Techmeme: AI language learning startup Speak, which focuses on speaking, not gamification, raised $78M led by Accel at a $1B valuation, taking its total funding to $162M (Jackie Davalos/Bloomberg)

Top News

The US sanctions Chinese cybersecurity government contractor Sichuan Silence and one of its staff over Ragnarok ransomware ties and creating and using zero-days — The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned Sichuan Silence, a Chinese cybersecurity company, and one of its employees …

More: U.S. Department …, TechCrunch, US Department of Justice, The Record, CyberScoop, Reuters, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, BankInfoSecurity.com, and UPI

Bluesky: @campuscodi.risky.biz. X: @ustreasury, @ustreasury, @jburnskoven, and @ustreasury. Forums: r/cybersecurity

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:

Instagram officially rolls out “trial reels”, which give creators a way to test out videos by publishing them only to people who don't follow them — Instagram is officially rolling out “trial reels” to give creators a way to test out new content by publishing videos that don't appear to their followers.

More: Meta, The Verge, Engadget, CNET, 9to5Mac, PhoneArena, Neowin, Social Media Today, WinBuzzer, ICYMI, and PetaPixel. X: @milkkarten

See also Mediagazer

Boone Ashworth / Wired:

Amazon launches Amazon Autos, letting US shoppers buy Hyundai cars, and plans to add dealerships and manufacturers in 2025, after announcing it in November 2023 — Amazon's partnership with Hyundai means you can use the e-retailer to purchase a brand-new car online.

More: About Amazon, ZDNET, Forbes, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Engadget, The Verge, iPhone in Canada Blog, TechSpot, TweakTown, Neowin, GeekWire, Chain Store Age, InsideEVs, Barron's Online, TechCrunch, and MakeUseOf

LinkedIn: Emil Protalinski. Forums: r/cars

Dina Bass / Bloomberg:

Microsoft unveils a data center design that uses zero water for cooling, down from the 125M+ liters per year a typical center uses, rolling out from August 2024 — New design will use no water to cool the facilities' servers and chips. — Microsoft Corp., trying to mitigate the climate impact …

More: Microsoft, Thurrott, DatacenterDynamics, ITPro, WinBuzzer, Analytics India Magazine, MSPoweruser, GeekWire, and Cointelegraph

X: @mustafasuleyman and @mscloud

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Sources: 2025's Apple Watch Ultra is slated to get satellite connectivity for off-the-grid text messages, and it may also get a blood pressure sensing feature — - Company also working on blood-pressure tool for future model — Apple is using MediaTek modems for first time in new watches

More: MacRumors and 9to5Mac

Bluesky: @markgurman. X: @markgurman

Kunal Khullar / Tom's Hardware:

TSMC reports $8.5B in consolidated November revenue, up 34% YoY but down 12% from October's record, when it projected Q4 revenue up 11%-14% QoQ to $26.1B-$26.9B — The company's stock has surged nearly 80% year-to-date, reflecting its robust business growth.

More: Taiwan Semiconductor …, DigiTimes, Benzinga, eeNews Europe, HPCwire, Barron's Online, and TechPowerUp

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:

Stainless, a startup offering an AI-powered API-to-SDK generator to customers like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta, raised a $25M Series A led by a16z — Devs expect tech vendors to supply software development kits, or SDKs, alongside their products to make it easier to create apps using those products.

More: NewsBytes, Security Boulevard, and Android Headlines. X: @a16z

Deborah Sophia / Reuters:

The US Commerce Department finalizes $6.1B+ for memory chipmaker Micron to fund its New York and Idaho factory projects, one of the largest CHIPS Act subsidies — The U.S. Department of Commerce has finalized a subsidy of more than $6.1 billion for memory chip maker Micron Technology (MU.O) …

More: U.S. Department of Commerce, Fierce Electronics, Financial Times, The Verge, Barron's Online, eeNews Europe, Tech Xplore, Bloomberg, Proactive, Washington …, Taipei Times, Syracuse Post-Standard, Washington Post, The White House, Benzinga, and TechPowerUp

Jackie Davalos / Bloomberg:

AI language learning startup Speak, which focuses on speaking, not gamification, raised $78M led by Accel at a $1B valuation, taking its total funding to $162M — Speak's app uses an artificial intelligence “conversational partner” to help people become fluent in English.

More: Crunchbase News, Inc, and TechCrunch

X: @connorzwick and @paulg

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:

Solos debuts the AirGo Vision, a camera-equipped pair of smart glasses featuring visual recognition powered by OpenAI's GPT-4o, available now starting from $299 — Solos' camera-equipped smart glasses have arrived to provide some much-needed competition against Meta's Ray-Bans.

More: 9to5Google, iPhone in Canada Blog, ZDNET, Laptop Mag, Android Central, VentureBeat, Digital Trends, and WinBuzzer

Financial Times:

Sources: in October 2024, EU regulators asked Google for more information about its secret ads deal with Meta that skirted Google's rules for targeting minors — Regulators request information after FT investigation into partnership that skirted search giant's rules on minors

More: Engadget, Skift, Reuters, Channel NewsAsia, Benzinga, WinBuzzer, Android Police, BusinessLIVE, NewsBytes, and Deccan Herald

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!

F5:

Accelerate AI Adoption at F5's AI Virtual Summit — Learn how to architect, secure, and scale AI for production with real-world insights from industry leaders on June 23. Register now to save your spot.

Zoho:

10 essential project management reports every team should use — Let's be honest about how projects usually go sideways. A task gets blocked and nobody notices. A dependency changes and nobody updates the plan.

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.

Sponsor Techmeme

Featured Podcasts

Training Data:

Simulating Humans at Scale: Simile's Joon Sung Park

Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.

Subscribe to Training Data.

Invest Like the Best:

Kareem Amin - The Unusual Approach to Company Building

The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.

Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.

Grit:

Why 80% of the Fortune 100 Chose Qualtrics | Ryan Smith

Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.

Subscribe to Grit.

Lenny's Podcast:

The hidden pattern behind successful products | Mark Pincus (founder of Zynga)

Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.

Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.

Big Technology Podcast:

SpaceX's IPO Triumph, Anthropic's Fable Fumble, OpenAI's Price War

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.

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.

Add your podcast here

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 2:40 PM ET, December 10, 2024.

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.