TechCrunch
In an effort to boost AI computing investment, India has offered foreign cloud providers zero taxes through 2047 on services sold outside the country if they run those workloads from the nation's datacenters. India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the tax holiday proposal in the country's annual budget. India has become an attractive location for new investment for U.S. cloud companies, offering a large pool of engineering talent and growing demand for cloud services.
From "India Seeks to Draw Big Tech Through Zero-Tax Offer"
TechCrunch (02/01/26) Jagmeet Singh
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Nature
Researchers led by Akari Asai at Carnegie Mellon University published information on how to create an AI system that outperforms leading large language models (LLMs) at scientific literature reviews while matching human experts in citation accuracy. The OpenScholar tool pairs a language model with a database of 45 million open access papers, directly linking claims to source articles to reduce hallucinated references. OpenScholar is freely available and can be run locally or adapted to enhance other LLMs.
From "AI Tool Beats Giant LLMs in Literature Reviews, Gets Citations Right"
Nature (02/04/26) Elizabeth Gibney
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The Wall Street Journal
U.S. automakers are removing Chinese software from connected vehicle systems ahead of new regulations banning Chinese code in cloud-connected automotive technology. By March 17, manufacturers must certify their core vehicle software was not written in China or by Chinese firms, reflecting growing national security concerns over data collection and surveillance. The rules also cover autonomous driving software and will extend to connectivity hardware by 2029.
From "Car Industry Races to Replace Chinese Code"
The Wall Street Journal (02/05/26) Stephen Wilmot
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404 Media
Court records show the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was unable to access a Washington Post reporter’s seized iPhone because it was in Lockdown Mode. The phone belonged to reporter Hannah Natanson, whose home was searched in January during a leak investigation involving a government contractor. Agents seized multiple devices and accessed a MacBook using Touch ID, but the FBI’s forensic team said it could not extract data from the iPhone.
From "FBI Locked Out of Reporter’s iPhone"
404 Media (02/04/26) Joseph Cox
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IEEE Spectrum
Sports timekeeping specialist Swiss Timing is debuting several new technologies at the 2026 Winter Olympics, including a new generation of motion analysis and computer vision technology featuring photofinish cameras capable of capturing 40,000 images per second. Figure skaters will have their movements tracked by high-resolution cameras and algorithms taking real-time measurements of jump heights, air times, and landing speeds. For ski jumpers, each ski will be equipped with a lightweight sensor that collects speed, acceleration, and air positioning data.
From "Winter Olympics Debuts Next-Generation Sports Smarts"
IEEE Spectrum (02/04/26) Maurizio Arseni
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Tech Crunch
A hacking group known as ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for last year’s data breaches at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and published the stolen information online after the schools refused to pay a ransom. The group said it leaked more than 1 million records from each university. UPenn attributed its breach to social engineering, while Harvard said its incident stemmed from a voice-phishing attack linked to broader assaults on identity providers.
From "Hackers Publish Personal Information Stolen During Harvard, UPenn Data Breaches"
Tech Crunch (02/04/26) Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
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