Science & Tech

Blackstone and Google form U.S. joint venture to sell Google TPUs as cloud service with $5 billion backing

Blackstone and Google will create a U.S. JV with an initial $5B equity commitment to offer Google’s TPU AI chips as cloud compute starting in 2027.

$BX, $GOOGL, #blackstone, #google, #ai, #tpu, #cloud

Best Buy Affiliate Emails Suggest GTA VI Physical Pre‑Orders May Start May 18 — Unconfirmed

Best Buy affiliate emails suggest physical pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto VI could open May 18–21, but Rockstar and Best Buy haven’t confirmed.

$TTWO, $BBY, #videogames, #grand-theft-auto, #bestbuy, #take-two

THORChain Confirms Exploit, Opens Claims Portal; Announces ~$10M Treasury Refund

THORChain confirmed a cross-chain exploit affecting 12,847 wallets, opened a claims portal and announced a roughly $10M treasury-backed refund as probes continue.

#thorchain, #crypto, #security, #exploit

California Panel Advances Bill Requiring Refunds or Offline Versions After Paid Game Server Shutdowns

AB 1921 would require publishers to give 60 days' notice and offer playable offline versions or full refunds for paid games sold in California after server shutdowns.

#california, #video-games, #consumer-protection, #digital-rights

NSF Announces X-Labs, Pledges Up to $1.5 Billion Over a Decade to Translate Research into Technology

NSF unveiled X-Labs, a TIP-led program to fund milestone-driven teams with up to $1.5B over 10 years to build sensing and quantum platforms.

#nsf, #xlabs, #quantum, #ai, #innovation

Forza Horizon 6: Early Access Begins May 15, Full Release May 19 (West Coast unlocks 9:01 p.m. PDT)

Playground Games confirms Forza Horizon 6 early access on May 15 and full launch on May 19 — West Coast players unlock at 9:01 p.m. PDT; preload is live.

$MSFT, #gaming, #forza, #xbox, #release

Preprint Says AI Model SU-01 Reached ‘Gold-Medal-Level’ on Olympiad Problems — Results Not Independently Certified

An arXiv preprint says model SU-01 attains gold-medal-level on IMO/USAMO/IPhO problems, but reported scores lack independent certification.

#ai, #olympiad, #machinelearning, #reasoning

May 11: Posts From Keith Gill’s Verified X Account Briefly Pumped New Solana Meme Coin RKC, Then It Collapsed

On May 11, posts from Keith Gill’s verified X account sent a new Solana meme coin, RKC, up to $11M–$12M before it collapsed and roughly $2.86M was extracted.

#keithgill, #roaringkitty, #crypto, #solana, #memecoin

NASA Recasts Artemis III as 2027 Earth‑Orbit Systems Test, Delaying First Crew Moon Landing

NASA says Artemis III will be a 2027 Earth‑orbit rendezvous and docking test of Orion with commercial lander hardware as a risk‑reduction step.

#nasa, #artemis, #spaceflight, #spacex

SpaceX Sets No-Earlier-Than May 19 for Starship V3’s First Integrated Flight Test

SpaceX aims for May 19, 2026, for the first integrated test flight of Starship Version 3 from its South Texas Starbase site.

#spacex, #starship, #nasa, #artemis

Subnautica 2 Enters Early Access May 14, Day-One on Xbox Game Pass

Subnautica 2 launches into Early Access on May 14 at 15:00 UTC for $29.99, with a single global unlock and day-one availability on Xbox Game Pass.

#gaming, #subnautica2, #xboxgamepass, #earlyaccess

FCC Clears SpaceX’s Purchase of EchoStar Spectrum for Starlink, Orders $2.4 Billion Escrow

FCC approves transfer of EchoStar spectrum to SpaceX for Starlink’s U.S. direct-to-device service but requires $2.4B escrow to cover buildout claims.

#spacex, #starlink, #fcc, #echostar, #spectrum

Google puts Gemini AI at the heart of Android, rolling out to Galaxy and Pixel phones this summer

Google will embed Gemini Intelligence into Android starting this summer on new Galaxy and Pixel phones, adding multi-step automation, smarter Chrome browsing and expanded Autofill.

$GOOGL, $GOOG, #google, #android, #ai, #gemini

Preprint Claims PRNG 'SeedHijack' Could Steer LLM Outputs; Authors Propose QRNG Defense

ArXiv preprint claims attackers can steer LLM outputs by hijacking sampling PRNG seeds; authors propose QRNG-based defense, but results are unreviewed.

#ai, #security, #prng, #qrng

Apple begins beta rollout of end-to-end encrypted RCS for iPhone-to-Android chats

Apple begins a beta rollout of end-to-end encrypted RCS for some iPhone-to-Android chats, requiring iOS 26.5, Google Messages and supported carriers.

$AAPL, #apple, #rcs, #encryption, #messaging