Tootfinder

Day 8 (a bit late): Timnit Gebru
Academic authors are authors too, and there are a bunch of people I deeply respect both in my fields and adjacent.
Gebru is someone I have huge respect for because she stood up for her (mild, completely reasonable) principles to the point of losing her job on Google's AI ethics team (since disbanded entirely), and then went ahead and founded an independent research institute to continue doing AI ethics research.
Why was she fired? Because she insisted on publishing her "Stochastic Parrots" paper after it passed Google internal review only to have extra nonstandard scrutiny applied at the last minute. Why did Google want to suppress her paper (which included an academic co-author)? Because it expressed valid criticisms of the large language models fad, and Google was planning to make money off that fad. Personally, I don't think I'd hire an "AI ethics" team only to then try to suppress their publications, and Google seems to now agree, having scrapped the team (during the initial furor, Timnit's boss also effectively quit to support her).
That "Stochastic Parrots" paper? Indeed, it predicts the core underlying problems with large language models that lead to so many of their user-side harms today. You can read it here: #20AuthorsNoMen

Bending Spoons acquires Eventbrite for ~$500M in an all-cash deal, following its $1.38B purchase of Vimeo and a pending acquisition of AOL (Cate Lawrence/Tech.eu)
https://tech.eu/2025/12/02/bending-spoons-to-acquire-eventbrite-in-500m-all-cash-deal/

Bending Spoons to acquire Eventbrite in $500M all-cash deal
Bending Spoons is acquiring the global event management platform Eventbrite in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $500 million. Eventbrite would become the latest major global brand to join the Bending Spoons portfolio. Last month, the company announced a definitive agreement to acquire AOL, pending customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Bending Spoons also recently completed its $1.38 billion acquisition of Vimeo. “For two decades, Eventbrite has stood at the…

Entwicklung der Kapazitätsgrößen von #Batteriespeicher​n von Unternehmen in #Deutschland mit Stand vom 01.11.2025.
289 Datensätze ohne #Batteriespeichertechnologie…

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #VarietyMix
Gat Décor:
🎵 Passion (radio edit)
#GatDécor
https://grenzmusic.bandcamp.com/track/gat-decor-passion-grenz-mix

Source: HR software company Gusto paid ~$600M to acquire Guideline, which offers 401(k) plans to SMBs; Guideline raised $340M and had a $1.15B valuation in 2021 (TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/01/sources-g…

Sources: Gusto paid $600M to acquire Guideline, plans to divest customers linked to rivals | TechCrunch
While the HR tech Guideline was last valued at $1.15 billion, the sale will likely yield a profit for most investors.

Entwicklung der Kapazitätsgrößen von #Batteriespeicher​n von Privatpersonen in Deutschland mit Stand vom 01.11.2025.
289 Datensätze ohne #Batteriespeichertechnologie herausgefiltert.
Der Datenbestand enthält unplausible Datensätze.
👉 Zusatzlesestoff: Ei…

Marvell announces a deal to buy Celestial AI for at least $3.25B, expected to close in Q1 2026; the price can rise to $5.5B if Celestial hits revenue targets (Kif Leswing/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/02/mrvl-earnings-q3-2026-acquires-celestial-ai.html

Marvell to acquire Celestial AI for as much as $5.5 billion
The deal is an aggressive move for Marvell to acquire complimentary technology to its semiconductor networking business.

In #Tützpatz hat #Vattenfall Deutschlands größten #AgriPV Park mit 76 MWp Leistung in Betrieb genommen.
Auf 93 Hektar werden

Deutschlands größter Agri-PV Park geht in Betrieb
Offizieller Dienstbeginn für ein Pionierprojekt der Energiewende: Heute (10.9.) nimmt Vattenfall den bis dato größten deutschen Agri-PV Park „Tützpatz“ in Betrieb. Es ist ein weiterer Schritt des Unternehmens, den Übergang zu fossilfreier Energie zu unterstützen und damit die Gesellschaft voranzubringen. Starke Partnerin ist die Deutsche Telekom AG. Sie nimmt den produzierten Grünstrom für zehn Jahre vollständig ab.

ServiceNow announces a deal to acquire identity security startup Veza, sources say for between $1B and $1.5B; Veza had a private valuation of $808M in March (Valida Pau/The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/servicenows…

ServiceNow’s $1 Billion-Plus Acquisition Aimed at Winning Agent War
Dealmakers apparently did not get much of a break over the Thanksgiving weekend, as a flurry of recent merger announcements showed. In just the last day, The Information broke the news that Marvell Technology was buying photonics startup Celestial for billions of dollars and Anthropic was making ...

Stripe agrees to acquire Metronome, which offers APIs to help SaaS companies charge customers based on usage and has raised $128M in total funding (Scott Woody/Metronome)
https://metronome.com/blog/important-company-update

Important Company Update | Metronome blog
A new chapter for modern monetization and global payments. Metronome has signed a definitive agreement to join Stripe.