Techmeme
April 24, 2025, 5:45 PM

Top News

Alphabet:
Alphabet reports Q1 revenue up 12% YoY to $90.2B, net income up 46% to $34.54B, Services revenue up 10% to $77.3B, and Other Bets revenue down 9% to $450M  —  MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - April 24, 2025 - Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) today announced financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2025.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Alphabet says it surpassed 270M paid subscriptions, driven by YouTube and Google One, and reports YouTube Q1 ad revenue up 10.3% YoY to $8.93B, vs. $8.97B est.  —  YouTube continues to rake in money from advertisers worldwide, with the video giant's ad revenue reaching $8.93 billion …
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Adobe unveils its Firefly Image Model 4 and Model 4 Ultra, launches a redesigned Firefly web app, is testing a new Adobe Content Authenticity web app, and more  —  Adobe on Thursday launched the latest iteration of its Firefly family of image generation AI models, a model for generating vectors …
Allison Johnson / The Verge:
Motorola unveils three new Razr models, including the $1,300 Razr Ultra flip phone with a 7-inch inner and 4-inch outer screen and wood option, shipping May 15  —  The new high-end Razr Ultra comes with an Ultra price. … Motorola is kicking off hot foldable summer in style — and a little early this year.
Hayden Field / CNBC:
Motorola's new Razr phones will include Perplexity's AI search engine, as part of a distribution partnership that lets Perplexity gain users rather than revenue  —  Perplexity AI is getting in on the smartphone game.  —  The startup on Thursday announced a partnership to bring …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Meta moves Threads from Threads.net to Threads.com and updates its web app, including features to more easily access custom feeds, create new columns, and more  —  Instagram Threads, Meta's newest social network and X competitor, is officially relocating from the website Threads.net to Threads.com.
Dominic Preston / The Verge:
The EU unveils new mandatory labels for smartphones and tablets sold in the bloc that rate energy efficiency, durability, and repairability, starting June 20  —  Tablets are also covered by the scheme, which takes effect in June. … The European Union has announced details of new mandatory labels …
Financial Times:
Elon Musk is stepping back from DOGE in May, spending 1-2 days per week on government work, as tariffs, customer anger, and Chinese competition weigh on Tesla  —  Billionaire's foray into government coincided with increased competition from Chinese rivals  —  In the days following Donald …
Bloomberg:
US v. Google: DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg testifies that Chrome is worth “upwards of $50B if it went on the market” based on “back-of-the-envelope” math  —  - DuckDuckGo CEO estimated potential sale price at DOJ hearing  — Justice Department has asked that court order Chrome's sale
Adrienne So / Wired:
On the Apple Watch's 10th anniversary, a look at how Apple reshaped the watch industry and ushered in a new age of fitness tracking  —  When the Apple Watch launched, it was unclear if smartwatches would pan out.  Ten years later, Apple has a $100-billion hit that reshaped the watch industry …
Phoebe Liu / Forbes:
Infinite Reality, a metaverse startup that claims it is valued at $15.5B, faces questions about the legitimacy of its funding, investor identities, and more  —  Florida-based Infinite Reality claims it raised more than $3 billion from a sole unnamed investor.
Kevin Roose / New York Times:
An interview with Kyle Fish, who Anthropic hired in 2024 as a welfare researcher to study AI consciousness and estimates a ~15% chance that models are conscious  —  As artificial intelligence systems become smarter, one A.I. company is trying to figure out what to do if they become conscious.
Bloomberg:
Meta lays off Reality Labs staffers, affecting Oculus Studios teams; sources: 100+ staff are affected, including those involved in Meta's hardware efforts  —  The latest round of job cuts impacted Reality Labs staff focused on creating VR experiences for Meta's Quest headsets …
European Commission:
The European Commission says that Meta's Facebook Marketplace should no longer be designated under the DMA, citing fewer than 10,000 business users in 2024  —  Today, the European Commission found that Apple breached its anti-steering obligation under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) …
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Revolut reports 2024 revenue up 72% YoY to £3.1B, net profit up 149% YoY to £1.1B, and wealth unit revenue up 298% YoY to £506M; its loan book grew 86% to £979M  —  LONDON — British fintech firm Revolut on Thursday announced it topped $1 billion in annual profit for the first time …
Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch:
VW and Uber unveil an ambitious plan to launch a commercial robotaxi service using ID. BUZZ vehicles in US cities over the next decade, starting in LA in 2026  —  Volkswagen of America and Uber on Thursday unveiled an ambitious plan to launch a commercial robotaxi service — using autonomous electric VW ID.
Larry Dignan / Constellation Research:
Microsoft's 2025 Work Trend Index report, based on a survey of 31,000 people, argues that “Frontier Firms” utilizing agentic AI as digital workers are emerging  —  As enterprises adopt AI agents and digital workers, companies' success may depend on the human-agent ratio and how workflows are managed.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
İFÖD: Bluesky restricted access to 72 accounts in Turkey at the government's request; the accounts are available on third-party apps using the AT Protocol  —  Government censorship has found its way to Bluesky, but there's currently a loophole thanks to how the social network is structured.
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Ziff Davis sues OpenAI, alleging it used Ziff Davis' content to train AI models; sources say Ziff Davis is seeking at least hundreds of millions of dollars  —  Ziff Davis, which owns more than 45 media properties, is accusing the tech company of infringing on the publisher's copyrights and diluting its trademarks.

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Featured Podcasts

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Reuters:
Dan Milmo / The Guardian:

Earlier Picks

Victoria Song / The Verge:
Naomi Nix / Washington Post:
Umar Shakir / The Verge:
Stephanie Lai / Bloomberg: