Techmeme
February 20, 2025, 2:40 AM

Top News

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils the Majorana 1, its first quantum processor that uses Majorana particles instead of electrons, with the potential to fit a million qubits  —  Microsoft has spent 17 years researching a new material and architecture for quantum computing.
Financial Times:
Microsoft says it has harnessed a new state of matter using particles called Majorana fermions, a significant breakthrough to create workable topological qubits  —  US tech giant says it has harnessed a new state of matter to create the basic building blocks of a quantum machine
Dwarkesh Patel / Dwarkesh Podcast:
Q&A with Satya Nadella on Microsoft's AGI plan, the quantum breakthrough with Majorana 1, how Muse will change gaming, AI's legal barriers, AI safety, and more  —  AGI is not the real benchmark: 10% economic growth is  —  Satya Nadella on:  — Why he doesn't believe in AGI but does believe in 10% economic growth,
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple unveils the $599+ iPhone 16e with a 6.1" display, A18, 48MP camera, Apple Intelligence, the C1 cellular modem, USB-C, and no MagSafe, shipping February 28  —  Apple has officially taken the wraps off of the all-new iPhone 16e.  The device features an all-new design paired with the A18 chip inside …
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
Apple unveils its first in-house cellular modem, the C1, with 5G support, to replace Qualcomm modems, saying it's the most power-efficient iPhone modem ever  —  After years of development, Apple has unveiled what it calls C1, its first-ever in-house cellular modem.
Ryan Christoffel / 9to5Mac:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft announces Muse AI, a first-of-its-kind generative AI model that can generate a game environment based on visuals, players' controller actions, or both  —  Microsoft Research and Xbox game studio Ninja Theory have partnered to create a new AI model for gaming.
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Google is removing Gemini support from the main Google app on iOS, pushing users to download the standalone Gemini app, which it launched in November 2024  —  Google is informing iOS users that it will be removing Gemini support from the main Google app as it pushes users over to the full Gemini app.
Adamya Sharma / Android Authority:
Google is bringing Circle to Search-like visual searches to its Chrome and Google iOS apps, without the Circle to Search branding, as a Google Lens feature  —  The feature will work within the Chrome and Google iOS apps via Lens.  —  •  —  •  —  •  —  TL;DR
Andy Chalk / PC Gamer:
Valve releases a Team Fortress 2 SDK with the game's client and server code, letting users build new Team Fortress 2-based games licensed for non-commercial use  —  Valve has also released major updates to all Source-engine multiplayer games adding 64-bit support, scalable HUDS, “and a lot of other improvements.”
Jon Keegan / Sherwood News:
Perplexity open sources R1 1776, a version of the DeepSeek R1 model that Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas says was “post-trained to remove the China censorship”  —  But shortly after its release, attention turned to how compliant the model was with Chinese censorship laws.
Erik Larson / Bloomberg:
Trump Media and Rumble sue a Brazilian Supreme Court justice, alleging he tried to illegally suppress the US social media activity of conservative Brazilians  —  - Suit targets a supreme court justice who has clashed with Musk  — Brazilian judge has long attacked ‘fake news,’ disinformation
Axios:
Sources: NIST plans to cut 497 people, including 74 postdocs and most staff at its Chips for America program; the AI Safety Institute faces an uncertain future  —  Exit Content Preview … - The cuts come at a time when the U.S. is looking to lead in AI development and stave off competition from China.
Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: top X executives hinted to Interpublic and other ad firms that not spending on X could lead to legal woes, due to X's lawsuit against some advertisers  —  Interpublic recently signed an advertising agreement with the platform; other agencies are also in negotiations
Kim Zetter / Wired:
Source: 19-year-old Edward Coristine and Kyle Schutt, both DOGE engineers, are now on staff at the CISA; Coristine was briefly an intern for Neuralink  —  DOGE technologists Edward Coristine—the 19-year-old known online as “Big Balls”—and Kyle Schutt are now listed as staff at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / TechCrunch:
Filings: US Army soldier Cameron John Wagenius pleads guilty to hacking AT&T and Verizon and stealing a massive trove of phone records from the telcos in 2024  —  Cameron John Wagenius pleaded guilty to hacking AT&T and Verizon and stealing a massive trove of phone records from the companies …
The Block:
The seven-day moving average of Ethereum transaction fees fell to $0.77 on February 15, a 70% week-over-week drop from $2.57 and the lowest since July 2020  —  - The record-low Ethereum fees signal weak demand amid onchain volume decline.  — The following is an excerpt from The Block's Data and Insights newsletter.
Forums: r/ethtrader
Lucy Fisher / Financial Times:
Labour MP Graeme Downie, the chair of the UK's cross-party coalition on secure technology, warns that Chinese components in smart devices pose a sabotage threat  —  Chair of coalition on secure technology says Whitehall needs to take risk of cyber attacks ‘more seriously’
Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:
Uber ditches commissions in favor of daily fees for auto-rickshaw drivers in India in response to increased competition from local rivals Rapido and Namma Yatri  —  Uber is moving away from its commission-based model for three-wheeled motorized rickshaw drivers in India in response …

Sponsor Posts

Clay:
Turn any GTM idea into reality  —  Clay helps GTM teams combine AI agents, enrichment, and intent data to move faster and turn insights into action.
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:
Your website, your brand: A website building guide for tech partners  —  In a competitive market, trust is what makes businesses choose you and stay with you.  As a tech partner, you can take steps to build …
IDrive:
Geometric Grand Unification — Solving the Hubble Tension & Proton Mass  —  Physics solved?  AI verifies model unifying gravity & particles by deriving constants from vacuum geometry.  Identifies void-driven topology.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
Software In Shambles, OpenAI vs. Anthropic Super Brawl, Amazon's Struggles
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:
Elon Musk's Mega-Merger + We Test Google's Project Genie + What's Next for Moltbook Creator
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Jeff Bezos Used To Be In Love with The Washington Post. What Happened?
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.
Cheeky Pint:
Elon Musk on Space GPUs, AI, Optimus, and his manufacturing method
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
Subscribe to Cheeky Pint.
Great Chat:
Is building in public over?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Special Edition: Key findings from the Microsoft AI Diffusion Report
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 2:40 AM ET, February 20, 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

Earlier Picks

James Hunt / The Block:
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
VentureBeat:
Danny Nelson / CoinDesk: