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December 17, 2024, 10:40 PM
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Wall Street Journal:
Databricks is raising $10B from a16z, Thrive, and others at a $62B valuation, among the largest VC raises in history; docs show Databricks has $2.6B in revenue  —  As CEO of Databricks, Ali Ghodsi has performed a series of ‘strategic surgeries’ to make his company one of the fastest-growing startups in Silicon Valley
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Ireland's Data Protection Commission fines Meta €251M for a Facebook security breach that affected ~29M users globally, ~3M in the EU and EEA, in September 2018  —  Meta has been fined €251 million (around $263 million) in the European Union for a Facebook security breach …
Paayal Zaveri / Bloomberg:
Grammarly plans to acquire collaborative tools startup Coda and bring on Coda co-founder and CEO Shishir Mehrotra as its CEO; Coda had a $1.4B valuation in 2021  —  Coda co-founder and CEO Shishir Mehrotra will take over that position at Grammarly, according to statement from the two companies Tuesday.
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
OpenAI adds o1 to its API, but only for certain developers to start, announces new versions of GPT-4o and GPT-4o mini as part of its Realtime API, and more  —  OpenAI is bringing o1, its “reasoning” AI model, to its API — but only for certain developers, to start.
John Voorhees / MacStories:
Game emulator Delta adds an in-app link to pay outside of the App Store, via Patreon, likely the first US app to use Apple's External Purchase Link Entitlement  —  Delta, the MacStories Selects App of the Year, received an important update today that allows users of the game emulator to support …
Avram Piltch / Tom's Hardware:
Nvidia unveils Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit, a $249 compact AI development board that promises 67 TOPS, compared to 40 TOPS of the $499 last-gen kit  —  The Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit will be available later this month and comes with 8GB of RAM.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
CAA partners with YouTube to help CAA clients identify and remove AI-generated content that features their likeness, with a wider rollout planned in early 2025  —  In what's being touted as the first partnership of its kind, CAA is collaborating with YouTube on a program promising to let actors …
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Salesforce says it will hire 2,000 people to sell AI agent software, a month after saying it would hire 1,000 for the task and two years after laying off 7,000+  —  Salesforce will hire 2,000 people to sell artificial intelligence software to clients, CEO Marc Benioff said on Tuesday …
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
The US FTC issues long-awaited rules requiring companies to display the full price of hotels, concert tickets, and more up front, rather than hiding “junk fees”  —  The industries must display the full price of a hotel room, concert ticket or sporting event upfront to customers or face potential federal punishment.
Blake Brittain / Reuters:
The US ITC says smartphones made by Lenovo's Motorola infringe on Ericsson's 5G patents, which could lead to an import ban; a final ruling is set for April 2025  —  The U.S. International Trade Commission said on Tuesday that smartphones made by Lenovo's (0992.HK) Motorola Mobility infringe patents owned …
Forums: r/Android
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Framework releases a $39 modular component that adds two M.2 slots to the Laptop 16, letting users have 26TB+ of storage, and updates the Laptop 16's cooling  —  The most ambitious laptop ever made just got a long-promised modular upgrade. … At launch, you only had two options …
New York Times:
A San Francisco jury convicts tech consultant Nima Momeni of second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of Cash App founder Bob Lee on April 4, 2023  —  Nima Momeni, 40, was convicted by a San Francisco jury in the fatal stabbing of Bob Lee, a well-known tech executive.
Edith Hancock / Wall Street Journal:
The European Commission opens a formal DSA investigation into TikTok over concerns foreign actors used it to interfere in the Romanian presidential elections  —  The probe comes after judges in the country annulled the outcome of the first round of presidential elections, citing concerns of Russian interference
Ernie Smith / Tedium:
Bluesky's use of domains to verify users has led to cybersquatting and impersonation, as domains don't offer enough social proof for the average person  —  An apparent extortion scheme involving famous writers and entrepreneurs lit up Bluesky the other night.
Financial Times:
The UK opens a consultation on AI and copyright, aiming to offer an “opt out” exception to copyright law, forcing companies to open models to scrutiny, and more  —  Consultation could see easier access to copyrighted works but require tech groups to be clearer on what they have used
Leo Schwartz / Fortune:
UK-based BVNK, a stablecoin infra startup with ~$40M in annualized revenue, raised a $50M Series B led by Haun Ventures; a source said it values BVNK at ~$750M  —  As crypto prices soar to all-time highs, venture investors are pouring capital into a red-hot corner of the blockchain industry …

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 10:40 PM ET, December 17, 2024.

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From Mediagazer

Barbara Moens / Financial Times:
Sources: the EU is set to approve Paramount's $111B WBD takeover provided the company accepts certain remedies, the details of which are still being worked out

Matthew Keys / TheDesk.net:
Source: iHeartMedia has begun a new round of layoffs affecting dozens of workers in its local radio broadcasting units as part of a broader restructuring

Scharon Harding / Ars Technica:
Disney agrees to pay $50M to YouTube TV and DirecTV subscribers to settle a lawsuit claiming Disney forced higher prices by requiring the bundling of ESPN

More News

Jody Godoy / Reuters:
Grubhub settles with the US FTC and IL AG for $25M, for allegedly adding restaurants without consent and misleading users about order fees and drivers about pay
Wired:
Interpol says that “pig butchering”, a catchall online fraud term that gangs “appear to have” coined, could dissuade people from reporting attempts to scam them

Earlier Picks

Molly White / Bloomberg:
After Trump's win, a look at what the crypto industry could do next, including weakening financial rules that might protect consumers from the next crypto crash
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Google DeepMind unveils Veo 2, a video generation model that can create clips over two minutes long at resolutions up to 4K, available in VideoFX via a waitlist
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