Techmeme
February 12, 2025, 11:45 AM

Top News

Foreign Policy:
DOGE accessing Treasury systems and classified data breaks a fundamental security principle and could help the US' adversaries steal data and install backdoors  —  The U.S. government has experienced what may be the most consequential security breach in its history.
Caroline Igo / CNET:
Apple partners with Brigham and Women's Hospital to launch a voluntary, virtual five-year Apple Health Study in its Research app, open to iPhone users in the US  —  I got the inside scoop on Apple Health's new five-year research study.  All Apple users can participate starting today.
Kate Knibbs / Wired:
Thomson Reuters wins the first major US AI copyright ruling against fair use, in a case filed in May 2020 against legal research AI startup Ross Intelligence  —  The Thomson Reuters decision has big implications for the battle between generative AI companies and rights holders.
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple now lets users migrate apps, music, books, shows, and movies between Apple accounts, but the feature isn't available to users in the EU, the UK, or India  —  If you have two Apple Accounts with multiple digital purchases between them, Apple now has a way for you to consolidate the accounts …
Wired:
A letter to Sen. Ron Wyden claimed Datastream, which sold US military location data, got the data from Lithuanian ad tech company Eskimi, but Eskimi denies this  —  In a letter to a US senator, a Florida-based data broker says it obtained sensitive data on US military members in Germany …
Euractiv:
After the AI Action Summit, the EU Commission says it will withdraw the AI Liability Directive, a strategic move to show goodwill to the Trump administration  —  The Commission justified its removal by saying it could see “no foreseeable agreement” on the directive.  —  This article is exceptionally available for free!
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Researcher Johann Rehberger shows a hack to override Gemini's prompt injection defenses, letting an attacker plant long-term memories for all future sessions  —  In the nascent field of AI hacking, indirect prompt injection has become a basic building block for inducing chatbots …
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Adobe launches Generate Video in public beta via its redesigned Firefly web app, alongside new image generation, translation, and AI credit subscription tiers  —  Generate Video is now in public beta, allowing anyone to generate five-second video clips at 1080p.
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google schedules I/O 2025 for May 20 to 21 in Mountain View, with the main keynote on May 20 at 10am PT; Gemini, Android 16, and more announcements are expected  —  Following the “Prism Shift” puzzle this morning, Google has announced that I/O 2025 is taking place Tuesday, May 20
The Logic:
Internal message: Shopify's general council said the company closed Ye's store since the swastika shirt listed for sale “brought with it the real risk of fraud”  —  TORONTO — Shopify's general counsel said the company took down musician Kanye West's online store because of the potential …
Carl Franzen / VentureBeat:
Sam Altman says OpenAI plans to give 10 Deep Research queries per month to its $20/month ChatGPT Plus users and two per month to its ChatGPT free users  —  Earlier this month, OpenAI debuted a new AI agent powered by its upcoming full o3 reasoning AI model called “Deep Research.”
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Google rolls out AI image remixing tool Whisk to 100+ countries, letting users upload three images for subject, scene, and style to remix, powered by Imagen 3  —  Google keeps releasing experimental products built with its AI models to give users a taste of its capabilities.
More: Neowin
Katarina Hoije / Bloomberg:
Central African Republic, the first African country to adopt BTC as legal tender, launches CAR MEME on Solana, trading at $0.03 on February 11, down nearly 90%  —  - CAR Meme is second cryptocurrency launched by the country  — Nation first in Africa to adopt Bitcoin as tender in 2022
Bloomberg:
White House document: President Trump plans to nominate Brian Quintenz, a16z Crypto's head of policy and a former GOP commissioner at the CFTC, to lead the CFTC  —  - Trump to tap Jonathan Gould as Comptroller of the Currency  — Trump also set to nominate Jonathan McKernan as CFPB director
Stephen Nellis / Reuters:
Groq says Saudi Arabia has committed $1.5B over the course of 2025, to expand the delivery of the US startup's AI inference chips for LLMs to the country  —  U.S. semiconductor startup Groq said on Monday it has secured a $1.5 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to expand the delivery of its advanced AI chips to the country.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Soxton:
AI-powered law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
Zoho:
Zoho CRM Plus in 2025: A year of thoughtful CX improvements  —  2025 marked 11 years of building a customer experience platform designed to support organizations as customer expectations, channels …
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

Big Technology Podcast:
Alex And Ranjan's 2026 Outlook: ChatGPT 1 Billion, AI Shopping, Apple's Big Year, AI Love Boom
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.
Hard Fork:
Where Is All the A.I.-Driven Scientific Progress?
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'A Naughty Citizen', With Quinn Nelson
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Podcast Pioneer PJ Vogt's Second Act: Less Budget, More Control
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
BG2 Pod:
AI Enterprise - Databricks & Glean
Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner.
Subscribe to BG2 Pod.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:45 AM ET, February 12, 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.

More News

Dylan Butts / CNBC:

Earlier Picks

Emma Goldberg / New York Times:
Samantha Subin / CNBC:
The Information: