• Sources: recently the DHS has sent hundreds of administrative subpoenas, which do not need a judge's approval, to tech firms to identify people critical of ICE (New York Times)
• A matplotlib maintainer explains how an AI agent that suggests code changes on open source repos wrote a hit piece on him after a rejection, and the aftermath (Scott/The Shamblog)
• Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance, claiming it infringed on Disney's works to train its Seedance 2.0 video generation model without pay (Sara Fischer/Axios)
• Sources: Grafana Labs, which makes cloud and AI monitoring tools, is in talks to raise at a $9B valuation, up from $6.6B in 2024; its ARR hit $400M in Sept. (The Information)
• Blockchain-based lending company Figure confirms a data breach; ShinyHunters hacking group published 2.5GB of data, saying Figure refused to pay a ransom (Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai/TechCrunch)
• Apple says 74% of iPhones launched in the last four years and 66% of all iPhones are running iOS 26; 68% of iPhones were running iOS 18 as of Jan. 21, 2025 (Joe Rossignol/MacRumors)
• Some former employees blame xAI's staff exodus on xAI's focus on NSFW Grok and disregard for safety, constantly playing catch up to OpenAI, infighting, and more (Hayden Field/The Verge)
• 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 (Dwarkesh Patel/Dwarkesh Podcast)
• 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 (Dan Primack/Axios)
• 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 (Demetri Sevastopulo/Financial Times)
• Sources: the US FTC accelerated a probe into whether Microsoft illegally monopolized the enterprise computing market with its cloud software and AI offerings (Bloomberg)
• Sources: Binance in late 2025 fired employees who claimed to have uncovered evidence that Iran received $1B+ through Binance between March 2024 and August 2025 (Fortune)
• As OpenAI retires GPT-4o, some users say they are angry and grieving to lose the flirty, quirky companion (Alaina Demopoulos/The Guardian)
• 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 (Kate Clark/Wall Street Journal)
• 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 (Ashley Capoot/CNBC)
| • OpenAI Is Nuking Its 4o Model. China’s ChatGPT Fans Aren’t OK
• Social Security Workers Are Being Told to Hand Over Appointment Details to ICE
• Senators Urge Top Regulator to Stay Out of Prediction Market Lawsuits
• Join Our Livestream: The Hype, Reality, and Future of EVs
• 20 Best Presidents' Day Deals on Gear Our Reviewers Actually Used (2026)
• Record Low Snow in the West Will Mean Less Water, More Fire, and Political Chaos
• The ‘Heated Rivalry’ Fandom Is Tearing Itself Apart
• These Open Earbuds Are Just Over $20
• Zillow Has Gone Wild—for AI
• Are Waterproof Sneakers Worth It? (2026)
• Best Apple 3-in-1 Wireless Travel Chargers (2026), Tested and Reviewed
• How Ilia Malinin Revolutionized Figure Skating with His Quadruple Axel
• Elehear Delight Hearing Aids Review: Good Fit, Poor Sound
• LGBTQ+ Athletes Are Front and Center at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games
• 20 Best Couches We’ve Tested That You Can Buy Online (2026)
• Inside the New York City Date Night for AI Lovers
• Here's Why I'd Buy the Last Samsung Soundbar First
• The Best Mattress Toppers (2026): Supportive, Plush, Memory Foam
• The Asus Zenbook S 16 Is $500 Off and Has Never Been This Cheap
• ‘Uncanny Valley’: ICE’s Secret Expansion Plans, Palantir Workers’ Ethical Concerns, and AI Assistants
• Waymo Asks the DC Public to Pressure Their City Officials
• A Wave of Unexplained Bot Traffic Is Sweeping the Web
• OpenAI’s President Gave Millions to Trump. He Says It’s for Humanity
• Our Favorite TV Is Still Almost Half Off
• Elon Musk’s X Appears to Be Violating US Sanctions by Selling Premium Accounts to Iranian Leaders
• How to Choose the Right TV in 2026 (and a Few We Like)
• Here’s What It’s Like to Use TurboTax’s Mobile App to File Taxes on Your Own (2026)
• The Best Kindle Accessories (2026): Cases, Page Turners, Stickers
• Crypto-Funded Human Trafficking Is Exploding
• 13 Best MagSafe Power Banks for iPhones (2026), Tested and Reviewed
• Therabody JetBoots Pro Plus Review: 3-in-1 Recovery Tech
• KYY X90G Quad Portable Monitor Extender Review: 3 More Screens
• Alexa+ and Kindle Scribe Now Work Together With ‘Send to Alexa’
• I Tried RentAHuman, Where AI Agents Hired Me to Hype Their AI Startups
• Many Adjustable Bed Frames Have a “Zero Gravity” Feature. I Tried It for a Week
• The Best Hearing Aids of 2026, Tested and Reviewed
• The Fight Over US Climate Rules Is Just Beginning
• 15 Best Bed Frames (2026), Tested in Our Homes
• Study of Buddhist Monks Finds Meditation Alters Brain Activity
• ‘Heated Rivalry’ Is Bringing New Fans to Hockey. Does the Sport Deserve Them?
• ICE Is Crashing the US Court System in Minnesota
• The ICE Expansion Won’t Happen in the Dark
• I Loved My OpenClaw AI Agent—Until It Turned on Me
• Jeffrey Epstein Advised an Elon Musk Associate on Taking Tesla Private
• Our Favorite Upgraded Power Bank Is $30 Off
• CBP Signs Clearview AI Deal to Use Face Recognition for ‘Tactical Targeting’
• How to Set Up an Apple Watch for Your Kids (2026)
• 9 Best Cheap Laptops (2026), Tested and Reviewed
• Razer Huntsman V3 Pro 8KHz Review: A Keyboard for the Competitive
• Wacom MovinkPad 11 Tablet Review: A Portable Sketch Pad
| • Bitcoin biopic starring Casey Affleck to use AI to generate locations and tweak performances
• Two years of the NordVPN Complete plan is 70 percent off
• Valve's latest Steam beta lets you add your PC's specs to game reviews
• Apple's Magic Mouse is down to $68 right now
• Nintendo’s Virtual Boy accessory lets you play VR Mario and Zelda on Switch 2
• The best power banks and portable chargers for every device in 2026
• ExpressVPN deal: Two-year plans are up to 81 percent off right now
• Pick up Apple's iPhone Air MagSafe battery pack while it's down to a record-low price
• Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die rails against AI in style
• Pick up this Samsung microSD Express card while it's on sale for $40 off
• The latest 45W Anker Nano charger with smart display is $10 off right now
• Presidents' Day sales 2026: The best tech deals to shop this week from Apple, Sony, Samsung and others
• Meta is reportedly working to bring facial recognition to its smart glasses
• Apple's first-gen AirTags are on sale for $64 for a four-pack
• Apple Presidents' Day sales: Get the Apple Watch Series 11 for $299, plus more deals
• The ridiculously tiny Kodak Charmera captured our hearts (and lots of shoddy pictures)
• Meta really wants you to believe social media addiction is 'not a real thing'
• Why does my VPN keep disconnecting?
• DoorDashers are getting paid to close Waymo's self-driving car doors
• The Morning After: Meta turned Threads algorithm complaints into an official feature
• There's a new John Wick game on the way
• The best iPhone accessories for 2026
• Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls lands on PS5 and PC August 6 with X-Men in tow
• Death Stranding 2 for PC arrives on March 19
• A Neva prequel is arriving next week
• The 7 best air fryers for 2026, tested and reviewed
• Ring calls off partnership with police surveillance provider Flock Safety
• The PS Plus Game Catalog additions for February include Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
• God of War is getting a remake trilogy, and a new retro-inspired action game is out today
• Silent Hill: Townfall takes the series' trademark fog to an eerie coastal community
• The next Metal Gear Solid remaster collection arrives this summer
• The first Control Resonant gameplay trailer shows Dylan defying physics in a sideways NYC
• Mina the Hollower resurfaces with a spring 2026 release window
• Kena: Scars of Kosmora is coming out later this year
• Ghost of Yotei's multiplayer expansion arrives March 10
• The best wireless earbuds for 2026
• EU reportedly opens another probe into Google's ads pricing
• Antitrust head overseeing Netflix-Warner merger resigns
• Surfshark VPN is offering up to 87 percent off two-year plans
• 1,200 Ubisoft workers strike in response to layoffs
• How to get F1TV with your Apple TV subscription
• Apple Vision Pro finally gets a YouTube app today
• Highguard studio lays off 'most' of its team just weeks after the game went live
• How to watch PlayStation's hour-long State of Play and what to expect
• Get two years of Proton VPN for 70 percent off right now
• Sony WF-1000XM6 review: Facing tougher competition
• Our favorite wireless headphones are down to a record-low price
• The Disney+ Hulu bundle is down to only $10 for one month
• Amazon's Send to Alexa+ feature arrives on Kindle Scribe and Scribe Colorsoft
• NVIDIA's GeForce Now app lands on Amazon Fire TV sticks
|