from the 100%-bad-faith dept

You might recall that during the great mass TikTok hyperventilation of 2021-2025, there was no limit of face fanning by Republicans like Brendan Carr about overseas involvement in social media. Carr was so particular on this subject, he scuttled an FCC program aimed at shoring up “smart” home device security standards because one of the testing labs (unsurprisingly) did business in China where this stuff is made.

Fast forward to this year, and Carr curiously has zero problems with significant Saudi and Chinese investments in Larry Ellison and Paramount’s efforts to acquire Warner Brothers. Though Carr’s actual regulatory oversight of the deal is limited given the lack of public broadcast licenses involved, he took to CNBC anyway to insist the massive $111 billion deal should likely fly through regulatory approval:

“If there’s any FCC role at all, it’ll be a pretty minimal role. And I think this is a good deal, and I think it should get through pretty quickly,” Carr added.

Carr told CNBC that Netflix “would have a very difficult path” getting regulatory approval, adding that Paramount’s was “a lot cleaner, does not raise at all the same types of concerns.”

“I think there’s some real consumer benefits that can emerge from it,” he added.

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Carr’s (and Republicans’ more generally) gushing excitement comes despite the fact that significant structural overlap between Paramount and Warner Brothers will mean significantly more layoffs than we would have seen during the originally proposed Netflix Warner Brothers tie up. Layoffs that will likely be much worse than past Warner deals due to the absolutely massive debt involved.

This is before you even get to Larry Ellison’s obvious quest to built autocratic-friendly state television, the likes of which coddles authoritarianism and, in countries like Russia and Hungary, ultimately led to the total decimation of serious truth-to-power journalism.

Then there’s the $24 billion in combined funding for the Paramount deal from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). As well as the recent announcement that Chinese company Tencent is weighing a significant investment. Before his deal was scuttled, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos was pretty pointed about this being a problem:

“Before pulling out of the deal, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos – speaking to the BBC in London on the morning after the recent BAFTA Film Awards – called the Gulf sovereign funds backing Paramount’s bid a “bad idea,” noting that they are from “a part of the world that is not very big on the First Amendment.” 

“It seems very odd to me with the level of investment that we’re talking about that they’d have no influence or editorial control over media in another country,” Sarandos added.

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If you recall the multi-year right wing hysteria campaign about TikTok, it was fixated on the idea that having any overseas involvement in U.S. media was a doomsday scenario (they were not subtle or flexible on this point). Of course Trumpism immediately proceeded (with bumbling Democrat help) to “fix” this problem by offloading the company to Trump’s technofascist friends, while still maintaining a significant investment presence by the Chinese.

When Netflix was planning to buy Warner Brothers, Republicans engaged in no limit of face-fanning, featuring threats of “investigations” by Republican Attorneys General, and a phony Trump DOJ “investigation” into the antitrust concerns raised by the deal. But when a technofascist ally oligarch wants to own a major media property, with Saudi and Chinese help, all of that mysteriously disappears.

It’s almost as if Trump Republicans have no coherent ideology beyond their own power and unchecked wealth accumulation, and all of their posturing on issues like antitrust and national security, routinely propped up by a lazy press, is as hollow as a Dollar Store fake chocolate Easter bunny.

Filed Under: brendan carr, china, consolidation, journalism, larry ellison, media, mergers, national security, saudi, saudi arabia, soft power

Companies: netflix, paramount, warner bros. discovery

Starlink is preparing a major upgrade to its satellite network, with next-generation V2 satellites promising what the company calls “5G speeds from space.”

According to Starlink, the new satellites will deliver up to 100 times the data density of the current V1 generation. This could potentially transform how satellite connectivity performs on everyday phones.

So far, satellite-to-phone services have focused more on coverage than speed. Current Starlink mobile connectivity is largely limited to basic messaging and light data use, particularly in areas without reliable cellular coverage. However, the V2 upgrade aims to push that much further. This will bring significantly higher bandwidth and faster data speeds.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? I thought it was a bit tricky. 1-Down is one of those old-fashioned comic-book sounds that I had to remember how to spell correctly. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Study of the human mind, informally
Answer: PSYCH

6A clue: Common fixture in a gym bathroom
Answer: SCALE

7A clue: Kinda boring
Answer: HOHUM

8A clue: Like a commenter without a username, for short
Answer: ANON

9A clue: “All good between us?”
Answer: WEOK

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Old-fashioned “Yeah, right!”
Answer: PSHAW

2D clue: Coffeehouse pastry
Answer: SCONE

3D clue: Google alternative
Answer: YAHOO

4D clue: Sound of a dull thump
Answer: CLUNK

5D clue: Line on the bottom of a pant leg
Answer: HEM

from the good-deals-on-cool-stuff dept

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Filed Under: daily deal

‘For many years, Europe has relied on American software and therefore created a certain risk of dependency’, said Office.eu’s CEO.

Much has happened over the past few years for Europe to decide to tighten its reigns on data in the region.

Examples include numerous comments from US president Donald Trump threatening action against the EU for its supposed discriminatory actions against US Big Tech, the possibility of the US government compelling US tech companies to share EU data, and not to mention the very same Big Tech companies dominating the region’s market while also violating its laws.

Microsoft 365 was found to have been tracking EU school students’ data illegally, Apple was found to be preventing EU users from exercising choice, and Meta was forcing users to pay or consent to its data tracking.

Last November, around 900 policymakers and other stakeholders gathered in Berlin to discuss ways to make Europe more technologically resilient, and less dependent on the US.

France and Germany took centre stage, announcing a joint taskforce on digital sovereignty, aiming for a more competitive and sovereign Europe.

“The Digital Sovereignty Summit sends a clear signal – Europe has what it takes to lead the digital age,” commented French president Emmanuel Macron at the time. “Europe is stepping up to accelerate the development of European innovation, to uphold strong data protection and to call for fair market conditions.”

The idea of digital sovereignty has finally taken centre stage in Europe, after years of the region conducting its business and administration on infrastructure made elsewhere.

It’s unsurprising then that a wholly European-owned alternative to Microsoft Office and Google Workspace, called Office.eu, made its debut last week, promising to enable organisations to regain control over their data and digital operations.

“We have seen more and more how essential it is to become cloud-independent and to rely on software that is built around European values,” said Maarten Roelfs, the CEO of Office.eu. The Hague-headquartered company was founded in 2024 and started operating early this year.

“For many years, Europe has relied on American software and therefore created a certain risk of dependency, but we have also given away the control over our own data. Office.eu proves that we now have a strong European alternative, with sovereignty, privacy and transparency at its core.”

Office.eu runs entirely on European data centres. Built on an open-source foundation, the platform offers a cloud drive, tools such as emails, spreadsheets, presentations and calendar, and video conference services.

Early access already has nearly 15,000 applicants, Office.eu told SiliconRepublic.com. A phased European rollout is planned for the second quarter.

Office.eu’s Office Suite is not the first of its kind, however. Infomaniak, which describes itself as an “ethical cloud with no bullshit”, launched ‘kSuite’ back in 2022, with a Microsoft Teams alternative called ‘kChat’, and the option to use Microsoft Office with documents hosted in Switzerland.

OpenDesk, created by the German Centre for Digital Sovereignty, offers similar tools for use by the German administration. There are others as well, such as NextCloud, which offers self-hosted file storage and a chat function.

“The Rubicon has been crossed. American tech firms can no longer offer assurances to European companies that their data sovereignty will be protected,” Roelfs told Stories of Purpose.

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Nvidia has also made a ‘significant’ investment in Thinking Machines to support its long-term growth.

In a new multi-year partnership announced today (10 March), Thinking Machines Lab will be using Nvidia’s systems to train its AI frontier models. Deployment on Nvidia’s Vera Rubin platform is set to begin early next year.

Mira Murati launched her AI start-up Thinking Machines in early 2025, less than six months after quitting as OpenAI’s chief technology officer. By July 2025, the start-up had already hit $12bn in value after a $2bn seed round, all before it released its first product.

The start-up’s flagship product ‘Tinker’ is a training API for fine-tuning open-source models, designed for researchers and developers. Tinker can be used for a broad range of models, including Llama-3.2B, Qwen3.5, DeepSeek-V3.1 and Kimi-K2.

“Thinking Machines has brought together a world-class team to advance the frontier of AI,” said Nvidia CEO and founder Jensen Huang.

Huang has previously said that 1GW of AI data centre capacity costs up to $50bn, which would place the latest deal’s value to several billion dollars. In addition, the company has also made a “significant” investment in Thinking Machines to support its long-term growth.

“Nvidia’s technology is the foundation on which the entire field is built,” said Murati, Thinking Machines’ CEO. “This partnership accelerates our capacity to build AI that people can shape and make their own, as it shapes human potential in turn.”

This is the latest in a long range of supports Nvidia has been providing to fuel the AI race. The $4.4trn chipmaking giant participated in a freshly announced $1.03bn seed round into Advanced Machine Intelligence, supported Nscale in its $2bn Series C raise, and pumped $30bn into OpenAI (possibly its last time before OpenAI goes public).

Last month, Meta promised Nvidia billions of dollars on a multi-year partnership to support its data centre build-out. Meanwhile, Nvidia has been looking ahead to ensure AI-ready 6G infrastructure with a new partnership with telecommunication giants from around the globe.

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At Anthropic’s first court hearing challenging sanctions imposed by the Trump administration, the AI tech startup asked the government to commit that it wouldn’t levy additional penalties on the company. That didn’t happen.

“I am not prepared to offer any commitments on that issue,” James Harlow, a Justice Department attorney, told US district judge Rita Lin over video conference on Tuesday.

In fact, the government is gearing up to take another step designed to sideline the company from doing business with federal agencies. President Trump is currently finalizing an executive order that would formally ban usage of Anthropic tools across the government, according to a person at the White House familiar with the matter but not authorized to discuss it. Axios first reported on the plan.

Tuesday’s hearing stemmed from one of the two federal lawsuits Anthropic filed against the Trump administration on Monday, alleging that the government unconstitutionally designated it a supply-chain risk and turned it into a tech industry pariah. Billions of dollars in revenue for Anthropic is now at risk, with current customers and prospective ones dropping out of deals and demanding new terms, according to the company.

Anthropic seeking a preliminary court order suspending the risk designation and barring the administration from taking further punitive measures against the company.

The court appearance on Tuesday was to decide on the schedule for a preliminary hearing, and Anthropic is eager for it to happen soon to prevent further harm to its business. Michael Mongan, an attorney for Anthropic at WilmerHale, told Lin he was less concerned about delaying it until April if the Trump administration could commit to not taking additional action. “The actions of defendants are causing irreparable injuries, and those injuries are mounting day by day,” Mongan said.

After Harlow declined, Lin moved up the date of the hearing to March 24 in San Francisco, though that timeline was still later than Anthropic wanted. “The case is quite consequential from both sides, and I want to make sure I’m deciding on an expedited record but also a full record,” the judge said.

Scheduling in the other case, which is in Washington, DC, is on hold while Anthropic pursues an administrative appeal to the Department of Defense, which is expected to fail on Wednesday.

The months-long dispute between the Pentagon and Anthropic began when the AI startup refused to sign off on its current technologies being used by the military for any lawful purpose, which it fears could include broad surveillance of Americans and the launch of missiles without human supervision. The Defense Department contends usage decisions are its prerogative.

Several attorneys with expertise in government contracts and the US Constitution believe the administration’s action against Anthropic continues a pattern of abusing the law to punish perceived political enemies, including universities, media companies, and law firms (such as WilmerHale, the firm representing Anthropic). The experts believe Anthropic should prevail, but the challenge will be overcoming the deference that courts often give to national security arguments from the government, especially during times of war.

“If this is a one-off, you might give the president some deference,” says Harold Hongju Koh, a Yale Law School professor who worked in the Barack Obama presidential administration and has written about the Anthropic case. “But now, it’s just unmistakable that this is just the latest in a chain of events related to a punitive presidency.”

David Super, a Georgetown University Law Center professor who studies the constitution, says the provisions the Defense Department used to sanction Anthropic were designed to protect the country from potential sabotage by its enemies.