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February 21, 2025, 10:30 AM
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memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: |
Apple removes Advanced Data Protection in the UK for new users, pulling the optional E2EE feature rather than complying with the UK's order to build a backdoor — - Company removes Advanced Data Protection feature for UK users — “We never will” build backdoor to user data, iPhone maker says
More: BBC, Washington Post, 9to5Mac, and MacRumors
Bluesky: @northamptonian, @radiobeartime.com, @chancemiller.me, and @martinsfp
X: @timsweeneyepic, @matthew_d_green, @bzamayo, @matthew_d_green, @matthew_d_green, @matthew_d_green, @dcurtis, @markgurman, @leokelion, and @markgurman
Forums: Hacker News and r/apple
| Jesse Pound / CNBC: |
Coinbase says the US SEC agreed “in principle” to drop its 2023 case against the company, calling it “righting a major wrong” and a “huge day” for crypto — - CNBC Councils — CNBC on Peacock — Join the CNBC Panel — Supply Chain Values
More: New York Times, Reuters, Coinbase, The Verge, The Block, CoinDesk, Decrypt, CoinDesk, Wall Street Journal, Benzinga, Financial Times, Fortune, Forbes, Yahoo Finance, CoinJournal, Watcher Guru, CryptoPotato, crypto.news, Coinpedia Fintech News, ZeroHedge News, CoinGape, Blockonomi, Crypto Briefing, CryptoSlate, Cryptopolitan, and Blockchain News
Bluesky: @hardwarelust. X: @brian_armstrong, @misterkeegan, @billbarx, @brian_armstrong, @stefancoh, @jchervinsky, @hishboy, @faryarshirzad, @bartro, @cryptomanran, @thatgerald, @gregtusar, @arrington, @mdudas, @mdudas, and @coinbase
| 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 …
More: Microsoft Research, Computerworld, Internet of Things News, Inc42 Media, and WinBuzzer
X: @5000hui, @azeem, and @jw2yang4ai
Forums: Hacker News and Ars OpenForum
| Saritha Rai / Bloomberg: |
DeepSeek plans to open source five of its 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| Wired: |
How Breeze Liu, an advocate for digital abuse victims, got Microsoft to scrub 142 nonconsensual explicit images of herself from Azure after months of struggle — Breeze Liu has been a prominent advocate for victims. But even she struggled to scrub nonconsensual intimate images and videos of herself from the web.| 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 January 2020, including AI's impact — Hi, this is Gergely with a bonus issue of the Pragmatic Engineer Newsletter. In every issue, I cover topics related to Big Tech … | 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
More: Federal Trade Commission, Platformer, Ars Technica, Reuters, The Information, Wall Street Journal, SiliconANGLE, Tech in Asia, The Hill, New York Post, The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, MediaPost, Japan Today, The Gateway Pundit, PYMNTS.com, Fox Business, MLex, TechCrunch, and The Daily Caller
Bluesky: @caseynewton, @zero-to-hero, @mmasnick, @leahnylen, @leahnylen, and @leahnylen
X: @afergusonftc, @mholyoakftc, @nicoperrino, @josephvconiglio, @allumbokhari, @ambermarieduke, @mikebenzcyber, @nathanleamerdc, @robmcgravytrain, @benbrodydc, @adamkovac, @wesghodges, @zephyrteachout, @josephvconiglio, @realjdenton, @randyebarnett, @sayssimonson, @ryangrim, @wendyndavis, @andyjungtech, @afergusonftc, @castrotech, @ftc, @benremaly, and @afergusonftc. Forums: r/FreeSpeech
| Bloomberg: |
On Alibaba's Q3 earnings call, CEO Eddie Wu calls the pursuit of AGI the company's “primary objective”, saying “our first and foremost goal is to pursue AGI” — “Our first and foremost goal is to pursue AGI,” Eddie Wu told investors on a call after the company reported results that surpassed analyst estimates.| 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 … | 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 …
More: Engadget, Moneycontrol, The Economic Times, Digit, Silicon UK, WinBuzzer, MSPoweruser, Business Standard, and The Decoder. X: @openai
| Jonathan Vanian / CNBC: |
SEC filing: Meta raises executives' annual bonuses from 75% to 200% of their base salary, after reportedly cutting most employees' annual stock options by ~10% — Executives at Meta stand to get bigger bonuses this year. — The company said in a corporate filing Thursday that it had approved …
More: Financial Times, UPI, Quartz, RTTNews, Financial Express, Business Insider, TechSpot, Fortune, Forbes, Cryptopolitan, Proactive, and Yahoo Finance
Forums: r/news, r/facebook, r/antiwork, r/Layoffs, and r/technology
| Steve Lohr / New York Times: |
Software engineers, academics, and others say AI coding tools will likely prompt an evolution rather than extinction, pushing developers to learn new skills — A.I. tools from Microsoft and other companies are helping write code, placing software engineers at the forefront of the technology's potential to disrupt the work force.| Ian Duncan / Washington Post: |
Sources: the NHTSA is losing about 10% of its workforce through firings and buyout offers, including half of a small team that regulates autonomous vehicles — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is losing about 10 percent of its workforce through firings and buyout offers, according to people briefed on the cuts.
More: TechCrunch, Jalopnik, Quartz, and CNBC
| MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC: |
Block reports Q4 revenue up 4% YoY to $6.03B, vs. $6.29B est., gross profit up 14% YoY to $2.31B, and Cash App gross profit up 16% YoY to $1.38B; XYZ drops 10%+ — 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 that 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.
More: TechCrunch, Meta, Android Headlines, Meta, MEDIANAMA, TechSpot, TechIssuesToday.com, PhoneArena, and Tech in Asia
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