A prominent journalist in Angola had their iPhone hacked using spyware from Intellexa, a company sanctioned for its surveillance technology, according to a recent report by Amnesty International. The human rights organization's research, published Tuesday, revealed that the journalist, Teixeira Cândido, was targeted with malicious links via WhatsApp in 2024, eventually leading to the installation of Intellexa's Predator spyware. This marks another instance of government customers using commercial surveillance tools to target individuals in civil society.
In other news, Jack Altman announced he would be joining Benchmark as a general partner. Altman had been running his own VC firm, Alt Capital, since at least 2024. Alt Capital raised a $150 million Fund I in early 2024 and a $274 million Fund II last September. According to PitchBook, Alt Capital invested in at least 52 companies, including Rippling and CompLabs. Details regarding the future of Alt Capital and whether Benchmark acquired its portfolio were not immediately available. On LinkedIn, Altman described the past two years at Alt Capital as "the most rewarding of his life."
Ford is planning to release an electric truck next year with a starting price of $30,000, aiming to compete with Chinese automakers while maintaining profit margins. The company stated that this will be achieved through a combination of 3D-printed parts, Formula 1-inspired strategies, and a bounty program. This initiative is crucial for Ford, which took a $19.5 billion hit in December and ended production of its battery-electric F-150 Lightning. The affordable EV strategy began several years ago with a skunkworks team led by Alan Clarke, a 12-year Tesla veteran.
Meanwhile, an internal study by Meta, conducted in partnership with the University of Chicago and dubbed Project MYST, found that parental supervision tools, such as time limits and restricted access, had little impact on curbing teens' compulsive social media use. The study also revealed that teens experiencing stressful life events were more likely to struggle with moderating their social media usage. These findings were presented during testimony at a social media addiction trial that began last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The plaintiff, identified as KGM or Kaley, along with her mother and others, is accusing social media companies of creating addictive and dangerous products.
Finally, Meta has entered a multiyear deal to expand its data centers with millions of Nvidia's Grace and Vera CPUs and Blackwell and Rubin GPUs. This deal represents the first large-scale Nvidia Grace-only deployment for Meta, which Nvidia says will deliver significant performance-per-watt.
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