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February 20, 2026, 5:35 PM
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Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Jordan Novet / CNBC: |
Phil Spencer will retire after 38 years at Microsoft; Asha Sharma, the president of product in Microsoft's Core AI business, will become the CEO of gaming — Microsoft's head of gaming, Phil Spencer, is leaving the software maker following a 38-year tenure, as the company's Xbox business faces increased challenges.
More: Microsoft, The Verge, Variety, Game Informer, The Verge, Forbes, Engadget, Business Insider, Thurrott, Bloomberg, The Information, Windows Central, Game Developer, The Verge, Game File, TheGamer, Pure Xbox, DayOne, Kotaku, The Game Business, Screen Rant, Kotaku, and PC Gamer
X: @xboxp3, @klobrille, @dansgaming, @thetruebowser, @ordinarygamers, @welfare_jbp, @nick_marseil, @mightykeef, @chrisavellone, @ethangach, @thecarteldel, @youtheremehere, @timsweeneyepic, @asha_shar, @paultassi, @reggie, @theo, @aarongreenberg, @firstadopter, @bellulargaming, @geoffkeighley, @markrein, @xbox, @xboxp3, @xboxp3, @xboxp3, @xboxp3, @okami13_, @detectiveseeds, @mischiefsyt, @mr_rebs_, @lukestephens, @hoeglaw, @arron_tk, @videotechuk_, @destiny_thememe, @vara_dark, @zephyr_z9, @rgt_85, @firstadopter, and @stephentotilo
Bluesky: @benalterman.com and @stevekovach
| Ryan McCaffrey / IGN: |
Xbox President Sarah Bond, long thought to be Phil Spencer's heir, is leaving; Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty is promoted to Chief Content Officer — Spencer's run with Xbox ends just months shy of the brand's 25th anniversary. — Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer …
More: Video Games Chronicle, Kotaku, GamesIndustry.biz, GeekWire, The Verge, GamesBeat, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, TheGamer, Dexerto, Comic Book, Aftermath, 80 Level, Neowin, Mashable, GamesRadar, Game Informer, Destructoid, Push Square, Stevivor, DayOne, GameRant, Insider Gaming, Polygon.com, and Sherwood News
X: @detectiveseeds and @firstadopter
| Rafe Rosner-Uddin / Financial Times: |
Sources: Amazon's AI tools have caused at least two AWS outages, including a 13-hour disruption in December; Amazon says it was “user error, not AI error” — Tech giant blames ‘user error, not AI error’ for incident in December involving its Kiro tool
More: Reuters, Tom's Hardware, The Register, Bloomberg, The Guardian, Gizmodo, The Verge, PCMag, About Amazon, TechRadar, CRN, India Today, Engadget, Cord Cutters News, The Decoder, Tom's Guide, Neowin, Techstrong IT, MarketWatch, Mashable, Capacity, Beyond Search, Tech in Asia, Proactive, Economic news, and Sherwood News
X: @vikhyatk, @gergelyorosz, @gergelyorosz, @leomschwartz, @mattocko, @shakoistslog, @jamiecooperatl, @boppinwtboyz, @the_ceo_guy, @heymynameisrob, @mikeisaac, @samlambert, and @edzitron. LinkedIn: Chris Redmond
Bluesky: @granitegeeknh, @johnperich.com, @crusaderproject, @joeydantoni.com, @robbowley.net, @somewhattolerable.com, @theecatservant, @joshuafoust.com, @taryndevere, @malwarejake, @maxvonthun, @derek.space, @davidgerard.co.uk, @runakog, @techviews, @jennifercobbe, @measuredandslow, @brunodias, @parismarx.com, @segatape, @impemboganecue, @gregpak.net, @doubleohkevin, @fack, and @edzitron.com. Mastodon: @acdha@code4lib.social
Forums: r/programming, r/webdev, Beehaw, Slashdot, and Ars OpenForum
| The Information: |
Sources: OpenAI has 200+ people working on AI devices, including a smart speaker with a camera costing $200 to $300, possibly smart glasses and a smart lamp — OpenAI has more than 200 people working on a family of AI-powered devices that will include a smart speaker and possibly smart glasses …
More: Engadget, Android Police, The Verge, MacRumors, PYMNTS.com, Reuters, Gizmodo, 9to5Google, PCWorld, Android Authority, iDrop News, Mashable, Futurism, The Decoder, 9to5Mac, Tom's Guide, iPhone in Canada, Digital Trends, MacDailyNews, and Mobile World Live
X: @miles_brundage and @steph_palazzolo
| Ryan Vlastelica / Bloomberg: |
Anthropic launches Claude Code Security, which “scans codebases for security vulnerabilities and suggests targeted software patches”; cybersecurity stocks fall — Shares of cybersecurity software companies tumbled Friday after Anthropic PBC introduced a new security feature into its Claude AI model.
More: CyberScoop, Anthropic, Investor's Business Daily, The Information, CRN, Blockchain.News, Yahoo Finance, and Claude
X: @bcherny, @jaykreps, @litcapital, @abrilzucchi, @firstadopter, @trq212, @trq212, @trq212, @heidykhlaaf, @claudeai, and @contrariancurse
Bluesky: @heidykhlaaf, @hmans.dev, and @tyleraking.com
Forums: r/technology and r/ClaudeCode
| Adam Levine / Barron's Online: |
Tech stocks rise slightly from their morning lows after the Supreme Court ruled that President Trump lacked the authority to impose sweeping global tariffs — Shares of tech goods makers rose off their morning lows on news of the high court's ruling. Tech goods have been some of the least …
More: NBC News, AppleInsider, Benzinga, AppleInsider, Associated Press, CNBC, Forbes, Cointelegraph, Mashable, The Budget Lab at Yale, Yahoo Finance, The Verge, PCMag, Blockonomi, BeInCrypto, Wall Street Journal, Cult of Mac, Benzinga, Kotaku, Fortune, Financial Post, Avalara, Inc., Taipei Times, Council on Foreign Relations, Slate, Reuters, Penn Wharton Budget Model, CBS News, and Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion
Forums: r/law, r/AnythingGoesNews, r/scotus, r/StockMarket, r/news, r/economy, r/FedEmployees, r/thescoop, r/UnderReportedNews, r/Destiny, r/AntiTrumpAlliance, r/goodnews, r/wallstreet, r/Washington50501, r/soundsaboutright, r/inthenews, r/stupidpol, r/waymo, r/KanagawaWave, r/ValveDeckard, r/unusual_whales, r/law, r/inflation, r/democrats, r/JoeRogan, and r/NewsStarWorld
| Fred Lambert / Electrek: |
A US judge rejects Tesla's bid to overturn a $243M jury verdict over a fatal 2019 Autopilot crash, a blow for Tesla as it faces a growing wave of lawsuits — A federal judge has rejected Tesla's bid to overturn a $243 million jury verdict over a fatal 2019 Autopilot crash in Florida …
More: CNBC, TechCrunch, Carscoops, Fast Company, Jalopnik, EV, Reuters, Sherwood News, Raw Story, and Automotive World
Bluesky: @dr-pete, @fredlambert, and @brunojnavarro
Forums: Hacker News and r/electricvehicles
| Alex Heath / Sources: |
Scott Myers, the head of Snap's AR glasses subsidiary Specs, leaves after six years; sources say Myers left after a “blow-up” with Evan Spiegel over strategy — My chat with CEO Dylan Field ahead of today's earnings call. Also: Snap loses its head of Specs right before the big launch …
More: TechCrunch, Road to VR, and SFGATE
| Chris Lattner / Modular Blog: |
Claude's C Compiler shows AI elevates the role of human judgment and vision; it's a milestone, but closely mirrors LLVM/GCC, and hard codes things to pass tests — Compilers occupy a special place in computer science. They're a canonical course in computer science education. Building one is a rite of passage.
X: @perrymetzger, @clattner_llvm, @tmikov, @joel_bkr, @watthedoodle, @pushpendre89, @clattner_llvm, @machinamentum, @clattner_llvm, @preshing, @pdrmnvd, @koenbok, @jaykreps, @marksaroufim, @tetsuo_cpp, @arter97, and @lukashozda
Mastodon: @pheras@fosstodon.org and @nolan@toot.cafe
Forums: r/Compilers and Lobsters
| Georgia Wells / Wall Street Journal: |
Sources: OpenAI staff raised concerns about a Canadian mass shooting suspect months ago; OpenAI says her activity didn't meet the bar for reporting to police — ChatGPT maker opted against informing authorities about Jesse Van Rootselaar's descriptions of violence last June| Lauren Goode / Wired: |
Code Metal, which uses AI to let engineers translate legacy code into modern languages, raised a $125M Series B led by Salesforce Ventures at a $1.25B valuation — The Boston startup uses AI to translate and verify legacy software for defense contractors, arguing modernization can't come at the cost of new bugs.
More: GeekWire, SiliconANGLE, Business Wire, eWeek, Tech Funding News, and Tectonic Defense
| Wall Street Journal: |
Sources: Google may invest $100M in Fluidstack at a $7.5B valuation and has backstopped crypto miners that are building datacenters, seeking to expand TPU use — As more AI companies consider Google's chips, the company wants to use deals with external partners to expand the potential market| Minh Le / Tech in Asia: |
Avantos, which makes an AI-native client management system for financial institutions, raised a $25M Series A led by Bessemer, taking its total funding to $35M — Avantos, a company developing an AI-native system for financial institutions, announced the completion of a US$25 million series …
More: Bessemer Venture Partners, FinTech Global, and Avantos
| Nikkei Asia: |
Sources: SoftBank plans to form a consortium to build a $33B power plant in Ohio, set to produce 9.2 GW for AI data centers, as part of the US-Japan trade deal — TOKYO — SoftBank Group will form a consortium to carry out a $33 billion gas-fired power plant project in the U.S. … Sponsor Posts
Subquadratic:
SubQ Snap 1.1: the first long-context decision model for real enterprise work — Tied for #1 on the AA Decision Index, Snap is a multimodal model with a 384k-token context window for fast reasoning and agentic decisions.
SubQ Snap 1.1: the first long-context decision model for real enterprise work — Tied for #1 on the AA Decision Index, Snap is a multimodal model with a 384k-token context window for fast reasoning and agentic decisions.
Zoho:
3 smarter updates for your staffing pipeline — Staffing recruiters manage multiple client requirements, large candidate databases, and tight submission deadlines. Finding suitable candidates is only the first step.
3 smarter updates for your staffing pipeline — Staffing recruiters manage multiple client requirements, large candidate databases, and tight submission deadlines. Finding suitable candidates is only the first step.
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.
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.
WebBrain:
WebBrain: an open-source AI agent for your browser — Read pages, fill forms and automate tasks in Chrome or Firefox. Use local models or your preferred AI provider. Get started free.
WebBrain: an open-source AI agent for your browser — Read pages, fill forms and automate tasks in Chrome or Firefox. Use local models or your preferred AI provider. Get started free.Featured Podcasts
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Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
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Lenny's Podcast:
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Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
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Big Technology Podcast:
Big Tech's Ugly Week, Getting Rich At Anthropic, AI Costs Plunge
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
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Machine Gods:
OpenAI's Latest Discoveries Spark a Backlash + Help! My Kid Hates AI
The official podcast of the singularity, from Casey Newton and Kevin Roose. Twice-weekly news, analysis, and interviews with the people who are building the future.
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The Upstarts Podcast:
The Accidental YC Founder Solving AI's GPU Crisis | SF Compute's Evan Conrad
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
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Cheeky Pint:
Why Sam Altman is against a single superintelligence
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
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