TLDR 2025-05-12
OpenAI negotiates for IPO π°, Theranos 2.0 π©Έ, tech jobs in 10 years π¨βπ»
OpenAI and Microsoft reportedly renegotiating partnership to allow for potential IPO (1 minute read)
OpenAI and Microsoft are reworking their partnership to allow OpenAI to move forward with a restructuring plan to create a for-profit public benefit corporation controlled by its nonprofit parent. Microsoft may take a smaller equity stake in the new entity in exchange for extended access to OpenAI's technology beyond the previously agreed-upon 2030 cutoff. OpenAI plans to reduce the percentage of revenue it shares with Microsoft as part of the restructuring. It needs approval from Microsoft to proceed with its plan.
Elizabeth Holmes's Partner Has a New Blood-Testing Start-Up (6 minute read)
While Elizabeth Holmes is in prison for defrauding investors through Theranos, her partner, Billy Evans, plans to start his own blood testing company. Evans is trying to raise money for a blood-testing company with a machine that bears more than a passing resemblance to Theranos' infamous blood-testing machine. The company, Haemanthus, is still in stealth, and not much information is available about it. It aims to eventually raise more than $50 million. Haemanthus plans to first address the pet health care market before progressing to humans.
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Science & Futuristic Technology
China Just Made the World's Fastest Transistor and It Is Not Made of Silicon (5 minute read)
A group of scientists at Peking University has created what they claim is the world's fastest and most efficient transistor. Made with a slender sheet of lab-grown bismuth and a new architecture, the two-dimensional, silicon-free transistor represents a radical rethinking of what chips can be and how they can be made. Chinese firms have been blocked from buying the latest silicon chip-making equipment due to ongoing US-led export restrictions, forcing researchers to find solutions from fresh perspectives. The team is now working on scaling up production - they used existing fabrication platforms, so the barrier to mass production may not be as high as with other experimental technologies.
US military taps Rocket Lab's new Neutron launcher for βpoint to point' cargo test flight in 2026 (3 minute read)
Rocket Lab and the US Air Force Research Laboratory have planned a launch and return-to-Earth mission for Rocket Lab's Neutron rocket no earlier than 2026. The flight will test Neutron's reentry capabilities and the rocket's viability for global point-to-point cargo transportation objectives. Rocket Lab plans to debut its partially reusable Neutron later in 2025. The company has been launching its 59-foot-tall Electron rocket since 2018 and has significantly increased its launch cadence over the past few years. Neutron will stand at 141 feet tall with a 23-foot diameter.
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Programming, Design & Data Science
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React Three (Website)
React Three is a React renderer for three.js. It allows developers to build scenes declaratively with re-usable, self-contained components that react to state, are readily interactive, and can participate in React's ecosystem. Everything that works in three.js will work with React Three. This site allows developers to select React Three packages to include into their projects via npm, download, or by creating a repository.
Ask HN: What will tech employment look like in 10 years? (Hacker News Thread)
While the role of the coder will likely still exist in 10 years, it will probably look very different from what it is today. However, it is important to remember that there is still a lot of work to be done before large language models can even replace junior developers. The role of debugging will grow as models trained on previous errors and methods won't catch bugs. AI is just another technology that claims it will change the world - it hasn't taken over yet, and it might not, just like 3D printing didn't ruin manufacturing, blockchain didn't ruin finance, and the metaverse hasn't caused mass migrations away from cities.
The Stealthy Lab Cooking Up Amazon's Secret Sauce (9 minute read)
Annapurna Labs was a secretive Israeli chip-design startup purchased by Amazon for about $350 million a decade ago. Amazon's entire AI strategy is now built on a foundation of chips designed by Annapurna. The company has planned more than $100 billion of capital expenditures for this year, mostly on AWS infrastructure required for AI systems using homemade silicon. This article looks at the history of the startup and how a discussion over beer and wine eventually led to one of the most consequential deals in tech history.
Former Apple Design Chief Jony Ive Reflects on Company Culture, Iconic Products, and a Warning for the Tech Industry (3 minute read)
Apple's former Chief Design Officer, Jony Ive, recently gave a rare interview at Stripe Sessions 2025 that offered insights into his design philosophy, his time at Apple, and his current work at LoveFrom. In the hour-long conversation, Ive reflected on the experiences that shaped his career, the principles that guide LoveFrom, the unintended consequences of the work of designers and technologists, and broader concerns about the technology industry. He did not address his collaboration with OpenAI on a new AI-focused hardware project.
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