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February 19, 2025, 9:50 AM
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Brody Ford / Bloomberg:
HP plans to acquire assets from Humane for $116M, wind down Humane's Ai Pin business, and add Humane's team, including its founders, as an AI-focused division  —  - Humane's Ai pin business to be wound down after rocky launch  — New unit at HP will focus on implementation of AI in devices
More: Humane Ai Pin, Humane, The Verge, eWeek, How-To Geek, Tom's Hardware, AppleInsider, The Register, New York Times, The Decoder, Digital Trends, Spyglass, Forbes, TechCrunch, Pivot to AI, Silicon Republic, Verdict, TechRadar, en.ain.ua, Android Authority, TechIssuesToday.com, Beebom, Benzinga, The Information, Android Police, Digit, Tom's Guide, The Indian Express, CNET, Business Today, Android Headlines, Pixel Envy, Neowin, 9to5Mac, and Axios
Bluesky: @theopriestley.com, @techsocial, @quillmatiq.com, @wandrme.paxex.aero, @parkscopejoe, @edzitron.com, @quinnypig.com, @daniloc.xyz, @dub, and @caseynewton
Mastodon: @camwilson@mastodon.social, @chipotle@mstdn.social, and @harrymccracken@mastodon …
Threads: @vishwanathsarangkeller, @joannastern, @benedictevans, @documentingmeta, @carnage4life, @young.mete, @young.mete, @eshumarneedi, @tomgara, and @tomgara
X: @aallan, @basicappleguy, @linusekenstam, @raywongy, @michaelmacleod1, @bearlyai, @scobleizer, @markgurman, @gergelyorosz, @maxwinebach, @charliemelbye, @mkbhd, @zck, @nearcyan, @sdw, @sammdec, @gartenberg, @ettinger, @chrisjbakke, @hemeon, @counternotions, @humane, @cohensite, @gonzalo__nunez, @aviel, @rjonesy, @gergelyorosz, @growing_daniel, @willahmed, @mkbhd, @mycoliza, @kateclarktweets, @burnedlead, @mikeisaac, @brianroemmele, @kyliebytes, @gergelyorosz, @trungtphan, @sdw, @thdxr, @jnnnthnn, @pitdesi, @neilcybart, and @gergelyorosz
Forums: r/hardware, r/LinusTechTips, r/Android, r/gadgets, r/technology, and r/apple
Aaron Souppouris / Engadget:
Humane says Ai Pin's online features will stop working at 12PM PT on February 28, when it will delete all customer data, and it will refund some newer customers  —  Humane is discontinuing the AI Pin and selling out to HP.  —  AI hardware startup Humane has given its users just ten (10!) …
VentureBeat:
Sources: Chinese game publisher NetEase has been directed to divest its overseas holdings, starting with hit game Marvel Rivals, which laid off its Seattle team  —  Chinese game publisher NetEase raised fears with recent moves that it is unloading as much as all of its overseas holdings …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Niantic is in talks to sell its games unit to Saudi Arabia-controlled Scopely for ~$3.5B; the deal would include Pokémon Go and other mobile games  —  A deal could be announced in coming weeks.  The price being discussed is about $3.5 billion, according to one of the people.
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Signal updates its apps to add phishing protections after Google warned Russia-linked hackers are using fake QR codes to target Ukrainian soldiers  —  Google warns that hackers tied to Russia are tricking Ukrainian soldiers with fake QR codes for Signal group invites that let spies steal their messages.
Danny Nelson / CoinDesk:
Source: in text messages, Libra co-creator Hayden Davis bragged he could “control” Argentine President Javier Milei due to payments to Milei's sister  —  A key player behind the Libra token bragged about buying access to Argentine President Javier Milei's inner circle months …
Olga Kharif / Bloomberg:
Solana has lost ~25% of its market value, or ~$20B, since February 14 after Argentine President Javier Milei drew criticism for promoting Solana memecoin Libra
Ina Fried / Axios:
Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati announces Thinking Machines Lab, a new AI startup that she's leading, with Barret Zoph as CTO and John Schulman as chief scientist  —  - “Instead of focusing solely on making fully autonomous AI systems, we are excited to build multimodal systems that work …
Katie Roof / Bloomberg:
Sources: X is in talks to raise funds at a $44B valuation, matching the price Elon Musk paid for Twitter in 2022, as his proximity to Trump alters X's prospects  —  - Valuation is the same as Musk's 2022 Twitter acquisition  — Billionaire has recently tapped private markets for big sums
Emilia David / VentureBeat:
OpenAI researchers, using the SWE-Lancer benchmark, find that real-world freelance software engineering work remains challenging for frontier language models  —  Large language models (LLMs) may have changed software development, but enterprises will need to think twice about entirely replacing …
Samantha Subin / CNBC:
Intel shares closed up 16.1% following a February 15 report that both Broadcom and TSMC are potentially weighing deals that could break the chipmaker in two  —  Intel shares rallied 16.1% on Tuesday following a Wall Street Journal report that both Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Silver Lake is in exclusive, advanced talks to acquire a majority stake in Intel's Altera unit; Intel bought Altera for ~$17B in 2015
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
French privacy startup Murena unveils the €539 Murena Pixel Tablet, running its open-source, forked /e/OS, after releasing a “deGoogled” smartphone in 2023  —  Murena, the French privacy firm that's forked Android to deliver so-called deGoogled smartphones, has repeated the trick with a tablet.
Reuters:
President Trump says tariffs on semiconductors would start at “25% or higher” and that he planned to provide some time for chip makers to set up US factories  —  U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he intends to impose auto tariffs “in the neighborhood of 25%” …
Kevin Purdy / Ars Technica:
Asus ROG Flow Z13 review: the ~$2,300 convertible tablet's integrated GPU in its AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip offers performance comparable to a GeForce RTX 4060  —  Looking at this thing, you might expect to see it propped up at an airport bar, in front of somebody talking into wireless headphones about Tim in Product.
Bloomberg:
Internal documents, emails, and federal data suggest Indian IT giant TCS has used L-1A manager visas in ways that raise concerns about undercutting US workers  —  New data show how TCS makes heavy use of employment visas reserved for managers.  Ex-staffers say it was to get around H-1B rules.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google Play Books for iOS now lets users complete their e-book or audiobook purchase on the Google Play website, under Apple's “reader apps” exception  —  Google has gained permission to sell its e-books and audiobooks directly to customers through its iOS app, Google Play Books.

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:50 AM ET, February 19, 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

Brian Stelter / CNN:
Filing: Paramount and state AGs agree to freeze the WBD merger until an antitrust trial occurs or until June 2027; a preliminary injunction hearing is canceled

Natalie Korach / @nataliekorach:
Memo: HuffPost EIC informs staff that ~15 editorial jobs will be cut, the first layoffs under new owner Byron Allen, and executive editor Kate Palmer is leaving

Associated Press:
The DOJ withdraws subpoenas that would have forced three NYT reporters to testify about sources, after a federal judge criticized the DOJ for sloppy legal work

More News

Earlier Picks

José Adorno / BGR:
Protector, an iOS app that offers on-demand personal security, including armed agents, debuts in NYC and LA; adviser Nikita Bier calls it “Uber with guns”
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Starting on February 19, Meta will store Facebook Live broadcasts for 30 days instead of storing them indefinitely and will remove videos older than 30 days
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