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February 21, 2026, 4:15 PM
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Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Jordan Novet / CNBC: |
Phil Spencer will retire after 38 years at Microsoft; Asha Sharma, the president of product in Microsoft's Core AI business, will become the CEO of gaming — Microsoft's head of gaming, Phil Spencer, is leaving the software maker following a 38-year tenure, as the company's Xbox business faces increased challenges.
More: Microsoft, Variety, PCMag, Comic Book, Ars Technica, Reuters, Push Square, Pure Xbox, Game Informer, The Verge, Game File, Times of India, Windows Central, Tech4Gamers, Phandroid, The American Bazaar, HotHardware, Business Today, Moneycontrol, Benzinga, Economic news, TechRadar, GeekWire, UPI, Deadline, The Wrap, PocketGamer.biz, Wall Street Journal, Polygon.com, Mobilegamer.biz, Forbes, Destructoid, Engadget, TheGamer, Kotaku, Business Insider, Thurrott, The Game Business, GeekWire, Screen Rant, GamesRadar, The Information, Windows Central, Game Developer, The Verge, and Kotaku
X: @xboxp3, @signulll, @legacykillahd, @davidscottjaffe, @petermooreusa, @paultassi, @jronald, @raywongy, @mr_rebs_, @klobrille, @mightykeef, @dansgaming, @fwiz, @thetruebowser, @ordinarygamers, @welfare_jbp, @aakashgupta, @nick_marseil, @mightykeef, @chrisavellone, @thecarteldel, @youtheremehere, @timsweeneyepic, @asha_shar, @paultassi, @reggie, @theo, @aarongreenberg, @firstadopter, @bellulargaming, @geoffkeighley, @markrein, @xbox, @xboxp3, @xboxp3, @xboxp3, @xboxp3, @okami13_, @detectiveseeds, @mischiefsyt, @mr_rebs_, @lukestephens, @hoeglaw, @arron_tk, @videotechuk_, @destiny_thememe, @vara_dark, @zephyr_z9, @rgt_85, @firstadopter, and @stephentotilo
LinkedIn: Chris Heatherly and LinkedIn
Bluesky: @mgsiegler.com, @benalterman.com, and @stevekovach
Forums: r/consoles, r/technology, r/XboxSeriesS, r/pcmasterrace, r/xbox, and r/videogames
| Ryan McCaffrey / IGN: |
Xbox President Sarah Bond, long thought to be Phil Spencer's heir, is leaving; Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty is promoted to Chief Content Officer — Spencer's run with Xbox ends just months shy of the brand's 25th anniversary. — Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer …
More: Destructoid, TheGamer, Neowin, Video Games Chronicle, Polygon.com, Kotaku, Pure Xbox, Tech4Gamers, Notebookcheck, GamesRadar, Comic Book, Tom's Guide, Aftermath, 80 Level, XDA Developers, Mashable, Game Informer, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Push Square, Dexerto, DayOne, GamingBolt, Stevivor, GamesIndustry.biz, GameRant, PC Gamer, Insider Gaming, and The Verge
X: @nib95_, @detectiveseeds, and @firstadopter
LinkedIn: Sarah Bond, Sarah Thomson, and Ryan Wyatt
Bluesky: @cypheroftyr and @stealth40k
| Sean Hollister / The Verge: |
Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma says she is committed to “the return of Xbox” and that the company won't “flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop” — She's promising “The return of Xbox.” … Microsoft gaming boss Phil Spencer has just announced he's leaving …
More: Forbes, TechCrunch, iPhone in Canada, Variety, Kotaku, Digital Trends, The Week, Comic Book, Moneycontrol, Tech4Gamers, Pure Xbox, Polygon.com, Video Games Chronicle, The Indian Express, Notebookcheck, Windows Central, GamesRadar, The A.V. Club, DayOne, and Bloomberg
X: @paultassi, @anandmahindra, @legacykillahd, @lulumeservey, and @ethangach. Forums: r/LastStandMedia
| David Nield / Wired: |
Google is ending Gmailify and POP access in Gmail; new users will lose access in Q1 2026, and existing users will keep both features until later in 2026 — If you have multiple email accounts, your Gmail setup may soon need some reorganizing. — Google giveth, and Google taketh away.
Mastodon: @Kierkegaanks@beige.party
| Sam Kriss / Harper's: |
Interviews with Cluely's Roy Lee, Donald Boat, and other highly “agentic” young men, as agency becomes more valuable than technical skills in Silicon Valley — Tech's new generation and the end of thinking … Cluely and its co-founder Chungin “Roy” Lee were intensely, and intentionally, controversial.
X: @tszzl, @felpix_, @natewitkin, @harpers, @narrenhut, @growing_daniel, @b_judah, @daisandconfused, @alexbronzini, @mcmansionhell, @mlstrat, @confusionm8trix, @laserboat999, @other_st_nick, @nicolas_ouporov, @margbaramerica, and @shguke. LinkedIn: Mark Little
Bluesky: @konstantkarma, @frankpasquale, @dansheehan, @caulimovirus, @emilynussbaum, @c0up, @kthorjensen, @shivambhatt, @robertscotthorton, @salvagni.org, @espiers, @avocadoplex.bike, and @north0fnorth.tgirl.gay
Mastodon: @glyph@mastodon.social, @kims@mas.to, and @skinnylatte@hachyderm.io
Forums: Hacker News, r/SneerClub, and r/slatestarcodex
| Ryan Vlastelica / Bloomberg: |
Anthropic launches Claude Code Security, which “scans codebases for security vulnerabilities and suggests targeted software patches”; cybersecurity stocks fall — Shares of cybersecurity software companies tumbled Friday after Anthropic PBC introduced a new security feature into its Claude AI model.
More: Anthropic, Gizmodo, CTech, The Hacker News, CyberScoop, SiliconANGLE, Runtime, Cyber Security News, PCMag, The Decoder, Benzinga, The Economic Times, Investor's Business Daily, The Deep View, Implicator.ai, Motley Fool, Claude, Blockchain.News, Yahoo Finance, The Information, and CRN
X: @omercheeema, @manztrades, @mattjay, @bcherny, @jay_azhang, @jaykreps, @litcapital, @abrilzucchi, @firstadopter, @trq212, @trq212, @trq212, @heidykhlaaf, @thegeorgepu, @matrosov, @contrariancurse, and @claudeai
LinkedIn: Ibad Rehman, Guy Flechter, Philippe Bogaerts, and Pradeep Sanyal
Bluesky: @heidykhlaaf, @hmans.dev, and @tyleraking.com
Forums: r/InformatikKarriere, r/technology, r/StockMarket, r/ClaudeCode, r/ClaudeAI, and Slashdot
| Georgia Wells / Wall Street Journal: |
Sources: OpenAI staff raised concerns about a Canadian mass shooting suspect months ago; OpenAI says her activity didn't meet the bar for reporting to police — ChatGPT maker opted against informing authorities about Jesse Van Rootselaar's descriptions of violence last June
More: Associated Press, BBC, TechCrunch, Breitbart, HotAir, The Verge, ZeroHedge News, Fox News, The Decoder, The Asia Business Daily, Pixel Envy, New York Post, Globe and Mail, twitchy.com, The Post Millennial, Futurism, and Business Standard
X: @jakemiller192, @klonnypin_gosch, @agoldmund, @benwoodfinden, @mrgunn, @prestonjbyrne, @luke_metro, @seltzergenius, @arictoler, @miles_brundage, @miles_brundage, @autismcapital, @elonmusk, and @jeffbercovici. LinkedIn: Marc-André Argentino, PhD
Bluesky: @jacobware, @drewharwell.com, @grahammacklin, @eslfairy, @jenstden, and @kevincollier
Forums: r/singularity, r/TrueAnon, r/news, r/BetterOffline, r/britishcolumbia, and r/canada
| Andrej Karpathy / @karpathy: |
NanoClaw and other “claws”, smaller OpenClaw-like systems that can run on personal hardware, form a new layer running on top of agents that run on LLMs — Bought a new Mac mini to properly tinker with claws over the weekend. The apple store person told me they are selling like hotcakes and everyone is confused :) I'm definitely a bit sus'd to run OpenClaw specifically - giving my private data/keys to 400K lines of vibe coded
More: Simon Willison's Weblog. X: @nickco, @alexfinn, @aakashgupta, @garysheng, @punk3700, @simonw, @karpathy, @garrytan, and @maziyarpanahi. Forums: Hacker News
| Matthew Gault / 404 Media: |
Pinterest users, especially artists, say the platform has gotten worse in the past year due to AI moderation, AI-generated art, and AI features — Users are exhausted fighting AI moderation, AI-generated art, and AI-first features. — Pinterest has gone all in on artificial intelligence and users say it's destroying the site.
More: Mashable and The Overspill
LinkedIn: Tiana Oreglia. Bluesky: @josephcox and @mjgault. Mastodon: @MikeElgan@mastodon.social. Forums: Slashdot
| Benedict Evans: |
A look at the fundamental questions facing OpenAI: its models have a very large user base but very narrow engagement, incumbents are matching its tech, and more — “Jakub and Mark set the research direction for the long run. Then after months of work, something incredible emerges … | The Information: |
Sources: OpenAI has 200+ people working on AI devices, including a smart speaker with a camera costing $200 to $300, possibly smart glasses and a smart lamp — OpenAI has more than 200 people working on a family of AI-powered devices that will include a smart speaker and possibly smart glasses …
More: The Verge, MacRumors, Engadget, Ghacks, Moneycontrol, The Indian Express, The Hans India, PhoneArena, GSMArena.com, Economic news, Tech Times, iDrop News, Mashable, Android Authority, Android Police, Reuters, and Futurism
Bluesky: @julianday.ca, @steviedubs, @jessejustchill, @tomlommel.com, @leyawn, @weshould.killice.baby, @thewanderingjew, @stemthebleeding, @grantbrisbee, @ferniecommaalex, @proptermalone, @baseballfrank, @nnoahh, @edzitron.com, and @alexhanna. Mastodon: @carnage4life@mas.to
Forums: r/ChatGPT, r/artificial, r/gadgets, Slashdot, and MacRumors Forums
| Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica: |
English-language Wikipedia bans Archive.today after editors discover it was used to direct a DDoS attack and tampered with snapshots; 695K+ links to be removed — The English-language edition of Wikipedia is blacklisting Archive.today after the controversial archive site was used to direct …
More: TechCrunch, PCMag, and Tom's Hardware
Bluesky: @vortexegg.com, @adambecker, @md.ekstrandom.net, @hpsvanessa, @kissane.myatproto.social, @conspirator0, and @webbreacher.com. Mastodon: @jalefkowit@vmst.io
| Sources: |
An interview with Notion CEO Ivan Zhao on Custom Notion AI agents launching in the coming week, over 50% of Notion databases now being built by agents, and more — CEO Ivan Zhao on the company's big custom agents launch, changing its business model for AI, hiring a 16-year-old engineer, and more.| CNBC: |
Sources: OpenAI is telling investors it's targeting ~$600B in total compute spend by 2030, months after Sam Altman touted $1.4T in infrastructure commitments — OpenAI is telling investors that it's now targeting roughly $600 billion in total compute spend by 2030, months …
More: The Information, The Coin Republic, Economic news, FundaAI, Gizchina, Tech in Asia, and Reuters
X: @ethanchoi7, @teortaxestex, @stalkermustang, and @quinnypig
Forums: r/tech, r/StockMarket, and r/technology
| Shirin Ghaffary / Bloomberg: |
How Claude Code, released publicly a year ago, cemented Anthropic as a leader in the lucrative, emerging market for AI coding tools — Anthropic released Claude Code a year ago, forcing other rivals to play catch-up. — Even Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei was surprised … Sponsor Posts
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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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Qualcomm's CEO on the coming AI phone supercycle
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
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The Upstarts Podcast:
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Channels with Peter Kafka:
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Google's AI Infrastructure Chief, Amin Vahdat, on the Physics & Economics of Frontier AI
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