Axios:
Verily raised $300M led by Series X Capital, giving it ~2 years of runway per a source; Alphabet remains an investor but no longer has a controlling stake  —  What to read next

Jeff Johnson, linking to my “Your Frustration Is the Product” piece:

My browser extension StopTheMadness Pro stops autoplaying videos and hides Sign in with Google on all sites. It also hides sticky videos and notification requests on many sites.

For more extreme measures, try my Safari extension StopTheScript. It kills JavaScript dead on websites you select. For example, from the blog post, it makes The Guardian readable.

These are both great extensions, and I have both installed for use in Safari on all my devices. StopTheScript is a bit peculiar, by nature of how it does what it does, but Johnson has a great illustrated tutorial for it and a good blog post explaining which sites he uses it on and why.

Over on the Chrome/Chromium side, there’s a very slick extension called Quick JavaScript Switcher. It’s free, but the developer (Maxime Le Breton) asks for a 5€ donation. QJS adds a simple JS on/off switch to the toolbar.

A lot of stuff doesn’t load when you just completely disable JavaScript for a site. You might be surprised just how much of that stuff is shit you don’t want or won’t miss.

Or, you can go the other way, give in, stop fighting the man, and install OnlyAds — an extension that hides everything on a website except the ads.

Javier C. Hernández, reporting for The New York Times:

He was responding to a question about why Japan and other allies had received no advance notice of the U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran.

“We didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise,” he said. “Who knows better about surprise than Japan, OK? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK? Right?”

There was some laughter from the officials and journalists gathered in the room. “You believe in surprise, I think, much more so than us,” he added.

As Trump sinks further into dementia and his presidency slides further into disarray, his administration, in a sick way, gets funnier and funnier.

Yuliya Chernova / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Kalshi is raising ~$1B led by Coatue at a $22B valuation, up from the $11B valuation announced in December, and has a revenue run rate of ~$1.5B  —  Coatue Management is leading the new financing that would total about $1 billion for the prediction-market platform, according to sources

The Information:
Amazon acquires Zurich-based autonomous robotics startup Rivr, formerly Swiss-Mile; PitchBook: the startup was valued at $110M in an August 2024 funding round  —  Amazon has acquired autonomous robotics startup Rivr, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed, a deal that could help the commerce …