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Techmeme
February 4, 2025, 4:05 PM
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Top News

Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple debuts Invites, an app to help plan events like birthdays, graduations, and more, with Image Playground and Writing Tools tie-ins, for iCloud+ subscribers  —  Apple today announced the launch of a new app called “Invites,” which is designed to allow users to plan events like birthday parties …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Elon Musk accused an X user of “a crime” who named federal staff in a post that X then removed—showing what actual government social media censorship looks like  —  For years, we've watched self-proclaimed “free speech warriors” hyperventilate about imaginary government control of social media content moderation.
Elizabeth Lopatto / The Verge:
Elon Musk's goal seems to amount to a coup over the US administrative state; Musk said the 18F Direct File tax program was “deleted”, but that may not be true
Wired:
Sources: Marko Elez, a 25-year-old Elon Musk-linked engineer, has admin privileges over Treasury Department code that controls Social Security payments and more
Makena Kelly / Wired:
Sources: Thomas Shedd, GSA's new Technology Transformation Services director and Elon Musk ally, told GSA workers the agency will pursue an “AI-first strategy”
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Adobe adds “contract intelligence capabilities” to Acrobat's $4.99 per month AI Assistant, letting the PDF manager summarize complicated contract language  —  The new contract surfaces key terms and dates within complex agreements.  —  The new contract surfaces key terms and dates within complex agreements.
Financial Times:
Sources: China is looking at launching a formal probe into Intel; a source says whether such a probe is officially launched could depend on US-China relations  —  Beijing seeks leverage against US president by reviving investigations into tech giants  —  China has revived antitrust investigations …
Josh Xiao / Bloomberg:
China's State Administration for Market Regulation says it will probe Google for alleged antitrust violations, moments after Trump put tariffs on Chinese goods
Dominic Preston / The Verge:
Opera launches Opera Air, a free browser focused on mindfulness and mental well-being, including break reminders and ambient soundscapes, for Windows and macOS  —  Opera Air offers break reminders, ambient soundscapes, and breathing exercises, all in your browser.
Mark Keierleber / Wired:
An investigation into 300+ cyberattacks against US K-12 schools since 2020 shows how they can withhold details from students and parents whose data was stolen  —  An investigation into more than 300 cyberattacks against US K-12 schools over the past five years shows how schools …
More: The 74.  Bluesky: @zackwhittaker and @dell.  Mastodon: @douglevin@infosec.exchange.  LinkedIn: Nicole Ridgway
Zachary Small / New York Times:
An interview with The Sims designer Will Wright on the virtual dollhouse game turning 25, its mechanics, infusing it with chaos, ants, The Sims Online, and more  —  Will Wright kindly requests that admirers stop describing him as a god.  —  “I don't think God would concern himself with taking …
Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch:
Memo: Cruise is laying off 50% of its staff, after GM cut funding to robotaxi operations and shifts its focus to tech like hands-free driver assistance  —  Autonomous vehicle company Cruise is laying off “nearly” 50% of its workforce — cuts that extend to the CEO and several other top executives …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Mark Zuckerberg says users on Threads can now make their custom feeds public and follow custom feeds made by others  —  Meta's Threads is doubling down on support for custom feeds as it faces challenges from the growing social network Bluesky, now with over 30 million users, which also offers custom feeds as one of its key features.
More: The Verge and Meta
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Ofcom drops an investigation into whether OnlyFans-owner Fenix International is letting under-18s access adult content, but keeps another part of the probe open  —  Ofcom had previously raised concern the adult streaming site was not protecting under-18s from pornography
More: Reuters
Bloomberg:
Nintendo reports Q3 revenue down ~33% YoY to ~$2.8B, net profit down ~33% YoY to ~$831M, both below est, 4.8M Switch sales, and cuts Switch and profit forecasts  —  The Kyoto-based company now expects ¥280 billion ($1.8 billion) in operating income in the fiscal year to March, slashing more than a fifth from its prior forecast.

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:05 PM ET, February 4, 2025.

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.

From Mediagazer

Bloomberg:
Sources: Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro is exploring a “super app” that integrates Disney+ with parks passes, games, merchandise, and cruise and resort apps

Jeremy Barr / The Guardian:
Speaking at an event, Sharyn Alfonsi voiced concern about “the spread of corporate meddling and editorial fear” at CBS News and uncertainty over her job

Jacob Bryant / The Wrap:
The Daily Wire undergoes layoffs, and a spokesperson says cuts were mostly in Nashville; the EIC says cuts were nowhere near 50% of staff, as some rumors stated

More News

Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:
Spotify reports Q4 revenue up 16% YoY to €4.2B, MAUs up 12% YoY to 675M, subscribers up 11% YoY to 263M, and €1.14B in 2024 net income, vs. a €532M loss in 2023
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal invests $230M in his Indian AI startup Krutrim and plans to raise $1.15B from outside investors by 2026 to develop better local AI

Earlier Picks

Ben Bergman / Business Insider:
Dick Kramlich, who co-founded NEA in 1977, died on February 1 at age 89; he was an early investor in Apple and led investments in Juniper Networks and others
Brody Ford / Bloomberg:
Source: Salesforce is cutting 1,000+ roles and will let displaced workers apply for other jobs internally; Salesforce had nearly 73,000 workers in January 2024
Cristina Criddle / Financial Times:
Anthropic details Constitutional Classifiers, a protective LLM layer designed to stop AI model jailbreaking by monitoring inputs and outputs for harmful content
Umar Shakir / The Verge:
A US district court judge denies Apple's emergency motion to halt the remedy phase of DOJ v. Google, saying that Apple hasn't demonstrated satisfactory reasons
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Meta defines the types of AI systems that it deems too risky to release, including ones capable of aiding in cybersecurity, chemical, and biological attacks
Bloomberg:
Donald Trump signs an executive action to direct officials to create a US sovereign wealth fund and says that it could be used to facilitate a sale of TikTok US
CBC News:
Ontario Premier Doug Ford pauses retaliatory measures like “ripping up” the province's CA$100M Starlink contract, after Donald Trump delays US tariffs on Canada
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