The Brutalist Report - tech
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- Sources: Nvidia has reworked a deal to finance an OpenAI Ohio data center campus so that it would initially guarantee only half of its planned $250B backstop (Anissa Gardizy/Wall Street Journal) [1d]
- SpaceX closes its $60B acquisition of Cursor, two months after SpaceX formally announced it had agreed to acquire the startup (Bloomberg) [1d]
- Z.ai says GLM-5.3 scores 84.5% on CyberGym, vs. Mythos 5's 83.8%, and its most sensitive cybersecurity functions will only be available to verified users (Reuters) [1d]
- Filing: Nvidia has a nearly $21B stake in SpaceX and a $30B stake in Intel; Nvidia invested as much as $2B in xAI in 2025 and $5B in Intel (Lynn Doan/Bloomberg) [1d]
- Docs: Anthropic told investors it generated $11.5B+ in revenue, with positive adjusted operating income, in Q2, up from $787M in Q2 2025 and $4.73B in Q1 2026 (Bloomberg) [1d]
- Amazon adds a clause in its user agreement that seeks to prevent shoppers from filing class-action lawsuits against it, after removing a similar clause in 2021 (Spencer Soper/Bloomberg) [1d]
- The US OCC conditionally approves a bank charter application for Trump family's World Liberty Financial, allowing it to directly issue its USD1 stablecoin (Reuters) [1d]
- Investor letter: Thrive's 2022 early-stage $516M fund that invested in OpenAI and SpaceX was worth $3.7B+ as of the end of June, net of fees and other charges (Natasha Mascarenhas/Bloomberg) [1d]
- Sources: PayPal is in talks to sell itself to a group including Stripe and Advent, which proposed paying $60.50/share in July; PayPal is seeking a higher price (Wall Street Journal) [1d]
- Risk report: Anthropic raises misalignment risk estimate from very low to low and says it doesn't plan to release a stronger internal model called "Model 2" (Madison Mills/Axios) [1d]
- Source: OpenAI CFO told investors that enterprise business now generates more revenue than ChatGPT-led consumer business; enterprise customers grew 32% in July (Kate Rooney/CNBC) [1d]
- Nevada granted Tesla a robotaxi permit, but capped the fleet at 10 vehicles, not 5,000 that Tesla sought, banned airport pickups, and ordered other restrictions (Joann Muller/Axios) [1d]
- Google adds a toggle in Gemini and Flow to remove visible watermarks from AI-generated images, videos, and music; SynthID watermarks and C2PA metadata remain (Emma Roth/The Verge) [1d]
- Apple officially opens ad bookings for businesses on Apple Maps ahead of an upcoming full rollout across the US and Canada (Ryan Christoffel/9to5Mac) [1d]
- Alibaba releases weights for Qwen3.8 models under Apache 2.0 license, including Qwen3.8-27B, which it says beats Qwen3.7-Plus and excels in real-world coding (@alibaba_qwen) [1d]
- In Q2, "other income", mostly from investment gains, at Amazon and Alphabet totaled ~$121B after taxes and made up 66% and 71%, respectively, of profits (Jonathan Weil/Wall Street Journal) [1d]
- Source: Greg Brockman is "in founder mode" and getting more involved across every level of OpenAI to build out a leadership team ahead of an expected IPO (Madison Mills/Axios) [1d]
- France's top court blocks a bill banning social media for under-15s, citing freedom of expression; Macron asks his government to re-work the bill (Reuters) [1d]
- Sources: stablecoin payments company RedotPay delays plans for a US IPO to 2027 or later, as it seeks regulatory approvals and deals with legal issues (Bloomberg) [1d]
- Chip equipment maker Lam Research plans to invest $3B+ over five years to expand its global R&D network, aiming to increase its experiment capacity by 50%+ (Anzar Mehraj/Reuters) [1d]
- DeepSeek releases DeepSeek Harness under the MIT license in developer preview, touting a design where "every capability is a plugin" that can be swapped out (Carl Franzen/VentureBeat) [1d]
- Sources: Alibaba is nearing a deal to sell its Lingxi Games to PE firm Trustar Capital at a potential $1.5B+ valuation, as Alibaba continues its reorganization (Bloomberg) [1d]
- Epic v. Google: in a compliance hearing, a judge orders Google to remove "anticompetitive friction" for installing third-party app stores from its Play Store (Sean Hollister/The Verge) [1d]
- Sources: JPMorgan Chase terminated its banking relationship with Polymarket in 2025 over regulatory concerns, though it still maintains some ties to the company (Financial Times) [1d]
- Blackbird and Airtree revalue Canva at $34.9B, down from $42B in 2025, as it struggles in the AI era; Canva's internal valuation falls to $31B, down from $38.9B (Australian Financial Review) [2d]
- Z.ai debuts GLM-5.3, using the same base model as GLM-5.2 with scaled post-training for stronger coding and cyber skills, with weights due in two weeks (Z.ai) [2d]
- A look at Quincy, a rural Washington farming town of 8,500 that benefited from a data center boom as its poverty rate fell from 29.4% in 2012 to 6.2% in 2024 (Nathaniel Meyersohn/CNN) [2d]
- The White House announces new tariffs on drones and components, including a 100% levy on "particularly sensitive" models, aiming to cut reliance on Chinese tech (Demetri Sevastopulo/Financial Times) [2d]
- Sources: Apple trained a China-specific LLM with Alibaba's support, which would make Apple the first foreign company to offer a proprietary AI model in China (Reuters) [2d]
- SMIC co-CEO Zhao Haijun says the company raised prices following negotiations with customers in Q1, and that it will charge more for wafers processed in Q3 (Reuters) [2d]
- Sources: the CFTC has launched a probe into prediction markets' "mention markets", prompting Kalshi to remove bets on word choices from sports-related offerings (Bobby Allyn/NPR) [2d]
- Pony AI plans to deploy 2K+ robotaxis across Europe in partnership with Uber and add four more European cities, after Zagreb, with a later Middle East expansion (Bloomberg) [2d]
- A profile of Amy Kremer, a pro-Trump activist who helped organize the January 6 rally and currently chairs the grassroots anti-data center group Humans First (Veronica Irwin/Transformer) [2d]
- Current and former OpenAI employees say pressure to quickly ship products left less time for safety, contributing to incidents like the rogue agent hack (Maxwell Zeff/Wired) [2d]
- Ukrainian drones disabled US armor brigade in simulated warfare 'so quickly' that they had to respawn the equipment [1d]
- Quordle hints and answers for Saturday, August 15 (game #1664) [1d]
- NYT Connections hints and answers for Saturday, August 15 (game #1161) [1d]
- NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, August 15 (game #895) [1d]
- Quote of the day by roboticist Rodney Brooks: 'The visual appearance of a robot makes a promise about what it can do and how smart it is' — a warning about the misleading form of a humanoid robot [1d]
- Kioxia, SanDisk show off the tiny chip which could go in world's first 1 PB SSD [1d]
- 'I hope people say I was a good and decent man,' Tim Cook on his post-Apple legacy — and why for him I don't think any other answer was possible [1d]
- 'For pros, there's none better': Samsung’s flagship 9100 Pro SSD is only $10 more than the 990 Pro for the ultimate workstation upgrade [1d]
- Upgrade your setup: HP’s Smart Tank 5101 ink tank printer drops to $170 with 2 years of ink [1d]
- The ultimate Mac dock? Ivanky unveils a 26-port Apple Silicon powerhouse that Windows users can't use [1d]
- Bluetti's Elite 30 V2 power station is our top budget pick by a country mile — we used it through storms, camping trips, and on the job and it's just dropped in price at Amazon [1d]
- Black Torch fans should 'expect the unexpected' in upcoming episodes as 'emotional' breakout Crunchyroll anime hits the halfway point [1d]
- Marvel's Wolverine confirmed to have New Game Plus at launch and features a side activity called Nightmare Doors where players 'confront Logan's nightmares to uncover his past' [1d]
- Young people increasingly don't trust AI - or the billionaires that keep telling us we should all love AI, survey finds [1d]
- Hundreds of fake Chrome VPN extensions impersonating NordVPN, Proton, and more caught hijacking your traffic [1d]
- 'This one just needs a script': Researchers find ultimate Windows kill switch which can disable antivirus with almost no user interaction [1d]
- Epson EcoTank ET-8550 is a 5-star photo printer that's tailor-made for photographers and creators — and it's up to 20% off at Amazon right now [1d]
- Lanterns review: Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre's new HBO Max show is a shining example of a DC comic book adaptation that oh-so-nearly gets everything right [1d]
- This Lenovo webcam with a privacy shutter and dual mics is under $30 — and it's the perfect cheap upgrade for your office [1d]
- EU introduces strict new security rules for VPNs with the help of industry giants [1d]
- The X-Men don't exist in Marvel's Wolverine since mutants aren't safe in this world, Insomniac says — 'We wanted to remind people that existence for a mutant is not safe. It's hard. It's scary' [1d]
- Scammers hijack real Shopify notifications to swindle victims — here's how to stay safe [1d]
- What if Sims and a smart speaker had a baby? Meet the bijou speaker with a ‘tiny world inside’ — just don’t expect it to play your Spotify playlists [1d]
- The Corsair HS35 v3 wireless headset strips back a gaming headset to exactly what matters: premium quality at a reasonable price [1d]
- The operational gap in R&D Tax: Where good claims break down [1d]
- 7 new movies and TV shows to watch on Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max, and more this weekend (August 14) [1d]
- TechRadar's weekly crossword — puzzle #3, Friday, August 14 [1d]
- FlexiSpot's L-shaped standing desk with a built-in drawer just dropped to an all-time low price of $310 at Amazon [1d]
- The privacy myth crumbles: Inside the iCloud+ flaws threatening Apple's most valuable promise [1d]
- Trump places 100% tariffs on ‘particularly sensitive’ drones for national security reasons and to strengthen US drone industry [1d]
- AI is making cyber threats faster, but trust will define which businesses survive [1d]
- What is the release date and launch time for Lanterns episode 1 on HBO Max? [1d]
- Think you know your Jackdaws from your Hornigolds? Take our Assassin's Creed Black Flag quiz and test your knowledge of one of the series' best [1d]
- Marvel's Wolverine Performance Mode will run at 60fps with ray tracing on PS5, Insomniac confirms — 'It's the default mode for the first time for us in one of our games. It’s important for the presentation' [1d]
- Flock CEO says 'we're not Big Brother' in the face of surveillance allegations — as 3D printing enthusiasts share 'Flock Sock' camera cover to help protestors [1d]
- iFixit showed the shocking damage dust can do to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 — and the iPhone Ultra needs to solve this [1d]
- Analyst reports 89% of GTA 6 pre-orders are for the $100 Ultimate Edition — 'I have never seen a 90% premium share before [1d]
- Epic Games Store is going to support Linux 'soon' — and that's great news for Steam Deck owners [1d]
- I chose ChatGPT’s ad-free option so you don’t have to — here’s what you actually give up [1d]
- How to watch RT from anywhere – stream Russia Today from US, UK, Australia, Canada, EU [1d]
- Anycubic Kobra 4 Combo 3D printer hits an all-time low price — and it's even cheaper than it is at Amazon [1d]
- Kanto's new budget-friendly turntable has a few smart features to make it easy for novices to use, and it's lovely and compact too [1d]
- How to watch Palestine 36 online with a free trial — stream acclaimed historical drama in US, Australia, Canada, Middle East [1d]
- AI agents are inside the enterprise – are your security foundations ready for them? [1d]
- Insomniac admits there's no lore reason Logan's suit in Marvel's Wolverine regenerates: 'You can't play through most of the game wearing just shredded rags on his body' [1d]
- The first 24 hours: why supply chain resilience is now a decision-speed challenge [1d]
- A year ago, it took Claude AI and me hours to build Asteroids; we just built a Breakout clone in five minutes — and you can play it [1d]
- VPN Super Unlimited review: fast and cheap but too barebones to compete [1d]
- Beware the token trap: Why saving on inference might put your ADLC at risk [1d]
- Why open source AI is worth fighting for [1d]
- 'We failed you today': Namecheap down for several hours after a data center cooling failure, leaving customers furious [2d]
- Why operational excellence now defines mobile service quality [2d]
- Why fragmented AI regulation makes governance a competitive advantage [2d]
- How to watch EFL Championship 2026/27: Free Streams & TV Channels [2d]
- Vodafone AU's handing out free PS5s with every Pixel 11 Pro XL preorder – but you'll need to get in super quick [2d]
- Colourful AeroPress coffee makers are going cheap right now — with up to 20% off every shade from cheery pink to moody blue [2d]
- Stuart Fails to Save the Universe is still missing 3 major Big Bang Theory cameos after 4 episodes — but creators claim that returning cast are simply 'who was available' [2d]
- Today’s NYT Connections Hints and Answers for Aug. 15, #1161 [1d]
- ChatGPT Can Now Add Your Mac Activity to Its Memories [1d]
- Building Tiny Lego Trees Makes Everything Better. A Record Low Price Doesn’t Hurt, Either [1d]
- Judge Tells Google to Make It Easier to Install Third-Party App Stores [1d]
- Apple’s Once-Futuristic iPhone X Is Now ‘Obsolete’ [1d]
- Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Aug. 15, #1883 [1d]
- Capture Every Angle With the GoPro Max 2 Bundle, Now at a New Record-Low Price [1d]
- Pick Up an $80 Baseus Power Bank for Just $33 With This Coupon Code [1d]
- ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ Gets Disney Plus Streaming Release Date [1d]
- This Acer AI Laptop is $500 Off and Packs Premium Specs for Back-to-School [1d]
- Bring on the Meats: ButcherBox Is Throwing in Free Ribeye and Bacon, but You Must Sign Up Today [1d]
- Apple’s Warnings About Spyware Are Real, Don’t Ignore Them [1d]
- Amazon Deals of the Day: Grab This Anker Power Station for $170 Off Before Camping Season Is Over [1d]
- Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, Aug. 14 [1d]
- ‘Lanterns’: When to Watch the New DC Superhero Series [1d]
- The Power Move? Powering Up Before You Need to With These EcoFlow Deals [1d]
- Running Low on Space? PNY Storage Is Up to 33% Off [1d]
- Black Hole Stars Are Apparently Real and Help Explain a Long-Standing Mystery [1d]
- Google Pixel Watch 5: Smart and Snappier, but Spendier | Lab Report [1d]
- You Don’t Always Need a Student ID for Apple’s Back-to-School Deals [1d]
- Dance to Your Favorite Tunes With $100 Off the Sonos Move 2 [1d]
- Life on Mars? It Remains a Tantalizing Topic for Scientific Study [1d]
- Don’t Pay Full Price for a MacBook: How to Find Apple Discounts [1d]
- Outrun Your Excuses and Grab the Bowflex T16 Treadmill for Just $1,999 [1d]
- Google’s Pixel Phones Are Getting a Tap-to-Share Feature for Contact Info and More [1d]
- Dell Ultrasharp U3425WE Monitor Review: Display and a Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station in One [1d]
- Pixel 11 Pro XL vs. Galaxy S26 Ultra: How These $1,300 Flagship Phones Stack Up [2d]
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