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May 16, 2025, 1:35 PM
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Top News

Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
OpenAI rolls out Codex, an AI coding agent powered by codex-1, a version of o3 optimized for software engineering, for ChatGPT Pro, Enterprise, and Team users  —  OpenAI announced on Friday it's launching a research preview of Codex, the company's most capable AI coding agent yet.
Dominic Preston / The Verge:
Epic Games says that Apple rejected its latest Fortnite submission to the US App Store and the game on iOS will be “offline worldwide until Apple unblocks it”  —  Epic says that the game is ‘offline’ on iPhones everywhere after Apple rejected its App Store resubmission.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Apple denies removing Fortnite from alternative marketplaces in the EU and says it asked Epic Sweden to resubmit the app update excluding the US App Store  —  Apple Inc. and Epic Games Inc. sparred over whether the iPhone maker was obstructing access to the hit game Fortnite …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Apple says warnings on EU App Store listings for apps not using IAP have been up since March 2024, and the EU told it to hold off on tweaks that Apple proposed
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
After Grok's “white genocide in South Africa” X replies, xAI says “an unauthorized modification was made to Grok response bot's prompt” at 3:15 AM PST on May 14  —  xAI blamed an “unauthorized modification” for a bug in its AI-powered Grok chatbot that caused Grok …
Wall Street Journal:
Facebook and Instagram face “an epidemic of scams” driven by crime networks; internal docs from 2022 say 70% of newly active Meta advertisers promote scams  —  Fake puppies and phony offers of mouthwatering bargains are often seeded by overseas crime networks …
Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
Sony's Haven Studios founder Jade Raymond leaves the company; sources: some developers were worried about its first game's external test reception and progress  —  Her company, Haven Studios, is developing an online shooter title called Fairgames … PlayStation leadership didn't give Haven staff …
Reuters:
Charter says it will acquire Cox Communications for $21.9B, valuing Cox at $34.5B including debt and uniting two of the biggest US cable and broadband operators  —  Charter Communications (CHTR.O) said on Friday it would merge with Cox Communications in a deal that would value its privately held rival …
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Microsoft says internal and external reviews found no evidence the Israeli military used its tech to harm civilians in Gaza, after months of employee protests  —  [Updated below with comments from the employee group No Azure for Apartheid.]  —  Microsoft said Thursday that it found no evidence …
More: The Verge, Microsoft, Gizmodo, and WinBuzzer
Bluesky: @sambiddle.com and @jaybut707.  Mastodon: @joesteel@duck.haus.  X: @tomwarren.  Forums: r/worldnews
Hayden Field / CNBC:
Anthropic received a $2.5B, five-year revolving credit line, and says annualized revenue reached $2B in Q1 2025, up from $1B in Q1 2024  —  Earlier this week, Anthropic received a $2.5 billion, five-year revolving credit line to amp up its liquidity in an ever-expanding — and expensive …
Alex Kantrowitz / Big Technology:
Klarna CEO says its AI agent now handles two-thirds of customer service chats, an equivalent of 800 jobs, but Klarna is hiring workers for higher-end chats  —  Headlines announcing Klarna's AI pullback were wrong, its CEO says.  Instead of retreating, it's handing more tasks to the bots.
Camille Bromley / Columbia Journalism Review:
Q&A with Wired's Steven Levy on the evolving relationship between the tech industry and the press, media outlets' licensing deals with AI companies, and more  —  “What you find when you get into a place is always more interesting than any preconception you have.”
Lauren Goode / Wired:
US immigration attorneys: since January 2025, USCIS has significantly increased requests for more evidence on tech-related visa petitions, like H-1Bs and O-1s  —  Silicon Valley's coveted work visas are under heavy scrutiny from the Trump administration, and immigration lawyers say requests for documentation are increasing.
More: Newsweek, Trak.in, and Forbes
Bluesky: @laurengoode.  X: @scobleizer.  LinkedIn: Christof Jaritz.  Forums: r/TrueReddit and r/politics
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Sources: Microsoft has stopped production of its Surface Laptop Studio 2 and plans to mark the device as end of life in June, with no apparent successor plans  —  The Surface Laptop Studio 2 is no longer being manufactured and there's no replacement in sight.
Niket Nishant / Reuters:
Coinbase says hackers accessed data of a “small subset” of users, but not credentials, expects to incur $180M-$400M in costs, and refuses to pay a $20M ransom  —  Coinbase (COIN.O) forecast a hit between $180 million and $400 million from a cyber attack that breached account data of a …
Bloomberg:
Source: Coinbase's hackers had bribed enough customer service representatives to achieve effectively on-demand access to customer info in the past five months

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:35 PM ET, May 16, 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

Bloomberg:
Sources: President Trump's Middle East AI deals open a rift with China hawks in his administration over concerns that US chips sent to the Gulf end up in China
Matthew Guariglia / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
Montana becomes the first US state to close a data broker loophole that lets police buy users' geolocation data and other digital info without a judge's warrant

Earlier Picks

Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
Take-Two reports Q4 net bookings up 17% YoY to $1.58B, vs. $1.55B est., net revenue up 13% YoY to $1.58B, and forecasts FY 2026 net bookings below expectations
Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
Court filing: Anthropic apologizes for one of its expert witnesses citing an article hallucinated by Claude in the company's legal battle with music publishers
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Meta has delayed rolling out its Behemoth LLM, internally slated for an April release, to fall or later, after struggling to improve its capabilities
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Threads now lets users add up to five links to their profile bios and rolls out analytics tools to track clicks on profile links and links shared in posts
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple rolls out CarPlay Ultra, the next generation of CarPlay, in new and existing Aston Martins in North America after months of delays, before a wider rollout
Bloomberg:
President Trump says he told Tim Cook that “I don't want you building in India”, “India can take care of themselves”, and Apple will be “upping” US production
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