Techmeme
February 7, 2025, 9:35 AM

Top News

Joseph Menn / Washington Post:
Sources: in a secret order last month, UK security officials demanded Apple create a backdoor to access all cloud content any Apple user worldwide has uploaded  —  Security officials in the United Kingdom have demanded that Apple create a back door allowing them to retrieve all the content …
Amazon.com, Inc.:
Amazon reports Q4 revenue up 10% YoY to $187.8B, vs. $187.3B est., net income up 89% YoY to $20B, and operating income up 61% YoY to $21.2B  —  Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced financial results for its fourth quarter ended December 31, 2024.  Fourth Quarter 2024
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon expects to boost its capex to $100B in 2025, largely driven by AI and up from 2024's ~$83B, in what Andy Jassy calls a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity  —  Amazon said Thursday it plans to boost its capital expenditures to $100 billion in 2025, as it continues its investments in artificial intelligence.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple plans to unveil its long-awaited overhaul of the iPhone SE as early as next week, opting to reveal it on its website instead of at a launch event  —  - Revamped SE model is set to be unveiled in the coming days  — Apple plans flurry of 2025 products, including smart home hub
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Microsoft warns that attackers are injecting malware into ViewState, which manages state in ASP.NET web forms, using static machine keys found online  —  Microsoft warns that attackers are deploying malware in ViewState code injection attacks using static ASP.  NET machine keys found online.
Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
WBD lost $300M on gaming in 2024; current and former staffers 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.
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 …
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
OpenAI updates o3-mini's chain of thought to make it easier for users “to understand how the model thinks”, available to both free and paid ChatGPT users  —  In response to pressure from rivals including Chinese AI company DeepSeek, OpenAI is changing the way its newest AI model …
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Meta and UNESCO launch Language Technology Partner Program to collect speech recordings and transcriptions to aid the development of future openly available AI  —  Meta is launching a new program in partnership with UNESCO to collect speech recordings and transcriptions the company said will help …
More: Engadget, Meta, and UNESCO
Marina Temkin / TechCrunch:
In a meeting with GOP lawmakers, Donald Trump proposed taxing carried interest as ordinary income, a policy that could sharply increase the tax bill for VCs  —  On Thursday, President Trump asked Republican lawmakers to end tax breaks on carried interest.  —  The tax break allows private equity …
Zaheer Kachwala / Reuters:
Take-Two reports Q3 net bookings up 3% YoY to $1.37B, vs. $1.39B est., and reiterates GTA VI is set to launch in the fall of 2025; TTWO jumps 6%+ after hours  —  Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO.O) forecast its fourth-quarter bookings below Wall Street expectations on Thursday …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Email: Google is testing a Search “AI Mode” powered by Gemini 2.0 that lets users ask “open-ended / exploratory questions” and get AI Overview-style responses  —  As previously spotted, Google Search is working on a new “AI Mode” that offers a “persistent place” …
Katherine Long / Wall Street Journal:
DOGE staff member Marko Elez resigns after being linked to racist X posts; the 25-year-old was embedded in the US Treasury and previously worked at SpaceX and X  —  A staffer for Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency whose access to U.S. Treasury payment systems was approved …
Alex Heath / The Verge:
Hayden Field / CNBC:
Sources: SoftBank is set to invest $40B in OpenAI at a $260B pre-money valuation; OpenAI was last valued at $157B by private investors in October 2024  —  - CNBC Councils  — CNBC on Peacock  — Join the CNBC Panel  — Supply Chain Values  — Select Shopping  — Ad Choices
Romain Dillet / TechCrunch:

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Natalie Andrews / Wall Street Journal:
Paul Sawers / TechCrunch: