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February 21, 2025, 6:05 PM
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Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Apple removes Advanced Data Protection for iCloud in the UK, pulling the optional E2EE feature rather than complying with the UK's order to build a backdoor  —  - Company removes Advanced Data Protection feature for UK users  — “We never will” build backdoor to user data, iPhone maker says
More: BBC, Washington Post, 9to5Mac, The Verge, TechCrunch, MacRumors, Bloomberg, Tech Policy Press, PCMag, Electronic Frontier Foundation, SiliconANGLE, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, ITV News, Daring Fireball, Financial Times, PhoneArena, Channel NewsAsia, The Standard, mjtsai.com, Engadget, Breitbart, Al Jazeera, UPI, Sky News, Digital Trends, TechRadar, Neowin, mobilenewscwp.co.uk, Silicon UK, The Information, AppleInsider, PetaPixel, BGR, Cult of Mac, The Apple Post, Gizmodo, CyberInsider, ZeroHedge News, and The Hacker News
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Mastodon: @zackwhittaker@mastodon.social, @mshelton@mastodon.social, @FirewallDragons …, @RabBrucesSpider1 …, and @ErikJonker@mastodon.social
Threads: @benedictevans, @parkert, and @timothybucksf
X: @timsweeneyepic, @scott_helme, @timsweeneyepic, @matthew_d_green, @matthew_d_green, @markgurman, @leokelion, @migueldeicaza, @bzamayo, @matthew_d_green, @markgurman, @matthew_d_green, @vxunderground, @matthew_d_green, @matthew_d_green, @markgurman, @kimzetter, @davidtpegg, @jamestitcomb, @jamesrbuk, @bzamayo, @profwoodward, @uk_daniel_card, @mysk_co, @dcurtis, @shellenberger, @timsweeneyepic, @martynday, @willguyatt, and @bryanglick
LinkedIn: Peter Slack, Joe Jones, Matt Abrams, Marc Lawn, Abid Patel, Brian Honan, and Nigel Smart
Forums: r/applesucks, r/tech, r/europe, r/hardware, r/iphone, r/apple, r/technews, r/anime_titties, r/technology, r/iphone, Slashdot, and MacRumors Forums
Oliver Knight / CoinDesk:
ZachXBT: crypto exchange Bybit has experienced $1.46B worth of “suspicious outflows”; Bybit CEO confirms hacker took control of a cold ETH wallet  —  Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has experienced $1.46 billion worth of “suspicious outflows,” according to blockchain sleuth ZachXBT.
RT Watson / The Block:
Arkham says ZachXBT submitted proof that North Korea's Lazarus Group is behind Bybit's $1.5B hack, which is the largest single theft in crypto history  —  - Arkham Intelligence said Lazarus Group hacked Bybit for over $1.5 billion, citing information provided by online sleuth ZachXBT.
Bloomberg:
Crypto exchange Bybit says a hacker took control of one of its cold Ethereum wallets, resulting in what analysts estimate was the loss of ~$1.5B worth of tokens  —  - North Korean group Lazarus suspected by industry researchers  — Prices of Ether, Bitcoin and other tokens decline after theft
Jesse Pound / CNBC:
Coinbase says the US SEC agreed “in principle” to drop its 2023 case against the company, calling it “righting a major wrong” and a “huge day” for crypto  —  - CNBC Councils  — CNBC on Peacock  — Join the CNBC Panel  — Supply Chain Values
David Heaney / UploadVR:
Apple releases visionOS 2.4 developer beta, adding Apple Intelligence, a guest mode, a Spatial Gallery app, an iPhone app for remote installs, and more  —  visionOS 2.4 will bring Apple Intelligence to Vision Pro, a Spatial Gallery app, an iPhone app for remote installs, and a new iPhone/iPad-driven guest flow.
Cade Metz / New York Times:
OpenAI says it found evidence of an AI-powered surveillance tool used by a Chinese security operation to identify anti-China posts on social media in the West  —  The company said a Chinese operation had built the tool to identify anti-Chinese posts on social media services in Western countries.
Saritha Rai / Bloomberg:
DeepSeek plans to open source five of its code repositories next week, letting anyone download, build on, or improve the code behind its well-regarded AI models  —  - The startup will begin making technology available next week  — DeepSeek is pushing harder on its open-source approach
Ian Duncan / Washington Post:
Sources: the US NHTSA is losing ~10% of its workforce via firings and buyout offers, including nearly half of a small team that regulates autonomous vehicles  —  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is losing about 10 percent of its workforce through firings and buyout offers, according to people briefed on the cuts.
Bloomberg:
NetEase CEO William Ding has cut hundreds of jobs, closed game studios, and reduced international investment as he refocuses on a smaller portfolio of titles  —  - Hundreds of staffers and about a dozen games have been cut  — Founder William Ding sets elevated expectations for results
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Sakana AI walks back claims that its new AI CUDA Engineer can speed up AI training by up to 100x, after complaints about worse-than-average training performance  —  This week, Sakana AI, a Nvidia-backed startup that's raised hundreds of millions of dollars from VC firms, made a remarkable claim.
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
OpenAI launches Operator in the UK, Japan, and most ChatGPT regions, and says it's working to expand to the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Iceland  —  OpenAI said on Friday that it is rolling out Operator, its so-called AI agent that can perform tasks on behalf of users …

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From Mediagazer

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
Sources: Paramount will pay $300M a year for five years to bring global streaming rights for South Park to Paramount+, including US rights for the first time

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Sources: Edith Chapin, NPR's top editor and acting chief content officer, will leave the organization later this year

Financial Times:
Sources: Bari Weiss is seeking a valuation of between $200M and $250M for The Free Press amid talks with Skydance CEO David Ellison over a potential sale

More News

Ricardo Brito / Reuters:
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes orders the immediate and full suspension of Rumble in the country due to noncompliance with court orders

Earlier Picks

Bloomberg:
On Alibaba's Q3 earnings call, CEO Eddie Wu calls the pursuit of AGI the company's “primary objective”, saying “our first and foremost goal is to pursue AGI”
Benj Edwards / Ars Technica:
Microsoft researchers introduce Magma, an AI foundation model that combines visual and language processing to control software interfaces and robotic systems
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
SEC filing: Meta raises executives' annual bonuses from 75% to 200% of their base salary, after reportedly cutting most employees' annual stock options by ~10%
Ryan Christoffel / 9to5Mac:
Kuo: all iPhone 17 models will have Apple's in-house Wi-Fi chips, enhancing connectivity and cutting costs; only the slim iPhone 17 will have the C1 modem chip
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