Google has conducted an experiment in eight European markets, removing news from search results for 1% of users for 2.5 months. The tech giant claims that the results show news is essentially worthless to its ad business, which could have significant implications for the way it interacts with news publishers in the future. Google hopes…
IT on The Soothsayer / page 13
Analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush has warned Elon Musk that his involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has created a “brand tornado crisis” for Tesla, leading to a significant drop in the company’s stock price and growing protests worldwide. Ives has called on Musk to reduce his role at DOGE and provide a…
The tech industry is experiencing a significant wave of layoffs, with over 22,000 workers let go in the first few months of 2025. Companies such as Siemens, HelloFresh, and NASA are among those announcing job cuts, citing efforts to improve competitiveness, streamline operations, and adapt to changing market conditions. This trend is expected to continue,…
Google’s parent company Alphabet has made the biggest acquisition in its history by buying cloud security startup Wiz for $32 billion. The deal, which includes retention bonuses for Wiz employees, is expected to close in 2026 after regulatory approvals. Wiz will remain an independent platform, working across all cloud providers, and is expected to expand…
Meta’s Llama AI model family has reached 1 billion downloads, a significant increase from 650 million in early December 2024. This achievement is part of Meta’s efforts to create a wide-ranging AI product ecosystem. Despite facing setbacks, including an AI copyright lawsuit and data privacy concerns, Meta plans to launch several new Llama models with…
Microsoft has announced that it will be shutting down Skype, a popular video-calling service, on May 5, 2025. Users will have the option to migrate their data to Microsoft Teams or download their information and transition to another video-calling service. This move is expected to have a significant impact on the video conferencing industry, with…
Swedish fintech Klarna has taken a significant step towards its highly anticipated U.S. IPO by making its F-1 prospectus public. The company aims to raise at least $1 billion at a $15 billion valuation, with its previous private valuation recently rebounding to $14.6 billion. Klarna’s revenue has increased to $2.8 billion in 2024, and it…
The FBI, EPA, and Treasury Department have requested Citibank to freeze accounts of several nonprofits and state government agencies that received funding from the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. This move has sparked concerns about the future of green initiatives and the potential for climate-related funding to be clawed back. The EPA administrator has…
OpenAI has accused Chinese AI lab DeepSeek of being “state-subsidized” and “state-controlled,” recommending that the U.S. government consider banning its models. The proposal, part of the Trump administration’s “AI Action Plan” initiative, claims that DeepSeek’s models pose security risks due to Chinese law requirements for user data compliance. The move marks an escalation of OpenAI’s…
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has fired over 100 employees working for the U.S. government’s cybersecurity agency CISA, including “red team” staffers. The layoffs, which happened in late February and early March, are the latest round of staff cuts to hit the federal cybersecurity agency since the start of the Trump administration. The…