Elon Musk threw his weight behind Trump transition co-chair Howard Lutnick for Treasury secretary on Saturday, signaling a late move to influence a looming – and key – choice.
Why it matters: Musk has grown increasingly important in President-elect Trump's orbit, and Treasury secretary is one of the last major posts not yet filled.
Elon Musk has persuaded President-elect Trump that government has grown so big, bloated, slow and sclerotic ... only a wrecking ball can fix it.
Soon, that ball will slam into hard reality: Politicians like to giveth, not taketh away.
Why it matters: Trump is more fixated on a "deep state" blocking his ambitions, than cost savings, advisers tell us. But he has bought into the Musk concept of using AI and lean-business thinking to try to dramatically shrink a government he helped grow, they say.
The big picture: Federal and state authoritiesinitially reported on texts containing disturbing references to slavery. That investigation has expanded to include reports of deportation threats.
Why it matters: The richest person in the world has devoted considerable time lately to his newfound alliance with President-elect Trump, but in the meantime, his companies are attracting a deluge of capital.
LISBON, Portugal — Small business owners and artists can boost their visibility on Etsy by sharing videos of themselves at work, Etsy CEO Josh Silverman tells Axios.
Why it matters: The platform known for being a marketplace for handmade goods has seen a flood of mass-produced products in recent years — making it more difficult for creators to stand out and compete.
Now is the time to evaluate and get serious about your digital security practices, experts say.
Why it matters: President-elect Trump made several promises on the campaign trail to target people in marginalized communities, undermine the press, and seek retribution against his enemies.
Now is the time to evaluate and get serious about your digital security practices, experts say.
Why it matters: President-elect Trump made several promises on the campaign trail to target people in marginalized communities, undermine the press, and seek retribution against his enemies.
His administration could use several government surveillance and law enforcement tools to carry out those promises, including subpoenaing user data from major technology companies, purchasing data from third-party brokers, and tapping the intelligence community's own internal programs.
Driving the news: Trump's victory last week has renewed conversations among community organizers, activists, journalists and people in marginalized communities about how to minimize their digital footprints in case they become targets.
Wading through digital security tips can be overwhelming.
Here are a few places surveillance experts suggest people start:
📲 Use Signal. This is especially important if you're someone who could be a target for surveillance or spyware like a government official, journalist or activist.
💻 Consider Tor or a virtual private network. Browsing history is another ripe source of information for law enforcement investigations and data brokers.
Tor, a privacy-first browser, and a VPN can help keep your browsing history private.
🔢 Turn on multifactor authentication and use a password manager to add more barriers for malicious actors trying to break into your online accounts.
🇨🇳 The FBI said its ongoing investigation of the China-linked telecommunications hacks has revealed a "broad and significant" cyberespionage campaign mostly targeting government officials. (Associated Press)
🏛️ Trump has tapped former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who has no formal intelligence experience, to lead the intelligence community — stunning even members of Congress. (Politico)
☁️ The Federal Trade Commission is preparing to launch an investigation into anticompetitive practices at Microsoft's cloud computing business. (Financial Times)
@ Industry
👀 Microsoft's $150 million promise to the U.S. government for free cyber assistance in 2021 actually deepened agencies' reliance on a single vendor and made it harder for them to work with other cyber vendors. (ProPublica)
Google released a Gemini app for the iPhone on Thursday, while OpenAI updated ChatGPT for the Mac with a feature allowing the chatbot to interact directly with coding programs.
Why it matters: Having native programs allows AI chatbots to interact more directly with both the operating system and other apps.
President-elect Trump's initial Cabinet picks show he'smoving swiftly to implement the anti-trans, anti-DEI and anti-social justice agenda that underpinned his reelection campaign.
Why it matters: In the eyes of many Republicans, Trump's decisive election victory vindicated their hostility toward nebulous "woke" ideologies. In practice, their plans could mean purging the federal government of policies Democrats supported to reverse what they saw as unfairness and inequalities.
The latest crop of Apple Intelligence features, included in the public beta of iOS 18.2, offer those new to AI image generation a safe — and, yes, a bit sterile — opportunity to try out the technology.
Why it matters: Apple may be slower to market than its AI rivals, but its devices tend to be where new technologies move beyond the early adopter crowd into everyone else's lives.
