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August 16, 2025, 4:50 AM
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| Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg: |
Roblox shares closed down 6.34% on Friday after the company was accused in two lawsuits of failing to sufficiently protect youngsters on its platform — Roblox Corp. shares fell more than 6% Friday after the company, which operates an online video-game service popular with children …
More: The Verge, Roblox Corporate, TechCrunch, MarketWatch, Notebookcheck, Breitbart, Washington Examiner, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, PCMag, Developer Forum, Polygon, Los Angeles Times, Gizmodo, Destructoid, PYMNTS.com, Forbes, The US Sun, Distractify, Gameranx, WAFB-TV, ZeroHedge News, Screen Rant, Mashable, Kotaku, Telegraph, PC Gamer, Dexerto, Barron's Online, Associated Press, The Gateway Pundit, Fox News, and Variety
X: @aglizmurrill, @aglizmurrill, @realschlep, @kreekcraft, @realschlep, @roblox_rtc, @aglizmurrill, @simon_hypixel, @hedgeyecommor, @aglizmurrill, @chrishansen, @kreekcraft, @hedgeyecomm, @aglizmurrill, @kreekcraft, @stockjabber, @realschlep, @kreekcraft, @steak834, @kreekcraft, @blox, @roblox_rtc, @realschlep, @stockjabber, @realschlep, @kreekcraft, @repschlegel, and @stockjabber
| Jonathan Vanian / CNBC: |
Senator Josh Hawley says he will investigate Meta after a report on its AI policy allowing sensual chats with kids, tells Meta to produce docs by September 19 — Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said Friday that he will investigate Meta following a report that the company approved rules allowing …
More: TechCrunch, The Guardian, Josh Hawley, San Francisco Chronicle, 1819 News, New York Times, Associated Press, Simon Willison's Weblog, Engadget, MLex, Baltimore Sun, Reuters, Jamaica Observer, Townhall, Euractiv, Fox News, MobileSyrup, PCWorld, Ars Technica, Washington Examiner, PC Gamer, The Hill, and Mashable
Bluesky: @dimitridrekonja, @wyden.senate.gov, and @wyden.senate.gov
X: @hawleymo, @benbrodydc, @senkatiebritt, @jason_kint, @jason_kint, @realdcochrane, @hawleymo, @bedoyausa, @saalevine, @sayssimonson, @senkatiebritt, and @emrwilkins
Forums: r/technology and r/technology
| Bobby Allyn / NPR: |
A proposed class action lawsuit accuses Otter.ai of “deceptively and surreptitiously” recording private conversations to train its AI without user consent — A federal lawsuit seeking class-action status accuses Otter.ai of “deceptively and surreptitiously” … | Rashi Shrivastava / Forbes: |
Sources say Meta's chaotic culture and lack of vision have led to AI brain drain; Meta strongly denies it has had issues with talent and retention — At Meta, a chaotic culture and lack of vision have led to brain drain, with rivals saying its AI talent is lackluster.
More: The Information, Business Insider, Fortune, Fast Company, and Tech in Asia
| Kalley Huang / The Information: |
Sources: Meta plans its fourth AI restructuring in six months, dividing its superintelligence lab into TBD Lab, a product team, an infrastructure team, and FAIR — Meta Platforms is planning the fourth restructuring of its artificial intelligence efforts in six months, according to three people familiar with the matter.| David Heaney / UploadVR: |
Hands-on with Tiramisu, Meta's “hyperrealistic” VR research prototype with beyond-retinal resolution, high brightness and contrast, and a narrow field of view — At SIGGRAPH 2025, I went hands-on with Tiramisu, Meta's research prototype that combines beyond-retinal resolution …
X: @ibrews and @heaney555
| David Heaney / UploadVR: |
Hands-on with Boba 3, Meta's prototype PC VR headset with a form factor similar to the Quest 3, featuring an ultrawide field of view of 180° by 120° — At SIGGRAPH 2025 this week, I went hands-on with Boba 3, Meta's prototype of ultra-wide field of view PC VR in a form factor similar to Quest 3.
X: @heaney555, @uploadvr, @azadux, and @ibrews
| Monique Mulima / Bloomberg: |
Winklevoss twins' Gemini files for a US IPO and reports a $282.5M net loss on $67.9M revenue in H1 2025, vs. a $41.4M net loss on $73.5M revenue a year earlier — Gemini Space Station Inc., led by the billionaire Winklevoss twins, filed for an IPO as the cohort of crypto businesses seeking to list on public markets continues to swell.| Kate Clark / Bloomberg: |
Sources: current and former OpenAI employees plan to sell ~$6B in stock to Thrive Capital, SoftBank, and others in a secondary sale that values OpenAI at ~$500B — SoftBank, Dragoneer and Thrive Capital are set to buy OpenAI shares from current and former employees at a $500 billion valuation.
More: CNBC, The Economic Times, The Information, Reuters, Reuters, StrictlyVC, and NewsMax.com
| Bloomberg: |
A US district court judge temporarily blocks an FTC probe into Media Matters, part of an antitrust investigation into ad boycotts, calling the probe retaliatory — Nonprofit Media Matters for America won a court order blocking a Federal Trade Commission information demand for documents …
More: New York Times, Washington Post, MLex, and Raw Story
X: @adamsteinbaugh, @mmfa, and @bedoyausa
| Justin Birnbaum / Forbes: |
Jump, a SaaS startup founded by Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore for managing sports ticketing and fan experiences, raised a $23M Series A at a $100M+ valuation — Founded by the MLB legend alongside billionaire Marc Lore, his Timberwolves co-owner, the company is now valued at more than $100 million as it builds a one-stop shop for fans.| Reuters: |
The World Humanoid Robot Games kicked off in Beijing on August 15, with robots across 280 teams from 16 countries competing in track and field and other sports — China kicked off the three-day long World Humanoid Robot Games on Friday, looking to showcase its advances in artificial intelligence …
More: Fast Company, Mashable, Associated Press, eWeek, Business Standard, PC Gamer, The US Sun, GovTech, NBC News, New York Post, TechNode, TMZ.com, The Guardian, LiveScience, UPI, Robotics & Automation News, RoboticsTomorrow.com, Al Jazeera, GB News, Digital Trends, and Honolulu Star-Advertiser. X: @business
| Helen Reid / Reuters: |
Filing: Shein reports 2024 UK sales up 32.3% YoY to £2.05B, making the UK its third largest market after the US and Germany, as it works toward a Hong Kong IPO — Shein's British business made 2.05 billion pounds ($2.77 billion) in sales in 2024, a 32.3% increase from the previous year … | Katherine Hamilton / Wall Street Journal: |
Lyft co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer step down as board chair and vice chair, convert their Class B stock to Class A, completing the succession plan — Logan Green and John Zimmer are stepping down from their roles as chair and vice chair of the board of directors
More: The Information, Yahoo Finance, Automotive Dive, and Reuters
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