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BNPL lenders like Flex, Zip, and Affirm are now pitching loans for basic household needs; Americans spent $160B through pay-later loans in 2025, up 2x from 2023 (Stacy Cowley/New York Times)

Stacy Cowley / New York Times : BNPL lenders like Flex, Zip, and Affirm are now pitching loans for basic household needs; Americans spent $160B through pay-later loans in 2025, up 2x from 2023   —  The rapid growth of pay-later loans raises questions about whether their popularity is driven by consumer preference or desperation. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/OxYvL1n via IFTTT
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Sources: Anthropic's revenue run rate reached $65B by the end of July, up from $47B in May and $9B in late 2025 (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg : Sources: Anthropic's revenue run rate reached $65B by the end of July, up from $47B in May and $9B in late 2025   —  Anthropic PBC is on track to generate annualized revenue of more than $65 billion based on its current performance, according to people familiar with the matter … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/vQHXcyL via IFTTT
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What Flock’s defenders are missing

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first,  sign up here . Flock, the police-tech giant known for its network of some 120,000 automatic license plate readers around the US, announced some changes to its platform last Thursday. The updates are meant to prevent officers from using the platform for illegal or illegitimate purposes.  That includes stalking. The Washington Post recently identified 50 cases in which officers misused systems from Flock and its competitors, often to stalk and harass women. One woman in Wisconsin alleged that her officer ex-boyfriend searched for her car 179 times. Another woman was being stalked by the chief of police, with nobody to report him to. Flock has responded with practices aimed at ensuring that officers have a proper cause for every search, like using software to flag abnormal searches and requiring searchers to enter a criminal case number. The c...
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African defense tech company Terra Industries, founded in 2024, raised a $52M seed round from 8VC and others, and says it's on track to book $100M in contracts (Dominic-Madori Davis/TechCrunch)

Dominic-Madori Davis / TechCrunch : African defense tech company Terra Industries, founded in 2024, raised a $52M seed round from 8VC and others, and says it's on track to book $100M in contracts   —  African defense tech company Terra Industries on Monday announced an additional $18 million in funding, bringing its seed round to $52 million. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/oInRGVs via IFTTT
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A look at companies like Inception Point creating AI personas for media, fashion, film, and music industries that could host podcasts, model clothes, and more (Reggie Ugwu/New York Times)

Reggie Ugwu / New York Times : A look at companies like Inception Point creating AI personas for media, fashion, film, and music industries that could host podcasts, model clothes, and more   —  The A.I. personas created by Inception Point AI include, clockwise from top left, Claire Delish, VV Steele, Nigel Thistledown and Lila Walker.Inception Point AI from Techmeme https://ift.tt/NEZP0zi via IFTTT
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How a Claude model made a math breakthrough during its unsuccessful 54-hour attempt to solve the Riemann hypothesis after a user repeatedly encouraged it (Ben Cohen/Wall Street Journal)

Ben Cohen / Wall Street Journal : How a Claude model made a math breakthrough during its unsuccessful 54-hour attempt to solve the Riemann hypothesis after a user repeatedly encouraged it   —  The world's smartest AI models are now superhuman at math.  They still respond to moral support and encouragement from mere humans. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/scF6agE via IFTTT
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French PM Lecornu will hold a crisis meeting Monday over a June-July cyberattack on France's tax agency that compromised 678K individual and business accounts (Phil Serafino/Bloomberg)

Phil Serafino / Bloomberg : French PM Lecornu will hold a crisis meeting Monday over a June-July cyberattack on France's tax agency that compromised 678K individual and business accounts   —  French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu will hold a crisis meeting Monday to respond to the cyberattack disclosed last week targeting the country's tax collection agency. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/IYhSrUW via IFTTT
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