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August 20, 2025, 12:50 PM
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Top News

Allison Johnson / The Verge:
Google unveils the $1,799+ Pixel 10 Pro Fold, with a Tensor G5 chip, a new hinge with a gear-less design, 6.4" outer and 8" inner screens, available October 9  —  They actually did it. … Finally, a foldable to take to the beach.  The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold is official …
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Google unveils the $999 Pixel 10 Pro and $1,199 10 Pro XL, with 6.3" and 6.8" OLED displays, Tensor G5 chips, Zoned UFS storage, available on August 28
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Sony says it is raising PlayStation 5 prices by $50 for all models in the US due to a “challenging economic environment”, starting on August 21  —  The prices will go up by $50 for all three models. … Sony is raising the price of all PS5 models by $50 in the US due to a …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft and Asus plan to launch the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X handhelds on October 16; leaks suggest the Ally and Ally X will cost €599 and €899, respectively  —  Microsoft also has a handheld compatibility program to showcase which games run well on the new Xbox Ally devices.
Iain Martin / Forbes:
Grok's “share” button generates a unique URL that makes users' chats searchable on Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo; Google has indexed 370K+ Grok conversations  —  xAI made people's conversations with its chatbot public and searchable on Google without warning …
ProPublica:
Document: Microsoft's 2025 System Security Plan submitted to the DOD, dated February 28, failed to disclose China-based engineers maintaining DoD cloud systems  —  The tech giant is required to regularly provide U.S. officials with its plan for keeping government data safe from hacking.
Financial Times:
The Nasdaq fell 1.4% on August 19, as Nvidia dropped 3.5% and Arm 5%, with AI enthusiasm cooling after a critical report from MIT and a warning from Sam Altman  —  Warning from OpenAI's Sam Altman and MIT paper puncture Wall Street's enthusiasm  —  US tech stocks sold off as warnings …
Brian Schwartz / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Elon Musk is quietly pumping the brakes on his plans to start a US political party, telling allies he wants to focus his attention on his companies  —  The billionaire has sought to maintain ties with JD Vance, a potential heir to Trump's MAGA political movement
Tom McArthur / BBC:
Kick says it is “urgently reviewing” the circumstances around the death of a French livestreamer subjected to violence and sleep deprivation during streams  —  An investigation has been launched into the death of a French streamer known for extreme challenges.
CNBC:
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says that Intel must give the government an equity stake in the company in return for CHIPS Act funds; INTC closed up 6.97%  —  Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Tuesday that Intel must give the U.S. government an equity stake in the company in return for CHIPS Act funds.
Reuters:
Sources: US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is looking into government equity stakes in Micron, TSMC, Samsung, and others that receive CHIPS Act funding
Sean Endicott / Windows Central:
Microsoft adds a COPILOT function to Excel for Beta Channel users, letting them use text prompts to categorize data, summarize feedback, and brainstorm ideas  —  AI in Excel finally feels natural thanks to the new COPILOT function. … Or rather, more Copilot is being packed into the popular spreadsheet program.
Reuters:
Sources: China is considering allowing yuan-backed stablecoins to boost yuan adoption globally and its State Council may approve a roadmap later in August  —  China is considering allowing the usage of yuan-backed stablecoins for the first time to boost wider adoption of its currency globally …

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 12:50 PM ET, August 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

Dan Shanoff / The Athletic:
Nielsen: the 2026 World Cup final drew 38.9M viewers on Fox and 22M+ on Telemundo; taken together, the US audience size rivaled that of NFL playoff games

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
ESPN's cuts are part of larger Disney layoffs; sources say some corporate functions, film studios, and Disney Entertainment TV are expected to be impacted

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Reach reports H1 revenue down 9% YoY to £232.9M, pre-tax profit down 5% to £40.3M, and says it will move “away from volume” to focus on original content

More News

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google's new AI features for Pixel include Magic Cue for contextual suggestions across apps, Voice Translate for calls, and Visual Overlays for the camera
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Google unveils the Pixel Watch 4 in 41mm and 45mm sizes, with an Actua 360 curved display and emergency satellite communication, starting at $349 from October 9

Earlier Picks

Molly White / Citation Needed:
A look at Justin Sun's lawsuit against Bloomberg for publishing his crypto assets, which he says he shared confidentially to qualify for its Billionaires Index
Steve Holland / Reuters:
The White House launches an official TikTok account, aiming to communicate President Trump's messages; the first video shows Trump declaring “I am your voice”
Kanishka Singh / Reuters:
US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard says the UK has dropped its mandate requiring Apple to provide a backdoor for accessing users' encrypted data
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