The Brutalist Report

Techmeme

Sources: Frank founder Charlie Javice, sentenced in September 2025 to 85 months for defrauding JPMorgan Chase, has been seeking a presidential pardon from Trump (Wall Street Journal) [28d]
A profile of Kalshi COO Luana Lopes Lara, who has overseen a tremendous pace of growth over the past year as the company faces political and regulatory backlash (Emily Nicolle/Bloomberg) [28d]
Chinese Tesla drivers are using tiny plastic heads to fool Tesla's distracted-driving controls, which appear unable to distinguish figurines from real people (Zeyi Yang/Wired) [28d]
A government crackdown on online casinos operating in the Isle of Man has led to a major tax revenue loss, accelerating the island's slide toward a fiscal cliff (Jack Adamović Davies/Bloomberg) [28d]
Satya Nadella says companies must build both human capital and token capital, with human judgment guiding AI systems that learn and improve over time (Satya Nadella/@satyanadella) [28d]
Sources: senior Anthropic technical staff are in DC to meet WH officials and try to fix the Mythos 5 dispute; both sides say they are eager to resolve the issue (Maria Curi/Axios) [28d]
Canadian PM says the Anthropic ban shows the dangers of "over-reliance on certain models", and compares the risks to those that led to the 2008 financial crisis (Bloomberg) [28d]
Sources: UK plans an "Australia plus" social media ban for under-16s, including restrictions on chatting with strangers on gaming apps, under-18 curfews, more (The Guardian) [28d]
EU says it is looking at the practical consequences of US restricting Anthropic's models, notes such measures "should not be discriminatory against partners" (Reuters) [28d]
Siri AI is good enough to ease Apple's AI crisis; sources: the ability to tap third party AI models beyond OpenAI's is already active in internal iOS 27 builds (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg) [28d]
Since Russia ratcheted up control over the internet this year, some Russians are turning to solutions like using multiple phones and VPNs to evade restrictions (Andrew Osborn/Reuters) [28d]
Ajinomoto says it can meet demand through 2030 for ABF, a key material for advanced chipmaking substrates, and plans to expand capacity instead of hiking prices (Wall Street Journal) [28d]
After years of uncertainty, including delayed listings, memory chipmaker Kioxia's shares soared 56x in 18 months, making it Japan's most valuable company (Shuhei Ochiai/Nikkei Asia) [28d]
As the 2026 FIFA World Cup begins, there is still no clear replacement for "Sports Twitter", which was a perfect second-screen experience during live events (Andrew Webster/The Verge) [29d]
Challenger, Gray & Christmas: out of ~398K US jobs cuts in 2026 through May, employers cited AI as the reason for ~88K of them, up from ~54K in all of 2025 (Hyunsoo Rim/Sherwood News) [29d]
Nothing CEO Carl Pei says memory is now the costliest phone component, accounting for 50%+ of BOM in some models, and predicts phone prices will rise into 2027 (Stevie Bonifield/The Verge) [29d]
US export controls on Anthropic reignite debate in India over the country's AI ambitions, which are increasingly tied to tech developed and governed in the US (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch) [29d]
US officials: the Trump administration's decision to impose export controls on Anthropic followed multiple tense calls between Dario Amodei and admin officials (Politico) [29d]
Companies are grappling with whether and how to curb employee wagers on prediction markets that may use confidential info, as platforms tighten their own rules (Financial Times) [29d]
Q&A with labor researcher Molly Kinder on her recent, widely discussed "Messy Middle" essay on AI-driven disruption of knowledge jobs and how to address it (Casey Newton/Platformer) [29d]