Techmeme
February 7, 2025, 5:45 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, Ars Technica, TechCrunch, Techdirt, Bloomberg, BNN Bloomberg, The Verge, Bloomberg, PCMag, Reuters, Six Colors, Macworld, 9to5Mac, VICE, MobileSyrup, ComputerWeekly.com, TechRepublic, Electronic Frontier Foundation, mjtsai.com, MakeUseOf, Pocket-lint, Open Rights Group, MacDailyNews, Newser, GSMArena.com, Pixel Envy, The Independent, The Register, Digital Trends, Forbes, PhoneArena, Engadget, Wall Street Pit, WebProNews, CNET, Gizmodo, Patently Apple, Seeking Alpha, DeviceSecurity.io, Android Headlines, The Apple Post, Reclaim The Net, TechRadar, iPhone in Canada Blog, Metacurity, The Standard, CyberInsider, iDownloadBlog.com, Cyber Security News, BGR, Sky News, Silicon UK, Blockchain News, New Scientist, Redmond Pie, Computerworld, Tech.co, Neowin, Benzinga, Cult of Mac, The Record, Financial Express, and MacStories
LinkedIn: Tim Turner and Mike Chapple
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 …
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.
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 …
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:
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.'
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 …
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

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Soxton:
AI-powered law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
Zoho:
Zoho CRM Plus in 2025: A year of thoughtful CX improvements  —  2025 marked 11 years of building a customer experience platform designed to support organizations as customer expectations, channels …
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

Big Technology Podcast:
Alex And Ranjan's 2026 Outlook: ChatGPT 1 Billion, AI Shopping, Apple's Big Year, AI Love Boom
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.
Hard Fork:
Where Is All the A.I.-Driven Scientific Progress?
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.
The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'A Naughty Citizen', With Quinn Nelson
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Podcast Pioneer PJ Vogt's Second Act: Less Budget, More Control
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
BG2 Pod:
AI Enterprise - Databricks & Glean
Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner.
Subscribe to BG2 Pod.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:45 PM ET, February 7, 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

Financial Times:

Earlier Picks

Stephen Nellis / Reuters:
Marina Temkin / TechCrunch:
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Paul Sawers / TechCrunch: