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March 12, 2025, 12:30 PM
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Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google unveils Gemma 3, the “world's best single-accelerator model”, running on a single GPU, in 1B, 4B, 12B, and 27B sizes, and says it outperforms Llama-405B  —  Following version 1 in February 2024 and 2 in May, Google today announced Gemma 3 as its latest open model for developers.
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Google DeepMind launches two AI models, Gemini 2.0-based Robotics and Robotics-ER, to help robots “perform a wider range of real-world tasks than ever before”  —  Gemini Robotics also makes robots more dexterous, allowing them to perform more precise tasks, like folding a piece of paper.
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Niantic Labs says it is selling its video game division, including Pokémon Go, to Saudi Arabia-owned developer Scopely for $3.5B, subject to regulatory approval  —  The $3.5 billion Scopely deal could bring Niantic's AR gaming catalog under Saudi ownership.
Simon Willison / Simon Willison's Weblog:
Thoughts on using LLMs for coding, which can often be difficult and unintuitive, and why “vibe coding” is a fantastic way to explore the capabilities of LLMs  —  Online discussions about using Large Language Models to help write code inevitably produce comments from developers who's experiences have been disappointing.
Reuters:
Sources: TSMC has pitched Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom, and Qualcomm about taking stakes in a JV to run Intel Foundry; TSMC would hold no more than a 50% stake  —  TSMC (2330.TW) has pitched U.S. chip designers Nvidia (NVDA.O), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O) and Broadcom (AVGO.O) …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Google updates Chrome's extension rules to ban affiliate link injection without user action or benefit, after Honey allegedly stole creators' affiliate revenue  —  Honey was accused of shadily swapping out affiliate links, and now Google has new rules for extensions targeting exactly that.
Bloomberg:
Roomba maker iRobot warns of “substantial doubt” over its ability to continue operating, after Amazon abandoned a $1B+ takeover in January 2024; IRBT drops 35%+  —  IRobot Corp., the consumer robotics company that Amazon.com Inc. once planned to buy for more than $1 billion …
Sam Altman / @sama:
Sam Altman says OpenAI trained an AI model that is good at creative writing and shares a short story it wrote; he's “not sure yet how/when it will get released”  —  we trained a new model that is good at creative writing (not sure yet how/when it will get released). this is the first time i have been really struck by something written by AI; it got the vibe of metafiction so right. PROMPT: Please write a metafictional literary short story
Associated Press:
Investigation: AI-powered student monitoring tool Gaggle, used to track ~6M US student, isn't always secure, and there's no research showing it increases safety  —  One student asked a search engine, “Why does my boyfriend hit me?”  Another threatened suicide in an email to an unrequited love.
More: EdSurge
Financial Times:
Amazon, Google, and Meta join a World Nuclear Association statement, alongside Occidental, Dow, and others, to triple capacity by 2050; Microsoft didn't sign  —  Tech giants join banks in calling for new power stations to meet growing energy demands and combat climate change
Chihiro Ishikawa / Nikkei Asia:
BeReal CEO Aymeric Roffe says Japan is now the photo sharing app's second-largest market with over 4.5M MAUs, 83% aged 14 to 27; BeReal has 40M users globally  —  TOKYO — BeReal is eager to expand in Japan's fast-growing and highly engaged market, said its CEO in an interview with Nikkei Asia.
Stephen Totilo / Game File:
Mike Verdu, who joined Netflix in 2021 to launch its game offering and took on a new role as VP of Generative AI for games four months ago, has left the company  —  Plus: Some key changes for this year's Game Developers Conference  —  Mike Verdu, the executive who led Netflix's foray …
Olga Kharif / Bloomberg:
Binance says Abu Dhabi's MGX acquired a minority stake for $2B, the first institutional investment in the exchange and MGX's first entry into the crypto  —  Binance said Abu Dhabi's MGX has acquired a minority stake for $2 billion, the first institutional investment in the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Ott Tammik / Bloomberg:
Estonian startups aim to turn its thriving tech sector into a military-industrial complex, including making autonomous drones, as Europe boosts defense spending  —  The Baltic country hopes to turn its thriving tech sector into a military-industrial complex, and tap into rising European defense spending.
More: en.ain.ua
New York Times:
Filings: Google owns a 14% Anthropic stake but holds no voting rights, board seats, or board observer rights; Google aims to invest $750M more in September 2025  —  The internet giant owns 14% of the high-profile artificial intelligence company, according to legal filings obtained by The New York Times.
The Reporters' Collective:
A look at community apps like Kutumb mobilizing millions of Indians for politics, spreading disinformation, and inciting hate, beyond civil watchdogs' scrutiny  —  Away From Scrutiny, New Networking Apps Are Mobilising Millions of Indians For Politics, Disinformation and Hate.
Paul Sawers / TechCrunch:
Ditto, which aims to enable “resilient” edge device connectivity, raised an $82M Series B at a $462M post-money valuation, after a $45M Series A in April 2023  —  Ditto, a company that's setting out to bring “resilient” connectivity to edge devices, has raised $82 million …
More: FinSMEs
Luz Ding / Bloomberg:
Alibaba demos R1-Omni, an open-source model that its Tongyi Lab researchers say can read emotions, building on HumanOmni, in a bid to compete with OpenAI  —  In two demonstrations, Alibaba's Tongyi Lab researchers showed their new open source R1-Omni inferring the emotional state of a person …
More: WinBuzzer

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 12:30 PM ET, March 12, 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.

From Mediagazer

Bloomberg:
Sources: WBD begins exclusive talks with Netflix to sell its film and TV studios and HBO Max; Netflix is offering a $5B breakup fee if the deal isn't approved

The Guardian:
Ireland, Spain, Slovenia, and the Netherlands exit Eurovision after Israel received an all-clear to compete; the BBC and Germany's SWR plan to participate

James Faris / Business Insider:
Kalshi strikes a deal with CNBC that will integrate Kalshi's prediction data into CNBC's channel, site, and app starting in 2026, days after striking a CNN deal

More News

Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:
India's largest telco Jio Platforms partners with SpaceX to offer Starlink in the country, just hours after rival Airtel announced a similar partnership
Anna Nicolaou / Financial Times:
Spotify says it paid $10B+ in royalties in 2024, “the largest in music history”, making up 60%+ of its $17.13B+ 2024 revenue, with ~1,500 artists earning $1M+

Earlier Picks

David McCabe / New York Times:
The Senate approves Gail Slater, President Trump's pick to lead the DOJ's antitrust unit, by a 78-19 vote; she has been critical of power in the tech industry
Krisztian Sandor / CoinDesk:
Mesh raised an $82M Series B, settled mostly in PayPal's PYUSD stablecoin and led by Paradigm, to expand its stablecoin-based payments settlement network
Reuters:
Manus partners with Alibaba's Qwen to integrate Manus' AI agent functions with AI models and computing platforms in China and to collaborate on Qwen's AI models
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Google is in final talks to acquire AdHawk Microsystems, a Canadian maker of eye-tracking tech, for $115M, including $15M in performance-based payments
The Information:
Source: Anthropic's annualized revenue grew from $1B at the end of 2024 to $1.4B in early March; Manus uses tools including Claude 3.7 Sonnet to power its agent
Emma Roth / The Verge:
OpenAI debuts a Responses API to help developers build agents that search the web, scan for files, and perform tasks on PCs, and an Agents SDK for orchestration
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