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February 19, 2025, 10:50 AM
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Brody Ford / Bloomberg:
HP plans to acquire assets from Humane for $116M, wind down Humane's Ai Pin business, and add Humane's team, including its founders, as an AI-focused division  —  - Humane's Ai pin business to be wound down after rocky launch  — New unit at HP will focus on implementation of AI in devices
More: Humane Ai Pin, Humane, The Verge, eWeek, How-To Geek, Tom's Hardware, The Register, New York Times, AppleInsider, KnowTechie, Wareable, The Decoder, Digital Trends, Spyglass, TechCrunch, Pivot to AI, TechRadar, en.ain.ua, Silicon Republic, Android Authority, TechIssuesToday.com, Beebom, Benzinga, The Information, Forbes, Android Police, Digit, Verdict, Tom's Guide, The Indian Express, CNET, Business Today, Pixel Envy, 9to5Mac, and Axios
Bluesky: @theopriestley.com, @techsocial, @quillmatiq.com, @wandrme.paxex.aero, @parkscopejoe, @edzitron.com, @quinnypig.com, @daniloc.xyz, @dub, and @caseynewton
Mastodon: @camwilson@mastodon.social, @chipotle@mstdn.social, and @harrymccracken@mastodon …
Threads: @vishwanathsarangkeller, @joannastern, @benedictevans, @documentingmeta, @carnage4life, @young.mete, @young.mete, @eshumarneedi, @tomgara, and @tomgara
X: @basicappleguy, @linusekenstam, @raywongy, @michaelmacleod1, @bearlyai, @scobleizer, @markgurman, @gergelyorosz, @maxwinebach, @charliemelbye, @mkbhd, @zck, @nearcyan, @aallan, @sdw, @sammdec, @gartenberg, @ettinger, @chrisjbakke, @hemeon, @counternotions, @humane, @cohensite, @gonzalo__nunez, @aviel, @rjonesy, @gergelyorosz, @growing_daniel, @willahmed, @mkbhd, @mycoliza, @kateclarktweets, @burnedlead, @mikeisaac, @brianroemmele, @kyliebytes, @gergelyorosz, @trungtphan, @sdw, @thdxr, @jnnnthnn, @pitdesi, @neilcybart, and @gergelyorosz
Forums: r/hardware, r/LinusTechTips, r/Android, r/gadgets, r/technology, and r/apple
Aaron Souppouris / Engadget:
Humane says Ai Pin's online features will stop working at 12PM PT on February 28, when it will delete all customer data, and it will refund some newer customers  —  Humane is discontinuing the AI Pin and selling out to HP.  —  AI hardware startup Humane has given its users just ten (10!) …
VentureBeat:
Sources: Chinese game publisher NetEase has been directed to divest its overseas holdings, starting with hit game Marvel Rivals, which laid off its Seattle team  —  Chinese game publisher NetEase raised fears with recent moves that it is unloading as much as all of its overseas holdings …
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Signal updates its app with phishing protections after Google warned Russia-linked hackers are using fake QR codes for group invites to trick Ukrainian soldiers  —  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.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Niantic is in talks to sell its video games unit to Saudi Arabia-owned Scopely for ~$3.5B; the deal would include Pokémon Go and its other mobile games  —  A deal could be announced in coming weeks.  The price being discussed is about $3.5 billion, according to one of the people.
Danny Nelson / CoinDesk:
Source: in text messages, Libra co-creator Hayden Davis bragged he could “control” Argentine President Javier Milei by making payments to Milei's sister, Karina  —  A key player behind the Libra token bragged about buying access to Argentine President Javier Milei's inner circle months …
Olga Kharif / Bloomberg:
Solana has lost ~25% of its market value, or ~$20B, since February 14, after Argentine President Javier Milei drew criticism for promoting Solana memecoin Libra
Katie Roof / Bloomberg:
Sources: X is in talks to raise funds at a $44B valuation, matching the price Elon Musk paid for Twitter in 2022, as his proximity to Trump alters X's prospects  —  - Valuation is the same as Musk's 2022 Twitter acquisition  — Billionaire has recently tapped private markets for big sums
Emilia David / VentureBeat:
OpenAI researchers build the SWE-Lancer benchmark and find that real-world freelance software engineering work remains challenging for frontier language models  —  Large language models (LLMs) may have changed software development, but enterprises will need to think twice …
Erik Larson / Bloomberg:
TMTG and Rumble sue a Brazilian Supreme Court Justice in Florida for allegedly illegally suppressing the US social media activity of conservative Brazilians  —  - Suit, joined by Rumble, accusing the judge of stifling speech  — Brazilian judge has long attacked ‘fake news,’ disinformation
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
French privacy startup Murena unveils the €539 Murena Pixel Tablet, running its open-source, forked /e/OS, after releasing a “deGoogled” smartphone in 2023  —  Murena, the French privacy firm that's forked Android to deliver so-called deGoogled smartphones, has repeated the trick with a tablet.
Ina Fried / Axios:
Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati announces Thinking Machines Lab, a new AI startup that she's leading, with Barret Zoph as CTO and John Schulman as chief scientist  —  - “Instead of focusing solely on making fully autonomous AI systems, we are excited to build multimodal systems that work …
Samantha Subin / CNBC:
Intel shares closed up 16.1% following a February 15 report that both Broadcom and TSMC are potentially weighing deals that could break the chipmaker in two  —  Intel shares rallied 16.1% on Tuesday following a Wall Street Journal report that both Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Silver Lake is in exclusive, advanced talks to acquire a majority stake in Intel's Altera unit; Intel bought Altera for ~$17B in 2015
Reuters:
President Trump says tariffs on semiconductors would start at “25% or higher” and that he planned to provide some time for chip makers to set up US factories  —  U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he intends to impose auto tariffs “in the neighborhood of 25%” …
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget:
Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti review: a capable GPU for 4K gaming, DLSS 4 multi-frame gen, and runs cool, but prices fluctuate wildly and $750 is expensive for mid-range  —  But good luck finding one at that price.  —  It's honestly difficult to remember the simpler days of video card shopping …
Bloomberg:
Internal documents, emails, and federal data suggest Indian IT giant TCS has used L-1A manager visas in ways that raise concerns about undercutting US workers  —  New data show how TCS makes heavy use of employment visas reserved for managers.  Ex-staffers say it was to get around H-1B rules.

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From Mediagazer

Kate Knibbs / Wired:
The Freedom of the Press Foundation, a shareholder in Paramount, is threatening legal action against the company if it settles with President Trump

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Redbird Capital Partners buys the Telegraph at a £500M valuation, ending nearly two years of ownership limbo; IMI will take a minority investment

Liam Scott / Poynter:
Some VOA employees discuss the bare-bones return to work: out of 1,300 staff, only 30 remain, and the outlet is only publishing in four languages, instead of 49

More News

Earlier Picks

Kevin Purdy / Ars Technica:
Asus ROG Flow Z13 review: the ~$2,300 convertible tablet's integrated GPU in its AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip offers performance comparable to a GeForce RTX 4060
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google Play Books for iOS now lets users complete their e-book or audiobook purchase on the Google Play website, under Apple's “reader apps” exception
José Adorno / BGR:
Protector, an iOS app that offers on-demand personal security, including armed agents, debuts in NYC and LA; adviser Nikita Bier calls it “Uber with guns”
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