Techmeme
February 21, 2025, 9:55 AM

Top News

Jesse Pound / CNBC:
Benj Edwards / Ars Technica:
Microsoft researchers introduce Magma, an AI foundation model that combines visual and language processing to control software interfaces and robotic systems  —  On Wednesday, Microsoft Research introduced Magma, an integrated AI foundation model that combines visual and language processing …
Emily Birnbaum / Bloomberg:
US FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson announces an inquiry into “Big Tech censorship”, which he calls “un-American” and “potentially illegal”, and seeks public comment  —  - FTC Chair Ferguson invites public comment about tech platforms  — Conservatives claim ideas, affiliations have been censored
MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:
Block reports Q4 revenue up 4.5% YoY to $6.03B vs. $6.29B est., gross profit up 14% to $2.31B, Cash App gross profit up 16% to $1.38B; XYZ drops 6%+ after hours  —  Block reported fourth-quarter results on Thursday that fell short of Wall Street expectations.  The stock dropped more than 7% in extended trading.
Ian Carlos Campbell / Engadget:
Meta says US users over 18 can now sign up to be a Community Notes contributor on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads; notes will have a 500-character limit  —  The company is replacing third-party fact-checking with Community Notes on Threads, Instagram and Facebook.
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
Filing: Meta approves raising executives' annual bonuses to 200% of base salary, up from 75%, as most employees' annual stock options are reportedly cut by ~10%  —  Executives at Meta stand to get bigger bonuses this year.  —  The company said in a corporate filing Thursday that it had approved …
Gergely Orosz / The Pragmatic Engineer:
A look at the potential reasons why software developer job listings on Indeed hit a five-year low in January, down 35% from 2020, including the impact of AI  —  Hi, this is Gergely with a bonus issue of the Pragmatic Engineer Newsletter.  In every issue, I cover topics related to Big Tech …
Bluesky: @kakurady.caX: @gergelyorosz and @gergelyorosz
Forums: Hacker News and Slashdot
Saritha Rai / Bloomberg:
DeepSeek will start open-sourcing five code repositories next week, letting anyone download, build on, or improve the code behind its well-regarded AI models  —  - The startup will begin making technology available next week  — DeepSeek is pushing harder on its open-source approach
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
OpenAI launches Operator in the UK, Japan, and most ChatGPT regions, and says it's working to expand to the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Iceland  —  OpenAI said on Friday that it is rolling out Operator, its so-called AI agent that can perform tasks on behalf of users …
Anna Tong / Reuters:
Source: AI search engine startup Genspark raised a $100M Series A at a $530M valuation and currently has over 2M MAUs; it raised a $60M seed in June 2024  —  Search startup Genspark has raised $100 million in a series A funding round, valuing the startup at $530 million …
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
YouTube plans to add a “premium lite” tier, a source says for the US, Australia, Germany, and Thailand, offering podcasts without ads and music videos with ads  —  - The service will continue to put ads in music videos  — The tier will launch in areas that include the US, Australia

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Featured Podcasts

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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.
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More News

Ben Lang / Road to VR:

Earlier Picks

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Matt Novak / Gizmodo:
New York Times:
Ryan Christoffel / 9to5Mac:
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch: