China Doesn’t Want Our Money

China is reportedly instructing its leading tech companies to reject US investments unless they receive explicit government approval. This move, as reported by Bloomberg, is part of a broader strategy following Meta's acquisition of Chinese AI startup Manis, with regulators citing national security concerns to block US stakes in sensitive sectors. Despite this, China seems open to Western money in general, as demonstrated by Alibaba's Quen AI models being integrated into vehicles made by Chinese automakers like BYD and the Chinese-German joint venture SIC Volkswagen. This suggests a preference for their own tech oligarchs to control operations rather than relying on US tech giants. Meanwhile, Meta and Microsoft have announced significant staff reductions. Meta is laying off 8,000 employees, or 10% of its workforce, a decision its CPO, Janelle Gale, stated would offset other investments, including a $135 billion commitment to data centers this year. Microsoft, on the other hand, is offering voluntary buyouts to approximately 8,700 US employees through its first-ever voluntary retirement program. This program is available to employees at the senior director level or below whose age and years of service at Microsoft total 70 or more. This approach allows Microsoft to reduce staff while potentially avoiding age discrimination lawsuits associated with regular layoffs. Apple recently patched a vulnerability that allowed the FBI to retrieve deleted Signal messages from a suspect's iPhone, even after the app was uninstalled and messages were set to auto-delete. The vulnerability, reported by 404 Media, involved a forensic tool used by the FBI to access the defendant's push notification database, where copies of incoming Signal previews remained long after they should have been gone. Signal CEO Meredith Whitaker highlighted the issue on Blue Sky, urging Apple to fix it. Apple responded by rolling out iOS 26.4.2, which included a patch for improved data reduction, leading Signal to publicly thank them for the swift resolution. In other tech news, Microsoft is finally enabling IT administrators to uninstall Copilot from enterprise devices via a new patch, with certain conditions: Microsoft 365 CPI must be installed, the user cannot have installed Copilot themselves, and Copilot cannot have been launched in the last 28 days. A conspiracy to profit from poly market gambling is being investigated by the French weather agency. Police were asked to investigate suspected tampering with a weather sensor at Charles de Gaulle airport, following suspiciously timed temperature spikes that resulted in approximately $35,000 in profit. A former ransomware negotiator at cybersecurity firm Digital Mint has pleaded guilty to colluding with the hacker group he was paid to fight. Angelo Martino allegedly provided Black Cat, the cyber gang, with his clients' insurance limits and internal strategies across five negotiations, helping them steal $75 million in ransom money for a share of the profits. Federal authorities have seized $10 million in assets from Martino, including a luxury fishing boat and a food truck. The UK National Cyber Security Center has unveiled Silent Glass, a plug-and-play dongle designed to prevent malware transmission over HDMI or DisplayPort. While protocol-level exploits and compromised monitors are legitimate attack vectors, analysts note they are rarely seen outside of conference demonstrations. Finally, Sony's AI division has developed a ping-pong robot named Ace, which has become the first machine to defeat a professional table tennis player under official tournament rules. Ace uses nine cameras to track the ball and measures spin 700 times per second, allowing it to beat elite university players and professionals.