China Curbs US Investment, Meta Layoffs and Microsoft Buyouts, Apple Update + more!

Duration: 07:02

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

0:11 China Curbs US Investment

1:12 Meta Layoffs and Microsoft Buyouts

2:26 Apple Update Fixes Flaw

3:33 QUICK BITS INTRO

3:42 Admins Can Uninstall Copilot

4:15 Polymarket Bet Leads to Tampering Investigation

5:00 Ransomware Negotiator Faces Prison

5:38 Malware Blocking Gadget for HDMI and Display Port

6:09 Ping Pong Robot Makes History

NEWS SOURCES:

MAINS

EAST VS WEST

China is reportedly telling its top tech companies to refuse investments from the US unless explicitly approved,

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-24/china-to-curb-us-investment-in-tech-companies-after-meta-deal

part of a broader response to Meta's two-billion-dollar purchase of Chinese startup Manus back in December.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/meta-manus-acquisition-two-billion-explained-9.7030180

Meanwhile, Alibaba just announced its Qwen AI is being baked into vehicles from BYD and a Volkswagen joint venture, as automakers lean on software to move units in a slowing EV market.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/24/alibaba-qwen-ai-integration-chinese-carmakers-beijing-auto-show.html

Which kind of sums up the whole situation - Chinese tech has been flooding the West on its own terms for years now. BYD outsold Tesla globally last year,

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj9rjwpvmpzo

DeepSeek blindsided the tech bros in San Francisco in 2025,

https://www.deepseek.com/en/

and now Alibaba's chatbot is riding shotgun in a Volkswagen. Apparently Beijing would rather the West buy the finished product than own a slice of the factory.

PLS STP

Meta is laying off 8,000 people, 10% of its workforce and freezing another 6,000 open roles,

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crm1y89vek8o

Meta CPO and HR final boss Janelle Gale told staff the cuts will "offset the other investments we're making"

https://lmg.gg/quoteaboutmeta

Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to about 8,750 US employees in the first "retirement program" of its 51-year history.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/23/microsoft-plans-first-voluntary-retirement-program-for-us-employees.html

Microsoft's pitch is gentler…kinda? Senior directors and below whose age plus years of service hits 70 get an exit package which sounds fine -

https://lmg.gg/earlyretirement

But it follows 15,000 Microsoft layoffs in 2025, which Satya described as “messy at times, but transformation always is,”

https://lmg.gg/Satyaquote

SIGNAL BOOSTED

Apple rolls out iOS 26.4.2 to fix a flaw that allowed the FBI to access push notifications

https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/apple-rolls-out-ios-2642-to-fix-a-flaw-that-allowed-the-fbi-to-access-push-notifications-201153603.html

https://www.techradar.com/phones/ios/ios-26-4-2-fixes-an-iphone-security-flaw-exploited-by-the-fbi

Comes after 404 reported on fbi accessing signal messages saved in notification database

https://www.404media.co/fbi-extracts-suspects-deleted-signal-messages-saved-in-iphone-notification-database-2/

Bluesky post from Meredith Whittaker: https://bsky.app/profile/meredithmeredith.bsky.social/post/3mjhq7fuabk2w

In response, Apple updated it

https://www.macrumors.com/2026/04/22/ios-26-4-2-notification-database-security-fix/

https://lmg.gg/E8NKG

Twitter post from Signal: https://x.com/signalapp/status/2047070518776356996?s=46

QUICKBITS

FLYING SOLO

Microsoft is finally letting IT admins uninstall Copilot from enterprise devices via a new Patch Tuesday policy -

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-now-lets-admins-uninstall-copilot-on-enterprise-devices/

as long as Microsoft 365 Copilot is also installed, Copilot wasn’t installed by the user, and Copilot wasn’t launched in the last 28 days.

https://lmg.gg/microsoftITCopilotpolicy

https://lmg.gg/howtouninstallcopilot

HAIRDRYER OF OZ

France Probes Weather Data Tampering After Surge in Polymarket Bets

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-23/france-probes-weather-data-glitch-after-surge-in-polymarket-bets

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/23/hairdryer-or-lighter-french-police-look-at-claim-of-sensor-tampering-to-win-weather-bets

https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/23/europe/france-weather-sensor-polymarket-bet-intl-latam

Editor: Show the chart from Bloomberg of the Temperature Anomalies

https://lmg.gg/E3YZ5

TACO 'BOUT A BETRAYAL

Ransomware negotiator pleads guilty to helping ransomware gang

https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/21/ransomware-negotiator-pleads-guilty-to-helping-ransomware-gang/

https://www.bitdefender.com/en-us/blog/hotforsecurity/ransomware-negotiator-20-years-prison

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-man-working-ransomware-negotiator-pleads-guilty-conspiracy-deploy-ransomware-and

He bought a fishing boat and a food truck with the money

https://lmg.gg/YDSpP

DONGLE, JAMES DONGLE

UK spy agency releases malware-blocking gadget for HDMI and DisplayPort cables — SilentGlass blocks malicious traffic traveling between display and computer

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/cyber-security/uk-spy-agency-releases-malware-blocking-gadget-for-hdmi-and-displayport-cables-silentglass-blocks-malicious-traffic-traveling-between-display-and-computer

https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/23/ncscs_first_foray_into_commercial/

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/news/world-first-ncsc-engineered-device-secures-vulnerable-display-links

Product Image: https://img2.helpnetsecurity.com/posts2026/SilentGlass_cybersecurity_device.webp

LIFE IS LIKE A BOX OF CIRCUITS

Ping-pong robot Ace makes history by beating top-level human players (Developed by Sony AI)

https://www.reuters.com/sports/ping-pong-robot-ace-makes-history-by-beating-top-level-human-players-2026-04-22/

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/apr/22/ai-powered-robot-beats-elite-table-tennis-players-milestone-robotics

https://ace.ai.sony/

Nature section about the setup: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10338-5/figures/2

Demonstration Video: https://ace.ai.sony/hubfs/ACE%20Landing%20Page%202026/Video/SonyAI_Ace_Titles_FullHD_19March2026-1.mp4