Techmeme
May 23, 2025, 11:35 AM

Top News

Jesse Pound / CNBC:
Trump says a 25%+ tariff “must be paid by Apple” on iPhones not made in the US, and he told Tim Cook long ago that iPhones sold in the US must be made in the US  —  President Donald Trump said in a social media post Friday morning that Apple will have to pay a tariff of 25% …
Reuters:
Sources: DOGE is using a customized Grok to analyze US government data, including at DHS where it has not been approved, raising security and privacy concerns  —  Billionaire Elon Musk's DOGE team is expanding use of his artificial intelligence chatbot Grok in the U.S. federal government to analyze data …
Anthropic:
Anthropic releases new API features for building agents: a code execution tool, an MCP connector, a Files API, and extended prompt caching, all in public beta  —  Today, we're announcing four new capabilities on the Anthropic API that enable developers to build more powerful AI agents …
Anthropic:
Rhiannon Williams / MIT Technology Review:
Kylie Robison / Wired:
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: companies co-owned by JPMorgan Chase, BOA, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and other large commercial banks are exploring whether to issue a joint stablecoin  —  The discussions involve payments companies co-owned by JPMorgan Chase, other large banks  —  The nation's biggest banks …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Bluesky lets “notable and authentic” accounts apply for blue check verification and enables select organizations to become Trusted Verifiers to verify others  —  Bluesky on Thursday quietly opened the doors to those who want to become verified on its social networking service.
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
The US DOJ charges 16 individuals allegedly linked to a Russia-based malware operation known as DanaBot that infected 300,000+ machines globally  —  A new US indictment against a group of Russian nationals offers a clear example of how, authorities say, a single malware operation can enable both criminal and state-sponsored hacking.
Jody Godoy / Reuters:
The US FTC drops a case that sought to block Microsoft's $69B purchase of Activision Blizzard, saying that pursuing the case was not in the public interest  —  The U.S. Federal Trade Commission dropped a case that sought to block Microsoft's (MSFT.O) $69-billion purchase of “Call of Duty” …
Wall Street Journal:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple aims to release smart glasses at the end of 2026 as part of a push into AI devices, but has shelved plans for an Apple Watch with a camera  —  Apple Inc. is aiming to release smart glasses at the end of next year as part of a push into AI-enhanced gadgets …
Ionut Ilascu / BleepingComputer:
The US DOJ indicts a Russian national for allegedly leading the Qakbot malware operation that infected 700K+ computers and enabled ransomware attacks for years  —  The U.S. government has indicted Russian national Rustam Rafailevich Gallyamov, the leader of the Qakbot botnet malware operation …
Philip Stafford / Financial Times:
UK-based R3, a blockchain tech developer for financial institutions, partners with the Solana Foundation to let R3 customers use the Solana blockchain  —  R3 reaches agreement with Solana Foundation in move to tokenise global stocks, bonds and funds  —  Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT …
Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
Anthropic's System Card: Opus 4 often attempted to blackmail engineers by threatening to reveal sensitive personal info when it was threatened with replacement  —  Anthropic's newly launched Claude Opus 4 model frequently tries to blackmail developers when they threaten to replace …
Sam Bowman / @sleepinyourhat:
Billy Perrigo / Time:
Reuters:
Sources: OnlyFans owner Fenix is in talks to sell OnlyFans to an investor group led by Forest Road Company at an ~$8B valuation and is also considering an IPO  —  OnlyFans owner Fenix International Ltd is in talks to sell the porn-driven company to an investor group at a valuation of around $8 billion …
Francesca Stevens / Bloomberg:
Vietnam orders ISPs to block Telegram over its failure to prevent illegal content and activities, including fraud, drug sales and suspected terrorism on the app  —  Vietnam authorities have instructed local telecoms and internet service providers to block the Telegram messaging app in the country …
More: Reuters

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More News

Harry McCracken / Fast Company:
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Earlier Picks

David Heaney / UploadVR:
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Will Oremus / Washington Post:
New York Times:
Sam Biddle / The Intercept:
The Mozilla Blog: