<html> <head> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0"> <style> a { text-decoration:none; } .uppercase { text-transform:uppercase; } .page { font-family:Optima, Helvetica, sans-serif; width:620px; margin:0 auto; background-color:white; font-size:16px; } .page table { border-collapse:collapse; } .header a, .header a:hover, .header a:visited { color:#606060; } .section { margin-top:12px; } .first_section { margin-top:4px; } .first_in_section { border-top:none !important; } .story .leading_item .title { font-size:18px; } .big_story .leading_item .title { font-size:24px; } .clustered_items .title { font-size:18px; } .title a { color:#004860; font-weight:bold; } .excerpt { color:black; font-size:16px; } .cite { color:#888; display:inline-block; white-space: nowrap; } a.tweet_cite:link, a.tweet_cite:visited, a.fb_item_cite:link, a.fb_item_cite:visited { color:black; } a.tweet_body:link, a.tweet_body:visited, a.fb_item_body:link, a.fb_item_body:visited { color:black; } .tweet, .fb_item { padding:1px 0; } .fb_item_image { width:12px; } .tweet_image { width:12px; } .logo { display:block; background:url(https://www.techmeme.com/img/techmeme34.png); background-size: cover; height:34px; width:142px; } .logo_img { height:34px; width:142px; } .sponsor .label { display:block; color:#686860; font-size:12px; font-weight:bold; padding:2px 0; } .event a:link, .event a:visited { color:#004860; } .banner { margin-bottom:12px; padding:20px 10px; background-color:#ffd700; text-align:center; font-size:26px; color:red; } .mcnPreviewText{display: none !important;} @media only screen and (max-width: 480px) { body, .page { width:100% !important; -webkit-text-size-adjust:none !important; } .MC_links { font-size:14px !important; padding-bottom:10px !important; } .page_date { font-size:18px !important; } .narrow_image { display:none !important; } .section { margin-top:16px !important; } .first_section { margin-top:6px !important; } .story, .big_story { padding: 12px 0 !important; border-top:1px solid silver !important; } .first_in_section { border-top:none !important; } .logo { background:url(https://www.techmeme.com/img/techmeme135.png) !important; background-size: cover !important; height:38px !important; width:160px !important; } .logo_img { height:38px !important; width:160px !important; } .tweet_image, .fb_item_image { width: 12px !important; } .events { padding:12px 10px !important; } .sponsor_image { max-width: 100px; } .presented_by { padding:2px 0 10px !important; } } </style> <!--[if gte mso 9]> <style type="text/css"> .clustered_items td { padding-left:38px !important; } </style> <![endif]--> </head> <body> <!-- --> <!--[if !gte mso 9]><!----><span class="mcnPreview Text" style="display:none; font-size:0px; line-height:0px; max-height:0px; max-width:0px; opacity:0; overflow:hidden; visibility:hidden; mso-hide:all;">Meta froze hiring in its AI division last week with sources saying exceptions need Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang's permission; the freeze's duration </span><!--<![endif]--> <!-- --> <div class="page" style="font-family: Optima, Helvetica, sans-serif;width: 620px;margin: 0 auto;background-color: white;font-size: 16px;"> <div class="header"> <table style="width: 100%;margin-bottom: 8px;border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td class="MC_links" colspan="2" style="font-size:13px;text-align:center;padding:2px 0 8px;color:#606060"> <a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=9d15630ea9&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #606060;">Got this from a friend? Subscribe!</a> | <a href="https://us14.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=b3f3f5ed02&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #606060;">Forward</a> | <a href="https://us14.campaign-archive.com/?e=06cea4a9e4&u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=b3f3f5ed02" style="text-decoration: none;color: #606060;">View in browser</a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="vertical-align:middle;padding-left:10px;min-height:38px;"> <a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=0686ac3f14&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #606060;"> <!-- <span class="logo"></span> --> <img class="logo_img" src="https://www.techmeme.com/img/techmeme135.png" width="142" height="34" style="height: 34px;width: 142px;"> </a> </td> <td class="page_date" style="vertical-align:middle;text-align:right;color:#004860;font-weight:700;padding-right:10px">Thu, Aug 21</td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border:1px solid lightgray;padding:5px 0;background-color:white;margin:0 auto 10px;" class="story sponsor"> <table class="leading_item" style="width: 100%;border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td colspan="2"> <div class="presented_by" style="text-align:center;width:100%;letter-spacing:2px;text-transform:uppercase;font-size:14px;padding:2px 0 4px;"> Presented by Google </div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="padding-left:10px;vertical-align:middle;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=0d3efd314c&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Generate videos with Veo 3 in Google Gemini</a></span> <span class="excerpt" style="color: black;font-size: 16px;"> — Create high-quality, 8-second videos with Veo 3, our state-of-the-art AI video generator. Try it with a Google AI Pro plan or get the highest access with the Ultra plan.</span> </td> <td style="padding:0 15px 0 15px;vertical-align:middle;text-align:right;"> <a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=39d38227fc&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;"> <img class="sponsor_image" src="https://techmeme.com/simg/gemini_264px.png"> </a> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <!-- <div class="banner"> YOUR AD HERE </div> --> <table class="events" style="width: 100%;background-color: #f4f4f4;border-top: 1px solid lightgray;border-bottom: 1px solid lightgray;border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr><td style="padding:14px 10px;"> <span style="color:#455;font-weight:bold;">Tomorrow's events: </span> <span class="event"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=9573fb6a6b&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;">HYBRID: gamescom (day 4)</a></span> </td></tr> </table> <div class="first_section" style="margin-top: 4px;"> <div class="section_header uppercase" style="border-bottom: 3px solid #004860;letter-spacing: 1px;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;padding: 4px 10px;text-transform: uppercase;"> top news </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="first_story first_in_section big_story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding-left:10px;vertical-align:top;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 24px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=46efd38f03&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Meta froze hiring in its AI division last week with sources saying exceptions need Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang's permission; the freeze's duration is unclear</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Meghan Bobrowsky / </span><span class="pub_name">Wall Street Journal</span>)</span> </td> <td style="padding: 0 10px;vertical-align:top;"> <div class="narrow_image" style="position:relative;"> <img src="https://www.techmeme.com/250820/i55.jpg"> </div> </td> </tr> <!-- <tr> <td colspan="2" style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="excerpt">Company reorganizes its sprawling artificial-intelligence operation, whose spiraling cost has drawn investor scrutiny</span> <span class="cite">(Meghan Bobrowsky / Wall Street Journal)</span> </td> </tr> --> </table> <table style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr><td style="padding:5px 10px 3px;"> <div class="tweet" style="padding: 1px 0;"> <img class="tweet_image" width="12" src="https://techmeme.com/img/twitter_x.png" style="width: 12px;"> <a class="tweet_cite" href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=d5fe8da610&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: black;">@adamscochran:</a> <a class="tweet_body" href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=82350d7273&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: black;">So apparently this isn't just the old AI division which Zuck laid off, but also their new superintelligence team that they've just spent billions on hiring for. It's only been a few weeks. Wonder what snag they hit to cause this change.</a> </div> <div class="tweet" style="padding: 1px 0;"> <img class="tweet_image" width="12" src="https://techmeme.com/img/twitter_x.png" style="width: 12px;"> <a class="tweet_cite" href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=2331f611ef&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: black;">@alexandr_wang:</a> <a class="tweet_body" href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=dd5603b9b4&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: black;">We are truly only investing more and more into Meta Superintelligence Labs as a company. Any reporting to the contrary of that is clearly mistaken.</a> </div> <div class="tweet" style="padding: 1px 0;"> <img class="tweet_image" width="12" src="https://techmeme.com/img/twitter_x.png" style="width: 12px;"> <a class="tweet_cite" href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=ce0c3e30e0&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: black;">@andymstone:</a> <a class="tweet_body" href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=f8463ee8e5&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: black;">Mundane because all that's happening is: a temporary pause on some hiring while we do planning and forecasting, which we do regularly, and a structure for our new superintelligence efforts, after we brought a number of new people on board.</a> </div> </td></tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="big_story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding-left:10px;vertical-align:top;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 24px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=9b282d4371&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Google says the median Gemini app text prompt consumes 0.24Wh of energy, about the same as running a microwave for a second, and emits 0.03g of CO2 equivalent</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Casey Crownhart / </span><span class="pub_name">MIT Technology Review</span>)</span> </td> <td style="padding: 0 10px;vertical-align:top;"> <div class="narrow_image" style="position:relative;"> <img src="https://www.techmeme.com/250821/i23.jpg"> </div> </td> </tr> <!-- <tr> <td colspan="2" style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="excerpt">Google has just released a technical report detailing how much energy its Gemini apps use for each query.</span> <span class="cite">(Casey Crownhart / MIT Technology Review)</span> </td> </tr> --> </table> <table style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr><td style="padding:5px 10px 3px;"> <div class="tweet" style="padding: 1px 0;"> <img class="tweet_image" width="12" src="https://techmeme.com/img/twitter_x.png" style="width: 12px;"> <a class="tweet_cite" href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=8bdf7ba932&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: black;">@jeffdean:</a> <a class="tweet_body" href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=b6872028cc&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: black;">AI efficiency is important. Today, Google is sharing a technical paper detailing our comprehensive methodology for measuring the environmental impact of Gemini inference. We estimate that the median Gemini Apps text prompt uses 0.24 watt-hours of energy (equivalent to watching an average TV for ~nine seconds), and consumes 0.26 milliliters of water (about five drops) — figures that are substantially lower than many public estimates.</a> </div> <div class="tweet" style="padding: 1px 0;"> <img class="tweet_image" width="12" src="https://techmeme.com/img/twitter_x.png" style="width: 12px;"> <a class="tweet_cite" href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=8e1e5f0d09&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: black;">@michael_terrell:</a> <a class="tweet_body" href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=6a860b62a1&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: black;">Incredible to see that the energy used for a median Gemini AI text prompt has dropped 33x in only 12 months. This is a huge achievement - and one that would not have been possible without the work of many Googlers and focused efforts to deliver greater efficiencies across the full stack of AI.</a> </div> <div class="tweet" style="padding: 1px 0;"> <img class="tweet_image" width="12" src="https://techmeme.com/img/twitter_x.png" style="width: 12px;"> <a class="tweet_cite" href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=0f172f49d8&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: black;">@shanumathew93:</a> <a class="tweet_body" href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=7abeae4031&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: black;">Per new paper, Google says a median Gemini text prompt uses ~0.24 Wh (9 seconds of TV), 0.26 mL water (~5 drops). ~58% of the energy is used toward the accelerator, 25% is the host CPU/DRAM, 10% is “idle” capacity kept ready for reliability, and 8% is datacenter overhead [image]</a> </div> </td></tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;background-color:#f4f4f4;" class="story sponsor"> <table class="leading_item" style="width: 100%;border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding-left:10px;vertical-align:middle;"> <span class="label" style="display: block;color: #686860;font-size: 12px;font-weight: bold;padding: 2px 0;">SPONSOR</span> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=647ea7df80&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">The #1 Coding Agent</a></span> <span class="excerpt" style="color: black;font-size: 16px;"> — #1 on Terminal-Bench. 71% on SWE-bench Verified. Trusted by 600K+ devs. Try the top agentic dev tool for $1 for 1st month with code TECHMEME.</span> </td> <td style="padding:0 20px 0 15px;vertical-align:middle;text-align:right;"> <a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=571bbb423b&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;"> <img class="sponsor_image" src="https://techmeme.com/simg/warp.png"> </a> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="big_story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding-left:10px;vertical-align:top;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 24px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=3eda87a40c&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Nine current and ex-Apple staffers accuse VP of Fitness Tech Jay Blahnik of bullying and inappropriate behavior; Apple settled a sexual harassment complaint</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Tripp Mickle / </span><span class="pub_name">New York Times</span>)</span> </td> <td style="padding: 0 10px;vertical-align:top;"> <div class="narrow_image" style="position:relative;"> <img src="https://www.techmeme.com/250821/i18.jpg"> </div> </td> </tr> <!-- <tr> <td colspan="2" style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="excerpt">Three circular bands came to define fitness on the Apple Watch.Dünzl/Ullstein Bild, via Getty Images</span> <span class="cite">(Tripp Mickle / New York Times)</span> </td> </tr> --> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=c998c9a1ef&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Google expands AI Mode to 180 countries and territories in English, following the US, the UK, and India, and plans to add more languages and regions “soon”</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Abner Li / </span><span class="pub_name">9to5Google</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=0e7f2a6b34&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Apple raises the price of Apple TV+ in the US and some markets globally after previously raising the price in 2023; in the US, the price will rise $3 to $12.99</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Todd Spangler / </span><span class="pub_name">Variety</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=1fc660bfd7&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Sources: China's H20 curbs were triggered by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's not selling China the “best stuff” remark, which officials found “insulting”</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="pub_name">Financial Times</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=6914aa5ddc&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Source: the Trump administration considers taking equity stakes in CHIPS Act recipients but not in firms that are increasing US investment, like TSMC and Micron</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="pub_name">Wall Street Journal</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=4bad9ea13b&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">In a UK tribunal filing, former Meta employee Samujjal Purkayastha alleges Meta misled advertisers by inflating its Shops ads metrics and bypassed Apple's ATT</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Trishla Ostwal / </span><span class="pub_name">Adweek</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=d55b32f85b&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Source: Meta has signed a deal with Google, worth more than $10B over six years, to use Google Cloud's servers, storage, networking, and other services</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="pub_name">The Information</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=b4e58b4332&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Trump signs an EO creating the National Design Studio to improve “websites and physical sites”; sources say he's tapping Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia to lead it</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Gregory Korte / </span><span class="pub_name">Bloomberg</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=3f4870af2b&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Sources: Anthropic is in talks to raise $10B, significantly above the previously reported $5B, due to strong investor demand</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="pub_name">Bloomberg</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </div> <div class="section" style="margin-top: 12px;"> <div class="section_header uppercase" style="border-bottom: 3px solid #004860;letter-spacing: 1px;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;padding: 4px 10px;text-transform: uppercase;"> artificial intelligence </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="first_in_section story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=e290803fd6&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Google will provide Gemini for Government to US federal agencies at $0.47 per agency through 2026; OpenAI and Anthropic are offering their products for $1/year</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Julia Shapero / </span><span class="pub_name">The Hill</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=badba37b3a&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">DeepSeek details V3.1 and says it surpasses R1 on key benchmarks and is customized to work with next-gen Chinese-made AI chips, after unveiling it on August 19</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="pub_name">Bloomberg</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=0b23ef4bb2&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Alibaba-backed Z.ai, formerly Zhipu, launches a general-purpose AI agent app, which lets users use natural language to book hotels, order takeaway, and more</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Danielle Popov / </span><span class="pub_name">South China Morning Post</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=d88a51757b&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Anthropic says it worked with the US National Nuclear Security Administration on a classifier to block concerning chats, like those on building nuclear reactors</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Morgan Chalfant / </span><span class="pub_name">Semafor</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=0bac34c318&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Medium's CEO explains how the platform's AI policy has evolved as it adopts some AI tools while prioritizing human curation and inviting community feedback</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Tony Stubblebine / </span><span class="pub_name">The Medium Blog</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=61a99578f6&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">An interview with GM SVP of Software and Services Engineering David Richardson on GM's new AI team, building factory “cobots”, or collaborative robots, and more</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Isabelle Bousquette / </span><span class="pub_name">Wall Street Journal</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=91c56d561d&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">A profile of Stability AI, which under CEO Prem Akkaraju and Chair Sean Parker has shifted from building frontier AI models to a Hollywood-focused SaaS company</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Zoë Schiffer / </span><span class="pub_name">Wired</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </div> <div class="section" style="margin-top: 12px;"> <div class="section_header uppercase" style="border-bottom: 3px solid #004860;letter-spacing: 1px;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;padding: 4px 10px;text-transform: uppercase;"> cryptocurrency </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="first_in_section story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=1e63c14a36&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">The DOJ says it will no longer target developers who create decentralized crypto platforms without criminal intent, as part of a regulatory retreat on crypto</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Chris Prentice / </span><span class="pub_name">Reuters</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=e61b0ce718&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">TRM Labs launches Beacon Network, a real-time alert system for illicit crypto activity, partnering with law enforcement and exchanges like Binance and Coinbase</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Jesse Hamilton / </span><span class="pub_name">CoinDesk</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=8aad44c5fa&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Q&A with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong on starting the company, battling North Korean hackers, stablecoin adoption, the GENIUS Act, pro-crypto Congress, and more</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">John Collison / </span><span class="pub_name">Cheeky Pint</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </div> <div class="section" style="margin-top: 12px;"> <div class="section_header uppercase" style="border-bottom: 3px solid #004860;letter-spacing: 1px;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;padding: 4px 10px;text-transform: uppercase;"> personnel changes </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="first_in_section story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=92b5c8b713&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">a16z hires Anne Neuberger, formerly a senior cybersecurity official in the Biden White House, as a senior adviser to work on “American Dynamism, AI, and cyber”</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Patrick Howell O'Neill / </span><span class="pub_name">Bloomberg</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=e59251d729&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Sources: Take-Two lays off 80+ staff at BioShock studio Cloud Chamber, or ~33% of its ~250 staff, and delays the next BioShock game to late 2026 or early 2027</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Jason Schreier / </span><span class="pub_name">Bloomberg</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </div> <div class="section" style="margin-top: 12px;"> <div class="section_header uppercase" style="border-bottom: 3px solid #004860;letter-spacing: 1px;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;padding: 4px 10px;text-transform: uppercase;"> funding deals </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="first_in_section story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=061afe183c&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Sources: Crusoe is discussing raising $1B+ at a $10B valuation; the company, which is helping build OpenAI's first Stargate facility, had $250M revenue in 2024</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="pub_name">The Information</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=55ae3af5b4&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Autonomous driving tech startup Nuro closed its $203M Series E at a $6B valuation, adding $97M from Uber, Nvidia, and others to the $106M tranche from April</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Rafe Uddin / </span><span class="pub_name">Financial Times</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </div> <div class="section" style="margin-top: 12px;"> <div class="section_header uppercase" style="border-bottom: 3px solid #004860;letter-spacing: 1px;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;padding: 4px 10px;text-transform: uppercase;"> more news </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="first_in_section story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=99e2d1ca6c&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">CBP data: between April and June 2025, CBP searched 14,899 devices carried by international travelers, up from a record 12,766+ between January and March 2022</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Matt Burgess / </span><span class="pub_name">Wired</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=cf440aa125&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Thoma Bravo agrees to acquire HR software provider Dayforce for $12.3B, paying $70 per share, a 32% premium to Dayforce shares before reports of a possible deal</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Dan Primack / </span><span class="pub_name">Axios</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;background-color:#f4f4f4;" class="story sponsor"> <table class="leading_item" style="width: 100%;border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding-left:10px;vertical-align:middle;"> <span class="label" style="display: block;color: #686860;font-size: 12px;font-weight: bold;padding: 2px 0;">SPONSOR</span> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=54251a6fc9&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Protecting your Cloud Applications Data</a></span> <span class="excerpt" style="color: black;font-size: 16px;"> — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.</span> </td> <td style="padding:0 20px 0 15px;vertical-align:middle;text-align:right;"> <a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=63ddc283e4&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;"> <img class="sponsor_image" src="https://techmeme.com/simg/idrive-hvnuOGua.png"> </a> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=bc19c070c1&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Russia orders that state-backed messenger app MAX, which critics say could be used to track users, must be pre-installed on phones and tablets from next month</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Andrew Osborn / </span><span class="pub_name">Reuters</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=80c701ffdf&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Zoom reports Q2 revenue up 5% YoY to $1.22B, Enterprise revenue up 7% to $730.7M, vs. $716.7M est., raises FY 2026 forecast above est.; ZM jumps 6%+ after hours</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Brody Ford / </span><span class="pub_name">Bloomberg</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=356d5d2111&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">GFW Report: on August 20, China's Great Firewall blocked all TCP port 443 traffic, used for HTTPS, for ~74 minutes, an unusual move; the cause may be accidental</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Nathaniel Mott / </span><span class="pub_name">Tom's Hardware</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=a85180b36d&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">India's lower house of parliament passes a sweeping online gaming bill that imposes a blanket ban on real-money games nationwide, threatening a ~$23B industry</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Jagmeet Singh / </span><span class="pub_name">TechCrunch</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=36fb063498&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">SpaceX inks an Alaska Air deal for Starlink's Wi-Fi; sources: SpaceX is courting Middle Eastern airlines, a potential watershed moment against legacy operators</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="pub_name">Bloomberg</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=3960fd83d9&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Interviews with three Google executives on the new Pixel phones, why Pixel won't ever be a “giant player”, improving the devices by ~30% each year, AI, and more</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="pub_name">Bloomberg</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=daaff1b531&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Filing: Alibaba plans to spin off its Shanghai-based self-driving unit Banma through a Hong Kong IPO, reducing its stake from 44.72% to 30% post-IPO</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Aileen Chuang / </span><span class="pub_name">South China Morning Post</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;" class="story"> <table class="leading_item" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td style="padding:5px 10px 0;"> <span class="title" style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://techmeme.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=94ccd3ae223561415b05892ab&id=6868e5ad3e&e=06cea4a9e4" style="text-decoration: none;color: #004860;font-weight: bold;">Analysis: Baidu's stock is trading at a forward P/E ratio of ~9.7, the lowest of any profitable Hang Seng Tech Index company, amid AI competitiveness concerns</a></span> <span class="cite" style="color: #888;display: inline-block;white-space: nowrap;">(<span class="author">Jeanny Yu / </span><span class="pub_name">Bloomberg</span>)</span> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </div> <div class="footer" style="width:100%;border-top:1px solid lightgray;padding:14px 0;"> <table style="background-color: #FFFFFF;width: 100%;border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top" style="padding-top:10px; padding-bottom:10px;"> <table style="width: 100%;border-collapse: collapse;"> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top" 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