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mikebutcher.bsky.social
(MBE) Editor-at-large @TechCrunch | [email protected] | Signal: mikebutcher.04 | http://mikebutcher.me | linkedin.com/in/mikebutcher | Columnist / Speaker / Moderator / Broadcaster | Founder: TheEuropas, Techfugees, TechVets
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“New analysis from CEDIA warns that the Trump administration’s latest tariffs will drive up the cost of laptops by as much as 68%” (in the US). Oh dear.

London appears to have reverted back to December. I *knew* it was the “False Spring”.

Recommend this episode of the Rest is History: youtu.be/wRpVzdD2zck?...

A Moscow-based global ‘news’ network has infected Western AI tools with Russian propaganda: AI chatbots — including OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4o, xAI’s Grok, Mistral’s le Chat, Anthropic’s Claude, Google’s Gemini, & Perplexity’s answer engine have been affected. www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/a-well-fun...

European alternatives for US-origin tech platforms. Crowd-sourced by “Buy European Made” #BuyEuropeanMade www.buy-european-made.eu

Cool story: While no US app has done this, European startup Cino has cracked bill-splitting *at the moment of payment*. Much harder to do than it looks! It's just raised €3.5m from Balderton and has two female founders. techcrunch.com/2025/03/04/c...

Come hither... "European alternatives for digital service and products, like cloud services and SaaS products." Made by @constantin_graf (X) european-alternatives.eu

With Trump tanking the US stock market, US VCs who backed him are waking up with a hangover. Many late-stage portcos had been waiting to IPO. This would have unblocked the startup pipeline, meaning more fund returns and more money at the early stage. Now, that may not happen. Slow hand clap…

There’s ‘no part’ of the Amazon that is unaffected by AI, said Amazon’s VP of AGI during MWC. He dismissed the idea that open-source might reduce compute needs & deflected when asked if EU companies would pivot AI away from the US in light of Trump’s moves. techcrunch.com/2025/03/03/n...

The irony of the Trump being so anti-immigrant. In fact, the US became wealthy on immigrant inventors. It’s time Europe replicated this. Source: scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=e...

Do we think China will do this? I rather doubt it. A lot of Bitcoin is mined in IRAN. They are going to allow Crypto Bros to sell to the US gov, cash out, and the country will be left with a pile of Hashes, with the currency controlled by miners and Whales.

Two tech-enabled humanitarian orgs, Sunflower Relief and Techfugees, are asking the European Tech industry to show its support for Ukraine. If Ukraine is not defended, the war could escalate and lead to an even greater humanitarian crisis. Sign the petition here: chng.it/z9gHx9GhsF

Two tech-enabled humanitarian orgs, Sunflower Relief and Techfugees, are asking the European Tech industry to show its support for Ukraine. If Ukraine is not defended, the war could escalate and lead to an even greater humanitarian crisis. Sign the petition here: chng.it/z9gHx9GhsF

Given America’s unwillingness to continue funding Ukraine, the best source of cash is Russia’s $300 billion in frozen assets, mostlyin Europe. The “reparation loan” idea is a way to mobilize these funds for Kyiv’s benefit without confiscating them. www.aei.org/research-pro...

Is it just me, or is it time to pick a side now?

🤬

Trump/MAGA think we will end up in a multi-polar world. What is emerging is Chinese hegemony, because it will replace whatever the US withdraws from (Europe, Africa etc). Therefore, China (with Russia as vassal state) has already won. It has beaten Trump without a single shot fired.

From yesterday…

Today marks three years since Russia’s illegal, unprovoked, and brutal invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian people have heroically fought the war with grit and determination, but they have also, against the odds, innovated on and off the battlefield. techcrunch.com/2025/02/24/t...

“This is a coup…. What is happening is destruction, not reform. Whatever they have been told, ordinary Americans will not benefit from the chaos. But we know who will.” - Martin Wolf, FT. www.ft.com/content/6a4d...

Grok 3 appears to have briefly censored unflattering mentions of Trump and Musk techcrunch.com/2025/02/23/g...

Solar, baby, Solar. CBI says Britain’s net zero economy is booming. - Grew by 10% in 2024 - Triple rate of UK economy - Average wage £43k, £5.6k higher than national - Worth over £80bn GVA - Supports 1M+ jobs, widely distributed www.theguardian.com/environment/... eciu.net/media/press-...

Incredible story.

AI expert alleges @elonmusk’s @grok AI model has an alarming lack of start guards enabling anyone to easily assemble a chemical weapon, enrich uranium or even make a dirty bomb. But their calls to Grok are not being returned. x.com/linusekensta...

So first the FAA is gutted and now these guys. America is going to get even more unsafe, if that’s even possible. Musk’s DOGE is firing nearly half of a small government team that regulates autonomous vehicles. techcrunch.com/2025/02/21/e...

So what’s the feeling among the “British American Project” members now?

Trump is missing a trick. It would be simpler to fund it to push Russia out, see Putin fail and be deposed, and the country dissolve into 24 separate states. Then he could do business with Ukraine AND probably own large swathes of Russia. And there would be no 'second' war within two years.

I worked on this story for a decade and he just said it out loud on Fox News

Free speech? Elon Musk’s X is blocking links to Signal.me, a URL shortener used by the private messaging app Signal that allows users to send out a link that’s used to contact them directly through the service. techcrunch.com/2025/02/17/x...

Russian TV: "Now we can strike Brussels, London and Paris. We don't have to worry about NATO's Article 5 and Americans stepping up to help." Article 5 is the bedrock of the NATO alliance, where an attack on one member is considered an attack on all. It's only been triggered once, by USA, after 9/11.