Techmeme
March 18, 2025, 10:05 AM

Top News

The Verge:
Google acquires NYC-based cybersecurity startup Wiz for $32B in cash, its largest acquisition yet, pending approval; antitrust fears stalled a $23B deal in 2024  —  The acquisition is Alphabet's biggest yet, after a $23 billion takeover attempt stalled last year.
New York Times:
Starlink is now accessible across the White House campus, which already has fiber cables, after SpaceX “donated” the service, as some cite security concerns  —  Trump administration officials said the company donated the internet service, saying the gift had been vetted …
Rajesh Pandey / Android Police:
Ahead of the Pixel 9a's rumored March 19 debut, a YouTuber posts a video of the alleged phone, showing a flat rear panel, minimal camera bump, and large bezels  —  - Detailed Pixel 9a unboxing and hands-on videos have been published on YouTube.  — One YouTuber has put the phone through its paces …
Scharon Harding / Ars Technica:
Some owners of smart TVs and streaming sticks with Roku OS report seeing autoplaying video ads before they can use the home screen; Roku says it is just a test  —  Now, Roku is testing what it might look like if it took things a step further and forced people to watch a video ad play before getting to the Roku OS home screen.
Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
Attackers are actively exploiting a critical Apache Tomcat RCE flaw to take over servers with a PUT request; Wallarm: the attack “requires no authentication”  —  A critical remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in Apache Tomcat tracked as CVE-2025-24813 is actively exploited in the wild …
Timmy Shen / The Block:
Solana deleted a social media ad for its conference in May 2025 after the crypto community criticized it for insensitivity towards gender issues  —  - Solana posted a video ad on social media on Monday to promote its upcoming conference, but it was removed hours later.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
In an open letter to the OSTP, Ben Stiller and 400+ Hollywood creatives urge President Trump to not let Google, OpenAI, and others “exploit” copyrighted works  —  More than 400 Hollywood creative leaders signed an open letter to the Trump White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy …
Bert Hubert's writings:
A look at Europe's options for building a “European Cloud”, which is likely to be more difficult than the €15B Galileo satellite system, and potential issues  —  The very short version: It has now become clear that European governments can no longer rely on American clouds …
Zhiye Liu / Tom's Hardware:
Qualcomm unveils the Snapdragon G3 Gen 3, G2 Gen 2, and G1 Gen 2 for gaming handhelds, saying the G3 Gen 3 offers a CPU 30% faster than the previous generation  —  Snapdragon G3 Gen 3, Snapdragon G2 Gen 2, and Snapdragon G1 Gen 2 enter the ring.  —  Qualcomm expanded its Snapdragon G series …
New York Times:
Since Xi Jinping met DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng last month, Chinese officials are rushing to use the AI model, including in courthouses and in hospitals  —  Government bodies nationwide have been eager to show they are using DeepSeek's A.I. technology since the company's founder met with Xi Jinping, China's leader.
Bluesky: @hargreaves-s

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Earlier Picks

Andrew Liszewski / The Verge:
Michael Nuñez / VentureBeat:
The Information:
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Daryna Antoniuk / The Record:
Jay Peters / The Verge: