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Tech Beat · 5 PM Update

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The FTC is taking aim at Hims, the telehealth company behind those ubiquitous sexual wellness ads, accusing it of sharing sensitive customer health data with Meta and Snap despite explicit privacy promises. It's a familiar pattern — user trust traded quietly for advertising reach, and regulators are finally pushing back.

Shifting to semiconductor geopolitics, Reuters has named Shanghai Aishengna as the company behind China's first domestic immersion deep ultraviolet lithography scanner. Backed by roughly one billion dollars in state capital and established just two years ago, the program represents Beijing's serious long-term bet on chip independence — though a viable seven nanometer-capable machine isn't expected until two thousand thirty eight.

And in the category of AI hardware that raises more questions than it answers, Friend has relaunched its AI companion pendant — now with a speaker and twice the original price tag. The company famously spent one point eight million dollars just to acquire the domain friend dot com, and now it wants you to pay more for a device whose core product is simulated human connection.

Keep surfing. Tech Beat out.

Sources

  1. https://www.typestax.com/
  2. https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/reaping-the-whirlwind-inside-the-potomac-river-midair-collision-0475416f2b0f
  3. https://decrypt.co/374736/ftc-sues-hims-hers-sexual-wellness-health-data-sharing-meta
  4. https://decrypt.co/374738/cathie-wood-ark-invest-sells-bitmine-adds-coinbase-circle
  5. https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/973163/friend-re-launches-its-ai-pendant-with-a-speaker-that-talks-to-you-for-twice-the-price
  6. https://www.engadget.com/2222921/expensive-phone-case-when-why-pay-more/
  7. https://www.techradar.com/phones/android/its-without-a-doubt-one-of-the-least-detrimental-privacy-focused-solutions-to-your-mobile-experience-i-spent-a-month-testing-grapheneos-and-it-almost-made-me-ditch-my-android-phone-entirely
  8. https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/shanghai-aishengna-named-as-the-maker-of-chinas-first-domestic-immersion-duv-scanners
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