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A16z acqui-hires VC tech podcaster Erik Torenberg, who joins as new partner

A16z acqui-hires VC tech podcaster Erik Torenberg, who joins as new partner

​Andreessen Horowitz’s hiring spree continues. On Monday, Erik Torenberg announced that the giant VC firm had acquired his Turpentine podcast, with him joining as a general partner. Torenberg’s podcast focuses mostly on interviewing VCs at a variety of firms about their approach to investing. Recent guests include Accel’s Andrew Braccia, Seven Seven Six’s Alexis Ohanian, […]  

Bluesky launches blue check verification

Bluesky launches blue check verification

​Bluesky announced on Monday that it is rolling out blue check verification, confirming previous rumors that this feature was on its way to the platform. Like Twitter’s original blue check (RIP), Bluesky’s blue check will verify that notable accounts are legitimate, making it easy for users to trust that an account’s posts are real. In […]  

Reddit briefly down for users worldwide

Reddit briefly down for users worldwide

​Popular social network and forum site Reddit reported significant outages on Monday morning.  The connection errors started at around 11:20 a.m. ET, according to the website Downdetector, which collects anecdotal reports from impacted users globally. At its peak, more than 90,000 users logged an outage report with the downtime tracking website.  At 11:52 a.m. ET, […]  

An AI doctoral candidate in California says they had their student visa revoked

​An AI doctoral student in California had their SEVIS record — the digital proof of their valid student visa — terminated, putting their immigration status at risk. Speaking to TechCrunch, the student, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal, said they were notified via their college’s international student center that they’d been identified in a criminal records […]  

Palantir exec defends company’s immigration surveillance work

Palantir exec defends company’s immigration surveillance work

​One of the founders of startup accelerator Y Combinator offered unsparing criticism this weekend of the controversial data analytics company Palantir, leading a company executive to offer an extensive defense of Palantir’s work. The back-and-forth came after federal filings showed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — tasked with carrying out the Trump administration’s […]