Open Links In New Tab
Mobile Archives Advertise Site News Contact Editors
Techmeme
August 21, 2025, 7:35 PM
Mediagazer memeorandum WeSmirch
Home River Leaderboards About Events Newsletter

Top News

Casey Crownhart / MIT Technology Review:
Google says the median Gemini app text prompt consumes 0.24Wh of energy, about the same as running a microwave for a second, and emits 0.03g of CO2 equivalent  —  Google has just released a technical report detailing how much energy its Gemini apps use for each query.
Tripp Mickle / New York Times:
Nine current and ex-Apple staffers accuse VP of Fitness Tech Jay Blahnik of bullying and inappropriate behavior; Apple settled a sexual harassment complaint  —  Three circular bands came to define fitness on the Apple Watch.Dünzl/Ullstein Bild, via Getty Images
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google expands AI Mode to 180 countries and territories in English, following the US, the UK, and India, and plans to add more languages and regions “soon”  —  After launching in three countries, Google is now bringing AI Mode to many more countries around the world …
Gregory Korte / Bloomberg:
Trump signs an EO creating the National Design Studio to improve “websites and physical sites”; sources say he's tapping Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia to lead it  —  President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday creating a new post for the government's chief design officer …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Apple raises the price of Apple TV+ in the US and some markets globally after previously raising the price in 2023; in the US, the price will rise $3 to $12.99  —  Apple TV+, the tech giant's money-losing streaming service, is bumping up its price by 30%: For U.S. customers, it will now be $12.99 per month, up $3 from $9.99.
Matt Burgess / Wired:
CBP data: between April and June 2025, CBP searched 14,899 devices carried by international travelers, up from a record 12,766+ between January and March 2022  —  Customs and Border Protection agents searched nearly 15,000 devices from April through June of this year, a nearly 17 percent spike …
Bloomberg:
Interviews with three Google executives on the new Pixel phones, why Pixel won't ever be a “giant player”, improving the devices by ~30% each year, AI, and more  —  The search giant discusses an AI-powered world beyond the smartphone.  —  Google's Pixel 10 marks the phone's 10th generation …
Julia Shapero / The Hill:
Google will provide Gemini for Government to US federal agencies at $0.47 per agency through 2026; OpenAI and Anthropic are offering their products for $1/year  —  Google will provide a suite of artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud services to federal agencies for 47 cents each …
Bloomberg:
DeepSeek details V3.1 and says it surpasses R1 on key benchmarks and is customized to work with next-gen Chinese-made AI chips, after unveiling it on August 19  —  DeepSeek unveiled an update to an older model that it says surpasses the seminal R1 on key benchmarks, keeping the Chinese startup …
Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
Sources: Take-Two lays off 80+ staff at BioShock studio Cloud Chamber, or ~33% of its ~250 staff, and delays the next BioShock game to late 2026 or early 2027  —  Thirty percent of the studio was laid off this week, adding more years to the game's production
John Collison / Cheeky Pint:
Q&A with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong on starting the company, battling North Korean hackers, stablecoin adoption, the GENIUS Act, pro-crypto Congress, and more  —  Brian Armstrong joins John Collison to talk about what's happening behind the scenes at Coinbase: battling North Korean hackers …
Patrick Howell O'Neill / Bloomberg:
a16z hires Anne Neuberger, formerly a senior cybersecurity official in the Biden White House, as a senior adviser to work on “American Dynamism, AI, and cyber”  —  Anne Neuberger, formerly a senior cybersecurity official in the Biden White House, is joining the venture capital …
More: Axios
Trishla Ostwal / Adweek:
In a UK tribunal filing, former Meta employee Samujjal Purkayastha alleges Meta misled advertisers by inflating its Shops ads metrics and bypassed Apple's ATT  —  After Apple rolled out its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature in 2021, Meta executives scrambled for what they called …
Meghan Bobrowsky / Wall Street Journal:
Meta froze hiring in its AI division last week with sources saying exceptions need Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang's permission; the freeze's duration is unclear  —  Company reorganizes its sprawling artificial-intelligence operation, whose spiraling cost has drawn investor scrutiny

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cape:
Most carriers track everything.  Cape doesn't.  —  Unlimited talk, text & data, 24-hr metadata deletion, network ID rotation, SIM-attack defense, and more.  Switch today and get 29% off for life.
Zoho:
App Spotlight: MessageWhiz SMS for Zoho CRM  —  App Spotlight brings you hand-picked solutions that enhance your Zoho apps and tools.  Visit Zoho Marketplace to explore all of our apps, integrations …
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

Big Technology Podcast:
 Big Tech's Insane Hidden AI Spending, Ranking Anthropic vs. OpenAI, AI For Travel Debate
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:
 OpenAI's Two-Week Pause + Jill Lepore on the Threat of the "Artificial State" + Train of Thought
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
 The $12.5 Billion Lakers, the NFL's TV Fight, and Sports Media's Big Split
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.
Training Data:
 Rich Sutton and Khurram Javed: Why AI Models Stop Learning, and How to Start It Again
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
Subscribe to Training Data.
Invest Like the Best:
 Ben Thompson on Big Tech, China, and the AI Boom Running Out of Money
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
 Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
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 7:35 PM ET, August 21, 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

Jennifer Jacobs / CBS News:
Sources: the Pentagon fired Stars and Stripes' publisher, EIC, and a Middle East reporter for insubordination; the publisher earlier announced his retirement

Gene Maddaus / Variety:
Sources: Paramount reps are expected to meet Monday with the California AG's office to discuss a possible settlement of the antitrust suit blocking the WBD deal

Dominic Patten / Deadline:
Chris Aronson, ex-president of domestic theatrical distribution at Paramount, sues the company, claiming breach of contract and age discrimination

More News

Earlier Picks

Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:
India's lower house of parliament passes a sweeping online gaming bill that imposes a blanket ban on real-money games nationwide, threatening a ~$23B industry
Financial Times:
Sources: China's H20 curbs were triggered by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's not selling China the “best stuff” remark, which officials found “insulting”
Jesse Hamilton / CoinDesk:
TRM Labs launches Beacon Network, a real-time alert system for illicit crypto activity, partnering with law enforcement and exchanges like Binance and Coinbase
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
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Sony raises PlayStation 5's prices by $50 in the US due to the “challenging economic environment”: PS5 is $550, PS5 Digital Edition is $500, and PS5 Pro is $750
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
Mediagazer memeorandum WeSmirch
Home River Leaderboards About Events Newsletter