Techmeme
February 17, 2024, 1:15 PM

Top News

Amy Or / Bloomberg:
Sources: Reddit signed a deal early in 2024, worth ~$60M on an annualized basis, allowing a large unnamed AI company to train its models on Reddit's content  —  - Social media firm agrees $60 million deal with AI company  — Reddit advised to seek at least $5 billion IPO valuation
New York Times:
Sources: OpenAI completed a deal valuing the startup at $80B or more, planning to let employees cash out their shares in a tender offer led by Thrive Capital  —  The A.I. start-up's valuation tripled in less than 10 months.  —  OpenAI has completed a deal that values the San Francisco …
Alex Heath / The Verge:
Q&A with Figma CEO Dylan Field on managing the company after the failed sale to Adobe, maintaining culture, using the $1B breakup fee, expansion plans, and more  —  Figma has a billion dollars and big plans for expansion as it emerges from the acquisition with its ‘foot on the gas.’  —  Happy Friday.
Bloomberg:
Sources: the UK, the US, and other allies are working to provide Ukraine with thousands of new AI-enabled drones that could swarm Russian targets simultaneously  —  - Technology could help Ukraine overwhelm some Russian targets  — Germany's Scholz calls on EU allies to increase Ukraine aid
Dell Cameron / Wired:
Sources: FISA's Section 702 bill was shelved over a rule that would end the government's ability to pay US firms for information rather than serving a warrant  —  A surprise disclosure of a national security threat by the House Intelligence chair was part of an effort to block legislation …
Washington Post:
How tech workers, spurred by geopolitical threats, are embracing battlefield tech; PitchBook: VCs invested $108B in defense tech companies between 2021 and 2023  —  After a decade of building the future, tech's new guard is going back to the American past — spurring a funding frenzy in defense technology
Allison Johnson / The Verge:
Google releases Android 15's first developer preview, with updates related to Android's Dynamic Performance Framework, privacy, the camera experience, and more  —  Our first official glimpse of Android 15 is here.  It includes a lot of under-the-hood tweaks to strengthen communication between hardware …
Andy Robinson / Video Games Chronicle:
Sources: Nintendo told game publishers the Switch 2's launch is delayed from late 2024 to Q1 2025; source: Nintendo needs more time to prepare its own games  —  That's according to Brazilian journalist Pedro Henrique Lutti Lippe, who claims in a new OX do Controle video that he received the information from five separate sources.
Noam Scheiber / New York Times:
Court filing: Amazon claims the NLRB is unconstitutional, after the agency said Amazon illegally retaliated against workers; SpaceX has made a similar claim  —  The company made the novel claim, echoing arguments by SpaceX and Trader Joe's, in a legal filing while fighting a case.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Generate videos with Veo 3 in Google Gemini  —  Create high-quality, 8-second videos with Veo 3, our state-of-the-art AI video generator.  Try it with a Google AI Pro plan or get the highest access with the Ultra plan.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI safety, robotics, stablecoins, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 50 topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Zoho:
Introducing document delivery and authentication via WhatsApp in Zoho Sign  —  Let's be real: How many of us still send out SMSs in our daily lives?  In many countries, the number is vanishingly small.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Acquired:
Alphabet Inc.
Learn the playbooks that built the world's greatest companies - and how you can apply them as a founder, operator, or investor.
Subscribe to Acquired.
Invest Like the Best:
Joe Liemandt - Building Alpha School, and The Future of Education
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Tech Brew Ride Home:
Uncle Sam's Intel Stake
Tech news headlines every day. 15 minutes and you're up to date. From Tech Brew, Morning Brew's tech hub.
Subscribe to Tech Brew Ride Home.
Grit:
How Dropbox Beat Big Tech in the Cloud Wars
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
Inside the expert network training every frontier AI model | Garrett Lord (Handshake CEO)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
The Big GPT-5 Debate, Sam Altman's AI Bubble, OnlyFans Chatbots
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:15 PM ET, February 17, 2024.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

RT Watson / The Block:

Earlier Picks

Susan Lazaruk / Vancouver Sun:
Bloomberg:
William Gallagher / AppleInsider:
Associated Press: