Meta splashes more than $2 billion on Manus
Wanted to swallow AI agents, and found one with Chinese roots
Meta Platforms has snaffled AI startup Manus, a Singapore-based firm with Chinese founders that does deep research and other paid tasks for users.
Big Tech hiding AI debt
A few trillion here, a few trillion there, and suddenly you are talking about real money
Big Tech companies have moved more than $120 billion of data centre spending off their balance sheets using special purpose vehicles funded by the cocaine nose jobs of Wall Street, stirring fresh jitters about the financial risks of their huge bet on artificial intelligence.
Meta cooks up Mango as AI image race heats up
New models promise better video, sharper code and more bragging rights
Meta Platforms is building new AI image and video technology alongside a fresh language model as it scrambles to keep pace in an increasingly vicious generative arms race.
Meta looks like it is binning its ‘open’ headset dream
Horizon OS partners left staring at the wall
Meta has slammed the brakes on its third-party VR headset scheme, effectively killing Horizon OS devices from Asus and Lenovo.
Coreweave’s AI dream springs a leak
Rain, debt and mixed messages rattle the boom.
CoreWeave has managed to torch about $33 billion in market value in six weeks, which is quite a trick even by AI hype standards.
Australia’s teen social media ban sparks chaos on day one
Prime minister shrugs off the mess as kids flaunt their workarounds
Australia’s under-16 social media ban had barely landed before the country’s feeds filled with teenagers loudly proving they could dodge it, prompting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to defend the scheme as fair dinkum.
Intel boss tangled in deals that fatten his own portfolio
Lip-Bu Tan’s investment web puts Troubled Chipzilla in an awkward spotlight
Troubled Chipzilla’s chief Lip-Bu Tan is under fire as revelations pile up about deals that seem to bulk up his personal fortune. At the same time, he presides over a company that Washington wants to drag back to industrial prominence.
Bloke moans after woman smashes his Meta specs
Internet cheers as subway vigilante goes viral
A New York subway punter learned the hard way that people have had their fill of being filmed after a woman allegedly smashed his Meta smart glasses.
Meta hacks away at its Metaverse fantasy
Zuckerberg pivots as investors bored of the pricey dream
Meta is quietly taking a chainsaw to the metaverse, the grand vision that Mark Zuckerberg once claimed would define his company’s future.
Meta nicks top Apple designer for its AI wearables push
Creative people flee Apple
Meta has headhunted one of the Fruity Cargo Cult Apple’s top design bods, leaving Job’s Mob noticeably short as the social media giant ramps up efforts to flog wearable devices powered by artificial intelligence.