Tootfinder

Sources: following Manus probe, Chinese authorities ordered at least one other prominent AI startup, MiroMind, not to send talent and research out of China (Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/04/21/china-ai-competition-manus-meta/

Beijing tightens its grip on AI firms that try to shed their Chinese ties
A Chinese government probe of a Meta-acquired company, Manus AI, reveals a new red line.

Microsoft has released emergency software updates to fix issues that disrupted some Windows Server systems following its latest monthly security patches.
https://www.computing.co.uk/news/2…

Microsoft issues emergency fixes after Windows Server failures
Microsoft has released emergency software updates to fix issues that disrupted some Windows Server systems following its latest monthly security patches.

This article is interesting about thoughts of using flying networks to support military operations.
It is a complex system - and my sense is that they will screw it up with application specific protocols and APIs that evolve and change over time as as military events (the kind that go boom or are intentional forms of in-band attacks - think everything from hyper-phishing to spoofing to zero-day attacks).
But even if it were put together with the precision of a Swiss watch, my old…

Jeff Webb,
a conservative political activist considered to be Charlie Kirk’s “mentor”
has died after he fell while playing pickleball
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/charlie-kirks-mentor-dies-after-36904048

Charlie Kirk’s 'mentor’ dies after 'falling while playing pickleball'
Jeff Webb owned and operated several right-wing websites and was known as Charlie Kirk’s 'mentor' - he is also credited as being the father of competitive, modern cheerleading in the USA

Filing in California's antitrust lawsuit: CA accuses Amazon of price-fixing by pressuring brands to ask competing retailers to increase prices on some products (David McCabe/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/technology/amazon-antitrust…

California Accuses Amazon of Price Fixing in Legal Filing
The state claimed the e-commerce giant pressured brands like Levi’s and Hanes to ask competing retailers to raise prices on certain products.

"Tree planting can combat urban heat, but some neighborhoods are falling behind"
#Trees #Environment
https://

Tree planting can combat urban heat, but some neighborhoods are falling behind
Sydney communities may be missing out on crucial tree planting projects intended to combat urban heat, leaving western and eastern parts of Greater Sydney with less protection from extreme heat, a University of Sydney-led study has revealed. In a surprising finding, the researchers found that while Greater Sydney's total tree canopy increased by 4.2% from 1.514 billion square meters to 1.578 billion square meters between 2016 and 2022, this growth was not evenly distributed.

Man, old universities are weird places. Went to attend a talk (featuring linguists and computer scientists debating language models) in a room I hadn't been in before, and it turns out they have a full-ass Flemish tapestry just hanging from the wall.

Metacurity is the independent, non-hype, non-personality-dependent cybersecurity newsletter that delivers a daily dose of critical developments you need to know.
Check out today's issue, which covers
--CISA warns US infrastructure owners following Russian attack on Poland's power grid,
--Russia throttles Telegram accusing it of failing to protect personal data or combat crime,
--N. Korean hackers targeted crypto company with unique malware and multiple scams,…

CISA warns US infrastructure owners following Russian attack on Poland's power grid
Russia throttles Telegram accusing it of failing to protect personal data or combat crime, N. Korean hackers targeted crypto company with unique malware and multiple scams, Israel claims it foiled hundreds of Iranian cyberattacks, Microsoft issued fixes for six zero day flaws, much more

Now here is something designed to shake confidence:
Flying, unmanned warships controlled by an on-board, but distributed, AI...
"Airbus is Preparing 2 Uncrewed Combat Aircraft from Kratos for 1st Flight With a European Mission System'"
…

Airbus is Preparing 2 Uncrewed Combat Aircraft from Kratos for 1st Flight With a European Mission System
Airbus is working at full throttle to offer the German Air Force an operational Uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft (UCCA) system by 2029

Sources: OpenAI appoints new leaders to oversee Stargate after deciding to rent more AI servers from cloud providers, and splits its computing effort in three (Anissa Gardizy/The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/op

OpenAI Names New Infrastructure Leaders Following Stargate Strategy Shift
OpenAI has appointed new leaders to oversee its Stargate computing initiative after deciding to rent more AI servers from major cloud providers rather than build its own data centers, according to two people familiar with the changes. As part of its reorganization, OpenAI has divided its ...