Techmeme
February 20, 2025, 7:25 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:
Dwarkesh Patel / Dwarkesh Podcast:
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Google is removing Gemini support from the main Google app on iOS, pushing users to download the standalone Gemini app that 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
Lizette Chapman / Bloomberg:
Palantir's stock fell 10% on February 19 after the WaPo reported US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth plans to cut military spending; PLTR is up 50%+ in 2025  —  - Spending shift would affect 8% of US defense spending  — AI-focused Palantir has become major government contractor
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.”
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 …
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Zac Hall / 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.
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.
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
Kim Zetter / Wired:
Source: 19-year-old Edward Coristine and Kyle Schutt, both DOGE engineers, are now on staff at the CISA; Coristine was briefly an intern for Neuralink  —  DOGE technologists Edward Coristine—the 19-year-old known online as “Big Balls”—and Kyle Schutt are now listed as staff at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Aditya Kalra / Reuters:
Sources: Google is close to deciding on locations in India for its first physical retail stores outside the US; the company currently has five stores  —  Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google is close to deciding on locations in its key market of India where it will open its first physical retail stores outside …
The Block:
Ethereum transaction fees' seven-day moving average 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

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Earlier Picks

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