Techmeme
October 21, 2025, 2:10 PM

Top News

Ina Fried / Axios:
OpenAI launches its ChatGPT Atlas web browser, available initially for macOS, and “coming soon” to Windows, iOS, and Android  —  OpenAI on Tuesday announced a next-generation Web browser, Atlas, as the company seeks to expand from simply being a popular app into a broader computing platform.
Lauren Thomas / Wall Street Journal:
Coinbase agrees to acquire Echo, a blockchain platform to let crypto companies quickly raise capital, for ~$375M, marking Coinbase's eighth acquisition in 2025  —  Acquisition marks Coinbase's eighth deal this year  —  Coinbase Global has struck a roughly $375 million deal to acquire Echo …
New York Times:
Internal Amazon documents and sources: executives believe Amazon is on the cusp of replacing 500K+ jobs with robots and aims to automate 75% of its operations  —  Earlier this month, I went to Louisiana to tour Amazon's most advanced warehouse.  It was unlike any I had visited in my seven years covering the company →
Michelle Hackman / Wall Street Journal:
The US government issues new guidelines on its $100K H-1B visa fee, saying it will apply only to new visa applicants outside the country, not all new applicants  —  Under new guidance, only applicants living abroad will be subject to the fee  —  WASHINGTON—President Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee …
More: naked capitalism, Axios, and USCIS
Bluesky: @baumann and @kebrightbillForums: Slashdot
David Pierce / The Verge:
iPad Pro (M5, 2025) review: amazing performance, hardware remains unbeaten, and iPadOS is getting more Mac-like, but still too pricey for a secondary computer  —  What do you get the tablet that has everything?  Last year, Apple debuted a massive overhaul to the iPad Pro, with a thin new design …
CNBC:
AWS says services have “returned to normal operations” after a US-EAST-1 outage, first reported on October 20 at 3:11am ET, that affected major services  —  Amazon Web Services, a leader in the cloud infrastructure market, reported a major outage on Monday that took down numerous major websites.
More: The Register, Amazon Web Services, PCMag, Wired, About Amazon, BBC, Technical.ly, The Tech Policy Press Podcast, TheStreet, Reuters, BBC, Forbes, Bloomberg, NBC News, Roblox Status, ZeroHedge News, PC Gamer, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Tech Xplore, Silicon Canals, Blockonomi, Fortune, Tom's Guide, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, Livemint, ITPro, WPXI-TV, The Guardian, AppleInsider, Decrypt, Sky News, TechCrunch, BleepingComputer, Associated Press, Silicon Republic, The Hill, Michael Tsai, Hackread, Windows Central, Eurogamer.net, Financial Times, Tech in Asia, Futurism, Daring Fireball, New York Times, Reuters, Tech.co, Politico, Forbes, GeekWire, Plain Dealer, The Stack, Washington Post, iTnews, Cautious Optimism, Fierce Network, Engadget, CBS News, 9to5Mac, Breitbart, Baller Alert, CryptoSlate, Engadget, and Guru3D
Todd Spangler / Variety:
HBO Max raises prices across all plans: Basic With Ads increases by $1/month to $10.99, Standard by $1.50/month to $18.49, and Premium by $2/month to $22.99  —  It's going to cost you more to watch HBO Max, after the streaming platform raised its prices just a year after its last hikes.
Samuel Stolton / Bloomberg:
Apple challenges the DMA in the EU's General Court, saying it “imposes hugely onerous and intrusive burdens” at odds with Apple's rights in the EU marketplace  —  Apple Inc. lashed out at the European Union's attempts to tame the power of Silicon Valley in the most far-reaching legal challenge …
Ashley Capoot / CNBC:
Ashley Capoot / CNBC:
Berber Jin / Wall Street Journal:
To secure vast compute for OpenAI, Sam Altman's deal spree pits Silicon Valley giants against each other as they race to cash in, making OpenAI too big to fail  —  The CEO's dealmaking blitz has convinced Silicon Valley's giants to tether their fates to his company, essentially making it too big to fail
Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge:
Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M5) review: feels the same as M4 with a speed upgrade and still good value for money with great battery life, but only a modest update  —  Last year's entry-level MacBook Pro was an impressive return to form for Apple's Pro laptop.  Between the M4 chip, increased RAM …
Adrienne So / Wired:
Oakley Meta Vanguard review: the smart glasses combine headphones, sunglasses, and a camera, plus Garmin integration, but the camera specs aren't too impressive  —  Meta's second collaboration with Oakley look good, sound great, and might just replace your action cam.  —  Rating:
Lance Ulanoff / TechRadar:
Apple Vision Pro M5 review: everything looks sharper, especially virtual desktop mode, and the Dual Knit band is comfortable, but the headset still costs $3,500  —  New Apple silicon and a new headband level up the experience  —  TechRadar Verdict … Why you can trust TechRadar …
Michael Beltran / Rest of World:
Some Japanese stores are using robots from the startup Telexistence to restock shelves, piloted remotely by Filipino workers whose actions train AI models  —  Filipino tele-operators remotely control Japan's convenience store robots and train AI, benefiting from an uptick in automation-related jobs.

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