The Brutalist Report

Techmeme

The FCC says foreign-made routers and drones can now receive software updates at least until 2029, extending its earlier 2027 cutoff (Michael Kan/PCMag) [67d]
Sources: WH is preparing to order US agencies to partner with AI companies on cybersecurity; the EO wouldn't require pre-release model testing by the government (Bloomberg) [67d]
EU warns that VPNs are being used to bypass online age-verification systems, calling their use "a loophole in the legislation that needs closing" (Alex Lekander/CyberInsider) [67d]
Impressions of China's AI ecosystem after visiting many leading AI labs there, and the similarities and differences in working on LLMs in China and the West (Nathan Lambert/Interconnects AI) [67d]
Sources: Apollo Global and Blackstone are among private credit lenders in talks with Broadcom over a ~$35B financing deal to fund the development of AI chips (Bloomberg) [67d]
Sources: Cerebras plans to raise its IPO price range from $115-$125 per share to $125-$135 after drawing orders for more than 20x the number of shares available (Bloomberg) [67d]
A hack of Instructure's Canvas locked out students at schools and universities across the US in the middle of finals period; some US colleges postponed exams (Associated Press) [67d]
Sources: Isomorphic Labs, an AI-powered drug discovery company spun out of Google DeepMind, is in advanced talks to raise $2B+ led by Thrive Capital (Bloomberg) [67d]
Akamai says it struck a seven-year cloud computing deal with a "leading frontier model provider"; sources: the deal was with Anthropic and is worth $1.8B (Rachel Metz/Bloomberg) [67d]
Interviews with Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan and other execs about the challenges of a turnaround, along with efforts to instill a sense of urgency in the organization (Ian King/Bloomberg) [68d]
Sources: Apple and Intel have reached a formal deal in recent months for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices (Wall Street Journal) [68d]
OnlyFans agrees to sell a ~16% stake to Architect Capital for $535M in a deal that values the company at about $3.15B (Olivia Solon/Bloomberg) [68d]
Investor letter: TCI, one of the world's biggest hedge funds, cut almost all of its $8B stake in Microsoft, citing AI-related risks to Office and Azure (Costas Mourselas/Financial Times) [68d]
Whoop plans to offer on-demand video consultations with licensed clinicians for US users, and adds electronic health records and AI-powered health guidance (Brandon Gomez/CNBC) [68d]
Sony reports a $765M impairment loss due to underperformance of Marathon developer Bungie during the financial year ending March 31, 2026 (Wesley Yin-Poole/IGN) [68d]
Sources: DeepSeek seeks to raise ~$7.3B in its first-ever funding round at a $50B+ valuation, with CEO Liang Wenfeng making a personal investment of ~$2.9B (The Information) [68d]
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde expressed skepticism over the need for euro-pegged stablecoins, saying they could hamper the ECB's work (Reuters) [68d]
Substack says paid subscriptions to creators in the UK, its second-largest market, hit 500K+; global paid subs hit 5M+, with 50+ creators earning $1M+ annually (Lily Ford/The Hollywood Reporter) [68d]