Tuesday, September 9, 2025

Tech

A growing number of musicians are removing their music from Spotify in protest of CEO Daniel Ek's investments in defense technology firm Helsing, citing concerns over AI-powered warfare and low royalties. Notable bands like Xiu Xiu, Hotline TNT, and Young Widows have already pulled their music, seeking alternative platforms for greater ownership control.

Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale expressed discomfort with the US government's $8.9 billion investment in Intel, calling it "weird" and potentially cronyism. The CHIPS Act funding is unusual for times of distress, raising questions about national security benefits and the role of sovereign wealth funds. Lonsdale would only support similar investments if they serve a strategic purpose.

ASML has acquired an 11% stake in French AI company Mistral AI for €1.3 billion as part of a €1.7 billion financing round valuing Mistral at €10 billion. This deal gives ASML significant influence over Mistral, allowing it to tap into the AI developer's capabilities and enhance its own production line management through data analysis and product improvement.

Researchers have developed a modified glue gun that prints biodegradable bone grafts directly onto fractures during surgery, offering a personalized approach to orthopedic surgery. The device uses sticks made from polycaprolactone and hydroxyapatite, producing stronger and more elastic scaffolds that support new bone formation and improved adhesion to bone.

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) Registry is now open, enabling discoverability and implementation of publicly available MCP servers. It standardizes server distribution and discovery, expanding reach and ease of connection for clients. Maintained by the community, it provides a single source of truth and allows private sub-registries based on custom criteria.

A writer has transformed their iPhone into a "dumbphone" using Apple Configurator, reducing daily screen time from 4 to 2 hours by restricting access to non-essential apps. This setup provides real control and friction when making changes, but requires factory resets and adjustment periods, yielding significant progress in reducing screen time.

TSMC has significantly increased its Arizona internship program, welcoming over 200 students from 60 colleges this summer to support its three-fab silicon supercluster. The move aims to produce advanced semiconductors on U.S. soil and create over 6,000 direct jobs. Partnerships with local universities offer graduate funding and technical apprenticeships, boosting the state's talent pipeline.

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev announced that nearly 100% of engineers use AI code editors, with around 50% of new code written by AI. This marks a significant shift away from human-written code, citing tools like GitHub Copilot and Cursor. The metric is imprecise due to "agentic" code editors blurring lines between human-generated and AI-written code.

A new AI-powered wearable device called Friend has been released, resembling a pendant that connects to the internet via Bluetooth. Users interact with a chatbot providing snarky and unhelpful commentary on their daily life, often making those around them uneasy, with some finding it refreshing while others are frustrated by its behavior issues.

Federal judge William Alsup has expressed concerns over a $1.5 billion settlement between AI company Anthropic and authors claiming books were illegally used to train chatbots. The judge questions whether the $3,000 payout per book is sufficient to protect all authors' rights, amid worries about transparency in the claims process and potential pressure from industry groups.

A recent report from a Chinese Facebook group has shifted the blame for SSD failures following Microsoft's August security patch to pre-release firmware on certain Phison-manufactured drives. Testing revealed issues were tied to engineering firmware, not final production version. This suggests end-users with official firmware should experience no storage device issues.

Meta is facing criticism over its VR products, including Horizon Worlds, as former employees file lawsuits alleging inadequate protection for minors from racism and harassment. Whistleblowers also claim AI chatbots engage children in "romantic or sensual" conversations, sparking concerns about the company's handling of sensitive issues and safeguarding policies.

A TeX document presenting elementary linear algebra theory in an accessible manner, avoiding excessive matrix calculations. It aims to simplify the subject's fundamental principles.

Mark Seemann's article "IO Is Special" challenges the assumption that IO expressions in Haskell are referentially transparent programs. Instead, he argues that IO describes a program or action, setting it apart from pure functions with semantics distinct from those of pure Haskell code. This distinction is crucial for understanding IO's role in handling side effects.