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April 8, 2025, 12:30 PM
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Top News

Kylie Robison / The Verge:
LMArena says it is updating its leaderboard policies after a Llama 4 Maverick version, which Meta said in fine print is not public, secured the number two spot  —  With Llama 4, Meta fudged benchmarks to appear as though its new AI model is better than the competition.
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Meta VP of Generative AI Ahmad Al-Dahle denies a rumor that the company trained Llama 4 Maverick and Scout on test sets, saying that Meta “would never do that”
Ben Weiss / Fortune:
Internal memo: the US DOJ disbands the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Unit, established by Biden in 2021, as the agency is “not a digital assets regulator”  —  The U.S. Department of Justice notified staff on Monday evening that the agency was disbanding a unit dedicated to crypto-related investigations.
Darryn Bonthuys / GameSpot:
Nintendo says the Switch 2's Game-Key cards, which trigger a game download when loaded, are not tied to a user's account and can be resold, unlike the Switch's  —  Nintendo's new Game-Key cards will work in any Switch 2 console they're inserted into.  —  With the Switch 2 generation …
Reuters:
Sources: US officials say DOGE is using AI to surveil at least one federal agency's communications for anti-Trump talk; a source says DOGE is also using Signal  —  Trump administration officials have told some U.S. government employees that Elon Musk's DOGE team of technologists …
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Google says all new Google TV devices in the US must now have a remote with a Free TV or Live TV button that opens its Freeplay library of 150+ FAST channels  —  Starting this month, new Google TV devices will have a big “Free TV” button on their remotes  — Google has confirmed …
Matthew Gault / 404 Media:
Framework pauses sales of its six lowest-priced laptops in the US, saying the models would sell at a loss due to the 10% tariff that went into effect on April 5  —  Framework—a company that makes upgradeable and repairable laptops—has said it will pause sales on several versions …
Umar Shakir / The Verge:
Google rolls out Gemini Live camera and screenshare features to the Pixel 9 series and Samsung Galaxy S25 devices, available in 45 languages for users 18 and up  —  It's also coming soon to paid Gemini Advanced users on other devices. … Google's Gemini Live camera and screenshare functions …
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Meta rolls out Teen Accounts to Facebook and Messenger, automatically enrolling users and adding built-in protections, in the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada  —  Meta is introducing Teen Accounts to Facebook and Messenger.  The feature, which automatically enrolls young users …
Bloomberg:
Apple Store employees say the past few days have felt like the busy holiday season, as the threat of tariffs and potential price hikes sparked a shopping frenzy  —  - Store sales were higher this past weekend than in prior years  — Employees say the frenzy has felt like holiday shopping season
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Apple plans to send more iPhones to the US from India to offset the China tariffs, but the situation is too uncertain to upend supply chain investments
Rebecca Szkutak / TechCrunch:
IBM unveils the z17 mainframe with a Telum II chip, able to process 450B daily inference operations, 50% more than the z16 released in 2022, available on June 8  —  IBM is releasing the latest version of its mainframe hardware that includes new updates meant to accelerate AI adoption.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Memo: Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke says using AI is now a “fundamental expectation” and that teams asking for more resources must first show why AI can't do the job  —  Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke is changing his company's approach to hiring in the age of artificial intelligence.
Bloomberg:
Publishers say site traffic has plummeted since Google rolled out AI Overviews; sources say Google acknowledged the drop in an October 2024 publisher meeting  —  In March 2024, website owner Morgan McBride was posing for photos in her half-renovated kitchen for a Google ad celebrating the ways …
Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:
Rain, which offers an employer-integrated personal finance and earned wage access app, raised a $75M Series B led by Prosus at a $340M post-money valuation  —  Rain, a startup offering employer-integrated earned wage access (EWA) app coupled with financial-wellness features like overdraft alerts …
More: FinSMEs
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Emergency response drone maker Brinc announced $75M in funding led by Index Ventures, bringing total raised to $157.2M; Motorola will become Brinc's distributor  —  Seattle-based Brinc announced $75 million in new funding and a strategic alliance with Motorola Solutions …
More: DroneDJ

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 12:30 PM ET, April 8, 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

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Trump says Stephen Colbert is a “pathetic trainwreck” and “CBS should, ‘put him to sleep,’ NOW”; earlier CBS aired the Kennedy Center Honors, hosted by Trump

Zachary Leeman / Mediaite:
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller calls for CBS staff who “revolted” over Bari Weiss' decision to postpone 60 Minutes' CECOT segment to be fired

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Comcast extends Mike Cavanagh's contract through January 1, 2029, and grants a ~$35M performance-based stock package; he's set to become co-CEO in January 2026

More News

Earlier Picks

Andrej Karpathy / @karpathy:
LLMs, unlike prior transformative tech like the internet, disproportionately benefit regular people, with a muted, slower impact on corporations and governments
Vallari Srivastava / Reuters:
Infineon agrees to acquire Marvell's Automotive Ethernet business, expected to generate $225M to $250M in 2025 revenue, for ~$2.5B in cash, set to close in 2025
Ryan Whitwam / Ars Technica:
Google rolls out Search's AI Mode feature to millions more Labs users in the US with multimodal capabilities, letting users ask complex questions about pictures
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