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)

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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

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