The Scoop New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is bringing his populist bent to bear on a little-noticed merger. Mamdani is urging New York State’s top financial regulator to block Western Union’s $500 million deal for Intermex, a money transferrer that mostly services immigrants sending remittances back to Latin America. ...
CBS’ Tony Dokoupil to broadcast from Taiwan after failing to get China visa in timeCBS’ Tony Dokoupil to broadcast from Taiwan after failing to get China visa in time
The Scoop CBS News anchor Tony Dokoupil will broadcast from Taipei this week after failing to obtain a visa to China in time, a stumble in the network’s efforts to play a leading role in this week’s dominant global story. American broadcasters are planning extensive coverage from the Chinese capital ...
Thinking Machines previews ‘interaction models’Thinking Machines previews ‘interaction models’
If you ever thought, “I wish my AI interrupted me more,” Mira Murati has got a product for you. The new models from Thinking Machines Lab, called “interaction models,” launched in research preview Monday, giving us a window into what she’s been up to since she left OpenAI in 2024 ...
EU seeks social media lawsEU seeks social media laws
The News The European Commission is preparing new regulations on social media companies, in a bid to curtail endless scrolling, push notifications, and other features it terms “addictive design.” Also under consideration is a delay on when children are allowed to make accounts, the latest in a decade-long attempt to ...
At Least We Know the Washington Post Isn’t Buying ViewsAt Least We Know the Washington Post Isn’t Buying Views
An eon ago, in the year 2012, an editor at my first job at U.S. News and World Report had the idea that we should have a YouTube channel. It wasn’t a pivot to video, exactly, but it would be a bet on an emerging platform where some creators were ...
War and Data Centers Are Driving Up the Cost of Fiber-Optic CableWar and Data Centers Are Driving Up the Cost of Fiber-Optic Cable
Fiber-optic cable has become a staple of drone war. From Ukraine to the Sahel, combatants are fielding quadcopters piloted via kilometer-long lengths of cable that allows operators to control them across vast distances while insulating the drone from being knocked from the sky. This technique was once a cheap way ...
Podcast: The Chinese Deepfake Software Powering ScamsPodcast: The Chinese Deepfake Software Powering Scams
We start this week with Joseph’s story about how we obtained Haotian AI, a sought-after piece of realtime video deepfake software that lets you turn into anyone else during Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, or Zoom calls. After the break, Matthew tells us about some insane Yu-Gi-Oh trading card drama. In the ...
Software Developers Say AI Is Rotting Their BrainsSoftware Developers Say AI Is Rotting Their Brains
Tech company executives are confident that AI will completely transform the economy and point to the changes they see in-house to prove that this change is coming fast. At Meta, Google, Microsoft, and others, leadership says that AI generates a growing share of the overall code, which makes it cheaper ...
Trade, Iran and Taiwan on the agenda as Trump arrives in China for high-stakes talks with XiTrade, Iran and Taiwan on the agenda as Trump arrives in China for high-stakes talks with Xi
The US president says his first request to Xi would be to “open up” China, while Beijing is expected to press Trump on the status of Taiwan. ...
Court overturns Alex Murdaugh’s murder convictions and orders new trialCourt overturns Alex Murdaugh’s murder convictions and orders new trial
The court has ordered a new trial over the June 2021 killings of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh. ...