Techmeme
January 3, 2025, 3:50 PM

Top News

Jason Koebler / 404 Media:
After outrage, Meta says newly viral AI profiles on Facebook and Instagram were created in 2023 in “an early experiment”, and it is deleting the profiles  —  Earlier this week, Meta executive Connor Hayes told the Financial Times that the company is going to roll out AI character profiles …
Carly Page / TechCrunch:
The US sanctions Beijing-based cybersecurity company Integrity Technology over its alleged links to China-backed hacking group Flax Typhoon  —  The U.S. government has sanctioned a Beijing-based cybersecurity company over its alleged links to a China government-backed hacking group, tracked as Flax Typhoon.
Victoria Song / The Verge:
Apple and Strava partner to feature Strava athletes in Apple Fitness+ programming, add more detailed Fitness+ workout summaries in the Strava app, and more  —  Apple Fitness Plus is getting a fresh makeover in the Strava app.  The two companies just announced they're collaborating to revamp …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Getty Images is exploring a merger with rival Shutterstock; deliberations are ongoing and Getty could decide not to pursue a deal  —  - Getty weighing how to structure combo with stock-photo rival … Getty has been weighing how to structure a combination that would bring together …
The Verge:
Elon Musk fanboy Adrian Dittmann's alleged 4Chan posts and X activity suggest he might be Musk's fake online persona; source: the viral 4Chan screenshot is fake  —  A screenshot that seems to suggest billionaire Elon Musk is cosplaying superfan “Adrian Dittmann” — showing X account permissions beyond …
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Microsoft says it expects to spend $80B in FY 2025 on the construction of data centers that can handle AI workloads, 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 company said in a Friday blog post.
Ryan Christoffel / 9to5Mac:
Apple Intelligence, with features like Genmoji and Image Playground in iOS 18.2, requires 7GB of storage, compared to 4GB in iOS 18.1  —  Apple Intelligence arrived on compatible iPhones, iPads, and Macs via a staggered rollout.  There were new features launched in both iOS 18.1 and iOS 18.2.
Dave Lee / Bloomberg:
Meta required a public statesman like Nick Clegg after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, but now turns to the in-house Republican Joel Kaplan to appease Trump  —  The former UK politician was a public statesman when Meta required one.  A different approach will be called for under Trump.
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority:
Google fixes a days-old issue wherein Nest Hub and Nest Audio devices stopped responding to basic commands, like about the weather and the time, for many users  —  Update: Google says the issue is being investigated but should be resolved for most users.  —  TL;DR
Molly White / Citation Needed:
An in-depth look at Elon Musk's criticisms of Wikipedia, as he joins a growing chorus of right-wing voices attacking information sources outside their control  —  The world's richest man has joined a growing chorus of right-wing voices attacking Wikipedia as part of an intensifying campaign against free and open access information.

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Equals:
Stop vibe coding analytics  —  Equals AI turns questions about your business into auditable spreadsheet models and dashboards.  Build once, iterate for years.
Zoho:
App Spotlight: Grow Payments for Zoho CRM  —  App Spotlight brings you hand-picked solutions that enhance your Zoho apps and tools.  Visit Zoho Marketplace to explore all of our apps, integrations …
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:
OpenAI Finally Ships Its Superapp, Meta's AI Price War, ChatGPT Cheating At Brown
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.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Radical AI's Joseph Krause: The Scientist Building The 'Waymo' Lab For New Materials
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.
Hard Fork:
Do Social Media Bans Work? + A Conversation About A.I. Consciousness + Tool Time
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.
Access:
The AI writing app fighting AI slop
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Lenny's Podcast:
Adam Mosseri: AI is a tailwind for authenticity
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.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
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 3:50 PM ET, January 3, 2025.

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

Katie Deighton / Wall Street Journal:
Bloomberg:
Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:

Earlier Picks

Bob Van Voris / Bloomberg:
Wall Street Journal:
David Shepardson / Reuters:
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch: