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Techmeme
April 21, 2025, 7:20 PM
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Top News

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Report: over a thousand international students have had US immigration statuses terminated in 2025; a Caltech ML professor says it's harming the talent pipeline  —  An AI doctoral student in California had their SEVIS record — the digital proof of their valid student visa — terminated, putting their immigration status at risk.
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Paul Graham likened Palantir's ICE work to “infrastructure of the police state”; a Palantir exec said Paul's view is like Google's when it killed Project Maven  —  One of the founders of startup accelerator Y Combinator offered unsparing criticism this weekend …
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
The US FTC sues Uber, claiming the company charged for Uber One without consent, made it difficult to cancel, and failed to deliver promised savings  —  - CNBC Councils  — CNBC on Peacock  — Join the CNBC Panel  — Supply Chain Values  — Select Shopping  — Ad Choices
Julian Mark / Washington Post:
The US v. Google remedies trial opens with the DOJ arguing that Google should be forced to divest Chrome, and Google calling the proposed remedies “extreme”  —  The remedies trial opens in Washington with the government pushing to break up the company through measures that Google lawyers deem “extreme.”
Mia Sato / The Verge:
Meta is testing using AI tools in the US to detect teen Instagram users, even if they've lied about their birthday, and place them under Teen Account settings  —  On Instagram, AI tools will detect underage users and automatically change their account settings.
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Bluesky starts rolling out blue check verification, initially limiting verification to select organizations and its moderation team  —  Bluesky announced on Monday that it is rolling out blue check verification, confirming previous rumors that this feature was on its way to the platform.
Natalie Lung / Bloomberg:
Airbnb now shows the full cost of a stay, excluding taxes, in search results by default; a Biden-era FTC rule on “junk fees” is set to go into effect on May 12  —  Customers in the US and 200-plus other markets that didn't previously have price-display regulations will now see the total cost …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Circle, BitGo, and other firms plan to apply for bank charters or licenses, as the Trump administration pushes to bring crypto into mainstream finance  —  Circle, BitGo and other crypto firms plan to apply for bank charters or licenses  —  Crypto is pushing deeper into the banking system.
Reuters:
Sources: Huawei plans mass shipments of its 910C chip, which combines two 910B chips and is comparable to Nvidia's H100, to Chinese customers as early as May
Ryan Weeks / Bloomberg:
Brand aggregator Upexi says it is raising $100M to accumulate Solana, causing its shares to surge over 400%, part of a trend of companies investing in crypto  —  Upexi Inc. is raising $100 million as part of a pivot that will see the company start to accumulate the cryptocurrency Solana, according to a Monday statement.
Charles Rollet / TechCrunch:
A Columbia student suspended over a tool to cheat on job interviews says he's raised a $5.3M seed for Cluely, which offers an AI tool to “cheat on everything”  —  On Sunday, 21-year-old Chungin ‘Roy’ Lee announced he's raised $5.3 million in seed funding from Abstract Ventures …
Emily Mason / Bloomberg:
Circle unveils a network designed to link financial institutions and enable real-time settlement of cross-border payments, starting with USDC and EURC in May  —  Circle Internet Group Inc. is launching a payments network designed to allow financial institutions and technology firms to settle cross-border transactions in stablecoins.
Ethan Mollick / One Useful Thing:
Models like o3 and Gemini 2.5 Pro feel like “Jagged AGI”: unreliable, even at some mundane tasks, but still offering superhuman capabilities in many areas  —  Amid today's AI boom, it's disconcerting that we still don't know how to measure how smart, creative, or empathetic these systems are.
More: Unite.AI.  Mastodon: @carnage4life@mas.to.  X: @rizzn.  LinkedIn: Claudia Jaramillo and Ethan Mollick
Forums: Hacker News and r/artificial

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From Mediagazer

Chris Willman / Variety:
Taylor Swift purchases her catalog of recordings, which were initially released through Big Machine Records, from Shamrock for an undisclosed nine-figure sum

The Bookseller:
Boundless, which bought crowdfunding publisher Unbound in March, tells authors that royalties accrued before March won't be paid until Boundless is cash stable

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