Author Archives: Techme101

Meta’s Antitrust Trial Begins as FTC Argues Company Built Social Media Monopoly

The tech giant went to court on Monday in an antitrust trial focused on its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. The case could reshape its business.

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What If Mark Zuckerberg Had Not Bought Instagram and WhatsApp?

Meta’s antitrust trial, in which the government contends the company killed competition by buying young rivals, hinges on unknowable alternate versions of Silicon Valley history.

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How Geo Group’s Surveillance Tech Is Aiding Trump’s Immigration Agenda

Geo Group, a private prison firm that makes digital tools to track immigrants, becomes one of the Trump administration’s big business winners as its tech is increasingly used in deportations.

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The Former C.I.A. Officer Capitalizing On Europe’s Military Spending Boom

Eric Slesinger made a career shift from the spy agency to venture capital, championing military start-ups as Europe beefed up its defenses amid an uncertain relationship with the United States.

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Trump Wants to Reverse Coal’s Long Decline. It Won’t be Easy.

Coal has been displaced by cheap and plentiful natural gas and the rapid growth of wind and solar energy — forces that President Trump will struggle to do away with.

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Hugging Face buys a humanoid robotics startup

AI dev platform Hugging Face has acquired Pollen Robotics, a robotics startup based in France, for an undisclosed amount. Wired reports that Hugging Face plans to sell Pollen’s humanoid robot, Reachy 2, and let developers download and suggest improvements to … Continue reading

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An Open Source Pioneer Wants to Unleash Open Source AI Robots

Hugging Face has acquired the open source robot startup Pollen Robotics to help “democratize” robotics.

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Meta resorted to ‘buy-or-bury scheme’ with Instagram and WhatsApp deals, former FTC Chair Lina Khan says

Former FTC Chair Lina Khan said Monday that Facebook’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp drastically changed the social networking ecosystem.

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Autonomous trucking startup Kodiak Robotics to go public via SPAC

Self-driving truck startup Kodiak Robotics plans to go public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company Ares Acquisition Corporation II. The transaction values Kodiak, which has raised around $243 million to date, at about $2.5 billion pre-money. New and … Continue reading

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Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons hacked to imitate Musk, Zuckerberg voices

The crosswalk buttons, which include audio alerts, were hacked over the weekend.

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