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February 19, 2025, 12:10 PM
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WeSmirchTop News
| Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: |
Apple unveils the $599+ iPhone 16e with a 6.1" display, A18, 48MP camera, Apple Intelligence, and Apple-designed 5G cellular modem, the C1, shipping February 28 — Apple has officially taken the wraps off of the all-new iPhone 16e. The device features an all-new design paired with the A18 chip inside …
More: Apple, Apple on YouTube, MacRumors, AppleInsider, Engadget, The Hindu, Gizmodo, Irish Examiner, T3, Daily Mail, Business Standard, Washington Post, Livemint, Ars Technica, Moneycontrol, Android Authority, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, TechCrunch, The Verge, CNBC, Thurrott, Digit, BetaNews, Hindustan Times, Wired, Neowin, Bloomberg, TechRadar, iPhone in Canada Blog, One America News Network, The Apple Post, Trusted Reviews, iDownloadBlog.com, GSMArena.com, The Shortcut, Pocket-lint, MacStories, 512 Pixels, 9to5Toys, and Quartz
X: @tim_cook, @film_girl, @aaronp613, @deedydas, @shishirshelke1, @aaronp613, @snazzylabs, @film_girl, @aaronp613, @gregorymcfadden, @aaronp613, @microsoftvapple, @willguyatt, @dylanmcd8, @caro_milanesi, @parkerortolani, @aaronp613, @mgsiegler, @joannastern, @film_girl, @joannastern, @film_girl, @parkerortolani, @firstadopter, @markgurman, @wongmjane, @dylanmcd8, @zollotech, @maxwinebach, @markgurman, @mkbhd, @aaronp613, @zollotech, and @maxwinebach
| Zac Hall / 9to5Mac: |
Apple unveils its first-ever in-house cellular modem, the C1, to replace Qualcomm modem chips, saying it is “the most power-efficient modem ever on an iPhone” — After years of development, Apple has unveiled what it calls C1, its first-ever in-house cellular modem.
More: The Verge, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, MacRumors, Yahoo Finance, and The Indian Express
Bluesky: @stevekovach. X: @benbajarin, @markgurman, @markgurman, @maxwinebach, @dylanmcd8, @basicappleguy, @maxwinebach, and @benbajarin. Forums: r/gadgets
| Ryan Christoffel / 9to5Mac: |
More: The Verge, PCMag, MacRumors, MacRumors, VICE, TechRadar, Trusted Reviews, and Tom's Guide. Bluesky: @lauridonahue
| Tom Warren / The Verge: |
Microsoft unveils the Majorana 1, its first quantum processor that uses the Majorana particle instead of electrons, that can potentially fit a million qubits — Microsoft has spent 17 years researching a new material and architecture for quantum computing.
More: Microsoft, The Guardian, Microsoft Azure, Nature, Reuters, New York Times, LiveScience, Bloomberg, Thurrott, Engadget, GeekWire, arXiv.org, Neowin, Constellation Research, Microsoft, Forbes, CNBC, HPCwire, and Nextgov/FCW
| Financial Times: |
Microsoft says it has harnessed a new state of matter using particles called Majorana fermions, a significant breakthrough to create workable topological qubits — US tech giant says it has harnessed a new state of matter to create the basic building blocks of a quantum machine
More: The New Stack and MIT Technology Review
| Andy Greenberg / Wired: |
Signal updates its app with phishing protections after Google warned Russia-linked hackers are using fake QR codes for group invites to trick Ukrainian soldiers — Google warns that hackers tied to Russia are tricking Ukrainian soldiers with fake QR codes for Signal group invites that let spies steal their messages.
More: Google Cloud Blog, The Record, CyberInsider, Infosecurity, pravda.com.ua, Politico, SiliconANGLE, GovInfoSecurity.com, ComputerWeekly.com, and Forbes
Forums: Hacker News, r/technology, and r/technews
| VentureBeat: |
Sources: Chinese game publisher NetEase has been directed to divest its overseas holdings, starting with hit game Marvel Rivals, which laid off its Seattle team — Chinese game publisher NetEase raised fears with recent moves that it is unloading as much as all of its overseas holdings …
More: PC Gamer, The Verge, Kotaku, VentureBeat, The Verge, Engadget, IGN, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Pandaily, Wccftech, VideoGamer, Cryptopolitan, Gameranx, Push Square, Eurogamer.net, en.ain.ua, GamesIndustry.biz, Dot Esports, Beebom, GeekWire, and Eurogamer.net
X: @stephentotilo, @zhugeex, @marvelrivals, @gigawattconduit, @lordbalvin, @wario64, @rivalsassembled, @slashlp89, @hh_varuna, @directfeedgames, @1exi, @alecrobbins, @bellulargaming, @coopercooperco, @neferpitoup, @jakesucky, @lordbalvin, @knoebelbroet, and @ianrile42523693
LinkedIn: Thaddeus Sasser and Jack Burrows
| Brody Ford / Bloomberg: |
HP plans to acquire assets from Humane for $116M, wind down Humane's Ai Pin business, and add Humane's team, including its founders, as an AI-focused division — - Humane's Ai pin business to be wound down after rocky launch — New unit at HP will focus on implementation of AI in devices
More: Humane Ai Pin, Humane, The Verge, Gizmodo, The Register, eWeek, How-To Geek, Spyglass, Tom's Hardware, New York Times, Forbes, Fortune, AppleInsider, OSnews, KnowTechie, Ghacks, Wareable, Digital Trends, The Decoder, TechCrunch, Silicon Republic, TechIssuesToday.com, Beebom, 9to5Mac, and Axios
Bluesky: @theopriestley.com, @techsocial, @quillmatiq.com, @wandrme.paxex.aero, @parkscopejoe, @edzitron.com, @quinnypig.com, @daniloc.xyz, @dub, and @caseynewton
Threads: @vishwanathsarangkeller, @joannastern, @benedictevans, @documentingmeta, @carnage4life, @young.mete, @young.mete, @eshumarneedi, @tomgara, and @tomgara
X: @basicappleguy, @linusekenstam, @raywongy, @michaelmacleod1, @bearlyai, @markgurman, @maxwinebach, @charliemelbye, @mkbhd, @zck, @nearcyan, @aallan, @sdw, @sammdec, @gartenberg, @ettinger, @chrisjbakke, @hemeon, @humane, @cohensite, @gonzalo__nunez, @aviel, @growing_daniel, @willahmed, @mkbhd, @mycoliza, @burnedlead, @brianroemmele, @trungtphan, @sdw, @thdxr, @jnnnthnn, @pitdesi, @neilcybart, @counternotions, @rjonesy, @mikeisaac, @scobleizer, @gergelyorosz, @gergelyorosz, @gergelyorosz, @gergelyorosz, @kyliebytes, and @kateclarktweets
Forums: r/hardware, r/LinusTechTips, r/Android, r/gadgets, r/technology, and r/apple
| Aaron Souppouris / Engadget: |
Humane says Ai Pin's online features will stop working at 12PM PT on February 28, when it will delete all customer data, and it will refund some newer customers — Humane is discontinuing the AI Pin and selling out to HP. — AI hardware startup Humane has given its users just ten (10!) …
More: 404 Media, Ground Control, The Verge, Analytics India Magazine, Phandroid, TechPowerUp, Boing Boing, PetaPixel, en.ain.ua, TechSpot, Mashable, and MakeUseOf
Forums: r/technology and Slashdot
| Bloomberg: |
Sources: Niantic is in talks to sell its video games unit to Saudi Arabia-owned Scopely for ~$3.5B; the deal would include Pokémon Go and its other mobile games — A deal could be announced in coming weeks. The price being discussed is about $3.5 billion, according to one of the people.
More: Engadget, Android Police, Kotaku, Neowin, Ghacks, Metro.co.uk, PocketGamer.biz, TheGamer, Dot Esports, TechRaptor, Video Games Chronicle, Destructoid, Game Rant, and TechCrunch
Mastodon: @steveriggins@mastodon.social. X: @wario64 and @ballmatthew. LinkedIn: Cecilia D'Anastasio
Forums: Hacker News, r/technology, r/PikminBloomApp, r/Ingress, r/gaming, r/nintendo, r/pokemongo, r/TheSilphRoad, and Slashdot
| Katie Roof / Bloomberg: |
Sources: X is in talks to raise funds at a $44B valuation, matching the price Elon Musk paid for Twitter in 2022, as his proximity to Trump alters X's prospects — - Valuation is the same as Musk's 2022 Twitter acquisition — Billionaire has recently tapped private markets for big sums| Tom Warren / The Verge: |
Microsoft announces Muse AI, a first-of-its-kind generative AI model that can generate a game environment based on visuals, players' controller actions, or both — Microsoft Research and Xbox game studio Ninja Theory have partnered to create a new AI model for gaming.
More: Xbox Wire, Reuters, VentureBeat, Engadget, Windows Central, GeekWire, Bloomberg, IGN, Microsoft, and Digital Trends
Bluesky: @tomwarren.co.uk. X: @peteratmsr, @rowancheung, @theturingpost, @xboxwire, @msftresearch, @wario64, @tomwarren, @tomwarren, @rowancheung, @azed_ai, @peteratmsr, @howfxr, @knoebelbroet, @coldplay, @rowancheung, @rowancheung, and @satyanadella
| Danny Nelson / CoinDesk: |
Source: in text messages, Libra co-creator Hayden Davis bragged he could “control” Argentine President Javier Milei by making payments to Milei's sister, Karina — A key player behind the Libra token bragged about buying access to Argentine President Javier Milei's inner circle months …
More: Gizmodo, Wired, Bloomberg, Protos, Bloomberg, Coinpedia Fintech News, CryptoSlate, and The Block
X: @davidrkadler, @harikunzru, @bykatherineross, @marchochstein, @beaniemaxi, @tier10k, @asslatam, @chilearmy123, @realdannynelson, @skesslr, @0xpepo, @julian__fahrer, and @tier10k
Forums: Hacker News and r/CryptoCurrency
| Melissa Heikkilä / Financial Times: |
Google launches a Gemini 2.0-based AI co-scientist tool to help biomedical scientists create novel hypotheses and speed up research, available to select testers — Lab assistant powered by artificial intelligence can help generate scientific hypotheses — Google has built … | Emilia David / VentureBeat: |
OpenAI researchers build the SWE-Lancer benchmark and find that real-world freelance software engineering work remains challenging for frontier language models — Large language models (LLMs) may have changed software development, but enterprises will need to think twice …
More: arXiv, OpenAI, and WinBuzzer
X: @openai, @openai, @tejalpatwardhan, @paul_cal, @charliermarsh, @btibor91, @kylevasulka, @tmychow, @nearcyan, @andreyfradkin, @nickadobos, @jakub__kraus, and @evanon0ping
Forums: Hacker News, r/singularity, r/accelerate, and Slashdot
| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Instagram updates direct messages with translation in 99 languages, scheduling and pinning tools, music-sharing features, and more, on iOS and Android first — Instagram is upgrading its direct messages, also known as DMs, with a handful of new features that make its messaging system … | James Hunt / The Block: |
Binance.US resumes USD deposits and withdrawals for the first time since June 2023, when the US SEC sued Binance, Binance.US, and co-founder Changpeng Zhao — - Binance.US customers can deposit and withdraw U.S. dollars on the platform for the first time in nearly two years.| Ina Fried / Axios: |
Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati unveils AI startup Thinking Machines Lab, which she's leading as CEO, with Barret Zoph as CTO and John Schulman as chief scientist — - “Instead of focusing solely on making fully autonomous AI systems, we are excited to build multimodal systems that work …
More: Thinking Machines Lab, The Verge, Reuters, VentureBeat, GovInfoSecurity.com, Shelly Palmer, New York Times, The Decoder, BGR, Wired, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Times, Analytics India Magazine, Inc42 Media, Neowin, Unite.AI, The Indian Express, Maginative, and TechCrunch
Mastodon: @carnage4life@mas.to. X: @miramurati, @thinkymachines, @karpathy, @dchaplot, @erikbryn, @jacobsteinhardt, @lilianweng, @stochasticchasm, @chrszegedy, @nearcyan, @kipperrii, @shiringhaffary, @_alex_kirillov_, @nim_chimpsky_, @kimmonismus, @chipro, @sschoenholz, @jonlachman, @kateclarktweets, @luke_metz, @katie_roof, @erinkwoo, and @johnschulman2
| Erik Larson / Bloomberg: |
TMTG and Rumble sue a Brazilian Supreme Court Justice in Florida for allegedly illegally suppressing the US social media activity of conservative Brazilians — - Suit targets a supreme court justice who has clashed with Musk — Brazilian judge has long attacked ‘fake news,’ disinformation
More: New York Times, Fortune, Reuters, Politico, NBC News, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, and Louder With Crowder
Forums: r/Brazil and r/worldnews
| Allie Garfinkle / Fortune: |
Verkada, which makes smart cameras, alarms, sensors, and more for enterprises, raised a $200M Series E at a $4.5B valuation, up from $3.2B in September 2022 — In 2017, Filip Kaliszan pulled an all-nighter at the Beverly Hills Equinox. — A luxury gym isn't the obvious place to work through the night … | Muvija M / Reuters: |
Apple tells the UK CMA that some of its mobile browser remedies would slow innovation, and it would “not be appropriate” to mandate free WebKit and iOS access — Apple (AAPL.O) has told Britain's competition regulator that some of the remedy options proposed by the watchdog … | Reuters: |
President Trump says tariffs on semiconductors would start at “25% or higher” and that he planned to provide some time for chip makers to set up US factories — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he intends to impose auto tariffs “in the neighborhood of 25%” … | Jordan Novet / CNBC: |
Baseten, which helps companies launch open-source or customized AI models, raised $75M led by IVP and Spark Capital at a $825M valuation and claims 100+ clients — Baseten, a startup that runs artificial intelligence models for clients on their cloud infrastructure, has raised $75 million in funding, the company said Wednesday.| Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch: |
French privacy startup Murena unveils the €539 Murena Pixel Tablet, running its open-source, forked /e/OS, after releasing a “deGoogled” smartphone in 2022 — Murena, the French privacy firm that's forked Android to deliver so-called deGoogled smartphones, has repeated the trick with a tablet.
More: Android Authority
| Kate Rooney / CNBC: |
Cambridge, MA-based OpenEvidence, which offers an AI chatbot to help physicians, raised $75M from Sequoia at a $1B valuation, its first outside funding round — AI startup OpenEvidence is raising a fresh round of capital from Sequoia to scale its chatbot for doctors.
More: FinSMEs
| Krystal Hu / Reuters: |
Lambda, which offers cloud services and computers to train AI, raised a $480M Series D, sources say at a $2.5B valuation, taking its total funding to $863M — Lambda, a cloud computing firm specializing in providing hardware and services to power artificial intelligence development …
| Bloomberg: |
Some US ByteDance investors argue that they don't need US TikTok for success as ~80% of ByteDance's revenue comes from China, the valuation's real driving force — Some American ByteDance investors say they don't need US TikTok for success — As TikTok fights to keep its popular video app available … Sponsor Posts
Google:
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UiPath:
UiPath Unveils 10 Innovations that Will Shape the Agentic Future — Orchestration engine, API workflows and agentic testing among key features of new UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation, launched at UiPath DevCon 2025
UiPath Unveils 10 Innovations that Will Shape the Agentic Future — Orchestration engine, API workflows and agentic testing among key features of new UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation, launched at UiPath DevCon 2025
Zoho:
6 Tips to Unlock Revenue with Transactional Emails — This is a guest post by Tabular.You might think of transactional emails as boring necessities, but the truth is, they're far more powerful than you realize.
6 Tips to Unlock Revenue with Transactional Emails — This is a guest post by Tabular.You might think of transactional emails as boring necessities, but the truth is, they're far more powerful than you realize.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.Featured Podcasts
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