Techmeme
January 12, 2025, 2:00 PM

Top News

Riley Griffin / Bloomberg:
Mark Zuckerberg lamented the rise of “culturally neutered” companies that have sought to distance themselves from “masculine energy”  —  - Rogan interview is latest in sign of shift toward Trump  — CEO says Biden staffers would ‘scream’ and ‘curse’ about Covid
Aitor Hernández-Morales / Politico:
Elizabeth Lopatto / The Verge:
Tyler Wilde / PC Gamer:
Tim Sweeney says Big Tech leaders, who used to pretend to be Democrats, are now pretending to be Republicans to skirt antitrust laws and “crush competitors”  —  The Trump administration is expected to be softer on antitrust cases, which as we know are one of Sweeney's major pursuits.
David Allen Green / Financial Times:
How aligning with Trump's new administration lets Meta and X pivot from futile cooperation with the EU and other jurisdictions to confrontation and coercion  —  Behind the alignment of X and Meta with Trump is a cold business logic — and a position of weakness rather than strength
Michael Savage / The Guardian:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
A look at Apple's plans for 2025, a year likely to be seen as a stepping stone toward more revolutionary products, rather than one of remarkable innovation  —  Apple plans a loaded 2025, with plans for an overhauled iPhone line, new AI features, a smart home push and updates to products it hasn't refreshed in a while.
Paul Sawers / TechCrunch:
Matt Mullenweg deactivates the accounts of several WordPress.org members, some of whom have been leading a push to create a new fork of the open-source project  —  Automattic CEO and WordPress co-creator Matt Mullenweg has deactivated the accounts of several WordPress.org community members …
Ethan Mollick / One Useful Thing:
As researchers talk about the arrival of supersmart AI, far fewer voices are trying to envision and articulate what a world awash in AI might actually look like  —  What to make of the statements of the AI labs?  —  Recently, something shifted in the AI industry.
Abigail Bassett / The Verge:
A look at Watch Duty, a free app that has become a crucial lifeline for LA during the wildfires by showing active fires, evacuation zones, and other vital info  —  ‘We view what we are doing as a public service,’ says the cofounder of the nonprofit that millions of people are relying on to stay safe.
Jon Keegan / Sherwood News:
A case study of the amount and kinds of ads in 12 shows on the ad-supported tiers of Netflix, Peacock, Disney+, Max, Paramount+, and Hulu  —  We watched 12 shows on six platforms to find out how much of your life you give up to save a few bucks each month.  —  It's getting harder to avoid ads on streaming video.
Tyler Cowen / Bloomberg:
US export controls may have slowed China's AI progress but they also spurred DeepSeek to innovate and release DeepSeek-V3, a top LLM, without the latest chips  —  A promising new model shows that innovations in artificial intelligence don't necessarily depend on the latest chips.

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Featured Podcasts

Access:
The billionaire paying AI researchers to stay out of Big Tech
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
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The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
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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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Big Technology Podcast:
AI Fact or Fiction: The Fable Ban, Tokenmaxxing, Saaspocolypse — With Ara Kharazian
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Hard Fork:
'Hard Fork' Live Part 2: Dylan Field on Standing Out in the A.I. Era
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.
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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.
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Earlier Picks

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
The News Minute:
Ming-Chi Kuo:
Julie Bort / TechCrunch: