Open Links In New Tab
Mobile Archives Advertise Site News
Techmeme
May 20, 2025, 5:20 PM
Mediagazer memeorandum WeSmirch
Home River Leaderboards About Events Newsletter

Top News

Igor Bonifacic / Engadget:
Google's AI Mode, its chatbot for Search, rolls out to everyone in the US and will include features like Deep Search, agentic capabilities, and chart generation  —  Google has begun rolling out AI Mode to every Search user in the US.  The company announced the expansion during its I/O 2025 conference.
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google launches Google AI Ultra, a subscription plan with the highest usage limits and access to its most capable models, rolling out in the US for $250/month  —  To date, AI Premium is how you access the latest features from Google.  At I/O 2025, that subscription tier is being renamed to …
Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
Google says Project Astra will power new capabilities in Search, including a new Search Live feature, as well as in the Gemini AI app and third-party products  —  Google announced on Tuesday during Google I/O 2025 that Project Astra — the company's low latency, multimodal AI experience …
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Google will soon let users shop in AI Mode, unveils agentic checkout, and updates its virtual try-on feature in Search Labs for clothes shoppers in the US  —  There's also a new way to find products you're looking for in AI Mode. … Google is taking its virtual try-on feature to a new level.
Victoria Song / The Verge:
Google says it is partnering with Samsung, Gentle Monster, Xreal, and Warby Parker to create Android XR smart glasses, offering AI assistance via Gemini  —  With smart glasses, Google seems to be taking a page out of Meta and Ray-Ban's book. … Google's second era of smart glasses is off to a chic start.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Xreal unveils Project Aura, expected to be the first Android XR glasses, powered by a separate puck with a Qualcomm chip, slated to launch by early 2026  —  Alphabet Inc.'s Google has entered the glasses race by partnering with Xreal Inc. on the first spectacles to run an augmented-reality version of its operating system.
Amanda Kooser / CNET:
Google previews Beam, an evolution of its Starline 3D video calling tech it developed with HP, that uses a six-camera array for more immersive video chats
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Google unveils Gemini in Chrome, which initially works across just two tabs but will eventually support many and be agentic, for Google AI Pro and Ultra users  —  Google's AI assistant will be able to help you while you browse. … Google is adding its Gemini AI assistant to Chrome, the company announced at Google I/O on Tuesday.
Google on YouTube:
A recording of the Google I/O 2025 keynote  —  It's time to I/O!  Tune in to learn the latest news, announcements, and AI updates from Google.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple plans to unveil at WWDC an SDK and related frameworks to let third-party devs build AI features based on LLMs it uses for Apple Intelligence  —  Apple Inc. is preparing to allow third-party developers to write software using its artificial intelligence models …
CNBC:
Google announces new video and image generation models Veo 3 and Imagen 4, alongside a new AI filmmaking tool Flow and expanded access to Lyria 2  —  Google on Tuesday announced Veo 3, an AI video generator that can also create and incorporate audio.  —  The artificial intelligence tool competes …
Taryn Plumb / VentureBeat:
Google debuts Deep Think, an enhanced reasoning mode in Gemini 2.5 Pro that it says excels at math and coding, available to “trusted testers” via the Gemini API
Billy Steele / Engadget:
Google brings live translation to Google Meet, matching the user's tone and cadence, first in beta for Spanish and English on Google AI Pro and Ultra plans
Emanuel Maiberg / 404 Media:
Civitai blames a “configuration issue” for allowing users to generate non-consensual porn; it appears that users can still create such videos of non-celebrities  —  404 Media found that people were using Civitai to create nonconsensual AI porn videos of anyone for a small price.
More: ZDNET and The Verge
Bluesky: @emanuelmaiberg and @josephcox.  Mastodon: @jbhall56@infosec.exchange
Forums: r/law and r/politics
Financial Times:
UK tech unicorn Builder.ai, backed by Microsoft, Qatar, and others, says it is entering insolvency proceedings due to financial and past leadership “problems”  —  Once high-flying group founded by Sachin Dev Duggal says its was unable to recover from ‘past decisions’
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
The ad-supported web is dying, and the next development to accelerate this may be the agentic web, which Microsoft is pushing via NLWeb and MCP support  —  Ethan Zuckerman wrote in The Atlantic in 2014: … Marc Andreessen, who was there when the web was born, explained in a 2019 podcast …
Ryan S. Gladwin / Decrypt:
Michael Arrington says Coinbase's recent data breach “will lead to people dying”, calls for KYC rules reassessment and prison for execs failing to protect users  —  The founder of online news publication TechCrunch has claimed that Coinbase's recent data breach “will lead to people dying …
Wall Street Journal:
Analysis: four of the world's top 50 tech companies are European, and none of the top 10 quantum companies are in Europe, as the continent lags the US and China  —  A risk-averse business culture and complex regulations have stifled innovation on the continent, weighing on its future

Sponsor Posts

Soxton:
Fast, affordable 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!
F5:
Accelerate AI Adoption at F5's AI Virtual Summit  —  Learn how to architect, secure, and scale AI for production with real-world insights from industry leaders on June 23.  Register now to save your spot.
Zoho:
Website Traffic Analytics: How to Read Your Data and Take Action  —  Traffic is up.  Sessions look healthy.  The dashboard is full of green arrows and yet — conversions are flat, revenue targets are slipping, and the leads coming through aren't closing.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
Sponsor Techmeme

Featured Podcasts

Lenny's Podcast:
 Father of the iPod and iPhone on building taste, judgment, and creativity in the AI era | Tony Fadell
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
 Will Apple (Finally) Get AI Right At WWDC?, Anthropic's Worry, Microsoft vs. OpenAI
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:
 Hot I.P.O Summer + What Is A.I. Doing to Math? + HatGPT
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.
The Upstarts Podcast:
 Vanta's Christina Cacioppo: The Underdog Turning 'Nonsense' Compliance Into A $4.2B Security Standout
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Great Chat:
 Who are the billboards for?
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:
 AI's Mythos Moment: Rishi Sunak on preparing governments for AI
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.
Add your podcast here
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:20 PM ET, May 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.

From Mediagazer

Lulu Garcia-Navarro / New York Times:
Q&A with Scott Pelley on his last days at 60 Minutes, CBS News' Bari Weiss era, “Black Thursday massacre” firings, confronting Nick Bilton publicly, and more

Samuel Stolton / Bloomberg:
Sources: Paramount Skydance is open to selling some children's TV network assets to help win EU approval of its $110B bid for WBD ahead of a July 7 deadline

Anthony D'Alessandro / Deadline:
Backrooms, which has a budget of ~$10M, becomes A24's highest grossing movie ever with $212.6M in global box office in ten days, beating Marty Supreme's $191.2M

More News

Bloomberg:
Malaysia downplays its deal to use 3,000 Huawei chips to build a first-of-its-kind AI system by 2026, underscoring its delicate position in the US-China AI race

Earlier Picks

Politico:
France says it banned Telegram founder Pavel Durov on May 12 from going to the US for “negotiations with investment funds”, after arresting him in August 2024
More: 404 Media, Engadget, and Decrypt
X: @durov, @durov, and @victorglaf.  Forums: Slashdot
New York Times:
President Trump's recent Middle East trip helped Elon Musk's SpaceX and Neuralink cut lucrative deals, deepening Musk's ties to the Gulf's autocratic monarchies
Bloomberg:
Sources: Nintendo picked Samsung to produce the Switch 2's main chips, aiming to sell 20M+ units by March 2026, a key win for Samsung as it competes with TSMC
Steven T. Dennis / Bloomberg:
The US Senate advances the GENIUS Act, a stablecoin bill, after a group of Democrats dropped their opposition on May 19, a major victory for the crypto industry
Mediagazer memeorandum WeSmirch
Home River Leaderboards About Events Newsletter