Techmeme
July 18, 2025, 6:40 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
President Trump signs the GENIUS Act, and says the first federal bill to regulate stablecoins will “secure the dollar's status as the world's reserve currency”  —  President Donald Trump signed the first federal bill to regulate stablecoins, hailing it as a “giant step …
Washington Post:
Analysis: nearly 70 Trump administration officials and nominees held crypto or investments in blockchain or digital-asset firms at the time of their selection  —  Trump$51M  —  Data uses minimum assets values from nominee financial disclosures filed by July 9.
Gian Volpicelli / Bloomberg:
Joel Kaplan says Meta won't sign EU's AI code of practice, calling its guidelines overreach that will throttle development and deployment of AI models in Europe  —  Meta Platforms Inc. said it won't sign the code of practice for Europe's new set of laws governing artificial intelligence …
Jessica Lyons / The Register:
Google files a lawsuit in the US against 25 unnamed individuals in China, accusing them of operating the BadBox 2.0 botnet, compromising 10M+ devices worldwide  —  Ads giant complains of damage to its reputation and finances ... and crime, too  —  Google has filed a lawsuit …
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Apple sues YouTuber Jon Prosser and an Apple staffer's friend over iOS 26 leaks, for allegedly accessing the staffer's iPhone; Prosser denies the claim  —  Earlier this year, YouTuber Jon Prosser shared multiple videos showing off what he claimed to be re-created renderings of what was then presumed …
Osmond Chia / BBC:
Ted Sarandos says The Eternaut featured the first GenAI final footage in a Netflix original and that the VFX costs would have been too high otherwise  —  Netflix says it has used visual effects created by generative artificial intelligence (AI) in one of its original TV shows for the first time.
Eleanor Hawkins / Axios:
Source: the CEO and the chief people officer of Astronomer were put on leave after a video of them cuddling on a kiss cam at a Coldplay concert went viral  —  Astronomer — the software company that made headlines after a video of its CEO Andy Byron and chief people officer Kristin Cabot canoodling …
Zac Bowden / Windows Central:
Microsoft shuts down the Movies & TV storefront on the Microsoft Store on Windows and Xbox; users will continue to be able to access their past purchases  —  After 12 years, Microsoft is shutting down its storefront that let Windows and Xbox users buy or rent Movies & TV shows natively on the platform.
Sabrina Ortiz / ZDNET:
Adobe updates its Firefly video model and adds a beta Generate Sound Effects tool that can create custom sounds from text prompts and the user's voice  —  Just a year and a half ago, the latest and greatest of Adobe's Firefly generative AI offerings involved producing high-quality images …
Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
Sources: Cursor maker Anysphere acquired Koala, an AI-powered CRM startup that raised a $15M Series A five months ago; Koala plans to shut down in September  —  The startup behind the viral AI coding app Cursor is snapping up top talent from AI enterprise startups in a bid to bolster …
More: Koala

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26  —  Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.
Zoho:
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control  —  Picture this: It's Monday morning.  You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's 2026 Priority, Disney's AI Play, Datacenter Buildout Trouble
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:
Australia Kicks Kids Off Social Media + Is the A.I. Water Issue Fake? + Hard Fork Wrapped
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.
Access:
Why the next AI frontier is phone calls, with Beside CEO Maxime Germain
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Great Chat:
So what happens after AGI?
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:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Lachlan Cartwright Started in Tabloids. Now He's a Must-Read Media Gossip.
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:40 PM ET, July 18, 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.

More News

Sidhartha Shukla / Bloomberg:
Lora Kolodny / CNBC:

Earlier Picks

Bloomberg:
Wall Street Journal:
Hayden Field / The Verge:
Tom Hals / Reuters:
Jay Peters / The Verge: