The Brutalist Report

Techmeme

• Western Digital reports Q3 revenue up 45% YoY to $3.34B, vs. $3.25B est., and forecasts Q4 revenue above estimates; WDC drops 7%+ after hours (Anhata Rooprai/Reuters) [14d]
• Sandisk reports Q3 revenue up 251% YoY to $5.95B, vs. $4.72B est., consumer revenue below est., and forecasts Q4 revenue above est.; SNDK drops 5%+ after hours (Britney Nguyen/MarketWatch) [14d]
• The US Senate unanimously passed a rule barring senators from trading on prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, amid rising concern over insider trading (Dan Mangan/CNBC) [14d]
• Alphabet's stock climbed 10% on Thursday and 34% in April, its best month since 2004; Meta's stock plunged 8.5% on Thursday, its steepest drop since October (Annie Palmer/CNBC) [14d]
• Sources: Meta HR chief Janelle Gale told employees she can't rule out further layoffs; Zuckerberg said AI automation is not the driving factor behind them (Business Insider) [14d]
• Twilio reports Q1 revenue up 20% YoY to $1.41B, vs. $1.34B est., and forecasts Q2 revenue above estimates; TWLO jumps 17%+ after hours (Reinhardt Krause/Investor's Business ...) [14d]
• Atlassian reports Q3 revenue up 32% YoY to $1.79B, vs. $1.69B est., and raises its annual revenue forecast; TEAM jumps 17%+ after hours (Anhata Rooprai/Reuters) [14d]
• Tim Cook says iPhone sales, which slightly missed Q2 estimates, were held back by chip supply constraints, as "demand was off the charts" (Reuters) [14d]
• Apple reports Q2 revenue from Services, which includes the App Store, Apple TV, Apple Music, and more, grew 16.3% YoY to $30.98B, beating estimates of $30.4B (Todd Spangler/Variety) [14d]
• Apple Q2: iPhone up 22% YoY to $56.99B, vs. $57.21B est., Mac up 6% to $8.4B, iPad up 8% to $6.91B, and Wearables, Home, and Accessories up 5% to $7.9B (Jennifer Elias/CNBC) [14d]
• Apple reports Q2 revenue up 17% YoY to $111.18B, vs. $109.66B est., net income up 19% to $29.6B, and EPS up 22% to $2.01, above $1.95 est. (Apple) [14d]
• Roblox reports Q1 bookings up 43% YoY to $1.7B, vs. $1.73B est., and DAUs up 35% to 132M, below analysts' estimates of 143.8M; RBLX drops 16%+ after hours (Cecilia D'Anastasio/Bloomberg) [14d]
• Roku reports Q1 revenue up 22% YoY to $1.25B, ad revenue up 27% to $613M, subscription revenue up 30%, raises 2026 profit guidance; ROKU jumps 8%+ after hours (Todd Spangler/Variety) [14d]
• Reddit reports Q1 revenue up 69% YoY to $663M, vs. $611M est., DAUq up 17% to 126.8M, vs. 125.9M est., and forecasts Q2 revenue above estimates (Jonathan Vanian/CNBC) [14d]
• North Korea-linked hackers stole ~$577M across the Drift Protocol and KelpDAO hacks in April, accounting for 76% of total crypto hack losses so far in 2026 (TRM Insights) [14d]
• Filing: Meta says it might be forced to withdraw its apps from New Mexico if a judge orders it to adopt the state's proposed safety features (Thomas Barrabi/New York Post) [14d]
• Google is rolling out Gemini to cars that have Google built-in, replacing Google Assistant, starting with English in the US (Jess Weatherbed/The Verge) [14d]
• Musk v. Altman: the judge told Musk's lawyer she did not want talk of AI's existential threat seeping into the trial, focusing instead on OpenAI's founding (New York Times) [14d]
• Musk v. Altman: when asked whether xAI has ever distilled tech from OpenAI, Elon Musk says the claim is "partly" true (Wired) [14d]
• Sources: Meta drew about $96B of orders from investors for a $25B bond sale it launched on Thursday; Meta sold $30B of corporate bonds in October 2025 (Bloomberg) [14d]
• Sources: KKR has secured $10B+ to launch Helix Digital Infrastructure, a company led by ex-AWS CEO Adam Selipsky that will develop and operate AI infrastructure (Bloomberg) [14d]
• Standard Intelligence, which is developing computer use AI models, raised $75M led by Sequoia and Spark at a $500M post-money valuation (Rocket Drew/The Information) [14d]
• Anthropic's Claude Security, formerly Claude Code Security, is in public beta for Enterprise users; the Opus 4.7-powered tool can scan code for vulnerabilities (Marcus Schuler/Implicator.ai) [14d]
• Musk v. Altman: when asked whether xAI has ever distilled tech from OpenAI, Elon Musk says the claim is "partly" true (New York Times) [14d]
• The US Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously endorses a bipartisan child safety bill requiring AI companies like OpenAI and Meta to implement age verification (Emily Birnbaum/Bloomberg) [14d]
• Cybersecurity analysis: GPT-5.5 reaches a similar level of performance as Mythos Preview and is the second model to solve a multi-step cyberattack simulation (AI Security Institute) [14d]
• Serverless inference platform Featherless.ai raised a $20M Series A co-led by AMD Ventures and Airbus Ventures; the startup supports over 30,000 open models (Cate Lawrence/Tech.eu) [14d]
• X says it has begun a "phased rollout" of its rebuilt ad platform, which it says will have more modern "retrieval and ranking systems" powered by AI (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch) [14d]
• Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings agrees to acquire Ohio gas plant operator Long Ridge Energy & Power for $1.5B including debt, to power its AI data center expansion (Francisco Rodrigues/CoinDesk) [14d]
• Meta introduces Meta Ads AI connectors in open beta, letting advertisers use their preferred third-party AI tools to create, manage, and analyze campaigns (Krystal Scanlon/Digiday) [14d]
• JuliaHub, which aims to use agentic coding tools to design complex products such as cars and airplanes, raised a $65M Series B led by Dorilton Capital (Ina Fried/Axios) [14d]
• Cloudflare says AI agents can now create Cloudflare accounts, start paid subscriptions, register domains, and deploy apps on behalf of users (Cloudflare) [14d]
• Sources: the NSA has been testing Anthropic's Mythos model to find vulnerabilities in Microsoft products and widely used software from other companies (Jake Bleiberg/Bloomberg) [14d]
• Humanoid robotics startup 1X opens a new 58,000-square-foot factory in Hayward, California, where it aims to build 100,000 robots by the end of 2027 (Samantha Kelly/Bloomberg) [14d]
• Sources: US officials are preparing a wide-ranging AI policy memo that outlines rules for national security agencies' AI use, including avoiding single vendors (Bloomberg) [14d]
• Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron earnings show increased DRAM prices, not shipments, indicating a focus on revenue over helping clients get the products they need (Tim Culpan/Culpium) [14d]
• Spotify rolls out a Verified by Spotify badge to identify human artists; criteria include artist presence on and off platform and consistent listener activity (Aisha Malik/TechCrunch) [14d]
• Netflix starts rolling out its new Clips vertical video feed as a separate tab in the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, India, and four other countries (Jay Peters/The Verge) [14d]
• Sources: the EU is drafting a revised Chips Act II, set for late May, that would grant it power to invest directly in large, cross-border manufacturing projects (Bloomberg) [14d]
• Casa, which uses lidar scanners and AI to catalog homes and manage proactive maintenance alongside human workers, raised $27M, including a $20M Series A (Michael J. de la Merced/New York Times) [14d]
• Sources: London-based DAZN agrees to acquire ViewLift, which builds tech for streaming services for 15 professional US sports teams and others, for ~$100M (Isabella Simonetti/Wall Street Journal) [14d]
• Polymarket partners with Chainalysis to deploy detection models to "surface patterns consistent with insider knowledge in prediction markets" and other tools (Bloomberg) [14d]
• Iran's internet blackout, which costs an estimated $80M per day in economic damage, is dividing its military and civilian government, which opposes the measure (Patrick Sykes/Bloomberg) [14d]
• Instagram is expanding its recommendation restrictions beyond Reels to photos and carousels, targeting accounts that post unoriginal content like tweet roundups (Mia Sato/The Verge) [14d]
• Study: long-shot Polymarket bets on military action, defined as wagers of $2,500+ at odds of <35%, have an average ~52% win rate, above 25% for political bets (Financial Times) [14d]
• Netomi, which builds AI for enterprise customer service, raised $110M led by Accenture Ventures and signs a deal to bring its platform to Accenture clients (Michael Nuñez/VentureBeat) [14d]
• Sergey Brin-backed Building a Better California says two ballot countermeasures to the proposed wealth tax are on track to qualify for the November ballot (Laura J. Nelson/Wall Street Journal) [14d]
• OpenAI says its models, starting with GPT-5.1, "increasingly mentioned goblins, gremlins, and other creatures", leading to prompt instructions to mitigate it (OpenAI) [14d]
• Sources: strong AI demand in China nearly doubles prices for Nvidia's B300 servers to ~$1M each, as a crackdown on chip smuggling dries up black market supply (Reuters) [14d]
• Samsung says the memory shortage will worsen in 2027 as customers are already placing orders for that year, leading to a projected supply gap larger than 2026 (Kim Jaewon/Nikkei Asia) [14d]
• How Kosovo's tech industry, driven by local companies like business outsource provider SPEEEX, is helping cut youth unemployment and changing Pristina's skyline (Bloomberg) [14d]
• Sony confirms that some digital PS4 and PS5 games require a one-time online license check "to confirm the game's license", likely to combat refund scams (Gabe Gurwin/GameSpot) [14d]
• European software companies, including SAP, Capgemini, Nemetschek, Hexagon, and Dassault, report better-than-expected earnings despite AI fears and the Iran war (Chloe Meley/Bloomberg) [14d]
• Analysis: Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon's combined capex hit a record $130B in Q1, and it is set to reach $725B in 2026, up 77% from $410B in 2025 (Financial Times) [14d]
• Analysis: Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon's combined capex hit a record $130B in Q1 and is projected to reach $725B in 2026, up 77% from $410B in 2025 (Financial Times) [14d]
• GoTo reports net income of ~$15M for Q1 2026, its first ever, after job cuts and unit disposals helped Indonesia's largest internet company reduce costs (Olivia Poh/Bloomberg) [14d]
• GoTo reports net income of ~$15M for Q1 2026, its first ever, after job cuts and unit disposals helped Indonesia's largest internet company reduce costs (Olivia Poh/Bloomberg) [14d]
• A look at Eka, which trains its robotic claw on a "vision-force-action model" incorporating realistic joints, motors, and physics principles into its simulation (Will Knight/Wired) [14d]
• A look at Eka, which trains its robotic claw on a "vision-force-action model" incorporating realistic joints, motors, and physics principles into its simulation (Will Knight/Wired) [14d]
• Apple shipped 71.6% of all smartphones with satellite connectivity in 2025; smartphones with satellite connectivity to reach 46% of global shipments by 2030 (Counterpoint Research) [14d]
• Apple shipped 71.6% of all smartphones with satellite connectivity in 2025; smartphones with satellite connectivity to reach 46% of global shipments by 2030 (Counterpoint Research) [14d]
• Anthropic unveils BioMysteryBench to test Claude's bioinformatics skills against human experts, and says Mythos solved ~30% of 23 questions that stumped experts (Anthropic) [14d]
• Anthropic unveils BioMysteryBench to test Claude's bioinformatics skills against human experts, and says Mythos solved ~30% of 23 questions that stumped experts (Anthropic) [14d]
• Hyundai unveils Pleos Connect, a next-generation infotainment system with Gleo AI voice assistant, debuting in May on the new Grandeur sedan in South Korea (Hyonhee Shin/Bloomberg) [14d]
• Hyundai unveils Pleos Connect, a next-generation infotainment system with Gleo AI voice assistant, debuting in May on the new Grandeur sedan in South Korea (Hyonhee Shin/Bloomberg) [14d]
• Leaked audio: San Francisco and Austin first responders told the NHTSA that Waymo robotaxis are "backsliding" and committing more traffic violations than before (Aarian Marshall/Wired) [14d]
• Leaked audio: San Francisco and Austin first responders told the NHTSA that Waymo robotaxis are "backsliding" and committing more traffic violations than before (Aarian Marshall/Wired) [14d]
• OpenAI says it has signed contracts for 10GW of US AI compute capacity, with 3GW+ added in the past 90 days, hitting a goal it once aimed to reach by 2029 (Dina Bass/Bloomberg) [14d]
• OpenAI says it has signed contracts for 10GW of US AI compute capacity, with 3GW+ added in the past 90 days, hitting a goal it once aimed to reach by 2029 (Dina Bass/Bloomberg) [14d]
• Musk v. Altman: internal 2017 emails show Musk sought majority voting control over OpenAI co-founders, withheld promised funding, and tried to poach researchers (Wired) [14d]
• Musk v. Altman: internal 2017 emails show Musk sought majority voting control over OpenAI co-founders, withheld promised funding, and tried to poach researchers (Wired) [14d]
• The US FDA launches a pilot using AI and cloud computing to give the agency a "direct data feed" to real-time clinical data, aiming to speed up drug approval (Frank Konkel/Nextgov/FCW) [14d]
• FDA launches a pilot using AI and cloud computing to give the agency a "direct data feed" to real-time clinical data, aiming to shorten drug approval timelines (Frank Konkel/Nextgov/FCW) [14d]
• SenseTime releases SenseNova-U1, an open-source image model that it says can "read" images without translating them to text, reducing computing power needs (Zeyi Yang/Wired) [14d]
• SenseTime releases SenseNova-U1, an open-source image model that it says can "read" images without translating them to text, reducing computing power needs (Zeyi Yang/Wired) [14d]
• Analysts: TikTok Shop generated $4.9B in US sales during Q1 2026, doubling its volume from the previous year; Q1 consumer spending on the platform rose 46% YoY (Jennifer Williams/Wall Street Journal) [14d]
• Analysts: TikTok Shop generated $4.9B in US sales during Q1 2026, doubling its volume from the previous year; Q1 consumer spending on the platform rose 46% YoY (Jennifer Williams/Wall Street Journal) [14d]
• Visa says its stablecoin settlement pilot supports nine networks, including Base, Polygon, Canton Network, Arc, and Tempo, and has hit a $7B annualized run rate (Krisztian Sandor/CoinDesk) [14d]
• Visa says its stablecoin settlement pilot supports nine networks, including Base, Polygon, Canton Network, Arc, and Tempo, and has hit a $7B annualized run rate (Krisztian Sandor/CoinDesk) [14d]
• How US schools' overreliance on YouTube for educational content encourages students to drift into endless video scrolling on school-issued devices (Shalini Ramachandran/Wall Street Journal) [14d]
• How US schools' overreliance on YouTube for educational content encourages students to drift into endless video scrolling on school-issued devices (Shalini Ramachandran/Wall Street Journal) [14d]
• Sources: the White House opposes Anthropic's plan to expand access to Mythos to 70 additional companies and organizations because of concerns about security (Wall Street Journal) [14d]
• Sources: the White House opposes Anthropic's plan to expand access to Mythos to 70 additional companies and organizations because of concerns about security (Wall Street Journal) [14d]
• Digital advertising is booming for Google and Meta, helped by AI tools used for language translation, real-time changes to ad copy, and easier ad targeting (New York Times) [14d]
• Massachusetts-based brain implant company Axoft raised a $55M Series A and says it tested its device in a Shanghai patient, with plans for more trials in China (Bloomberg) [14d]
• Samsung reports Q1 revenue up 69% YoY to ~$90.2B, vs. ~$89.4B est., and operating profit up 756% to ~$38.5B, vs. ~$37.2B est., driven by AI-linked memory demand (Dylan Butts/CNBC) [15d]
• Sources: SoftBank plans to create an AI and robotics company called Roze in the US to build data centers and list it as early as 2026, seeking a $100B valuation (Financial Times) [15d]