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February 19, 2025, 3:45 PM
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Top News

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils the Majorana 1, its first quantum processor that uses the Majorana particle instead of electrons, that can potentially fit a million qubits  —  Microsoft has spent 17 years researching a new material and architecture for quantum computing.
Financial Times:
Microsoft says it has harnessed a new state of matter using particles called Majorana fermions, a significant breakthrough to create workable topological qubits  —  US tech giant says it has harnessed a new state of matter to create the basic building blocks of a quantum machine
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 …
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
Apple unveils its first in-house cellular modem, the C1, with 5G support, to replace Qualcomm modems, saying it's the most power-efficient iPhone modem ever  —  After years of development, Apple has unveiled what it calls C1, its first-ever in-house cellular modem.
Ryan Christoffel / 9to5Mac:
Apple discontinues the iPhone SE, iPhone 14, and iPhone 14 Plus; the iPhone 16e starts at $599, significantly higher than the iPhone SE's $429 starting price
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.
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.
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 …
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  —  The feature will work within the Chrome and Google iOS apps via Lens.  —  •  —  •  —  •  —  TL;DR  — Google is bringing Circle …
Jon Keegan / Sherwood News:
Perplexity open sources R1 1776, a version of the DeepSeek R1 model that CEO Aravind Srinivas says has been “post-trained to remove the China censorship”  —  But shortly after its release, attention turned to how compliant the model was with Chinese censorship laws.
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
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 …
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.
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 …
James Hunt / The Block:
Binance.US resumes USD deposits and withdrawals for the first time since June 2023, when the US SEC sued Binance, Binance.US, and co-founder Changpeng Zhao  —  - Binance.US customers can deposit and withdraw U.S. dollars on the platform for the first time in nearly two years.
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 …
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!) …
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 targets a supreme court justice who has clashed with Musk  — Brazilian judge has long attacked ‘fake news,’ disinformation
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Baseten, which helps companies launch open-source or customized AI models, raised $75M led by IVP and Spark Capital at a $825M valuation and claims 100+ clients  —  Baseten, a startup that runs artificial intelligence models for clients on their cloud infrastructure, has raised $75 million in funding, the company said Wednesday.
More: FinSMEs

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:45 PM ET, February 19, 2025.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Andrew Goudsward / Reuters:
A US judge orders the White House to lift access restrictions imposed on the AP while the AP's lawsuit moves forward

Josh Xiao / Bloomberg:
Two influential Chinese bloggers say China is considering a ban on Hollywood movies as part of a set of measures to retaliate against Trump's tariffs

Joshua Rothman / New Yorker:
How AI could hollow out the media business, which employed under 50K US journalists in 2023, while enhancing some news reporting, including by processing data

More News

Earlier Picks

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
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
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