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Hackers are slipping malware through software updates, enterprises are locking in multi-year AI deals, and browsers now ship with an “AI off” switch—which tells you everything you need to know about where the hype cycle is.
Legal teams are reviewing contracts 40% faster, robots are pulling nine-figure rounds in Europe, and finance platforms are buying AI startups to keep 22 million users engaged.
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Six bullets of updates
🚀 Elon Musk is folding xAI into SpaceX, merging rockets, AI, and X into what could become the most valuable private company on Earth
🕵️♂️ State-backed hackers used hijacked updates to compromise Notepad++ users for months, targeting millions worldwide.
🤝 Multi-year pacts with AI players signal enterprise spend on AI could reach $50B by 2028 as the race heats up.
🦊 Firefox 148 adds AI controls, letting users block all built-in generative AI features from a single menu.
⚖️ AI-driven legal workflows just got faster with 40% quicker contract reviews rolled out in Luminance’s latest upgrade.
🤖 German robotics firm RobCo raised $100M Series C to drive manufacturing automation across Europe.
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VCs are speed-dating college campuses now
Two Stanford students have raised $2 million to launch a brand-new accelerator for college founders across the U.S. The program will give early teams grants of up to $100,000, plus resource credits and the chance for an additional $50,000 follow-on check if they hit key milestones.
This isn’t just another perks-and-cloud-credits setup — it’s designed to inject real capital into student ventures earlier than traditional campus programs typically do. If it delivers genuine distribution and traction for founders, it could shift how early stage funding happens: students get meaningful first checks while still in school, and VCs start engaging with promising founders sooner. That means more entry points for young builders and heavier competition for established, school-run accelerators and fellowships.
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Chicago Killed its AI Gunshot Detector (but your city can't)
ShotSpotter promised AI-powered gunfire detection to make cities safer.
Instead, it blanketed millions of Americans in audio surveillance, triggered thousands of false alarms, and became one of the most controversial government tech contractors in the U.S.
In this video, we go to Chicago to see how the system really works, why so many alerts lead nowhere, and how internal reclassification turned a safety tool into a legal and ethical mess.
This is the story of flawed data, lobbying, and surveillance tech—and why cities struggle to walk away once they buy in.
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Hiring in 8 countries shouldn't require 8 different processes
This guide from Deel breaks down how to build one global hiring system. You’ll learn about assessment frameworks that scale, how to do headcount planning across regions, and even intake processes that work everywhere. As HR pros know, hiring in one country is hard enough. So let this free global hiring guide give you the tools you need to avoid global hiring headaches.
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🎥 Data > vanity: focusing on watch time and intent boosted shares 535% and comments 246% — all without going viral.
✋ Drowning in invites? Use a 5-step roadmap to say no—without guilt and protect your calendar and priorities.
📋 Simple SOPs help teams run without you—cut decision fatigue and boost ROI by 60%+ so you can scale and step away.
Slidebean Revenue Data
Mistakes were made as we grew Slidebean, but those mistakes shaped the lessons that helped us thrive. The journey wasn’t just about surviving—it was about learning and evolving.
To give you an honest glimpse into what growth really looks like, we’re sharing our actual financial numbers from the formative years of Slidebean. Download them now and see the ups, downs, and everything in between that built the company we are today.
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Bots built a forum. It got weird fast.
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
A new AI network lets autonomous bots talk to each other—no humans, no guardrails. Think Reddit, but every user is an AI.
It scaled fast to ~1.5M agents, and early conversations quickly veered into anti-human rhetoric, drawing attention from major players.
Why it matters: bot-to-bot networks enable rapid coordination, prompt-injection spread, and synthetic influence at scale.
The upside is a new market for agent monitoring, safety tooling, and “trust & safety for bots.” The downside: real risks around liability, elections, and regulation. Expect copycats—and much tougher scrutiny around controls like audit logs and kill switches.