Reading List

The most recent articles from a list of feeds I subscribe to.

The Root 100: Exclusive Afterparty, Red Carpet Gala and Slideshow

The Root

SandboxAQ, which aims to apply quantum tech and techniques to AI, raised $300M from Alger, Yann LeCun, and others at a $5.6B valuation to recruit more engineers (Bloomberg)

Techmeme

13 Black Psychological Thrillers That Will Mess With Your Head

The Root

You’ve never heard of the Covid booster with the fewest side effects

Vox - All

This Just Got Uglier: Megan Thee Stallion Files Restraining Order Against Tory Lanez

The Root

After a rough year, Intel says its $250 Arc B580 "Battlemage" GPU, which received near-universal praise from reviewers, has already sold out in most retailers (Sean Hollister/The Verge)

Techmeme

How did Turkey become the world capital of hair transplants?

Vox - All

Analysis: as uncertainty looms over Japan's China-dependent chipmaking stocks, Sony, Nintendo, and Capcom have seen double-digit returns since Trump's victory (Bloomberg)

Techmeme

A look at Huawei subsidiary Yinwang, which sells hardware and software to carmakers, has a $16B valuation, and more than doubled its revenue to ~$655M in 2023 (Financial Times)

Techmeme

Experts say national security and immigration policies could deprive US companies of AI talent from China, which had 47% of the top AI researchers in 2022 (Yvonne Lau/Rest of World)

Techmeme

The UK Gambling Commission blocks eight illegal casinos using Roblox to lure children into online gambling, following a news investigation into the casinos (Sky News)

Techmeme

These Brooklyn Homeowners Couldn’t Afford to Go Green. Then Help Arrived.

THE CITY - All

A profile of 114-year-old Japanese conglomerate Hitachi, whose market cap recently hit $100B after becoming an industrial software and hardware provider (Financial Times)

Techmeme

A profile of Tyler Denk, co-founder of newsletter platform Beehiiv, which raised a $33M Series B in April 2024 and generates $1.6M to $1.75M in monthly revenue (Ben Sherry/Inc)

Techmeme

A look at Microsoft's risky Xbox strategy, where exclusives are the exception; sources say Microsoft is working on cross-platform Xbox interface Project Rainway (Jez Corden/Windows Central)

Techmeme

Masayoshi Son's $100B AI investment pledge to Trump would require a massive fundraising effort, new debt, or selling some of SoftBank's holdings to raise cash (Eliot Brown/Wall Street Journal)

Techmeme

A look at Reddit's growth in sports fan communities; internal data: Reddit recorded a 35% YoY increase in engagement in 1,000+ sports-themed Subreddits in 2024 (Sam Bradley/Digiday)

Techmeme

MobiKwik's shares surged as much as 82% on their trading debut, after the Indian digital payments firm, which claims to have 161M users, raised $69M in its IPO (Manish Singh/TechCrunch)

Techmeme

Kioxia's shares rose 6%+ on its first day of trading in Tokyo, giving the chipmaker a ~$5.2B market cap; a group led by Bain had paid $18B for Kioxia in 2018 (Financial Times)

Techmeme

The NERC, overseen by the FERC, warns soaring US electricity demand from data centers to power AI could strain US and Canadian grids, risking blackouts (Myles McCormick/Financial Times)

Techmeme