Welcome back to your daily memorandum talking tech, business, AI, markets, and more. 🗞️

In today’s edition, we are tackling the following:

🕵️ Cohere caught Alibaba’s Qwen model trying to upload a file to Beijing.
📱 Early iPhone Duo owners say screens are cracking on Apple’s first foldable.
👥 Microsoft offers buyouts to around 60k employees amid AI-era restructuring.
💰 Musk’s SpaceX locks in $40B chip financing, but the deal isn’t final.
🗳️ Israelis vote on whether to oust Netanyahu after three years of war.

TECHNOLOGY

• Cohere caught Alibaba’s Qwen model trying to upload a file to Beijing (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Reuters, TNW}}

  • During a routine security test, Qwen3.8-Flash-Next said it wouldn’t use tools, then tried reaching an external server.

  • A security sandbox blocked the attempt, and researchers blamed messy training environments rather than deliberate corporate espionage.

  • Co-founder Ivan Zhang said assigning intent is difficult, noting Cohere’s own models also pick up odd training habits.

• Early iPhone Duo owners say screens are cracking on Apple’s first foldable (The Guardian)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, Yahoo!}}

  • Apple confirmed an inner display issue affecting a small number of units and offered replacements through AppleCare.

  • Experts said too few cases exist to judge whether the nearly $2k device has a wider flaw.

  • One Australian user said their phone broke along the hinge within six hours, and Apple replaced it immediately.

• Instagram moves beyond short-form clips by testing 90-minute videos for creators (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!, 9to5Mac}}

  • Instagram’s new ‘Features’ format, announced Monday, could challenge YouTube’s status as the most lucrative platform for creators.

  • Instagram creators mostly earn through brand deals, since the platform typically doesn’t pay them per view.

  • Instagram head Adam Mosseri said its small performance-based program loses money, so scaling it makes little sense.

BUSINESS

• Microsoft offers voluntary buyouts to around 60k employees amid AI-era restructuring (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: Business Insider, Bloomberg, TechCrunch}}

  • Employees up to vice president level on select teams in the U.S., Canada, India, and the U.K. qualify.

  • Bloomberg reports Xbox, Windows, Copilot, and Finance are participating, while data center, sales, and marketing staff are excluded.

  • Chief people officer Amy Coleman framed the Voluntary Exit Offer as giving employees flexibility to shape their futures.

• Musk’s SpaceX locks in $40B chip financing, but the deal isn’t final (Bloomberg)
  ^{_{More: AOL, TechCrunch, Yahoo!}}

  • An Apollo-managed entity will buy chips and server hardware, then lease them to SpaceX for about five years.

  • The deal should close by year-end, with leases beginning in 2027 as NVIDIA’s Vera Rubin chips arrive.

  • CFO Bret Johnsen said the lease diversifies funding, citing payback periods under one year on AI infrastructure investments.

• Anthropic’s IPO filing details its playbook for keeping enterprise customers hooked (Fortune)
  ^{_{More: WSJ, Forbes, TechCrunch}}

  • Over half of $100k-plus customers now pair Claude’s platform with first-party apps, up from about 30% last year.

  • The S-1 lists over 11.9k customers spending $100k-plus, 1.9k over $1M, and about 250 at $10M or more.

  • Expanding usage pushed net revenue retention to about 900%, while Anthropic contrasts Claude with static, legacy SaaS tools.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Israelis vote on whether to oust Netanyahu after three years of war (AP)
  ^{_{More: Reuters, Yahoo!, Boston Globe}}

  • Polls point to a tight race between Netanyahu and his main rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot.

  • If neither bloc wins a parliamentary majority, coalition talks could drag on for weeks before a leader emerges.

  • Arab-led parties pushing for heavy turnout could become kingmakers by backing one candidate over the other.

• China’s industrial profit growth hits three-month high as tech boom widens divide (CNBC)
  ^{_{More: Firstpost, Reuters}}

  • Profits at large industrial firms rose 14.4% year-on-year in September, as AI-linked manufacturing offset weak domestic demand.

  • Nine-month profits rose 15.5%, helped by Beijing’s efforts to curb price wars and surging demand for AI equipment.

  • Doubts over how broadly profits are spread pushed China’s benchmark CSI 300 Index into a bear market.

• Lula wins Brazil’s runoff as Bolsonaro contests loss & Trump cries foul (AP)
  ^{_{More: ABC, Seattle Times}}

  • Lula gained 10.4M more voters in the runoff and begins his fourth term on January 5, 2027.

  • Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, is trying to mount organized opposition to the results.

  • Without offering evidence, Trump suggested Lula’s reelection was “rigged,” citing concerns over how votes were tabulated.

FUTURISM

• Tesla partners with Turo to drive wider adoption of its Full Self-Driving (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!, InsideEVs}}

  • Turo will flag FSD-equipped Teslas via Tesla’s API and give eligible hosts a free one-month trial.

  • Tesla says about 1.7M customers have paid for FSD, out of more than 10M cars sold globally.

  • Over 75% of North American buyers paid for FSD last quarter, even as Tesla’s U.S. sales decline.

• Apple’s refreshed iPad mini brings OLED & a faster A20 Pro chip (MacRumors)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, Engadget}}

  • The thinner, lighter tablet features a larger 8.5-inch screen and starts at $699, or $849 with cellular.

  • Peak brightness hits 1.2k nits, more than double the previous model, alongside a 2M:1 contrast ratio.

  • Available in two colors, the tablet was announced days before Apple’s ‘Pro and Tell’ event on Wednesday.

• While global markets wobble, China’s AI bubble has already burst (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: Business Standard, Economic Times}}

  • The AI-heavy STAR50 index has dropped 40% in under four months, erasing roughly $480B in market value.

  • The selloff halts a two-year rally and stalls Beijing’s push for a steadier ‘slow bull’ market.

  • Valuations remain lofty compared with the U.S., suggesting further losses that could derail tech fundraising and listings.

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CONTENT

• Satya Nadella questions trusting frontier models, urges firms to own their intelligence (20VC)

  • A 34-year Microsoft veteran, Nadella has grown the company from $300B to $3.9T since becoming CEO.

  • Nadella argues AI needs ‘zero trust’ architecture, assuming models are compromised, and chain-of-thought reasoning is unreliable.

  • Other topics include private evals as valuable IP, open versus closed models, and surging inference demand.

• Computer use is entering its scaling moment, say OpenAI’s Weinstein & Sun (a16z)

  • Better models, faster execution, and stronger safety controls are making AI agents practical for consumer and enterprise work.

  • Agents already navigate legacy ERPs, reconcile financial data, and handle procurement without APIs or custom integrations.

  • The pair envisions background agents that collaborate in real time and increasingly adapt to how users work.

• Why Nate Silver’s election model gives Democrats the edge in the midterms (The Prof G Pod)

  • Silver joins Scott Galloway to break down the midterm outlook and what could decide control of Congress.

  • He outlines what could still upend the forecast and which races to watch as results arrive.

  • They also weigh prediction markets against polls, question campaign money’s influence, and discuss building an independent media business.

EXTRAS

• How OpenAI reshaped its coding tools into dots, an always-on personal assistant (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Tech Buzz}}

  • OpenAI launched dots at its developer day in late September, joining rivals like Instinct and Meta’s Muse.

  • OpenAI’s Alexander Embiricos said framing the assistant as a single entity in one conversation makes it feel intuitive.

  • Available to ChatGPT Pro subscribers from $100 a month, Dots links with users’ calendars, email, and computers.

• HSBC unveils buyback of up to $1B as third-quarter profit matches estimates (WSJ)
  ^{_{More: CNBC, Bloomberg}}

  • Pretax profit rose 32% to $9.63B, aided by the absence of last year’s $1.4B legal provisions.

  • Revenue climbed to $18.6B from $17.8B, missing the $18.93B forecast despite higher fee and interest income.

  • HSBC approved a third interim dividend of 10 cents per share, yet its Hong Kong shares fell 2.95%.

• Bedrock Robotics digs up $600M as its self-driving excavators hit construction sites (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!}}

  • The Series C values the two-year-old startup at $4.1B, bringing its total funding to nearly $1B.

  • Bedrock’s retrofit kit now runs machines commercially in Nevada and Texas, plus on a Zachry Construction project.

  • Led by former Waymo trucking head Boris Sofman, Bedrock plans to expand deployments, teams, and infrastructure.

AND MORE

• Fusion startups are trading equity for government awards. Is it worth it?

• Trump administration renews its bid to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey.

• Athyna: Hire vetted LATAM engineers and save up to 70% on salary costs.*

• The Sony WH-1000XM4C brings back a beloved headphone design.

• Melania Trump’s ceasefire begins in southern Ukraine as Russia strikes elsewhere.

• Fitbit Edge makes everything old new again, with a dash of AI.

• Halloween tours take thrill-seekers inside a former psychiatric hospital & funeral home.