Short Reads Page 6

I came across news today that a coalition of independent European publishers has lodged an antitrust complaint against Google, arguing its new “AI Overviews” feature unfairly diverts readers away from original articles. They claim the AI-generated summaries appear prominently in search results, reducing click-throughs and making it impossible to opt out without sacrificing visibility。 (more…)

I read this morning that Microsoft will eliminate roughly 9,000 positions worldwide, marking its largest workforce reduction in over two years. The move, affecting about 4% of its 228,000 employees, is part of a push to streamline operations and redirect resources toward cloud services and artificial intelligence. (more…)

Today, July 1, 2025, reports emerged that Surge AI, a leading data-labeling startup founded by former Google and Meta engineer Edwin Chen, is in talks to secure up to $1 billion in its first-ever funding round, aiming for a valuation above $15 billion. (more…)

Siri AI is set to get a significant boost as Apple explores integrating Anthropic’s Claude or OpenAI’s GPT models into its voice assistant, according to a Bloomberg report. This could mark Siri’s biggest leap in understanding and responsiveness since its debut. (more…)

I saw today that Nvidia insiders quietly sold over $1 billion in company shares as the stock surged to new highs. The Financial Times report, based on regulatory filings, shows executives and board members booked gains just as the broader market rallied on strong AI hardware demand. (more…)

I woke up to news that Micron Technology’s stock jumped 2% in premarket trading on June 26, 2025, after the company projected a nearly 50% rise in high-bandwidth memory chip sales, fueled by surging demand from AI data centers. (more…)

I just heard the big news today—GitHub Copilot Voice is out of preview and now generally available to all developers worldwide. With a simple spoken prompt, Copilot Voice can spin up code snippets, refactor functions, or even explain complex algorithms in real time. I gave it a whirl on my last Python script: “Generate a data-validation decorator,” and within seconds, I had clean, documented code ready to go. (more…)

I noticed this afternoon that Apple’s iCloud went offline for nearly five hours, taking down key services like Mail, Photos, iWork, and even the Web Apps portal. According to Apple’s System Status page, the trouble began around 2:36 PM ET and didn’t fully clear until about 7:00 PM ET. During the downtime, users reported login errors and missing files, with Downdetector logs spiking to almost 1,000 incident reports at peak.
(more…)

Today, June 23, 2025, AI innovator MiniMax rolled out Hailuo 02, its second-generation video AI engine that packs lightning-fast rendering and stunning image fidelity into an affordable package. I ran a quick prototype, and the results blew me away—real-time edits are nearly seamless, with color grading and motion tracking handled in-flight. (more…)

Tesla Robotaxi Austin quietly kicked off its first public rides today in Austin, Texas, charging a flat $4.20 per trip. I hopped in for a spin along South Congress Avenue, and the experience was shockingly smooth—no steering wheel, just two front cameras guiding the way. Here are three standout moments: (more…)