Techmeme
January 24, 2021, 4:25 PM

Top News

Clubhouse:
Clubhouse raises a new round of funding led by a16z, says it has 180+ investors, will test options for paying creators and soon begin work on an Android app  —  Clubhouse is moving quickly today, but in some ways it feels like the journey started a long time ago.
The Information:
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Apple says magnets in iPhone 12 models and MagSafe accessories may affect devices like pacemakers and defibrillators, warning users to keep them 6" to 12" apart  —  Since the launch of iPhone 12 models in October, Apple has acknowledged that the devices may cause electromagnetic interference …
Crispian Balmer / Reuters:
Italy tells TikTok to block all unverified user accounts after a 10-year-old girl dies while allegedly participating in the “blackout challenge” on the app  —  ROME (Reuters) - The Italian data privacy watchdog ordered video app TikTok on Friday to block the accounts of any users …
Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Uber laid off ~185 Postmates staff, about 15% of the division's workforce; sources: most Postmates execs including CEO Bastian Lehmann will leave the company  —  The layoffs include most of the executive team at Postmates, the food delivery app that Uber bought last year.
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Nikkei Asia:
After Huawei spinoff, Honor confirms partnerships with key chip suppliers such as AMD, Intel, Qualcomm, and MediaTek, launches new smartphone and notebooks  —  Smartphone maker unveils first handset since splitting from China tech titan  —  TAIPEI — Honor, the former budget smartphone arm …
Dana Hull / Bloomberg:
As Starlink builds out its satellite constellation, it is enjoying a very warm reception from the early adopters of its internet service in remote areas  —  - SpaceX's satellite-based service wins over some early adopters  — Coverage so far includes rural areas in U.S., Canada and U.K.
Will Oremus / OneZero :
Sam Byford / The Verge:
Microsoft backtracks on price hike for Xbox Live Gold subscriptions announced Friday and says free-to-play games will also no longer require a Gold subscription  —  Free-to-play games will also no longer require a Gold subscription  —  Microsoft has reversed its controversial Xbox Live price increase.
Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
In an interview, Waymo CEO dismissed Tesla as a competitor and argued that Tesla's current strategy, without lidar, wouldn't produce a fully self-driving system  —  Elon Musk and John Krafcik have very different theories about driverless tech.  —  Many Tesla fans view the electric carmaker …
Dave Gershgorn / OneZero :
Research: GPT-3 frequently creates sentences associating Muslims with shooting, bombs, murder, and violence, a bias OpenAI acknowledged upon its public release  —  OpenAI disclosed the problem on GitHub — but released GPT-3 anyway  —  Last week, a group of researchers from Stanford …

Sponsor Posts

Soxton:
Fast, affordable law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
Equals:
Stop vibe coding analytics  —  Equals AI turns questions about your business into auditable spreadsheet models and dashboards.  Build once, iterate for years.
Zoho:
Zoho Mail MCP: Make your inbox work for you  —  Maya is the head of operations at a 500-person B2B software company.  She's sharp, she's busy, and she starts every morning the same way-with her coffee, laptop, inbox.Not to work.
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.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
Anthropic's Mythos is Back, OpenAI Releases GPT 5.6, Apple's Price Increases
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
'The Daily' and 'The Opinions': How A.I. Is Changing Loneliness and Taste
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Writer's May Habib: Building AI Tools For Corporate 'Normal People' The Labs Leave Behind
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
A Nick, Dick, and Paul Buffet!
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
Subscribe to The Nick, Dick and Paul Show.
Great Chat:
How much data do we actually want about our bodies?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
AI's Mythos Moment: Rishi Sunak on preparing governments for AI
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:25 PM ET, January 24, 2021.

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.

More News

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:
Conor Hale / FierceBiotech:

Earlier Picks

USA Today:
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica: