The Daily Index — Friday, February 14, 2025 · TLDR Index

Across today’s newsletters

Today’s Index

TLDR

TIKTOK IS BACK ON THE APP STORE AND THE PLAY STORE IN THE U.S.

Both Apple and Google restored TikTok to their app stores in the US on Thursday. Other ByteDance apps were also restored. President Trump has said that he would like the US to own a 50% share in TikTok through a joint venture with other tech companies. Competing social networks have been trying to bank on TikTok's uncertain future by releasing rival features and apps.

techcrunch.com · 2 min

TLDR AI

VEO 2 IS COMING TO YOUTUBE SHORTS

YouTube has integrated DeepMind's Veo 2 into Dream Screen, enabling users to generate high-quality AI video clips from text prompts.

blog.youtube · 4 min

TLDR Web Dev

REPLACE YOUR JAVASCRIPT ANIMATION LIBRARY WITH VIEW TRANSITIONS

The new View Transitions API in Chrome and Safari makes web animations easier. For example, a navigation animation can be created using only HTML, CSS, and a few lines of JavaScript. The process involves using `startViewTransition` to smoothly transition between DOM states, along with CSS to style the transitions and `view-transition-name` to target specific elements for animation.

builder.io · 15 min

TLDR InfoSec

SCAMMERS CLONE ITALIAN DEFENCE MINISTER'S VOICE WITH AI IN RANSOM SCHEME

A group of Italian entrepreneurs reported that they were the victims of a wire fraud scheme. The entrepreneurs report that they received a call allegedly from the Italian Defense Minister Guido Corsetto requesting 1 million Euros so that they could free kidnapped journalists. Upon hearing of this scam, Corsetto posted on X about it to warn other potential victims.

euronews.com · 2 min

TLDR Crypto

COINBASE IN TALKS WITH INDIA'S FIU FOR POTENTIAL RE-ENTRY

Coinbase is reportedly in talks with India's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to re-enter the Indian market after halting UPI payment support in 2022. The discussions come as India reviews its crypto stance, following regulatory shifts and recent FIU registrations by exchanges like Bybit and Binance.

links.tldrnewsletter.com · 1 min

TLDR

ELON MUSK'S FULL OFFER LETTER TO BUY OPENAI REVEALS FIVE KEY DETAILS

Elon Musk's offer to buy OpenAI for $97.4 billion has a clear deadline: May 10. There is a stipulation that the buyers are able to examine OpenAI's financial and business records and interview OpenAI staff before the all-cash transaction is finalized. The offer undermines Musk's legal claims that OpenAI's startup's assets can't be transferred away for private gain. Musk will drop the bid to acquire OpenAI if the board commits to keeping it as a nonprofit.

techcrunch.com · 3 min

TLDR

BRAIN IMPLANT THAT COULD BOOST MOOD BY USING ULTRASOUND TO GO UNDER NHS TRIAL

The UK's Advanced Research and Intervention Agency (Aria) is funding a trial to test a brain-computer interface that directly alters brain activity using ultrasound to boost mood. The technology could revolutionize the treatment of conditions such as depression, addiction, OCD, and epilepsy by rebalancing disrupted patterns of brain activity. The device was developed by a US-based non-profit called Forest Neurotech. The trial will recruit patients who have had a part of their skull temporarily removed so that the device can be tested without having to perform surgery. It will run for three and a half years starting in March, and if successful, the device will move into full clinical trials.

theguardian.com · 3 min

TLDR

AVRIDE LAUNCHES SIDEWALK DELIVERY BOTS ON UBER EATS IN JERSEY CITY

Uber is expanding its partnership with Avride to include autonomous deliveries in Jersey City. Customers in the city can now have their orders delivered by one of Avride's autonomous sidewalk delivery robots. Avride's first robotaxi deployment in the US will be in Dallas this year. The startup has also partnered with Grubhub to bring delivery bots to university campuses across the US.

techcrunch.com · 2 min

TLDR

AI-DESIGNED ENZYMES

One of the ultimate aims of protein design is to build entirely new enzymes from scratch. Scientists have traditionally discovered enzymes in nature and then adapted them through trial and error. New advances in AI may eventually lead to ways to create bespoke enzymes from the ground up, but doing so remains a formidable challenge. Many of the protein structural databases used to train models consist overwhelmingly of structures gleaned from 'frozen' images, preventing them from making accurate recreations of dynamic structures.

press.asimov.com · 7 min