleagues to go on record defending the policy again.  " President Trump broke his promise to lower costs, and has enacted reckless tariffs that are jacking up prices even higher for hardworking Nevada families and harming my state’s tourism economy," Rosen, D-Nev., told Fox News Digital in an exclusive statement.  "Donald Trump may not care if his tariffs raise prices , but I do, and that’s why I’m trying to stop his new national sales tax. Every senator should be on the record: Do you stand with America’s working families who need financial relief, or do you stand with Trump in giving his billionaire buddies even more tax giveaways?"  REPUBLICANS CHARGE AHEAD ON TRUMP BUDGET, SETTING UP MARATHON SENATE VOTES The N...

Codex, which is building a blockchain for stablecoins, raised a $15.8M seed led by Dragonfly, with Coinbase, Circle, and others participating (Ben Weiss/Fortune) https://ift.tt/M2E1s7y

Ben Weiss / Fortune : Codex, which is building a blockchain for stablecoins, raised a $15.8M seed led by Dragonfly, with Coinbase, Circle, and others participating   —  Stablecoins, or cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar, are all the buzz in crypto.  After fintech giant Stripe acquired …

Pentagon watchdog opens probe into Hegseth’s use of Signal to discuss Houthi attack plans https://ift.tt/IxNr0eY

The Pentagon’s inspector general has launched an investigation into whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated department policy by discussing military attack plans in a private Signal chat, following a report by The Atlantic. The probe will examine whether Hegseth improperly discussed operational plans for a U.S. offensive against the Houthis in Yemen and will also review "compliance with classification and records retention requirements," according to a memo from Inspector General Steven Stebbins. The investigation was launched after the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate’s Armed Services Committee requested it last week.  "This chat was alleged to have included classified information pertaining to sensitive military discussions in Yemen," Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and ranking member Jack Reed, D-R.I., wrote in a letter to Stebbins. "If true, this reporting raises questions as to the use of unclassified networks to discuss classified ...

Father of Marine vet murdered in Mexico praises Trump admin sanctions on Sinaloa cartel: 'Palpable' momentum https://ift.tt/A4HL9y0

The father of a 31-year-old Marine veteran from Arizona who was murdered at an illegal checkpoint while driving to the beach in Mexico in 2024 said he did not expect Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to reference his son’s name when announcing new sanctions against the Sinaloa cartel this week.   Doug Quets, a U.S. military veteran himself, whose son, Nicholas Quets, served for four years in the Marines, said he was "really humbled and pleasantly surprised" that Bessent remembered him, as well as another American, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena. Camarena was abducted, tortured and killed in 1985.  Bessent named both men in a video statement released Monday – what would have been Nicholas Quets’ 32nd birthday – that announced Treasury Department sanctions against six individuals and seven entities allegedly involved in a money-laundering network supporting the Sinaloa cartel.  "I had full faith in President Trump… I...

YouTube quietly removed "gender identity" from its hate speech policy after Trump took office; Google says enforcement of the policy remains unchanged (Taylor Lorenz/User Mag) https://ift.tt/R69uQi3

Taylor Lorenz / User Mag : YouTube quietly removed “gender identity” from its hate speech policy after Trump took office; Google says enforcement of the policy remains unchanged   —  TariffTokers, Gen Z's ‘it couple’, Easter potatoes, anti-MAGA hats, Zuck's D.C. mansion, Amazon's TikTok bid, Silicon Valley's cupid …

Bitter House GOP divisions erupt after Johnson shuts down votes over Republican mutiny https://ift.tt/Yb7oMyR

House Republicans are still divided after proceedings ground to a halt on Tuesday over a push by a small group of GOP lawmakers to block Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., from changing chamber procedures. Nine House Republicans joined Democrats in blocking a normally sleepy procedural vote, known as a "rule vote," from passing on Tuesday afternoon. It came after House leaders tucked an unrelated provision into the measure that would have stopped Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., from forcing a vote on giving new parents in the House the ability to vote remotely. Johnson called the move "disappointing" and cut the House's legislative week short, sending lawmakers back to their districts two days early and canceling the remaining votes. "If a career in politics doesn't work out for me, I have ample credentials to work at a circus," a senior House GOP aide said when asked about the current situation.  HAWLEY OFFICIALLY A YES ON DR. OZ AFTER SECURING COM...

Sources: AppLovin has made a bid for TikTok and talked to casino magnate Steve Wynn about backing it (Wall Street Journal) https://ift.tt/Ya3JQrD

Wall Street Journal : Sources: AppLovin has made a bid for TikTok and talked to casino magnate Steve Wynn about backing it   —  Trump is expected to be briefed Wednesday on a framework to keep the video-sharing app operational  —  Mobile technology company AppLovin has made a bid for TikTok and talked …

Adobe updates Premiere Pro with AI-powered features like Generative Extend, which lets users extend clips by two seconds with 4K quality and background audio (Jess Weatherbed/The Verge) https://ift.tt/wXi4K2v

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge : Adobe updates Premiere Pro with AI-powered features like Generative Extend, which lets users extend clips by two seconds with 4K quality and background audio   —  Generative Extend is now rolling out, alongside an AI-powered search panel and caption translations.

Election Day in Wisconsin, Florida: What to watch as conservatives face a statewide electoral test https://ift.tt/P26fSDQ

Voters in two states are casting general election ballots for the first time since November, when they sent President Donald Trump back to the White House. Wisconsin will choose a new justice on the state Supreme Court, which has a 4-3 liberal-leaning majority. Florida is holding special elections in two deep-red districts last held by Reps. Matt Gaetz and Michael Waltz . At stake: court decisions over abortion, unions and voting rights in Wisconsin, and the size of the Republican majority in the U.S. House. Democrats have been counting down to this moment.  Off-year and special elections are typically low-turnout affairs, which, in the Trump era, has often given Democratic-leaning voters a louder voice.  FIRST MAJOR SWING STATE ELECTION OF 2025 TURNS INTO REFRENDUM ON TRUMP, MUSK   That could deliver liberals a win and an ongoing majority in Wisconsin, and/or a strong performance in the Florida races. Even so, Republicans are favored to win those two Florida rac...

Similarweb: Gemini's web app had 10.9M average daily visits in March, up 7.4% MoM; Sensor Tower: Claude and Gemini saw activity jump after flagship model debuts (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch) https://ift.tt/iYadKcx

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch : Similarweb: Gemini's web app had 10.9M average daily visits in March, up 7.4% MoM; Sensor Tower: Claude and Gemini saw activity jump after flagship model debuts   —  OpenAI's ChatGPT may be the world's most popular chatbot app.  But rival services are gaining, according to data from analytics firms Similarweb and Sensor Tower.

Sources: a16z is in talks to join the Oracle-led frontrunner bid for TikTok's US arm, after being approached along with Blackstone Group and others (Financial Times) https://ift.tt/Ie49Ga2

Financial Times : Sources: a16z is in talks to join the Oracle-led frontrunner bid for TikTok's US arm, after being approached along with Blackstone Group and others   —  Venture capital group could join last-gasp bid by allies of Donald Trump to take control of video app owned by ByteDance

New research reveals how EV, emissions mandates are inflating costs for gas-powered cars, utilities https://ift.tt/bfUCy95

FIRST ON FOX: Government subsidies for electric vehicles (EVs), combined with a regulatory credit system for vehicle emissions, are leading to rising automobile and utility costs, a new report from the American Energy Institute (AEI) reveals. Increasingly stringent Corporate Average Fuel Economy and greenhouse gas tailpipe emissions standards have forced gas-powered vehicle manufacturers to produce more EVs. As a result, this has siphoned auto manufacturers' resources away from gas-powered vehicle production and toward EV production, ultimately pushing the costs of gas-powered cars higher, according a report by the AEI. If auto manufacturers do not produce enough EVs to meet state and federal standards, they are forced to buy into a credit system to offset their emissions production, inevitably creating another avenue where additional costs are transferred to consumers, according to the report. GOP LAWMAKER SEEKS TO SLAM BRAKES ON BIDEN'S ‘WOKE AND WASTEFUL’ EV TAX CREDIT ...

AG files last-minute appeal to block Musk from gifting $2 million to voters in high-stakes WI court race https://ift.tt/p81fQz4

Wisconsin’s attorney general filed a last-minute appeal to the state Supreme Court days after an appellate court denied his request to prevent billionaire DOGE leader Elon Musk from giving $1 million checks to two individuals at Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel’s Green Bay rally on Sunday evening. An appeals judge rejected Democrat Joshua Kaul’s bid for an emergency injunction Saturday, as Schimel – a Republican former state attorney general and current Waukesha judge – faces liberal jurist Susan Crawford in the officially nonpartisan race to fill a seat on the blue-trending court. Kaul asked the 4-3 liberal-majority court to reach a decision "as soon as possible but no later than the planned event on Sunday evening." Musk has publicly backed and contributed millions of dollars toward Schimel, and Kaul argued the giveaway violates state election laws. The tech mogul also came under fire for making a similar offer in Pennsylvania during the 2024 presidential...

Ethereum is struggling to keep the interest of investors and developers, having fallen out of step in an industry transformed by the embrace of Donald Trump (Bloomberg) https://ift.tt/hI6GZCq

Bloomberg : Ethereum is struggling to keep the interest of investors and developers, having fallen out of step in an industry transformed by the embrace of Donald Trump   —  Vitalik Buterin was long viewed as the wunderkind of the cryptocurrency world.  —  The gawky, playful founder of Ethereum …