Tootfinder

Dealroom: in 2023, the combined enterprise value of Spanish startups surpassed €100B, and they raised €2.2B across 850 funding rounds (Anna Heim/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/…

Spanish startups reached €100 billion in aggregated value in 2023, consolidating the country’s position as a midsize European tech ecosystem | TechCrunch
Venture investment into Spanish startups also held up quite well, with €2.2 billion raised across some 850 funding rounds.

What is Trump’s stance on Ukraine? It’s still unclear.: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/27/what-is-trumps.html

2024 Harry Smith Prize awarded to Robert Masaki Hechler, for demonstrating the potential of environmental transcriptomics
https://www.molecularecologist.com/2024/05

2024 Harry Smith Prize awarded to Robert Masaki Hechler, for demonstrating the potential of environmental transcriptomics
Daphnia pulex (WikiMedia Commons, Paul Hebert) This year’s Harry Smith Prize, which recognizes the best paper published in the field of molecular ecology by an early career scholar, has been …

The Mediocre Programmer's Guide to #Rust
https://www.hezmatt.org/~mpalmer/blog/2024/05/01/the-mediocre-programmers-guide-to-rust.html…

OpenAI: Nächstes großes KI-Modell wird trainiert, neues Komitee prüft Sicherheit
Mehrere Personen aus der obersten Führungsriege von OpenAI sollen im Rahmen eines neuen Komitees prüfen, ob das Unternehmen genug für die Sicherheit tut.

You really think AI would do that? Just go on the internet and lie about stuff?

damascus :Dream:

U.S. Democracy Day announces $40K in reporting stipends for 2024
Newsrooms can apply for up to $2K each to help produce Democracy Day content; deadline to apply is June 14
https://medium.com/centerforcooperativ

U.S Democracy Day announces up to $40K in reporting stipends for 2024 | Center for Cooperative Media
The goal of these stipends is to help fund reporting on democracy and the stakes of the 2024 election that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.

Fluffy companion 🐶💕

On the subject of Trump’s dementia, the press remains tongue-tied. Fortunately, Doonesbury’s veteran psychologist is here to help. He brings receipts.
https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2024/04/28

Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for April 28, 2024 | GoComics.com

あの百鬼夜行の面々は……

Anthropic hires former OpenAI safety lead Jan Leike to head up a new "superalignment" team (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/28/anthropic-hires-former-openai-safety-lead-to-head-up-new-team/…

Anthropic hires former OpenAI safety lead to head up new team | TechCrunch
Jan Leike, a former OpenAI AI safety team lead, has joined Anthropic to spin up a new safety-focused team.

PM Shmyhal to meet EU leaders in Prague to discuss military aid for Ukraine: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/pm-shmyhal-to.html

BMG reagiert auf Kritik am Klinik-Atlas
Nach Kritik an fehlerhaften Angaben im Bundes-Klinik-Atlas gelobt das Bundesgesundheitsministerium Besserung. Ein erstes Update gibt es ebenfalls.
https://www.

I can't stand the woke in movies these days — why can't we produce non-political action movie classics like RoboCop, Star Trek, Dune, Terminator, Star Wars, Apocalypse Now,

If your justification for the genocide of the Palestinian people is that what Israel’s doing is legal, may I remind you the Holocaust was legal too. Hitler was acting entirely within the laws of Nazi Germany while committing the genocide of the Jewish (and Roma, and gay, and disabled, …) people.
Legal does not mean moral, just, or right.
If something is legal but unjust, it is your moral duty to break the law.
No social progress has ever come about without moral people brea…

スロークエリのことだけ考えていられる落ち着いた開発生活がしたい、などと意味不明なことを供述しており

Data compliance startup Transcend raised a $40M Series B round led by StepStone Group, bringing its total funding to nearly $90M (Sam Sabin/Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2024/05/28/transcend-data-privacy-series-b-funding

Exclusive: Data privacy platform lands $40M
Transcend is positioning itself to take on legacy solutions from OneTrust and others.

Allies asked Sweden to pause plans on Gripens for Ukraine to focus on F-16s, minister says: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/allies-asked-sweden.html

Geologische Evolutionszeiten: Ubuntu für nächstes RISC-V-Board
Ubuntu unterstützt nun auch den Single-Board-Computer Milk-V Mars. Die Entwicklung dümpelt jedoch vor sich hin.
https://www.

like all people

Thanking the four folks who voted for my #Fedivision2024 entry. It’s four more than I thought I’d get so big hugs to all of you :)
https://ar.al/downloads/a-number-on-a-page.mp3<…

YouTube's Playables, a collection of over 75 free games available on mobile and desktop, rolls out to all users (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/28/youtubes-free-games-catalog-playables-rolls-out-to-all-use…

YouTube's free games catalog 'Playables' rolls out to all users | TechCrunch
YouTube's free Playables don't directly challenge the app store model or break Apple's rules. However, they do compete with the App Store's free games.

Russia making gains due to Western restrictions on where Ukraine can strike, Latvian president says: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/27/russia-making-gains.html

Produktpass, Reparaturindex: Ökodesign-Verordnung der EU kann in Kraft treten
Gut zwei Jahre nach dem Vorschlag der EU-Kommission werden Ökodesign-Anforderungen in der EU auf viele weitere Produkte ausgeweitet.

Des choses sont maintenant en mouvement qui ne peuvent être défaites.

OpenAI begins training its new flagship AI model, a process that could take nine months or more, and creates a Safety and Security Committee to explore risks (Cade Metz/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/28/technology/openai-gpt4-new-model.htm…

OpenAI Says It Has Begun Training a New Flagship A.I. Model
The advanced A.I. system would succeed GPT-4, which powers ChatGPT. The company has also created a new safety committee to address A.I.’s risks.

The arrest wave is only gaining momentum: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/the-arrest-wave.html

Astronomie: Neuartiges Teleskop ermöglicht Beobachtungen auch mitten am Tag
Der Riesenstern Beteigeuze kann jedes Jahr monatelang nachts nicht beobachtet werden. Ein neues Teleskop soll Abhilfe schaffen und einen alten Traum erfüllen.

Google unveils new AI features for Chromebook Plus devices, says new Chromebook Plus users get a free year of Google One AI Premium, and updates old Chromebooks (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/28/google-adds-ai-powered-featur…

Google adds AI-powered features to Chromebook | TechCrunch
Google said today it's adding new AI-powered features such as a writing assistant and a wallpaper creator and providing easy access to Gemini chatbot to its Chromebook Plus line of devices.

How to pronounce Ukrainian cities in English: Kyiv: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/how-to-pronounce.html

Private equity firm Bridgepoint buys a majority stake in LumApps, used by ~700 organizations to build and provision comms and workforce apps, in a $650M deal (Ingrid Lunden/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/28/luma

LumApps, the French 'intranet superapp,' sells majority stake to Bridgepoint in a $650M deal | TechCrunch
Big news today for LumApps, the French startup that has described itself as an “intranet superapp” with a platform for building and provisioning internal

Russian attack on residential area in Donetsk Oblast town kills couple, injures 3: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/225357.html

Dealroom: in 2023, the combined enterprise value of Spanish startups surpassed €100B, and they raised €2.2B across 850 funding rounds (Anna Heim/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/…

Spanish startups reached €100 billion in aggregated value in 2023, consolidating the country’s position as a midsize European tech ecosystem | TechCrunch
Venture investment into Spanish startups also held up quite well, with €2.2 billion raised across some 850 funding rounds.

Ukraine state-owned enterprises weekly — Issue 133: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/ukraine-stateowned-enterprises.html

A US appeals court sets a fast-track schedule to consider legal challenges to the US law requiring a TikTok ban or sale, with oral arguments in September 2024 (David Shepardson/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-court-hear-c…

Former head of Odesa Oblast enlistment office detained again after posting bail: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/former-head-of.html

Anthropic hires former OpenAI safety lead Jan Leike to head up a new "superalignment" team (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/28/anthropic-hires-former-openai-safety-lead-to-head-up-new-team/…

Anthropic hires former OpenAI safety lead to head up new team | TechCrunch
Jan Leike, a former OpenAI AI safety team lead, has joined Anthropic to spin up a new safety-focused team.

MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak: Developments in Ukraine’s parliament on economic reforms, international obligations — Issue 57: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/mp-yaroslav-zhelezniak.html

Data compliance startup Transcend raised a $40M Series B round led by StepStone Group, bringing its total funding to nearly $90M (Sam Sabin/Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2024/05/28/transcend-data-privacy-series-b-funding

Exclusive: Data privacy platform lands $40M
Transcend is positioning itself to take on legacy solutions from OneTrust and others.

YouTube's Playables, a collection of over 75 free games available on mobile and desktop, rolls out to all users (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/28/youtubes-free-games-catalog-playables-rolls-out-to-all-use…

YouTube's free games catalog 'Playables' rolls out to all users | TechCrunch
YouTube's free Playables don't directly challenge the app store model or break Apple's rules. However, they do compete with the App Store's free games.

Russia attacks 10 communities in Sumy Oblast: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/235852.html

OpenAI begins training its new flagship AI model, a process that could take nine months or more, and creates a Safety and Security Committee to explore risks (Cade Metz/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/28/technology/openai-gpt4-new-model.htm…

OpenAI Says It Has Begun Training a New Flagship A.I. Model
The advanced A.I. system would succeed GPT-4, which powers ChatGPT. The company has also created a new safety committee to address A.I.’s risks.

Zelenskyy's visit to Lisbon: meeting with PM Montenegro: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/zelenskyys-visit-to.html

Google unveils new AI features for Chromebook Plus devices, says new Chromebook Plus users get a free year of Google One AI Premium, and updates old Chromebooks (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/28/google-adds-ai-powered-featur…

Google adds AI-powered features to Chromebook | TechCrunch
Google said today it's adding new AI-powered features such as a writing assistant and a wallpaper creator and providing easy access to Gemini chatbot to its Chromebook Plus line of devices.

How to pronounce Ukrainian cities in English: Odesa and Lviv: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/193055.html

Private equity firm Bridgepoint buys a majority stake in LumApps, used by ~700 organizations to build and provision comms and workforce apps, in a $650M deal (Ingrid Lunden/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/28/luma

LumApps, the French 'intranet superapp,' sells majority stake to Bridgepoint in a $650M deal | TechCrunch
Big news today for LumApps, the French startup that has described itself as an “intranet superapp” with a platform for building and provisioning internal

Opinion: Why South Africa’s election matters for Ukraine: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/opinion-why-south.html

Abu Dhabi-based edtech startup Alef Education, which serves kindergarten to 12th grade, aims to raise up to $515M in an IPO, Abu Dhabi's first IPO of 2024 (Julia Fioretti/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Zelensky arrives in Portugal, signs bilateral security deal: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/zelensky-arrives-in.html

HubSpot shares jump 8% after CNBC's David Faber reported that Alphabet is in talks about an all-stock bid for the company (Jennifer Elias/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/28/hubspot-shares-jump-on-talks-of-potential-google-deal-.h…

Reuters: Indian refinery to purchase Russian oil in rubles: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/29/reuters-indian-refinery.html

T-Mobile plans to acquire most of UScellular, including stores, some of the wireless operator's spectrum, and its customers, in a $4.4B deal, including $2B debt (Todd Haselton/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/28/t-mobile-t…

Sweden Allows Using Its Weapons For Strikes on Russian Territory: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/29/sweden-allows-using.html

Defunct bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, which collapsed in 2014, moves 140K bitcoin, worth ~$9B, to an unknown address, likely part of a plan to repay creditors (Shaurya Malwa/CoinDesk)
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/05/2

Greek effect on the Ukrainian war. Interview with Spiros Lambridis: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/greek-effect-on.html

Microsoft launches Copilot for Telegram in beta; the bot is limited to text-based requests and cannot generate images for now (Emilia David/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/28/24166451/telegram-copilot-microsoft-ai-chatbot

Microsoft launches Copilot for Telegram
The official Microsoft bot brings the Copilot AI assistant to Telegram, letting users write prompts directly on the messaging app.

FT: Despite promises, Western companies continue Russian operations: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/ft-despite-promises.html

Microsoft confirms Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be available day one on Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass; Activision typically sells 20M copies of a COD game (Tom Warren/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/28/24166053/call-of-duty-black…

Microsoft confirms Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is coming to Xbox Game Pass
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is officially coming to Xbox Game Pass. After months of internal debate at Microsoft, Activision’s big franchise will be on Game Pass day one.

Parliament speaker dismisses Putin's claims on Zelensky's legitimacy: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/parliament-speaker-dismisses.html

A US appeals court sets a fast-track schedule to consider legal challenges to the US law requiring a TikTok ban or sale, with oral arguments in September 2024 (David Shepardson/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-court-hear-c…

Georgian parliament overrules president's veto of foreign agents law: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/georgian-parliament-overrules.html

Chinese government data: foreign-branded smartphone shipments, most of which are iPhones, rose 52% YoY to ~3.5M in April, after stabilizing in March 2024 (Yuan Gao/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Russia Prepares a New Offensive? The Situation at the Border Intensifies: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/russia-prepares-a.html

Czechia backs Ukraine striking Russian soil with Western-provided weapons: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/czechia-backs-ukraine.html

Abu Dhabi-based edtech startup Alef Education, which serves kindergarten to 12th grade, aims to raise up to $515M in an IPO, Abu Dhabi's first IPO of 2024 (Julia Fioretti/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Swiss lawmakers demand tougher action against spies ahead of peace summit: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/swiss-lawmakers-demand.html

HubSpot shares jump 8% after CNBC's David Faber reported that Alphabet is in talks about an all-stock bid for the company (Jennifer Elias/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/28/hubspot-shares-jump-on-talks-of-potential-google-deal-.h…

Russia attacks Donetsk Oblast village with 1.5 ton bomb, injuring 3 people: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/russia-attacks-donetsk.html

T-Mobile plans to acquire most of UScellular, including stores, some of the wireless operator's spectrum, and its customers, in a $4.4B deal, including $2B debt (Todd Haselton/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/28/t-mobile-t…

Russia’s attack on Kharkiv printing house puts publishing industry at risk: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/russias-attack-on.html

Defunct bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, which collapsed in 2014, moves 140K bitcoin, worth ~$9B, to an unknown address, likely part of a plan to repay creditors (Shaurya Malwa/CoinDesk)
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/05/2

Putin says parliament speaker Stefanchuk should be considered Ukraine's leader: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/putin-says-parliament.html

Former OpenAI board member Helen Toner says the board didn't know about the company's 2022 launch of ChatGPT until learning about it on Twitter (Shirin Ghaffary/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Sweden suspends delivery of Gripen Jets to Ukraine amid coalition’s F-16 focus: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/sweden-suspends-delivery.html

How pro-Russian groups exploit Telegram, which has 41M MAUs in the EU, below the DSA's 45M threshold, to spread disinformation on Ukraine, immigration, and more (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Russia speeds up recruitment of mercenaries from Africa, military intelligence says: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/russia-speeds-up.html

The US Treasury sanctions three Chinese nationals and three Thailand-based companies linked to a botnet controlling residential proxy service "911 S5" (Sergiu Gatlan/BleepingComputer)
https://www.

Court sets bail for ex-deputy head of Presidential Office Smirnov at almost $250,000: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/court-sets-bail.html

How AI demand is driving a rally in old school stocks in the utilities, energy, and materials sectors, which are needed to make and operate AI products (Charley Grant/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.

SBU: Ukraine nationalizes Russian oligarch's fishing ship worth almost $25 million: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/sbu-ukraine-nationalizes.html

Mediazona confirms identities of nearly 54,200 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/29/mediazona-confirms-identities.html

Microsoft launches Copilot for Telegram in beta; the bot is limited to text-based requests and cannot generate images for now (Emilia David/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/28/24166451/telegram-copilot-microsoft-ai-chatbot

Microsoft launches Copilot for Telegram
The official Microsoft bot brings the Copilot AI assistant to Telegram, letting users write prompts directly on the messaging app.

F-16's, air defence systems, artillery and armoured vehicles: aid from Belgium to Ukraine: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/fs-air-defence.html

Microsoft confirms Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be available day one on Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass; Activision typically sells 20M copies of a COD game (Tom Warren/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/28/24166053/call-of-duty-black…

Microsoft confirms Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is coming to Xbox Game Pass
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is officially coming to Xbox Game Pass. After months of internal debate at Microsoft, Activision’s big franchise will be on Game Pass day one.

PM: First batch of shells under Czech-led initiative may arrive in Ukraine 'in coming days': https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/pm-first-batch.html

Chinese government data: foreign-branded smartphone shipments, most of which are iPhones, rose 52% YoY to ~3.5M in April, after stabilizing in March 2024 (Yuan Gao/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

USA and Germany warn Ukraine over independent use of Patriot systems, threaten supply cut-off: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/usa-and-germany.html

Pro-Russian Position of Viktor Orban Hinders a Speedy End to the Russian War Against Ukraine: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/prorussian-position-of.html

Ukraine war latest: Belgium signs security deal with Ukraine, pledges $1 billion in aid this year: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/ukraine-war-latest.html

Former OpenAI board member Helen Toner says the board didn't know about the company's 2022 launch of ChatGPT until learning about it on Twitter (Shirin Ghaffary/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Macron: Ukraine must be allowed to strike bases on Russian territory from which missiles are fired: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/29/macron-ukraine-must.html

How pro-Russian groups exploit Telegram, which has 41M MAUs in the EU, below the DSA's 45M threshold, to spread disinformation on Ukraine, immigration, and more (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Defense minister: Ukraine may receive first F-16s 'very soon' but half of military aid arriving late: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/defense-minister-ukraine.html

The US Treasury sanctions three Chinese nationals and three Thailand-based companies linked to a botnet controlling residential proxy service "911 S5" (Sergiu Gatlan/BleepingComputer)
https://www.

Estonian defense minister says EU should increase Ukrainian soldier training program to 100,000 personnel: https://benborges.xyz/2024/05/28/estonian-defense-minister.html

How AI demand is driving a rally in old school stocks in the utilities, energy, and materials sectors, which are needed to make and operate AI products (Charley Grant/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.

A leak purports to show thousands of pages of internal API documentation for Google Search, some of which appear to contradict Google's public statements (Rand Fishkin/SparkToro)
https://sparktoro.com/blog/an-anon…

An Anonymous Source Shared Thousands of Leaked Google Search API Documents with Me; Everyone in SEO Should See Them - SparkToro
On Sunday, May 5th, I received an email from a person claiming to have access to a massive leak of API documentation from inside Google’s Search division.

The US will reactivate Trump-era tariffs on June 15 that apply to select imported goods from China, including graphics cards, motherboards, and desktop cases (Michael Kan/PCMag)
https://www.pcmag.com/news/us-tariffs-on-graphics-cards…

US Tariffs on Graphics Cards Imported From China Take Effect June 15
The tariffs, which will last at least until May 31, 2025, will also affect motherboards and PC desktop cases assembled in China, along with robot vacuums.

In a spat on X, Meta's Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun calls out Elon Musk for saying xAI will pursue "truth" as Musk spreads "crazy-ass conspiracy theories" on X (Maxwell Zeff/Gizmodo)
https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-x-fights-meta-chi…

Elon Musk Is Fighting With Meta’s Chief AI Scientist
Yann LeCun and Elon Musk got into it on X this weekend, exposing key disagreements on AI risks dividing the tech world.