Techmeme
October 1, 2025, 10:20 AM

Top News

Meghan Bobrowsky / Wall Street Journal:
Meta plans to start using users' AI chatbot conversations to help personalize ads and content, starting December 16, but not in the UK, South Korea, and the EU  —  While users won't be able to opt out from the new policy, the content of some conversations will be automatically excluded
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google unveils Gemini for Home, replacing Assistant on smart speakers with new voice options and improved conversational skills, and a redesigned Home app  —  Gemini for Home does more than just replace Google Assistant on smart speakers and displays.  Featuring a rebuilt Home architecture …
Chris Welch / Bloomberg:
Google unveils new Home products: $99 Google Home Speaker, set for spring 2026, third-gen $100 Nest Cam Indoor, second-gen $150 Nest Cam Outdoor, and more  —  Alphabet Inc.'s Google introduced a range of new Nest-branded hardware on Wednesday, just a day after Amazon.com Inc. held its own product showcase …
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge:
Financial Times:
Sources: the UK Home Office issued a new order to Apple in early September to create a backdoor into its cloud storage service, this time focused on UK users  —  Order issued in September comes after Trump administration said London had backed down in fight over encryption
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft raises the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription price from $19.99 to $29.99 per month, rebrands Xbox Game Pass Core and Standard plans, and more  —  Microsoft is also adding PC games and cloud access to its new Xbox Game Pass Essential and Premium plans.
Ina Fried / Axios:
OpenAI releases an invitation-only Sora app on iOS, powered by Sora 2, that lets people create and share AI-generated videos of themselves and their friends  —  An Android version will follow eventually, OpenAI told Axios.  — The social app is powered by Sora 2, a new version of OpenAI's video model, which also launched Tuesday.
OpenAI:
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Amazon unveils updates to Luna, including adding AAA games like Hogwarts Legacy and new GameNight original party games, available to Prime subscribers  —  Amazon is revamping its cloud-gaming service Luna to offer a wide variety of top-tier games, including “Hogwarts Legacy” and Xbox's …
Thomas Buckley / Bloomberg:
SAG-AFTRA criticizes AI-generated actress Tilly Norwood, the subject of a viral UK TV show parody, saying it opposes replacing performers with “synthetics”  —  SAG-Aftra, the union of film and TV industry actors, criticized the AI-generated character Tilly Norwood …
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Robert Burnson / Bloomberg:
Apple files a motion to dismiss xAI's lawsuit, which alleges that Apple's ChatGPT integration stifles competition, saying it plans to integrate other chatbots  —  Apple Inc. says it did nothing wrong in choosing to partner with OpenAI — rather than Elon Musk's xAI — when it added generative …
Z.ai:
Z.ai releases GLM-4.6, an open-weights model with a context window of up to 200K tokens, claiming near parity with Claude Sonnet 4 on coding and reasoning tasks  —  Today, we are releasing the latest version of our flagship model: GLM-4.6.  Compared with GLM-4.5, this generation brings several key improvements:
Victoria Song / The Verge:
Peloton unveils its Cross Training Series, including a $1,695 Bike and $6,695 Tread Plus, and AI-based Peloton IQ to track workouts on new and old machines  —  The fitness company is aiming for a comeback with new bikes, treadmills, AI, and higher prices  —  Peloton has been angling …
Lex Fridman:
Q&A with Pavel Durov on Telegram, his arrest, censorship, not using a phone, Romanian elections, VK, encryption, Edward Snowden, spring 2018 poisoning, and more  —  - Watch the full YouTube version of the podcast  —  Table of Contents  —  Here are the loose “chapters” in the conversation.
Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg:
Sam Altman signs a letter of intent with Samsung and SK Hynix to supply Stargate; Samsung and SK Hynix say demand from OpenAI could hit 900K wafers per month  —  Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Co. have forged initial agreements to supply chips and other gear to OpenAI's Stargate project …
Victoria Song / The Verge:
Oura unveils colorful ceramic Oura Ring 4 versions for $499+ in four finishes with enhanced durability and a thicker 3.51mm design, and a $99 charging case  —  The company is also introducing health panels for blood work, a recycling program, and multi-ring device support.
Politico:
The White House withdraws Brian Quintenz's nomination to lead the CFTC; the Winklevoss twins pressured Trump in July to reconsider his nomination  —  The White House withdrew Brian Quintenz's nomination to be a board member and chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission late Tuesday …
Krisztian Sandor / CoinDesk:
Stripe launches Open Issuance, a Bridge-powered platform that lets companies create its own stablecoins, used by crypto wallet Phantom to issue its CASH token  —  Payments giant Stripe unveiled a stablecoin issuance platform and AI commerce tools at its New York showcase on Tuesday …
Andrew Higgins / New York Times:
China's Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou showcased robots, EVs, and a self-driving yacht, but questions remain over the US-China trade dispute and profits  —  The vast Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou stood as a rebuke to U.S. efforts to hem in China's technology.
Richard Milne / Financial Times:
Swedish AI startups Lovable, Legora, and Sana, which is set to be acquired by Workday, highlight a dilemma in European tech: sell out or bet on getting big  —  Swedish start-ups show dilemma over choosing between selling up or betting on becoming huge  —  Anton Osika's AI start …
Patricia Cohen / New York Times:
Russia's Ukraine war spurred a new generation of defense tech investors and startups like Helsing, applying a profit-driven model to Europe's military buildup  —  Russia's war on Ukraine changed the course of a generation of start-ups and investors that have applied a new business model to Europe's military buildup.

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Earlier Picks

Diana Novak Jones / Reuters:
Reuters:
Celia Ford / Transformer:
Ram Iyer / TechCrunch: