Adrian Weckler

I’d normally agree. But in this instance it’s led by folks like Kara Swisher. Linda isn’t really any kind of victim here, but a CEO who engaged in pretty mendacious, self-serving choices that have attracted a lot of blowback (and also a lot of praise from the MAGA/Elon wing)

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One of the charging stops on my trip (14-min wait). This is normal.

Public EV infrastructure is inadequate.

Maybe it’s not anti-EV sentiment that stymies rollout, but naive EV pundits declaring it to be fine.
ie that queuing, range anxiety etc are an illusion. Such an own goal

Linda Yaccarino joins health tech platform eMed as CEO after leaving X | TechCrunch Though Yaccarino does not have experience in health tech, eMed said in a press release that they sought her out for her "undeniable ability to negotiate new partnerships."

All that personal humiliation and toe-curling prostration over two years to advance a career that gets… this job?
techcrunch.com/2025/08/05/l...

I’m literally there (at the Inver) at this moment.

One of the longest drives in Ireland to/from Dublin (very few points >400km from capital)

(Kilcatherine/Beara —> Dublin)

True! But VR hasn’t had anything like the industry investment of AI, like no comparison whatsoever

Exclusive: Anthropic hits $3 billion in annualized revenue on business demand for AI Artificial intelligence developer Anthropic is making about $3 billion in annualized revenue, according to two sources familiar with the matter, in an early validation of generative AI use in the business world.

That doesn’t seem to be correct. Anthropic — not the largest one — is reportedly seeing annual revenue rise by almost $1bn every 2 months

Billions, not millions.

www.reuters.com/business/ant...

Great interview. Felt like a guy one would like to have a pint with

It’s hard to accurately parse because despite the ridiculous sums, so much of our ordinary lives have now switched over to tech infrastructure run from data centres and on systems made by these companies. Who thinks data centres are going away now? In fact, who thinks they’re not going to multiply?

That’s quite the statement! One of us will look back on this convo in 5 years and think ‘oh, right’

(It might be me, BTW!)

Not sure if the ‘bubble’ narrative is completely right — arms race, yes, but has real €€ effect; Nvidia and Microsoft are now €1tn more valuable than Apple because of AI

$1bn from Meta is a jaw-dropping sum, but $1bn was mad money (at the time) to buy Instagram, too

Mind-boggling AI economy — an Australian computer scientist, Andrew Tulloch, just turned down a $1bn (over 4 years) job offer from Meta to work in AI

www.wsj.com/tech/ai/meta...

Tarmon (between Aghleam and Blacksod, Mullet Peninsula, Mayo)

Hello, Autumn

Parents on alert as Roblox CEO says online dating in site’s plans Roblox, the online game-building platform popular with young children and teenagers wants to introduce online dating.

Roblox CEO wants to introduce online dating on platform

Say it could help loneliness. Also says it would seek age verification.

www.independent.ie/business/tec...

This is a great idea but with one big risk: ChatGPT is increasingly accurate. While still some errors, far less than before. (Undeniably.)

i.e. if a student does this exercise and finds ChatGPT was mostly/totally correct, they’ll trust it forever (defeating purpose of the exercise)

The Criminal Enterprise Run by Monkeys A cabal of furry thieves snatch iPhones and other valuables from visitors to a temple in Bali–and trade them for mangos

Every week, a cabal of thieves steal dozens of phones, wallets and other valuables from tourists and hold the items for ransom. The culprits? Monkeys.

That is possible, though I would think unlikely — not sure all that many people use VPNs in Ireland generally (relative to UK)

‘VPN’ search in last 90 days: Ireland v UK.

Context: both countries announced crackdown last week on age verification to access adult content online

Either:
(i) Brits are more into porn or
(ii) Irish don’t believe law will be enforced

A view from Brussels on how craven and humiliating the trade deal appears to be for Europe, and how weak we now look through our bullyable leadership.

www.euractiv.com/section/poli...

Irish regulator says X has introduced age verification - but adult content still visible with no checks Elon Musk’s X has begun applying some age verification controls on its adult content, according to the Irish media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán.

The Irish media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, says X is now applying age assurance controls to stop kids seeing porn.

According to our tests, they don’t work.

We may be entering a stage where platforms tell regulator, who can’t prove otherwise, it’s done
www.independent.ie/business/tec...

This fake DPD text is a sneaky one. Looks real and live URL with plausible looking form. (Other links dead and +63 is a Philippines number — they’re the clues, but otherwise authentic-looking

But not always. If Putin says he’s seizing the Baltics, we don’t automatically negotiate and say he might be allowed have Estonia if he’ll leave the others alone and then call say it was a diplomatic result. We shouldn’t have automatically accepted that there’d have to be extra tariffs on our goods

Donal O’Donovan: Trade deal is big win for Donald Trump, bad loss for Europeans and a disaster for the EU Ursula von der Leyen’s cowed description of the deal struck with Donald Trump as “a rebalancing” marks the scale of her capitulation – explicitly buying the US line that there was something off about ...

This is spot on.
The 15% capitulation trade deal with US exposes EU as weak and open for bullying.

Why on earth would Big Tech now not now challenge EU regs with non-compliance? If Trump threatens EU over it, mightn’t we relent for, er, ‘certainty’?

m.independent.ie/opinion/anal...

Yes, reasonable. But doesn’t address underlying weakness of political will to support our trading position. If we can’t defend our interests, we have to produce way more to make up for giving way to bullies.

Fake AIB Foley’s Plumbing €168.90 text still on the go

It’s only worth the trouble if you’re politically strong enough to negotiate a better deal. It’s pretty clear now which party was (is) politically stronger; no real hiding place around that. So maybe, given that fact, it is the best deal we could do. But as a citizen, it’s a cause for dismay

Why would new demands be considered by us if we believe we’re strong enough? (As I write that, I realise it’s actually rhetorical). He has won this face-off handsomely and we have lost, citing a weak rationalisation

It seems to badly expose a weakness in EU democratic system. It can’t seem to defend itself against a bully who is prepared to endure more strife and discomfort, and handle the political fallout domestically, than us. No easy answer to that