Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Hackers are targeting a previously reported bug in the Signal clone app TeleMessage in an effort to steal users’ private data, according to security researchers and a U.S. government agency. TeleMessage, which earlier this year was revealed to be used by high-ranking officials in the Trump administration, already experienced at least one data breach in…

The massive AI deal between the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is reportedly on hold before it can be finalized due to national security reasons. The deal, which gives the green light to the UAE to buy billions of dollars worth of AI chips from Nvidia and other semiconductor companies, is on hold…

QpiAI, an Indian startup that claims to integrate AI and quantum computing for enterprise use cases, has raised $32 million in a new funding round co-led by the Indian government as the company aims to expand its presence and develop utility-scale quantum computers for markets around the world. The Indian government’s $750 million National Quantum…

Multi-service messaging app Beeper, which allows people to connect to all their chat apps from one interface, is relaunching its app on Wednesday to offer a more secure version that no longer requires use of its own cloud services. In addition, Beeper is introducing premium offerings that provide access to more accounts than its free…

Bedrock Robotics, an autonomous vehicle technology startup founded by veterans of Waymo and Segment, has been operating quietly for more than a year. Now, it’s breaking cover with an $80 million funding round from investors Eclipse and 8VC. Bedrock Robotics is focused on developing a self-driving kit that can be retrofitted to construction and other…

Shipping has a pollution problem, but one company has a solution that does more than just eliminate a boat’s carbon dioxide. London-based Seabound has developed a carbon capture system that transforms CO2 from the engine into limestone, a key ingredient in cement. Fittingly, the company has installed it aboard the UBC Cork, a cement carrier…

Mantis Ventures, the venture capital firm co-founded by Alex Pall and Drew Taggart of the electronic DJ group The Chainsmokers, has raised $100 million in commitments for its third fund. At $100 million, the firm’s newest fund is 25% larger than Mantis’ previous $80 million fund, a notable achievement at a time when many venture…

Elon Musk is a man who named a government agency after a memecoin, designed a robotaxi test network in the shape of a phallus, and once went to court for tweeting weed jokes in relation to Tesla stock. So it’s not surprising that his company xAI’s first AI companions on the Grok app are a…

As AI systems become more capable, speech is fast becoming the default way we communicate with machines. French AI startup Mistral has jumped into the audio race with its first open model, aiming to challenge the dominance of walled-off corporate systems with open-weight alternatives.   On Tuesday, Mistral announced the release of Voxtral, its first family…

A DOGE staffer with access to the private information on millions of Americans held by the U.S. government reportedly exposed a private API key used for interacting with Elon Musk’s xAI chatbot. Independent security journalist Brian Krebs reports that Marko Elez, a special government employee who in recent months has worked on sensitive systems at…