Techmeme
January 4, 2025, 2:30 PM

Top News

Aroon Deep / The Hindu:
Mike Allen / Axios:
Sources: Tim Cook will personally donate $1M to President-elect Donald Trump's inaugural committee in the spirit of unity; Apple is not expected to donate  —  The company is not expected to give.  — Cook, with a consistent presence in Washington, has made it clear over the years …
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Samsung and Google plan to enable Eclipsa Audio, a new open-source 3D audio standard, on some YouTube videos later in 2025 via Samsung's 2025 TVs and soundbars  —  Samsung and Google are ready to push a new standard, Eclipsa Audio. … Over the years, Samsung notably hasn't supported Dolby Vision HDR …
Jason Koebler / 404 Media:
After a backlash, Meta says newly viral AI-generated profiles on Facebook and Instagram were created in 2023 in “an early experiment”, and it is deleting them  —  Earlier this week, Meta executive Connor Hayes told the Financial Times that the company is going to roll …
Max Woolf / Max Woolf's Blog:
In a test, iteratively asking Claude 3.5 Sonnet to “write better code” improved the code's features and speed, but aggressive prompt engineering introduced bugs  —  In November 2023, after OpenAI added the ability for ChatGPT to generate images from DALL-E 3 within the ChatGPT web interface …
Eli Tan / New York Times:
Religious leaders are experimenting with AI, spurring an industry of faith-based tech companies that offer AI tools to do theological research and write sermons  —  Rabbi Josh Fixler at Congregation Emanu El in Houston worked with a data scientist to create his experimental “Rabbi Bot.”
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Microsoft says it is on track to invest ~$80B in FY 2025 to build out datacenters to train AI and deploy AI and cloud apps, with 50%+ of the spending in the US  —  Microsoft expects to spend $80 billion in fiscal 2025 on the construction of data centers that can handle artificial intelligence workloads …
The Block:
The GMCI Meme index, which tracks leading memecoins by market cap, delivered 320% returns in 2024, outpacing AI at 91% and the top 30 cryptocurrencies at 88%  —  - The GMCI Meme index represents broader market trends rather than specific token performance.  — The following is an excerpt …
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Belgium-based Swave Photonics, which is developing its Holographic eXtended Reality platform for smart glasses and heads-up displays, raised a $28.27M Series A  —  Swave Photonics, a holographic display company, has raised $28.27 million in funding as it prepares components for AI-powered smartglasses and heads-up displays.

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Airtable:
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Featured Podcasts

The Upstarts Podcast:
Valar Atomics' Isaiah Taylor: Solving AI's Energy Crisis With Nuclear 'Gigasites'
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.
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Access:
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman on surviving the AI slop-pocalypse
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Lenny's Podcast:
AI is critical for humanity's survival: Cisco president on the AI revolution | Jeetu Patel
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
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Cheeky Pint:
Reiner Pope of MatX on accelerating AI with transformer-optimized chips
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
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The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
Prediction Markets w/ Allan Loeb
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.
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Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
His Excellency Khaldoon Al Mubarak: Investing in an AI-Driven World
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.
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More News

Molly White / Citation Needed:

Earlier Picks

Bloomberg:
More: Reuters and The Information
Bluesky: @siscoX: @davidclinchnews and @unusual_whalesLinkedIn: Paul MelcherForums: Slashdot
Carly Page / TechCrunch:
Victoria Song / The Verge: