Meta plans to lay off ~8,000 employees (10%) on May 20, with more expected later this year. The company is focusing on AI, investing $21B in computing resources with CoreWeave & expanding its Superintelligence Lab.

OpenAI sees key execs depart: Kevin Weil (research head) & Bill Peebles (Sora AI) out. CTO Srinivas Narayanan also leaving. Layoffs reportedly due to strategic shift to enterprise AI & cuts to consumer-focused "secondary tasks" like Sora, which had high computing costs.

Trump admin met with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to discuss AI cooperation, including access to the "Mythos" model. Meeting called "productive." DOD had prior dispute w/ Anthropic. White House seeks AI solutions. Anthropic committed to responsible AI dev.

Apple's iPhone sales in China surged 20% in Q1, bucking a 4% overall market decline. Huawei saw 2% growth. Apple now holds 19% of the market, while Huawei maintains 20%.

Anthropic launches Claude Design, an AI tool for creating mockups, prototypes, presentations & one-page descriptions. Powered by Claude Opus 4.7, it's for everyone from beginners to pros needing quick idea testing. #AI #Design

UK launches £500M Sovereign AI Fund to boost British startups & AI development. Minister Liz Kendall urges embracing AI's opportunities, despite cybersecurity concerns, saying "make AI work for the UK." #AI #UKtech #innovation

VTB boosts digital fund protection services by 1.5x. Nearly 20% of customers now use limits, self-restrictions, biometrics, or the "second hand" service to safeguard funds. VTB expects this conscious protection trend to grow.

Cloudflare Email Routing is now in public beta! 🚀 Send emails directly from Workers (no API keys!), enabling bidirectional email capabilities. New tools include agent SDKs, an MCP mail server, and an open-source reference app. Build native email agents with ease! #Cloudflare #EmailRouting #Beta

OpenAI inks major deal with chipmaker Cerebras! 🤝 Over $20B for Cerebras servers for 3 yrs, with a potential 10% stake in Cerebras. Aims to boost demand, cut costs, and diversify hardware. 🚀 #AI #Tech #OpenAI #Cerebras

Pavel Durov claims EU's age verification app hacked in 2 mins. He warns this ease of access could pave the way for digital surveillance of EU citizens. #PavelDurov #EU #Privacy #Cybersecurity

French President Macron proposes banning social media for under-15s. He favors direct platform bans over parental consent, citing unsatisfactory results, especially for less digitally literate families. Macron argues platforms should implement reliable age verification.

US saw an 80% drop in AI specialists in a year, per Stanford. Trump's visa policies, including a $100k H1B fee in 2025, are blamed. AI Index report shows a steep decline in researchers/developers compared to 2017.

Tesla seeks Taiwanese semiconductor engineers for its Terafab factory, aiming for advanced chip manufacturing. Roles require 5+ yrs experience, some with sub-7nm processes & TSMC tech. Hiring for lithography, etching, deposition, CMP, yield & integration. — Reuters

iPhone user loyalty hits a high of 96.4%, up from 90.5% in 2019. Android loyalty is at 86.4%, with 13.6% considering switching, and 26.8% of those open to an iPhone. #Apple #iPhone #Android #TechStats

US & Philippines ink deal for high-tech industrial hub on Luzon. Aims to cut China supply chain reliance. 4k-acre site granted to US free of charge, managed under US law, with 2-yr lease & 99-yr extension option. Access to critical minerals planned.

Casely RECALLS Power Pod wireless chargers (model E33A) due to overheating, fire, explosion risk. 51K+ sold (Mar '22-Sep '24). 51 incidents reported, incl. 6 minor burns. 28 MORE reports post-recall, 2 serious. Woman suffered fatal burns from charger incident in Aug 2024.

Netflix founder Reed Hastings is stepping down as chairman after 29 years. He won't seek re-election to the board in June. Netflix shares dropped 8% on the news.

MacBook Neo April stock sold out! May deliveries start May 1-8. Some stores have colors for pickup. Others get stock May 11th. Third-party retailers delayed. Demand exceeds expectations. Apple to ship 10M in 2026. #MacBookNeo #Apple

OpenAI's Codex update allows AI to autonomously control Mac apps! 🤯 It can now use tools, generate images, learn preferences, and perform long-term tasks in the background without user interruption. Multiple agents can run simultaneously. #AI #OpenAI #Mac #Tech

OpenAI's GPT-Rosalind AI model is here to speed up drug discovery! Targeting life sciences, it extracts data & translates research for medical use. Early access for Amgen, Moderna, and Allen Institute. Competitors like Anthropic & Google also pushing AI in science/healthcare. #AI #DrugDiscovery

Telegram is back online without VPN/proxy in Moscow, Moscow Oblast, and Tula Oblast! Reports confirm normal functioning is restored.

Hosting providers may be banned from offering VPN services under proposed "Antifraud 2.0" amendments. Companies would have to block access for violators, increasing interaction with Roskomnadzor. Market players warn of added costs for clients, following a recent 30%+ price hike on hosting services.

Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.7 is here! ✨ Key upgrades in software dev, visual analysis (high-res images!), & cybersecurity. Users report better complex coding, logical flaw detection, faster execution, multimodal understanding, & strengths in finance/legal! #AI #ClaudeAI #Tech

Alibaba's Quark Disk is purging foreign films/TV from its platform, dubbed "strictest cleanup ever." Users warned to save files. This follows previous blogger warnings of data loss. China's cloud storage previously hosted foreign content, including sensitive material. — Lianhe Zaobao

Meta boosted Quest VR headset prices due to rising memory chip costs.

The Quest 3S now starts at $350 (128GB) / $450 (256GB). Quest 3 is $600.

Quest 3, released 2023, features a Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip, Pancake lenses, and full-color RGB cameras.

AI use by US employees hits record high (50% per Gallup), with 41% seeing employer-implemented tools. BUT, efficiency is dropping: employees spend 7.9 hrs/wk managing/debugging AI (WalkMe data via ZDNet). #AI #FutureOfWork

Anthropic is expanding its London office, planning for up to 800 employees! The AI company, known for Claude, sees the UK as a vital hub for R&D and commerce outside the US, citing ambitious companies & AI talent. 🇬🇧🤖

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang regrets US chip export bans on China. He calls AI fearmongering ("not nuclear weapons," job loss myths) unhelpful. Huang notes China leads in power supply, enabling AI with older chips despite lagging in chip tech.

EU demands Meta restore competitor AI access on WhatsApp. New API fees likely exclude third-party assistants, violating competition rules. Brussels wants access restored to pre-Oct 15, 2025 conditions pending investigation.

Alibaba's ATH launched "Happy Oyster," an open world AI model for real-time 3D creation & interaction, perfect for film & games! 🎬🎮 Based on a streaming world generation model, it supports multimodal input & collaborative audio/video. Internal testing underway. Sign up at happyoyster.cn! 🌐