Techmeme
February 4, 2025, 1:40 PM

Top News

Elizabeth Lopatto / The Verge:
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  —  The Bureau of the Fiscal Service is a sleepy part of the Treasury Department.  It's also where, sources say …
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”  —  Sources say the former Tesla engineer now in charge of the Technology Transformation Services wants an agency that operates like a “startup software company.”
Evan Weinberger / Bloomberg Law:
Caleb Ecarma / Musk Watch:
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 …
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  —  China announced an investigation into Google and imposed new tariffs on a range of US products moments after President Donald Trump slapped …
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.
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.
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
ByteDance researchers demo OmniHuman-1, an AI system that is “easily heads and shoulders above previous deepfake techniques”, if ByteDance's clips are accurate  —  Researchers from TikTok owner ByteDance have demoed a new AI system, OmniHuman-1, that can generate perhaps the most realistic deepfake videos to date.
More: The DecoderForums: Hacker News
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Ofcom drops an investigation into whether OnlyFans-owner Fenix International is letting under-18s access adult content, but keeps another part of the probe open  —  Adult streaming site had been accused of setting age verification settings too low  —  British media watchdog Ofcom has dropped …
More: Reuters
Bloomberg:
Nintendo reports Q3 revenue down ~33% YoY to ~$2.8B, net profit down ~33% YoY to ~$831M, both below est, 4.8M Switch sales, and cuts Switch and profit forecasts  —  The Kyoto-based company now expects ¥280 billion ($1.8 billion) in operating income in the fiscal year to March, slashing more than a fifth from its prior forecast.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Transform ML Experimentation with Tangle  —  Save months of compute time with Tangle, built by Shopify.  Try this open-source platform to simplify ML workflows, ensure reproducibility, and seamlessly share with collaborators.
Zoho:
Contract Signed.  Project Ready.  Tasks Created.  —  Every project begins with a promise; a contract that outlines the deliverables, the timelines, and the terms.  But for most businesses …
Bitrix24:
Bitrix24 powers the next generation of high-performing businesses  —  Chat, projects, CRM, and automation — all in one place.  Replace dozens of tools so your team moves faster, collaborates smarter, and grows effortlessly.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Hard Fork:
OpenAI Calls a 'Code Red' + Which Model Should I Use? + The Hard Fork Review of Slop
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.
Access:
Is Roblox making the internet better or worse? We asked the CEO
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Lenny's Podcast:
Why LinkedIn is turning PMs into AI-powered "full stack builders" | Tomer Cohen (LinkedIn CPO)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Great Chat:
Code red: our favorite tech rivalries
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Big Technology Podcast:
How An AI Model Learned To Be Bad — With Evan Hubinger And Monte MacDiarmid
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:40 PM ET, February 4, 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.

More News

Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:
Ben Bergman / Business Insider:

Earlier Picks

Brody Ford / Bloomberg:
Bloomberg:
Cristina Criddle / Financial Times:
Umar Shakir / The Verge:
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Samantha Subin / CNBC:
Bloomberg:
CBC News: