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Tech

AI Summary

  • Artificial intelligence is deeply integrating across industries, appearing prominently in Super Bowl ads, car operating systems like CarPlay, and driving significant venture capital investments, although concerns about its societal impact and resource demands are also rising.
  • Lawmakers are actively intervening in tech development, with New York proposing a pause on data center construction due to environmental concerns, India adjusting rules to boost deep tech startups, and the EU cracking down on TikTok's "addictive" design features.
  • Major tech players are making strategic moves, including Elon Musk's high-profile merger of SpaceX and xAI to create new corporate structures, Reddit's pursuit of acquisitions, and large investments into AI rivals like Cerebras.
  • The intersection of tech, media, and finance is evolving, evidenced by sports figures investing in fintech platforms, TV shows like 'Industry' tackling tech fraud, and an overall shift in how content is produced, consumed, and regulated.
  • Concerns are growing regarding the environmental impact of rapid tech expansion, particularly the energy demands of data centers, alongside discussions about digital privacy and the potential for AI-driven information overload.

TechCrunch


Hacker News


Engadget

  • How to stream the 2026 Super Bowl for free this weekend: Patriots vs. Seahawks time, where to watch and more 9 hours ago by Danica Creahan
    American Football, Sports & Recreation, National Football League, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Danica Creahan

    The 2026 Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks will air on NBC this Sunday, Feb. 8. The Big Game will also stream live on Peacock. If you no longer subscribe to cable, don't have access to NBC over the air and aren't currently signed up for Peacock, there are still ways to watch Super Bowl LX — and Bad Bunny's history-making Super Bowl Halftime Show — for free. Here's how to tune in.  HOW TO WATCH SUPER BOWL LX FREE: Date: Sunday, Feb. 8 Time: 6:30 p.m. ET Location: Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. TV channel: NBC, Telemundo Streaming: Peacock,

  • New York lawmakers introduce bill that aims to halt data center development for three years 14 hours ago by Cheyenne MacDonald
    Politics & Government, Government, Nature & Environment, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Cheyenne MacDonald

    On Friday, New York State Senators Liz Krueger and Kristen Gonzales introduced a bill that would stop the issuance of permits for new data centers for at least three years and ninety days to give time for impact assessments and to update regulations. The bill would require the Department of Environmental Conservation and Public Service Commissions to issue impact statements and reports during the pause, along with any new orders or regulations that they deem necessary to minimize data centers' impacts on the environment and consumers in New York. The bill would require these departments to study data centers' water, electricity

  • DOJ is investigating if Netflix used anticompetitive tactics as part of its merger probe 15 hours ago by Jackson Chen
    Internet & Networking Technology, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Jackson Chen

    Netflix's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery isn't quite a done deal yet. As first reported by The Wall Street Journal, the US Department of Justice has started its probe of Netflix's proposed purchase, but is notably interested in whether the streaming giant was involved in any anticompetitive practices. According to the civil subpoena seen by WSJ, the Justice Department is looking into any "exclusionary conduct on the part of Netflix that would reasonably appear capable of entrenching market or monopoly power." While Netflix announced plans to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in December at a value of $82.7 billion, the deal was

  • The State Department is scrubbing its X accounts of all posts from before Trump's second term 15 hours ago by Cheyenne MacDonald
    Politics & Government, Government, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Cheyenne MacDonald

    The State Department is wiping the post history of its X accounts and making it so you'll have to file a Freedom of Information Act request if you want to access any of the content it removed, according to NPR. The publication reports that the State Department is removing all posts from before President Trump's current term — a move that affects several accounts associated with the department, including those for US embassies, and posts from the Biden and Obama administrations. Posts from Trump's first term will be taken down too.  Unlike how past administrations have handled the removal of social

  • Trump Mobile’s T1 Phone is apparently still coming, but it’ll be uglier and more expensive 17 hours ago by Jackson Chen
    Technology & Electronics, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Jackson Chen

    Trump Mobile is already failing to deliver on some early promises, according to the latest report from The Verge. The report revealed the near-final design of the T1 smartphone and uncovered some major changes with pricing and manufacturing. The Verge spoke with Don Hendrickson and Eric Thomas, two of the three execs behind Trump Mobile, about the company's first smartphone, which will get a more expensive price tag and no longer boast being made in the USA. Thanks to a screenshot from the report, we can see that the latest T1 design also changed the camera array, which first resembled the


The Verge

  • Former Tumblr head Jeff D’Onofrio steps in as acting CEO at the Washington Post 13 hours ago by Terrence O’Brien
    Amazon, News, Social Media, Tech

    Jeff D’Onofrio in 2015, before ruining Tumblr. | Photo: Getty Images After what can generously be called a contentious tenure as the CEO of The Washington Post, Will Lewis is stepping down following mass layoffs this week. Jeff D'Onofrio, former CEO of Tumblr from 2017 to 2022, will step in as acting CEO and publisher. D'Onofrio has been CFO at the Post since June of last year, meaning he's had a front row seat to Jeff Bezos' dismantling of the once storied paper for the last nine months. D'Onofrio's resume doesn't include extensive experience in traditional news media, nor many notable success

  • Super Bowl LX ads: all AI everything 13 hours ago by Verge Staff
    AI, Entertainment, News, Super Bowl

    Super Bowl LX is nearly here, with the Seattle Seahawks taking on the New England Patriots. While Bad Bunny will be the star of the halftime show, AI could be the star of the commercial breaks, much like crypto was a few years ago. Last year’s Super Bowl featured a Google Gemini ad that fumbled a Gouda cheese stat, and this year’s game is already slated to include an ad for Anthropic’s AI platform that takes jabs at its competitors, namely OpenAI. AI-generated ads could make an appearance, too.  Super Bowl LX is set to kick off at 6:30PM ET/3:30PM PT on

  • GOG is already working on native Linux support 16 hours ago by Terrence O’Brien
    Gaming, Linux, News, PC Gaming, Tech

    GOG recently posted a job listing for a senior software engineer focused on porting its Galaxy desktop client to Linux. Now, in reply to a Reddit AMA, the GOG team has revealed that work on native Linux support is already underway. It's still too early to give an ETA, according to the Reddit thread. But founder and CEO, Michał Kiciński, said, "personally, I'm a big fan of Linux." The job listing also calls Linux the "next major frontier" in gaming. It's obvious at this point that Linux is becoming an increasingly important part of the PC gaming landscape. Especially as Microsoft

  • I went back to Linux and it was a mistake 17 hours ago by Terrence O’Brien
    Analysis, Linux, Report, Tech

    Even when it wasn’t failing quietly, Ubuntu was throwing truly useless errors. | Image: Terrence O’Brien / The Verge It's a complete coincidence that I installed Linux around the same time as my colleagues Nathan Edwards and Stevie Bonifield. A few months ago, I decided to breathe new life into a 2019 Dell XPS 15 that had been collecting dust for a couple of years. Despite its (at the time) high-end Core i7 CPU and 32GB of RAM, Windows was frustratingly slow on it. The fan was constantly at full throttle even when the machine was idle, and it regularly failed to

  • LG’s C5 TV and Anker’s powerful power bank are this week’s best deals 20 hours ago by Cameron Faulkner
    Deals, Gadgets, Verge Shopping

    It’s the first weekend of February, which can only mean one thing: The Super Bowl (or “Benito Bowl,” if you’re mainly tuning in for the Bad Bunny-led halftime show) is upon us. The game is Sunday, February 8th, at 6:30PM ET on Peacock, NFL Plus, and on live services that include NBC. With that out of the way, I’m here to surface this week’s best deals. There were plenty of good ones, from cheap yet extremely handy two-headed USB-C cables and a $20 sci-fi first-person shooter PC game bundle to steep discounts on big OLED TVs that will impress people


Wired


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