Techmeme
February 20, 2025, 12:55 AM

Top News

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils the Majorana 1, its first quantum processor that uses Majorana particles instead of electrons, with the potential to fit a million qubits  —  Microsoft has spent 17 years researching a new material and architecture for quantum computing.
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
Dwarkesh Patel / Dwarkesh Podcast:
Q&A with Satya Nadella on Microsoft's AGI plan, the quantum breakthrough with Majorana 1, how Muse will change gaming, AI's legal barriers, AI safety, and more  —  AGI is not the real benchmark: 10% economic growth is  —  Satya Nadella on:  — Why he doesn't believe in AGI but does believe in 10% economic growth,
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple unveils the $599+ iPhone 16e with a 6.1" display, A18, 48MP camera, Apple Intelligence, the C1 cellular modem, USB-C, and no MagSafe, 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 …
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
Apple unveils its first in-house cellular modem, the C1, with 5G support, to replace Qualcomm modems, saying it's the most power-efficient iPhone modem ever  —  After years of development, Apple has unveiled what it calls C1, its first-ever in-house cellular modem.
Ryan Christoffel / 9to5Mac:
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.
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Google is removing Gemini support from the main Google app on iOS, pushing users to download the standalone Gemini app, which it launched in November 2024  —  Google is informing iOS users that it will be removing Gemini support from the main Google app as it pushes users over to the full Gemini app.
Adamya Sharma / Android Authority:
Google is bringing Circle to Search-like visual searches to its Chrome and Google iOS apps, without the Circle to Search branding, as a Google Lens feature  —  The feature will work within the Chrome and Google iOS apps via Lens.  —  •  —  •  —  •  —  TL;DR
Andy Chalk / PC Gamer:
Valve releases a Team Fortress 2 SDK with the game's client and server code, letting users build new Team Fortress 2-based games licensed for non-commercial use  —  Valve has also released major updates to all Source-engine multiplayer games adding 64-bit support, scalable HUDS, “and a lot of other improvements.”
Jon Keegan / Sherwood News:
Perplexity open sources R1 1776, a version of the DeepSeek R1 model that Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas says was “post-trained to remove the China censorship”  —  But shortly after its release, attention turned to how compliant the model was with Chinese censorship laws.
Erik Larson / Bloomberg:
Trump Media and Rumble sue a Brazilian Supreme Court justice, alleging he tried to illegally suppress 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
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Signal updates its app with phishing protections after Google says Russia-linked hackers are duping Ukrainian soldiers via malicious QR codes for group invites  —  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.
Axios:
Sources: NIST plans to cut 497 people, including 74 postdocs and most staff at its Chips for America program; the AI Safety Institute faces an uncertain future  —  Exit Content Preview … - The cuts come at a time when the U.S. is looking to lead in AI development and stave off competition from China.
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / TechCrunch:
Filings: US Army soldier Cameron John Wagenius pleads guilty to hacking AT&T and Verizon and stealing a massive trove of phone records from the telcos in 2024  —  Cameron John Wagenius pleaded guilty to hacking AT&T and Verizon and stealing a massive trove of phone records from the companies …
Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: top X executives hinted to Interpublic and other ad firms that not spending on X could lead to legal woes, due to X's lawsuit against some advertisers  —  Interpublic recently signed an advertising agreement with the platform; other agencies are also in negotiations
The Block:
The seven-day moving average of Ethereum transaction fees fell to $0.77 on February 15, a 70% week-over-week drop from $2.57 and the lowest since July 2020  —  - The record-low Ethereum fees signal weak demand amid onchain volume decline.  — The following is an excerpt from The Block's Data and Insights newsletter.
Forums: r/ethtrader

Sponsor Posts

TELUS Digital:
See how your customer experience priorities compare  —  TELUS Digital surveyed leaders about the tech they're investing in, the KPIs they're tracking and their plans for outsourcing.  Get the results.  No form fill required!
Intel:
Intel Delivers powerful CPUs for AI and Networking  —  With the onset of AI, businesses demand powerful and efficient CPUs.  Explore new Intel Xeon 6 processors, for the broadest set of workloads with leadership performance and lower TCO.
Zoho:
The rise of AI in recruitment  —  Note: This is a guest post by our integration partner Ringover.AI has already begun transforming recruitment, but in the coming years, it will reach new heights.
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.

Featured Podcasts

Lenny's Podcast:
Become a better communicator: Specific frameworks to improve your clarity, influence, and impact | Wes Kao (coach, entrepreneur, advisor)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Techmeme Ride Home:
(BNS) The Legality Of The AI Stuff
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Hard Fork:
Tech Stock Shock + Solving the Mystery of OpenAI's "Blip" + Tinder's Flirt-Off
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
BG2 Pod:
Liberation Day, Tariffs, US v China Open Source, OpenAI Fundraise, $CRWV, TikTok
Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley.
Subscribe to BG2 Pod.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
What AI anime memes tell us about the future of art and humanity
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Great Chat:
Battle of the startup cities
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 12:55 AM ET, February 20, 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.

More News

Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:

Earlier Picks

James Hunt / The Block:
VentureBeat:
Danny Nelson / CoinDesk: