The Information:
Sources: OpenAI recently discussed acquiring io Products, a startup Sam Altman has been working on with Jony Ive to develop an AI-powered device, for $500M+ — OpenAI in recent weeks discussed acquiring a startup its CEO Sam Altman has been working on with ex-Apple designer Jony Ive’s studio …
The UK bans hidden fees imposed by online businesses as well as the use or commissioning of fake reviews, effective April 6, with compliance enforced by the CMA (Jon Ungoed-Thomas/The Guardian)
Jon Ungoed-Thomas / The Guardian:
The UK bans hidden fees imposed by online businesses as well as the use or commissioning of fake reviews, effective April 6, with compliance enforced by the CMA — New law aims to eliminate added costs that can be up to 25% of retail price — Sneaky fees that are estimated …
Paris-based Pennylane, which makes cloud-based accounting software, raised €75M, doubling its valuation to €2B, led by Sequoia and with Alphabet among investors (Ryan Browne/CNBC)
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Paris-based Pennylane, which makes cloud-based accounting software, raised €75M, doubling its valuation to €2B, led by Sequoia and with Alphabet among investors — French accounting software firm Pennylane has doubled its valuation to 2 billion euros ($2.16 billion) in a new 75 million euro funding round.
Sources: OpenAI is testing watermarks for images generated using ChatGPT’s free account (Mayank Parmar/BleepingComputer)
Mayank Parmar / BleepingComputer:
Sources: OpenAI is testing watermarks for images generated using ChatGPT’s free account — OpenAI is reportedly testing a new “watermark” for the Image Generation model, which is a part of the ChatGPT 4o model. — This is an interesting move, and it’s likely because more and more users …
Analysis: child begging livestreams are actively promoted by TikTok’s algorithm and TikTok profits from the content despite having policies against begging (Shanti Das/The Guardian)
Shanti Das / The Guardian:
Analysis: child begging livestreams are actively promoted by TikTok’s algorithm and TikTok profits from the content despite having policies against begging — Exploitation fears as people in extreme poverty perform stunts and beg for virtual gifts — Three young children huddle in front of a camera …
Lina Khan, Steve Bannon, and others worry the FTC could abandon its Meta antitrust case after Zuckerberg’s concessions to Trump; the trial is set for April 14 (Brendan Bordelon/Politico)
Brendan Bordelon / Politico:
Lina Khan, Steve Bannon, and others worry the FTC could abandon its Meta antitrust case after Zuckerberg’s concessions to Trump; the trial is set for April 14 — With a historic antitrust suit looming against Meta, could the company get a reprieve from its new ally in the White House?
Sources: Apple is keeping TikTok and other ByteDance apps on its US App Store for at least another 75 days, following assurances from AG Pam Bondi (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is keeping TikTok and other ByteDance apps on its US App Store for at least another 75 days, following assurances from AG Pam Bondi — Apple Inc., following assurances from the Trump administration, is keeping TikTok and other apps from ByteDance Ltd. on its US App Store for at least another 75 days.
Z-Wave, popular among smart home enthusiasts, becomes an open-source protocol with a new long-range technology as it seeks Matter support to avoid obsolescence (Jennifer Pattison Tuohy/The Verge)
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge:
Z-Wave, popular among smart home enthusiasts, becomes an open-source protocol with a new long-range technology as it seeks Matter support to avoid obsolescence — Now an open-source protocol and with a new long-range technology, the path forward for Z-Wave looks clearer, with a little help from Matter.
How Apple may adjust to the US tariffs; sources: the iPhone 17 Pro’s camera panel will span the width of the phone and will be the same color as the device (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
How Apple may adjust to the US tariffs; sources: the iPhone 17 Pro’s camera panel will span the width of the phone and will be the same color as the device — After years of avoiding iPhone price hikes in the US, Apple could finally be forced to to make increases.
A look at the US market for humanoids in homes and businesses; PitchBook says investors have poured $7.2B into 50+ startups since 2015, including $1.6B in 2024 (New York Times)
New York Times:
A look at the US market for humanoids in homes and businesses; PitchBook says investors have poured $7.2B into 50+ startups since 2015, including $1.6B in 2024 — By getting its humanoids into people’s homes, 1X hopes to gather enormous amounts of data that can show these robots how to handle …