Techmeme
February 7, 2025, 10:55 AM

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 …
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.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon.com, Inc.:
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 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.
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.
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 has edited Gemini's response in a Super Bowl commercial after it was found to contain false information about Gouda cheese  —  Gemini's response no longer says that Gouda makes up '50 to 60 percent of the world's cheese consumption.'  —  Gemini's response no longer says that Gouda makes …
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 …
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Meta and UNESCO launch the Language Technology Partner Program to collect speech recordings and transcriptions to aid the development of 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
Stephen Nellis / Reuters:
Mistral partners with Cerebras to help its Le Chat app respond to user questions at 1,000 words per second, making Le Chat the world's fastest AI assistant  —  Cerebras Systems, an artificial intelligence chip firm backed by UAE tech conglomerate G42, said on Thursday it has partnered …
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 …
Dominique Vidalon / Reuters:
Paris prosecutors open a probe into X over alleged algorithmic distortions, after an MP's complaint that X was using biased algorithms  —  Paris prosecutors have opened a probe into Elon Musk's X social media over alleged algorithmic distortions, Franceinfo reports on Friday, citing the prosecutors' office.
Bluesky: @teresala
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

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More News

Katherine Long / Wall Street Journal:

Earlier Picks

Julaiza Alvarez / Bloomberg:
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Natalie Andrews / Wall Street Journal:
Paul Sawers / TechCrunch:
Emma Roth / The Verge: