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“Unfamiliar to DC’s political elite, Y Combinator sets its sights on changing their awareness”

Luther Lowe
“So many folks in D.C. don’t actually know what it is,” he remarked. When Graham put out a call for startup applications, a dozen startups got into YC’s debut class. Lowe didn’t confirm where that was a strategy on Tan’s part, but he praised Tan for his warmness and his dedication. After educating the D.C. market, YC aims to leverage its influence, particularly in areas like competition policy. And if we don’t do that, then it’s pretty easy to see how this plays out,” Lowe said.

“Tech Maverick Danielle Baskin Unveils Moonlight: A Revolutionary Online Tarot Platform in Silicon Valley”

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Moonlight is a free online tarot platform, where you can draw tarot cards on your own, do a reading in a multiplayer room or even book a session with a vetted tarot professional (that’s where the SaaS part comes in). It was at one of these lessons that Baskin first imagined what an online tarot platform could look like. As she was building out the idea for Moonlight, Baskin teamed up with Caroline Hermans, a game designer and former UX engineer at Google. “I was worried that investors might think I’m a prankster — will that hurt me in actually making a business? We’re all using technology, and I think they’re excited that someone’s making a platform who’s a tarot person, too.”

“All You Need to Know about the DOJ’s Case against Apple’s iPhone Antitrust Investigation”

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Apple’s iPhone antitrust lawsuit: Everything we know so far on the DOJ’s case U.S. regulators are accusing Apple of operating like a monopoly, and the implications of the case stretch far beyond iOS and iPhones themselvesApple’s antitrust scrutiny has reached a fever pitch. We’ll be updating this page as the Apple antitrust case evolves, but keep in mind that there will be little settled in the short term. The DOJ’s claims against AppleIf you want to dive into legal docs immediately, you can read the DOJ’s lawsuit right here. The DOJ’s antitrust case against Google, which was filed back in 2020, went to trial last year and could still take a couple more years to reach a conclusion. For more on Apple’s antitrust lawsuit, check here:

Solving AI Hallucinations: Jensen Huang of Nvidia Predicts Artificial General Intelligence Within 5 Years

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Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) — often referred to as “strong AI,” “full AI,” “human-level AI” or “general intelligent action” — represents a significant future leap in the field of artificial intelligence. Huang, however, spent some time telling the press what he does think about the topic. He suggests that the tests could be a legal bar exam, logic tests, economic tests or perhaps the ability to pass a pre-med exam. AI hallucination is solvableIn Tuesday’s Q&A session, Huang was asked what to do about AI hallucinations – the tendency for some AIs to make up answers that sound plausible, but aren’t based in fact. He appeared visibly frustrated by the question, and suggested that hallucinations are solvable easily – by making sure that answers well-researched.

“Establishing Connections: Ethos Fund’s Inaugural Investment in U.S.-Vietnamese Tech Pioneers”

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Yi and Shin started Ethos Fund two years ago to bridge opportunities and startup communities between Vietnam and the United States. They are also investing smaller checks into third culture founders there who fall into categories, including returned Vietnamese diaspora, Vietnamese Americans and expats residing in Vietnam, and subsequently doubling-down with larger checks into validated startups. “Ethos is called Ethos because we focus on the ethos of the founders,” Yi said. One of the things Yi noticed about his startups was that they weren’t growing past a certain stage. Now the pair wants to help startup founders figure those lessons out early.

“Budget-Friendly Options Unveiled at MWC 2024 for Phone (2a)!”

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The London-based phone company’s media push largely relies on trickling out information about devices bit by bit. Nothing Phone (2a) certainly fits the bill. While it’s actually the company’s third handset, it’s the aimed squarely at a different demographic than the flagship Phone (1) and Phone (2). After various teases and a handful of official image releases, the Phone (2a) finally saw the light of day (well, the warm glow of a Barcelona night) at MWC 2024. Phone (2a) keeps the Phone (2)’s dual-camera set up, though it’s been moved to the center.

Exploring AI: Combatting Racial Bias in Image Generating Technology

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This week in AI, Google paused its AI chatbot Gemini’s ability to generate images of people after a segment of users complained about historical inaccuracies. Google’s ginger treatment of race-based prompts in Gemini didn’t avoid the issue, per se — but disingenuously attempted to conceal the worst of the model’s biases. Yes, the data sets used to train image generators generally contain more white people than Black people, and yes, the images of Black people in those data sets reinforce negative stereotypes. That’s why image generators sexualize certain women of color, depict white men in positions of authority and generally favor wealthy Western perspectives. Whether they tackle — or choose not to tackle — models’ biases, they’ll be criticized.

Scenario Two: AI Expectations Squashed as House Unveils Aimless Task Force

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The House of Representatives has founded a Task Force on artificial intelligence that will “ensure America continues leading in this strategic area,” as Speaker Mike Johnson put it. “But we started this task force!” Yes, and the E.U. has had their task force working on this subject since the pandemic days. The announcement of the task force kept expectations low, with no timeline or deliverables that voters or watchdogs can hold them to. Perhaps this task force is Congress’s admission that during such a tumultuous times, and lacking any real insight into an issue, all they can do is say “we’ll look into it.”

Uncovering the Details of Apple’s DMA Guidelines: Essential Knowledge for App Developers

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Apple last week announced new rules for EU app developers to comply with new regulation, the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Developer responses to the changes have been mixed, as several larger companies, including Epic Games, Spotify and more recently Microsoft, have come out against Apple’s changes, which seemed designed to ensure that Apple’s ability to profit from iPhone apps continues, regardless of how they’re discovered and installed. This fee applies to apps both distributed on the App Store and through alternative marketplaces and is €0.50 for each first annual install per year over a 1 million threshold. After digging through the documents Apple provided and speaking to the company, there are a few caveats and details to these rules that developers should know. We’re compiling them below as a starting point and will add to this list over time as we learn more.

“Uncovering the Details of Apple’s DMA Guidelines: 25 Essential Truths for App Developers”

App Store 2024 V1
Apple last week announced new rules for EU app developers to comply with new regulation, the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Meanwhile, the company is implementing a Core Technology Fee that Apple says pays for their access to Apple’s proprietary technologies and tools, developer services and support, and platform integrity. This fee applies to apps both distributed on the App Store and through alternative marketplaces and is €0.50 for each first annual install per year over a 1 million threshold. After digging through the documents Apple provided and speaking to the company, there are a few caveats and details to these rules that developers should know. We’re compiling them below as a starting point and will add to this list over time as we learn more.