Techmeme
February 7, 2025, 6:40 PM

Top News

Joseph Menn / Washington Post:
Sources: in a secret January order, UK security officials demanded that Apple create a backdoor to access all cloud content any Apple user globally has uploaded  —  Security officials in the United Kingdom have demanded that Apple create a back door allowing them to retrieve all the content …
More: The Verge, BBC, The Guardian, MacRumors, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, Ars Technica, PYMNTS.com, Techdirt, Bloomberg, The Verge, BNN Bloomberg, Six Colors, Reuters, 9to5Mac, PCMag, Macworld, VICE, Information Technology …, ComputerWeekly.com, MobileSyrup, TechRepublic, mjtsai.com, Electronic Frontier Foundation, MakeUseOf, Open Rights Group, Pixel Envy, Sky News, MacDailyNews, The Independent, Digital Trends, GSMArena.com, Wall Street Pit, WebProNews, CNET, Gizmodo, Pocket-lint, Patently Apple, Seeking Alpha, DeviceSecurity.io, Android Headlines, The Apple Post, Reclaim The Net, TechRadar, iPhone in Canada Blog, Metacurity, The Standard, Newser, CyberInsider, Forbes, iDownloadBlog.com, Cyber Security News, BGR, Silicon UK, The Register, Blockchain News, New Scientist, Redmond Pie, Computerworld, Tech.co, Neowin, Cult of Mac, The Record, PhoneArena, Engadget, MacStories, and CNBC
LinkedIn: Tim Turner and Mike Chapple
Hayden Field / CNBC:
Sources: SoftBank is set to invest $40B in OpenAI at a $260B pre-money valuation; investors last valued OpenAI at $157B, when it raised $6.6B in October 2024  —  - CNBC Councils  — CNBC on Peacock  — Join the CNBC Panel  — Supply Chain Values  — Select Shopping  — Ad Choices
CNBC:
Elon Musk says he will rehire a DOGE staffer who resigned following the exposure of his posts advocating for racism and eugenics, after Trump endorsed the idea  —  Elon Musk said Friday he will rehire a DOGE staffer who abruptly resigned following the exposure of his tweets advocating for racism and eugenics.
Bloomberg:
Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
WBD took $300M in gaming writedowns in 2024; current and former staff blame a lack of a strong, cohesive vision during former games chief David Haddad's tenure  —  Last year, Warner Bros. Discovery took $300 million in losses on gaming.  The near future is rife with additional challenges.
Louise Matsakis / Wired:
Filing: Kash Patel, Trump's nominee to head FBI, was allotted Shein shares of $1M to $5M in exchange for consulting services; he has no plans to divest them  —  Donald Trump's pick for FBI director told senators he has no plans to divest his shares, which his financial disclosure form …
More: Reuters and Associated Press
Bluesky: @dell and @lmatsakisX: @lmatsakis
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Microsoft warns that attackers are using static ASP.NET machine keys found online to inject malware into ViewState, which controls web form state during reloads  —  Microsoft warns that attackers are deploying malware in ViewState code injection attacks using static ASP.  NET machine keys found online.
Ryan Christoffel / 9to5Mac:
Apple settles a lawsuit against a former iOS Software Engineer who leaked Journal app details and more to journalists; the employee issues an apology on X  —  Last March, Apple filed a lawsuit against one of its former employees, an iOS Software Engineer who had leaked confidential information …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Ashley Belanger / Ars Technica:
Kadrey v. Meta: unsealed emails show Meta allegedly torrented 81.7TB+ of data across multiple shadow libraries through the site Anna's Archive, for AI training  —  Newly unsealed emails allegedly provide the “most damning evidence” yet against Meta in a copyright case raised by book authors alleging …
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Google edited Gemini's response in a Super Bowl commercial to remove an incorrect statistic about Gouda cheese, regurgitated from seeming SEO-optimized blogs  —  Gemini's response no longer says that Gouda makes up '50 to 60 percent of the world's cheese consumption.'
Reuters:
SolarWinds says it will go private in a $4.4B deal with buyout firm Turn/River Capital; SWI closes up 21.8%  —  SolarWinds (SWI.N) said on Friday it would go private in a $4.4 billion deal with buyout firm Turn/River Capital, the latest sign debt-funded deals were set to rebound this year as borrowing costs decline.
Zoho:
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Wired:
Sources: DOGE is pushing to develop GSAi, a custom generative AI chatbot for the US GSA to boost productivity, analyze contract and procurement data, and more  —  The chatbot is part of Elon Musk and President Donald Trump's ambitions to use AI and other technologies to cut costs and modernize the US government.
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
OpenAI updates o3-mini's chain of thought to help free and paid ChatGPT users “understand how the model thinks”, in response to DeepSeek and other competitors  —  In response to pressure from rivals including Chinese AI company DeepSeek, OpenAI is changing the way its newest AI model …

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