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Brian McCullough
Welcome to the Techmeme ride home for Tuesday, March 18th, 2025. I'm Brian McCullough. Today we get that first big test of M and A I was looking for as Alphabet acquires Wiz. Is Roku going to force us to watch ads just to turn on our TVs? The AI coding assistance space continues to be hot. The breakthrough in electric vehicle charging that could really change the game. And what exactly does Lumen Industries do? Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. When I said to Chris Messina on a bonus episode that we needed a test case of MA activity in this new regulatory era, this was basically exactly what I was talking about. Alphabet has agreed to buy cybersecurity startup Wiz for at least $32 billion and will announce the deal today. Alphabet was close to a $23 billion deal for Wiz last summer before talks ended, in part because of concerns that regulators wouldn't allow the deal to go through again. This is what I was a big deal to test the waters, quoting the Journal from a previous article speculating that the deal was about to happen. The previous talks fell apart as Wiz and some of its investors had concerns about the time it would take for a deal to clear regulatory hurdles, among other issues. Bankers and CEOs came into the year hoping for big deals, but market volatility and Washington turmoil have sapped confidence. Google moving to strike its biggest deal ever and one of the biggest deals of the year would be a test of the Trump administration's antitrust appetite and a barometer for other tech deals. Wiz, which offers cybersecurity softw for cloud computing, is based in New York, with additional offices in the US And Israel. The startup partners with a number of the biggest cloud companies, including Amazon and Microsoft, as well as Google, according to its website. An acquisition could help boost Alphabet's efforts in cloud computing, an important and growing business but one where it has lagged behind peers. Wiz has enhanced security features that could help Google win more customers to its cloud service in a fiercely competitive market where demand is booming partly because of generative AI companies need for computing power. A Wiz acquisition would also dwarf the size of Google's largest deal to date, its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility that closed in 2012. Google also spent $2.1 billion on Fitbit in 2021, a deal that hit regulatory hurdles after it was announced, and $3.2 billion on Nest Labs in 2014. Other acquisitions over the years have included YouTube, DoubleClick, Looker and Waze, Google will be testing regulators willingness to approve this deal. At the same time, it is already dealing with two antitrust lawsuits. In one case over its search already ruled it is a monopoly and the parties are awaiting a remedies trial after the government under Biden proposed forcing it to sell its Chrome browser. And in another case over Google's ad technology business, the trial is over and they are awaiting a verdict. End quote. Well, as a Roku TV owner myself, I can't say I'm thrilled to learn this, but some of my fellow owners of devices running Roku OS report seeing autoplaying video ads before they can access the home screen. Roku says it is just a test, but still probably inevitable that this will happen someday. But I still hate it. Quoting Ars Technica, A Reddit user, for example, posted yesterday, I just turned on my Roku and got an ad for a movie. Before I got to the regular Roku home screen, multiple apparent users reported seeing an ad for the movie Moana 2. The ads have a close option, but some users appear to not have seen it. When reached for comment, a Roku spokesperson shared a company statement that confirms that the autoplaying ads are expected behavior but not a permanent part of Roku OS currently. Instead, Roku claimed it was just trying the ad capability out. Roku's representative said that Roku's business has and will always require continuous testing and innovation across design, navigation, content and our first rate advertising products. Adding our recent test is just the latest example as we explore new ways to showcase brands and programming while still providing a delightful and simple user experience. Most of the comments that Ars Technica has reviewed about the marketing test have suggested that customers would get rid of their Roku device if the software continues to force them to watch an ad before getting to the content they actually want to see. A user on Roku's community forum wrote, I hope this was a fluke. I trashed all of my Amazon boxes years ago because of this garbage. If it keeps up, my Roku's will be next. Forum users who worried the change was permanent called the ads unacceptable and intrusive. If Roku increases its ad load on customer devices, from still images to ads with moving pictures with sound, it will test customers limits. Some who have tolerated a static image on a neglected part of their screen may not be as accepting of more distracting ad formats. I could accept the static ad on the side. Forcing a loud commercial is awful, one Redditor wrote. As a budget streaming hardware brand, Roku has been known to push the boundaries on ads. Roku has even gone so far as to apply for a patent for technology that shows ads over anything you plug into your tv. Roku has never actually implemented this capability. There are less ad intrusive smart TV formats available besides Roku, but in general it's getting increasingly difficult for smart TV users to avoid ads. All TV manufacturers, from budget brands to premium ones, are growing reliance on ads and tracking as ways to bolster revenue among declining hardware prices, sales and innovation and increase competition End quote Public Service Announcement now because of the amount of IT and security folk that I know listen to this show, a critical Apache Tomcat RCE flaw is being exploited in the wild, letting attackers take over servers via a put request quoting bleeping computer. Specifically, the attacker sends a put Request containing a base 64 encoded serialized Java payload saved to Tomcat's session storage. The attacker then sends a GET request with a jsession ID cookie point to the uploaded session file, forcing Tomcat to deserialize and execute the malicious Java code, granting complete control to the attacker. The attack does not require authentication and is caused by Tomcat accepting partial put requests and its default session persistence. This attack is dead simple to execute and requires no authentication, explains Wallarm. The only requirement is that Tomcat is using file based session storage, which is common in many deployments. Worse, base 64 encoding allows the exploit to byp most traditional security filters, making detection challenging. Apache recommends that all users upgrade to Tomcat versions 11.0.3, 10.1.35+ or 9.0.99+, which are patched against this flaw. Tomcat users may also mitigate the problem by reverting to the default servlet configuration Read only equals true, turning off partial put support and avoiding storing security sensitive files in a subdirectory of public upload paths. Woll ARM warns that the bigger issue highlighted in this case isn't the exploitation activity itself, but the potential for more RCE vulnerabilities arising from the partial put handling in Tomcat. Attackers will soon start shifting their tactics, uploading malicious JSP files, modifying configurations and planting backdoors outside session storage. This is just the first wave, cautioned Wall arm. End quote. Sources say that Cognition, maker of that buzzy AI coding assistant Devin, raised hundreds of millions, led by 8VC at around a $4 billion valuation, doubling its $2 billion valuation from April of last year. Quoting Bloomberg. The new funding round is being led by 8VC, the Joe Lonsdale backed venture capital firm said. The people who asked not to be identified discussing private information. 8 VC declined to comment. A representative for Cognition didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The round doubles the previous valuation of the startup, its generative AI coding tool. A year ago. Cognition bills the tool, called Devon, as the world's first AI software engineer. The new funding round is an indication that investor demand for AI deals is still booming as venture capitalists race to fund promising applications for the technology. Cognition was valued at $2 billion in funding rounds last year, according to PitchBook data. Other investors include Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Elad Gill and Conviction Partners. Existing investors also participated in the current round, one of the people said. VCs have recently flocked toward AI coding assistant startups that compete with Microsoft owned GitHub, Copilot and Amazon's CodeWhisperer. These products can automate repetitive coding tasks, predict bugs and in theory, complete full, high quality software projects independently. Any sphere the startup developing the AI code editor Cursor is in talks to raise capital at around a $10 billion valuation. Another startup, Stackblitz, the developer of an AI tool for building websites called Bolt New, is in talks to raise money at a $700 million valuation. Bloomb Cognition was founded by Scott Woo, Stephen Howe and walden Yan in 2023. Wu, the company's chief executive officer and an award winning coder, previously co founded Lunch Club, a professional networking tool. With Robinhood Gold, you can now receive the VIP treatment receiving a 3% IRA match on retirement contributions. The privileges of the very privileged are no longer exclusive. With Robinhood Gold, your annual IRA contributions are boosted by 3% plus. You also get 4% APY on your cash in non retirement accounts. That's over 8x the National Savings average. The perks of the high net worth are now available for any net worth. The new gold standard is here with Robinhood Gold. To receive your 3% boost on annual IRA contributions, sign up@robinhood.com Gold investing involves risk rate subject to change 3% match requires Robinhood Gold at $5 a month for one year from first must keep funds in IRA for five years. Go to robinhood.com boost over 8x the national average savings account interest rate claim is based on data from the fdic as of November 18, 2024. Robinhood Financial LLC member SIPC Gold membership is offered by Robinhood Gold LLC. Hey freelancers, we know what your days look like. You juggle clients, deadlines and that endless to do list. But when it comes to tax time, let's face it, the stress is real. That's hi, I'm here to talk about FreshBooks, the cloud accounting software designed to make the hard part easy. With FreshBooks, you'll save time and get peace of mind. Imagine having all your expenses neatly organized, your profit and loss report ready to go, and a clear picture of your business health all in just a few clicks. No more late nights drowning in paperwork or searching for lost receipts. And it's not just about taxes. FreshBooks automates your workflow year round. Snap photos of your expenses on the go, send professional invoices in seconds, and track payments seamlessly. Then, when tax time does come, everything's prepped and ready for your accountant. Heck, you can even give them custom access to your FreshBooks account for free. Working with your accountant has never been so easy, so why not give it a shot? Switching to FreshBooks is painless, even if you're coming from another accounting tool. FreshBooks makes migrating your data simple, and their support team is ready if you need help. Don't wait for the stress to pile up. Head to freshbooks.com and try it free for 30 days. No credit card required. Let FreshBooks handle your taxes so you can focus on what you do best. That's freshbooks.com get started today and thank yourself tomorrow. What if EVs could charge in about the same amount of time it takes to fill up a tank of gas? That would be a game changer for EVs, right? Well, Chinese electric car maker BYD claims it has a new battery system that charges EVs in five minutes, quoting Bloomberg. BYD's new battery and charging system was capable of providing 470 kilometers, or 292 miles of range in five minutes in tests on its new Han L sedan, Chairman and founder Wang Chuan Fu said Monday the manufacturer will start selling vehicles with the new technology next month. Being able to charge a car in the time it takes a combustion engine vehicle to pull in and out of a gas station could convince drivers who aren't willing to make lengthy stops go electric. The new platform, which will underpin many of its future electric vehicles, could provide another boost for byd, which has come from behind to rival Tesla as the world's top EV seller. That requires new charging infrastructure that the Chinese company has pledged to set up, end quote. This advancement significantly outpaces Tesla's superchargers, which currently provide up to 275km in 15 minutes. Though Tesla maintains a much larger global Network with over 65,000 charging stations, the new technology will debut in BYD's Han L sedan and Tang L SUV models. To support this innovation, the company plans to construct more than 4,000 specialized charging stations across its markets. BYD has also announced its new EV platform will enable vehicles to accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in just two seconds, highlighting the company's focus on performance alongside charging capabilities. BYD's announcement comes as competitors are also advancing charging technology. Mercedes Benz recently introduced its entry level CLA electric sedan with the ability to add 325km of range in 10 minutes. The Chinese automaker has experienced remarkable growth in 2025 with January sales exceeding 318,000 passenger vehicles, a 161% increase year over year. As China's leading Automaker with near 15% market share, BYD's Hong Kong listed shares have climbed approximately 45% this year. Beyond charging and performance, BYD is democratizing advanced driver assistance features by incorporating technologies like lane keeping and adaptive cruise control into its most affordable models. Finally today is the show Severance about the tech industry. That's one of the mysteries of the show, right? What exactly does Lumen, the fictional company everybody in the Apple TV plus show works that actually do cosmetics, tech equipment, pharmaceuticals, data mining or movie censorship are some of the fan theories going around. But on the assumption that a lot of you are watching this show and making the vague suggestion that Lumen is a software company of some sort, I just found this piece in the Wall Street Journal. Funny, it's about the apparently plenty of real world companies named Lumen or something similar similar spelling, which if you think about it is sort of the perfect nondescript sort of branding by committee name for a company these days. Many real life businesses called Lumon or Lumen have since become the butt of jokes in their industries, according to executives. Next thing you know your wife is missing and you don't remember 12 hours of your day. An Instagram user commented on a recent post from Lumen, a maker of metabolic measurement devices. Praise Keer, wrote another, referencing the elusive cult like founder of the fictional Lumen. The show hasn't had any kind of impact on Lumen's business, a company spokeswoman said. As Severance viewership reaches new heights, the real Lumens and Lumens are deciding whether and how to address their name's new echo. Some view it as a potential publicity windfall. My husband was like we need to capitalize on this now, said Dr. Manisha Chadha, the owner of Lumen Dental, a dentist outside of Detroit. Chadha and her husband discussed tweaking their logo to Evoke Lumen Industries but decided against it for fear of copyright infringement, she said. Audiences have been so taken by the Lumen of severance that some 6,000 people follow its company page on LinkedIn while the filming location of its offices, the Bell Works complex in Holmdel, N.J. has turned into a tourist hotspot. Nobody is flocking to the offices of telecommunications firm Lumen Technologies in Monroe, Louisiana, but plenty of people are making comments about the company's connections to its TV homophone parallels that go beyond the name, said its chief marketing and strategy officer, Ryan as Dorian. Both companies were founded before 1945 and work in data management. As Dorian pointed out, Lumen manages fiber optics, optic networks, data centers and cloud computing, while Lumen, among other things, uses severed workers for macro data refinement. Lumen's marketing department sees the Severance connection as a fun tie to pop culture, rare for a business to business company, and is free to run through the parallels with clients, as Durian said. Hollywood writers are free to call their made up corporations whatever they like, provided their fictional companies don't too closely resemble or infringe on another in the real world, said Justin M. Jacobson, a trademark attorney based in New York City. Some studios filed trademarks for their fictional companies to sell merchandise, but they can't hold a mark for goods or services they have no intention of providing, jacobson said. Some entrepreneurs have used that to turn the tables on Hollywood by trademarking fictional brands to use in the real world. Sterling Cooper may be known to TV audiences as the Madison Avenue firm that employed Don Draper on Mad Men, but it is now also the name of an advertising agency based in Egypt. Stark Industries operates not from Tony Stark's sprawling campus in the Marvel Universe, but from an office in real World. Columbus, Ohio. The glazing company Lumen continues to receive sporadic jokes and bizarre messages referencing Severance. A job posted earlier this month for a salesperson In Poland received 200 applications, almost four times the company's usual amount. When asked for interviews, many applicants stated they had applied just for the fun of handing Lumen their resumes. But Lumen has also noticed that more people in North America are reaching its website after Googling the name, and it is trying to capitalize. Last week it published a blog post titled what's the difference between Lumen Group and Lumen Industries? We welcome you and want to address the elephant in the room. We have the same name as an antagonistic corporation from one of the biggest streaming series of all time, it reads. But that's where the similarities stop End quote. Reminder that tomorrow's show will probably be a couple hours late. Talk to you then.