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February 4, 2025, 6:10 PM
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Top News

Alphabet Inc:
Alphabet Q4: revenue up 12% YoY to $96.47B, net income up 28% to $26.54B, Google Cloud revenue up 30% to $12B, and Google Services revenue up 10% to $84.1B  —  MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - February 4, 2025 - Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) today announced financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2024.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Alphabet reports YouTube Q4 ad revenue up 14% YoY to $10.47B, vs. $10.23B est., says Google Cloud and YouTube ended 2024 with a $110B annual revenue run rate  —  YouTube, the internet's biggest streaming video platform, delivered a healthy 13.8% increase in global ad revenue for the year-end 2024 quarter …
Washington Post:
Google drops language from its AI Principles that said it would not pursue AI applications “likely to cause overall harm”, such as for weapons and surveillance  —  In 2018 the company updated its policies to explicitly exclude applying AI to weapons.  Now that promise is gone.
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple debuts Invites, an app to help plan events like birthdays, graduations, and more, with Image Playground and Writing Tools tie-ins, for iCloud+ subscribers  —  Apple today announced the launch of a new app called “Invites,” which is designed to allow users to plan events like birthday parties …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Elon Musk accused an X user, who named federal staff in a post X then removed, of “a crime”, showing what actual government social media censorship looks like  —  For years, we've watched self-proclaimed “free speech warriors” hyperventilate about imaginary government control of social media content moderation.
Elizabeth Lopatto / The Verge:
Elon Musk's goal seems to amount to a coup over the US administrative state; Musk said the 18F Direct File tax program was “deleted”, but that may not be true
Wired:
Sources: Marko Elez, a 25-year-old Elon Musk-linked engineer, has admin privileges over Treasury Department code that controls Social Security payments and more
Makena Kelly / Wired:
Sources: Thomas Shedd, GSA's new Technology Transformation Services director and Elon Musk ally, told GSA workers the agency will pursue an “AI-first strategy”
Ian King / Bloomberg:
AMD reports Q4 revenue up 24% YoY to $7.66B, Data Center revenue up 69% to $3.86B, vs. $4.09B est., and forecasts Q1 sales of $6.8B to $7.4B, vs. $7.04B est.  —  - Results suggest the chipmaker is still lagging behind Nvidia  — Company fares better in PC market, making gains on Intel
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Adobe adds “contract intelligence capabilities” to Acrobat's $4.99 per month AI Assistant, letting the PDF manager summarize complicated contract language  —  The new contract surfaces key terms and dates within complex agreements.  —  The new contract surfaces key terms and dates within complex agreements.
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple raises the monthly AppleCare+ price for iPhone users by $0.50 in the US and will only offer one-time AppleCare+ purchase options in its online store  —  Apple this week increased the prices for its monthly AppleCare+ subscription prices for the iPhone, raising the cost by 50 cents for all models in the United States.
Dominic Preston / The Verge:
Opera launches Opera Air, a free browser focused on mindfulness and mental well-being, including break reminders and ambient soundscapes, for Windows and macOS  —  Opera Air offers break reminders, ambient soundscapes, and breathing exercises, all in your browser.
Financial Times:
Sources: China is looking at launching a formal probe into Intel; a source says whether such a probe is officially launched could depend on US-China relations  —  Beijing seeks leverage against US president by reviving investigations into tech giants  —  China has revived antitrust investigations …
Josh Xiao / Bloomberg:
China's State Administration for Market Regulation says it will probe Google for alleged antitrust violations, moments after Trump put tariffs on Chinese goods
The Information:
Sources: Meta is merging the teams behind Facebook and Messenger into one unit and shuffling its generative AI group, as it prepares for layoffs next week  —  Meta Platforms is merging the teams behind Facebook and Messenger into one unit as the company prepares for layoffs across the business next week.
Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch:
Memo: Cruise is laying off 50% of its staff, after GM cut funding to robotaxi operations and shifts its focus to tech like hands-free driver assistance  —  Autonomous vehicle company Cruise is laying off “nearly” 50% of its workforce — cuts that extend to the CEO and several other top executives …
Mark Keierleber / Wired:
An investigation into 300+ cyberattacks against US K-12 schools since 2020 shows how they can withhold details from students and parents whose data was stolen  —  An investigation into more than 300 cyberattacks against US K-12 schools over the past five years shows how schools …
More: The 74.  Bluesky: @zackwhittaker and @dell.  Mastodon: @douglevin@infosec.exchange.  LinkedIn: Nicole Ridgway
Zachary Small / New York Times:
An interview with The Sims designer Will Wright on the virtual dollhouse game turning 25, its mechanics, infusing it with chaos, ants, The Sims Online, and more  —  Will Wright kindly requests that admirers stop describing him as a god.  —  “I don't think God would concern himself with taking …

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:10 PM ET, February 4, 2025.

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From Mediagazer

Andrew Marchand / The Athletic:
Memo: ESPN's Jimmy Pitaro announces layoffs, mostly due to the NFL Network acquisition; sources: on-air personalities Karl Ravech and Ryan Clark are affected

Dan Shanoff / The Athletic:
Nielsen: the 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

MJ Franklin / New York Times:
How publishers are cashing in on surging public interest in The Odyssey through splashy reissues; Circana BookScan says sales of The Odyssey rose by 76% YoY

More News

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
The EC releases its guidelines on prohibited AI practices under the EU's AI Act, such as using AI to track employees' emotions or manipulate website users

Earlier Picks

Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:
Spotify reports Q4 revenue up 16% YoY to €4.2B, MAUs up 12% YoY to 675M, subscribers up 11% YoY to 263M, and €1.14B in 2024 net income, vs. a €532M loss in 2023
Brody Ford / Bloomberg:
Source: Salesforce is cutting 1,000+ roles and will let displaced workers apply for other jobs internally; Salesforce had nearly 73,000 workers in January 2024
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