Kris Holt / Engadget: Meta cuts the price of the base 128GB Quest 2 from $249 to $199, its second permanent price cut in four months, after a drop from $299 to $249 in January 2024  —  The base 128GB headset will cost $199 from now on.  —  For the second time this year, Meta has given the Quest 2 a permanent price cut. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Raffaele Huang / Wall Street Journal: Apple removes WhatsApp, Threads, Signal, and Telegram from its App Store in China, after orders from the country’s regulators citing national security concerns  —  China’s cyberspace officials cite national-security concerns for targeting the Meta apps, Apple says Lees verder op Tech Meme

James Reddick / The Record: Sophos researchers find “crude” ransomware starter kits sold on the dark web from $20 to ~$13K, enabling inexperienced freelancers to easily launch attacks  —  Cheap ransomware is being sold for one-time use on dark web forums, allowing inexperienced freelancers to get into cybercrime without … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Financial Times: Sources: Mistral is in talks to raise as much as €500M at a €5B+ valuation from VCs and wealth funds, after raising ~€400M at a €2B valuation in December 2023  —  One-year-old French start-up approached by multiple investors who view it as Europe’s answer to OpenAI Lees verder op Tech Meme

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch: Meta is restricting certain election-related keywords for Meta AI in India due to the ongoing elections; Meta started testing its AI chatbot in India last week  —  Last week, Meta started testing its AI chatbot in India across WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: Web design and hosting platform Webflow acquires Intellimize, which had raised $50M+ and uses AI to personalize websites, a source says for “eight-figures”  —  Webflow, a web design and hosting platform that’s raised over $330 million at a $4 billion valuation, is expanding into a new sector: marketing optimization. Lees verder op Tech Meme

New York Times: Sources describe Nigeria’s detention of two Binance officials, including US compliance officer Tigran Gambaryan, on charges of tax evasion and money laundering  —  Tigran Gambaryan, an American compliance official for the giant cryptocurrency exchange Binance, flew to Nigeria in February for a planned two-day business trip. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch: Hacking group GhostR claims it stole 5.3M records from World-Check screening database used for KYC checks for sanctions and financial crime links  —  The stolen database contains 5.3 million records  —  A financially motivated criminal hacking group says it has stolen a confidential database … Lees verder op Tech Meme