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February 6, 2025, 7:05 PM
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Top News

Washington Post:
Sources: DOGE is processing sensitive data from across the Education Department with AI tools in Microsoft's Azure to look for potential spending cuts  —  At the Department of Education, the tech billionaire's team has turned to artificial intelligence to hunt for potential spending cuts —
Katherine Long / Wall Street Journal:
DOGE staffer Marko Elez resigns after being linked to racist posts on X; he was embedded in the US Treasury and previously worked at SpaceX, Starlink, and X  —  A staffer for Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency whose access to U.S. Treasury payment systems was approved …
Natalie Andrews / Wall Street Journal:
US lawmakers introduce a bipartisan bill that would ban DeepSeek's app from government-owned devices, amid concerns that the app allows China to see user data  —  Bipartisan bill comes amid concerns that the application allows China to see user data  —  WASHINGTON—Lawmakers plan to introduce …
Zaheer Kachwala / Reuters:
Take-Two reports Q3 net bookings up 3% YoY to $1.37B, vs. $1.39B est., and reiterates GTA VI is set to launch in the fall of 2025; TTWO jumps 6%+ after hours  —  Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO.O) forecast its fourth-quarter bookings below Wall Street expectations on Thursday …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple plans to unveil its long-awaited overhaul of the iPhone SE as early as next week, opting to reveal it on its website instead of at a launch event  —  - Revamped SE model is set to be unveiled in the coming days  — Apple plans flurry of 2025 products, including smart home hub
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Google Photos starts adding its SynthID watermarks to photos that have been edited using Magic Editor, but says some changes may be too small to detect  —  But Google admits that some generative AI adjustments may be ‘too small’ for SynthID to detect.  —  But Google admits …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Email: Google is testing a Search “AI Mode” powered by Gemini 2.0 that lets users ask “open-ended / exploratory questions” and get AI Overview-style responses  —  As previously spotted, Google Search is working on a new “AI Mode” that offers a “persistent place” …
Romain Dillet / TechCrunch:
Mistral releases iOS and Android apps and unveils several updates to its AI assistant Le Chat, including a $14.99 per month Pro tier  —  Mistral, the company that is sometimes considered as Europe's great hope for AI, is releasing several updates to Le Chat, its AI assistant product.
Emma Roth / The Verge:
OpenAI opens ChatGPT search to users who are not logged in, after launching it to paying subscribers in October 2024 and logged-in users in December 2024  —  OpenAI is making its AI search engine more accessible.  —  OpenAI is making its AI search engine more accessible.
Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
Stanford and University of Washington AI researchers claim they trained AI reasoning model s1, distilled from a Gemini 2.0 model, for under $50 in cloud compute  —  AI researchers at Stanford and the University of Washington were able to train an AI “reasoning” model for under $50 in cloud compute credits …
Paul Sawers / TechCrunch:
GitHub announces updates for Copilot, including Vision for Copilot to generate interfaces, code, and alt text from a screenshot, photo, or a diagram  —  GitHub has announced a slew of updates for Copilot, while also giving a glimpse into a more agentic future for its AI-powered pair programmer.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Apple is at the center of an escalating US-China geopolitical fight spanning tariffs, regulatory probes, and a backlash caused by anti-US rhetoric in China  —  - The iPhone is in crosshairs of 10% tariffs on Chinese imports  — China also is weighing a probe into company's App Store fees
MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:
Affirm reports Q2 revenue up 47% YoY to $866M, vs. $807M est., GMV up 35% YoY to $10.1B, and active consumers up 23% YoY to 21M; AFRM jumps 10%+ after hours  —  Affirm shares jumped more than 10% in extended trading on Thursday after the provider of buy now, pay later loans, reported better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results.
Bloomberg:
Sources: online payments company Paysafe is exploring a sale after receiving takeover interest; it went public in 2020 in a SPAC deal valued at $9B  —  - Bill Foley-backed payments firm is working with an adviser  — Paysafe went public in 2020 in SPAC deal valued at $9 billion
More: PYMNTS.com
Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg:
Roblox reports Q4 revenue up 32% YoY to $988.2M, bookings up 21% YoY to $1.36B, vs. $1.37B est., and DAUs up 19% YoY to 85.3M, vs. 88.4M est.; RBLX falls 15%+  —  - Roblox had 85.3 million daily active users in fourth quarter  — The company's quarterly bookings reached $1.36 billion
Henry Stockdale / UploadVR:
Interviews with nearly two dozen VR studios on shipping games on Quest, Meta's increased focus on Horizon Worlds, concerns over declining game sales, and more  —  With concerns about declining sales and discoverability, UploadVR spoke with nearly two dozen VR studios to discuss the state of VR development for Quest.

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 7:05 PM ET, February 6, 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

Reshmi Basu / Bloomberg:
QVC Group, owner of TV shopping channels QVC and HSN, files for bankruptcy as part of a plan to cut more than $5B in debt; shares closed down 69% on Thursday

Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Notus will rename itself The Star and relaunch in early June as it adds local news and sports coverage; source: Robert Allbritton will add ~$30M to its funding

Ryan Glasspiegel / Front Office Sports:
Sources: the NFL and YouTube are in advanced talks for a five-game package; deal price and duration were not immediately known

More News

Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:
TrueFoundry, which helps enterprises deploy AI systems at scale, raised $19M led by Intel Capital, taking its total funding to $21M+, and claims 30 customers
Casey Hall / Reuters:
Trump's de minimis cancellation is likely to hit Shein harder than online dollar-store Temu, which has shifted to an Amazon-like bulk overseas shipment strategy
Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
Spanish police arrest and raid a suspected hacker over 40 cyberattacks on critical public and private organizations, seizing 50 crypto accounts, PCs, and more

Earlier Picks

Politico:
The Senate Commerce Committee approves the Kids Off Social Media Act to ban under-13s from social media, clearing the way for consideration by the full Senate
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: OpenAI is expected to air its first TV ad during Super Bowl LIX; MediaRadar says AI companies spent $332M on ads in 2024, over double their 2023 spend
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