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February 13, 2026, 1:20 PM
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Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| New York Times: |
Memo: Meta plans to add facial recognition to its smart glasses in 2026, saying the political tumult in the US would distract critics from the feature's release — In an internal memo last year, Meta said the political tumult in the United States would distract critics from the feature's release.
More: The Verge, The Information, Engadget, Thurrott, CNET, Forbes, TechCrunch, Android Central, PCMag, Digital Trends, MacRumors, The Independent, and Sherwood News
Bluesky: @ericjgeller.com, @manton.org, @stevekovach, @caseynewton, @hagenblix, @parismarx.com, @drewharwell.com, @justinhendrix, @noupside, @damonberes.com, @mrhands31, @sonjadrimmer, @johndavisson, @samplereality, @davemay1, @kashhill, @seanokane, @molly.wiki, @lauridonahue, @kittywashere, and @benforward3. Mastodon: @funnymonkey@freeradical.zone
Forums: r/privacy, Slashdot, and MacRumors Forums
| Danny Park / The Block: |
A US court sentences Praetorian Group CEO Ramil Ventura Palafox to 20 years in prison for operating a $200M bitcoin Ponzi scheme that defrauded 90K+ investors — Quick Take — Praetorian Group International CEO, Ramil Ventura Palafox, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for operating a $200 million bitcoin Ponzi scheme.| Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge: |
Amazon's Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety, which would have let law enforcement agencies request footage from Ring doorbell users, after backlash — After weeks of mounting pressure and a questionable Super Bowl ad, the Amazon-owned company has walked back its plan to integrate …
More: The Ring Blog, Gizmodo, NBC News, CNET, The Record, Benzinga, The Economic Times, TechCrunch, AppleInsider, The Register, CBS News, Reclaim The Net, Business Insider, PR Daily, Variety, flocksafety.com, Silicon Republic, PCMag, Mashable, Android Authority, Cele|bitchy, Straight Arrow News, Futurism, T3, Flock Safety, Engadget, and CNBC
X: @ike_saul and @jsrailton
Bluesky: @stevefm20, @davidho, @serife, @paulusschoutsen.nl, @ob1rebel, @jsrailton, @ernie.tedium.co, @chrisnielsen, @ellenenders, @deflock-redmond, @reckless, and @noorlovelace. Mastodon: @SteveThompson@mastodon.social
| Barbara Moens / Financial Times: |
Google warns that the EU risks undermining its own competitiveness drive with the “tech sovereignty package” the bloc is set to present in the spring — Europe risks undermining its own competitiveness drive through curbs on US groups, tech company says
More: SupplyChainBrain, Binding Hook, Reuters, CIO.com, and France 24
X: @googlepubpolicy. LinkedIn: Kent Walker. Mastodon: @jim@social.openrightsgroup …. Forums: r/EU_Economics
| Jennifer Elias / CNBC: |
Apple's stock fell 5% on February 12, its worst day since April 2025, following FTC scrutiny of Apple News and reports of delays to Siri's anticipated AI update — Apple just wrapped up its worst day on the stock market since April after reports surfaced about delays with Siri and as the company's news app faced regulatory scrutiny.
More: New York Times, Washington Post, 9to5Mac, Tom's Guide, Federal Trade Commission, MacRumors, Cult of Mac, Phandroid, O'Grady's PowerPage, Associated Press, The Mac Observer, Benzinga, Tech in Asia, MacTech.com, AppleInsider, Mumbrella, iPhone in Canada, Spyglass, Washington Times, CBS News, MacDailyNews, Business Insider, New York Sun, Dow Jones Newswires, Financial Times, and Bloomberg. Forums: MacRumors Forums
| Kate Clark / Wall Street Journal: |
Companies like Stripe, OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX are letting workers cash out before their IPOs, a move once seen as taboo and lacking long-term commitment — Companies from Stripe to OpenAI, Anthropic, Databricks and SpaceX are increasingly giving employees the ability to sell some of their shares| Reuters: |
Sources: ByteDance is in advanced talks to sell game studio Moonton, the developer of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, to Saudi Arabia's Savvy Games for $6B to $7B — ByteDance is in advanced talks to sell Shanghai Moonton Technology, the studio behind the popular mobile game Mobile Legends …
More: The Information, Financial Times, The American Bazaar, and Bloomberg
| Dwarkesh Patel / Dwarkesh Podcast:NEW |
Q&A with Dario Amodei on getting close to “a country of geniuses in a data center”, how AI will diffuse through the economy, frontier lab profits, China, more — “That's why I'm sending this message of urgency” — Dario Amodei thinks we are just a few years away from “a country of geniuses in a data center”.| Ashley Capoot / CNBC: |
February investor memo: Cohere hit ~$240M in ARR in 2025, above its $200M target, with QoQ growth of 50%+ and gross margins averaging around 70% throughout 2025 — Artificial intelligence startup Cohere has told investors that it's seeing momentum with enterprise customers, even as rivals like Google …
More: TechCrunch
| Gene Maddaus / Variety: |
The MPA urges ByteDance to curb its AI video model Seedance 2.0, saying the model “has engaged in unauthorized use of US copyrighted works on a massive scale” — The Motion Picture Association on Thursday denounced the newest AI video generator, Seedance 2.0 … | Alaina Demopoulos / The Guardian: |
As OpenAI retires GPT-4o, some users say they are angry and grieving to lose the flirty, quirky companion — Its human partners said the flirty, quirky GPT-4o was the perfect companion - on the eve of Valentine's Day, it's being turned off for good. How will users cope?| Demetri Sevastopulo / Financial Times: |
The US DoD published and then deleted a document adding Alibaba, Baidu, and BYD to a list of companies with alleged connections to the Chinese military — The companies are among a number the Pentagon believes could pose a threat to American national security
More: Reuters, Bloomberg Law, Techstrong IT, Times of India, and Bloomberg
| Evelyn Cheng / CNBC: |
Baidu plans to let its search app's 700M MAUs opt-in to message OpenClaw and integrate OpenClaw's capabilities into its e-commerce business and other services — BEIJING — Baidu plans to give users of its main smartphone app direct access to the wildly popular artificial intelligence tool OpenClaw …
More: Benzinga
| Blake Brittain / Reuters: |
A US jury finds Apple did not infringe Optis' 4G wireless technology patents, after two earlier trial verdicts Optis had won were overturned — Apple (AAPL.O)won a defense verdict on Thursday in a lawsuit by intellectual-property management company Optis Wireless, which had accused …
More: 9to5Mac, Android Headlines, Bloomberg Law, Tech Times, Benzinga, The Mac Observer, MacTech.com, AppleInsider, and MacRumors. Forums: MacRumors Forums
| Fortune: |
Sources: Binance has fired its employees in late 2025 who uncovered evidence that Iran received $1B+ through Binance between March 2024 and August 2025 — In 2023, the crypto exchange Binance pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering and know-your-customer laws as well as sanctions violations.
Bluesky: @lontorel, @davidgrover, and @wilkos
| Kate Clark / Wall Street Journal: |
Anthropic adds Chris Liddell, a former Microsoft and GM exec who helped GM IPO and worked in Trump's first administration, to its board ahead of a potential IPO — The former Microsoft and GM executive Chris Liddell has previously worked for the Trump administration
More: Washington Examiner, CNBC, Anthropic, and Sherwood News
| Dan Primack / Axios: |
PitchBook estimates that 25%+ of VC-backed unicorns have become “undercorns,” startups once valued at $1B or more by VCs but now valued below that threshold — New valuation data from PitchBook suggests that more than one-quarter of VC-backed “unicorns” have lost their horns …
More: PitchBook
| Reuters: |
Russia confirms it has blocked WhatsApp, citing Meta's “unwillingness to comply with Russian law”, and proposes that Russians switch to the state-owned Max app — U.S. messenger app WhatsApp, owned by Meta Platforms (META.O), has been completely blocked in Russia for failing …
More: CNBC, Tom's Guide, The Hill, Tech Times, 9to5Mac, BBC, Engadget, Fox Business, Times of India, Wall Street Journal, Straight Arrow News, Al Jazeera, CNN, CBS News, Washington Examiner, The Economic Times, Modern Diplomacy, Sherwood News, PCMag, The Record, Semafor, Le Monde, Agence France-Presse, Politico, The Independent, and The National
X: @whatsapp, @davetroy, @helsinkicomm, @durov, @russiaspivot, @dispropoganda, @talbeerysec, and @lukolejnik
Forums: r/worldnews and Slashdot
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
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| Rashi Shrivastava / Forbes: |
A look at Higgsfield, an AI video startup that grew to $300M ARR within 11 months, as it faces a creator backlash over aggressive and shocking marketing tactics — CEO Alex Mashrabov, originally from Uzbekistan, cofounded Higgsfield in 2023 as a ChatGPT for video-style mobile app.
More: Tom's Guide and B&T
| Bloomberg: |
Sources: the US FTC accelerated a probe into whether Microsoft illegally monopolized the enterprise computing market with its cloud software and AI offerings — The US Federal Trade Commission is accelerating scrutiny of Microsoft Corp. as part of an ongoing probe into whether …
More: Reuters, The Information, and Mobile World Live
| Bloomberg: |
In a memo to US lawmakers, OpenAI accused DeepSeek of using distillation techniques to train the next generation of R1 and “free-ride” on leading US AI models — OpenAI has warned US lawmakers that its Chinese rival DeepSeek is using unfair and increasingly sophisticated methods …
More: Livemint, WinBuzzer, Rest of World, CSO, The Asia Business Daily, The Information, The Deep View, Sinocism, and Tech in Asia
X: @chrisrmcguire and @garymarcus
Bluesky: @drewharwell.com, @chefstentor, and @jeffveillette. Mastodon: @koen_hufkens@mastodon.social. Forums: Slashdot
Sponsor Posts
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Zoho:
Why now: Building cloud infrastructure that the UAE can rely on — For years, the main question in the UAE was whether organizations should adopt cloud technology. Today, cloud adoption is no longer up for debate.
Why now: Building cloud infrastructure that the UAE can rely on — For years, the main question in the UAE was whether organizations should adopt cloud technology. Today, cloud adoption is no longer up for debate.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce 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 & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.Featured Podcasts
Hard Fork:
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Cheeky Pint:
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A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
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Newest
Dwarkesh Patel / Dwarkesh Podcast:
Q&A with Dario Amodei on getting close to “a country of geniuses in a data center”, how AI will diffuse through the economy, frontier lab profits, China, moreFind
5 minutes ago
Dan Primack / Axios:
PitchBook estimates that 25%+ of VC-backed unicorns have become “undercorns,” startups once valued at $1B or more by VCs but now valued below that thresholdFind
30 minutes ago
Demetri Sevastopulo / Financial Times:
The US DoD published and then deleted a document adding Alibaba, Baidu, and BYD to a list of companies with alleged connections to the Chinese militaryFind
40 minutes ago
Bloomberg:
Sources: the US FTC accelerated a probe into whether Microsoft illegally monopolized the enterprise computing market with its cloud software and AI offeringsFind
60 minutes ago
Fortune:
Sources: Binance has fired its employees in late 2025 who uncovered evidence that Iran received $1B+ through Binance between March 2024 and August 2025Find
70 minutes ago
Alaina Demopoulos / The Guardian:
As OpenAI retires GPT-4o, some users say they are angry and grieving to lose the flirty, quirky companionFind
2 hours ago
Kate Clark / Wall Street Journal:
Anthropic adds Chris Liddell, a former Microsoft and GM exec who helped GM IPO and worked in Trump's first administration, to its board ahead of a potential IPOFind
3 hours ago
From Mediagazer
Scott Nover / Washington Post:Advanced Television:
Alice Brooker / Press Gazette:
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X: @realschlep. Bluesky: @josephcox. Mastodon: @404mediaco@mastodon.social. Forums: r/Fauxmoi and r/canadian
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