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December 18, 2025, 11:30 PM
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| Sara Fischer / Axios: |
Internal memo: TikTok has signed a deal to sell its US unit; Oracle, Silver Lake, MGX will collectively own 45% of the US entity, and ByteDance will retain ~20% — TikTok has signed a deal to divest its U.S. entity to a joint venture controlled by American investors, per an internal memo seen by Axios.
More: Bloomberg, CNBC, Benzinga, NPR, CNN, The Information, TechCrunch, MacRumors, International Business Times, Financial Times, Reuters, BBC, 9to5Mac, Times of India, The Guardian, NBC News, Hypebeast, Social Media Today, New York Times, CGTN, Fox Business, ABC News, Ukrainian National News, TRT World, The Verge, TechRadar, UPI, Blockchain.News, Dexerto, The National, Livemint, Variety, Tech in Asia, Sinocism, Mashable, Cord Cutters News, The Independent, TVREV, and Washington Examiner
X: @mattzeitlin, @adamscochran, @peterhamby, @acedtect, @danprimack, @gordongchang, @mattwhitlock, @billevanina, @senwarren, @sarafischer, @thestalwart, @pkafka, @michaelsocolow, @michaelsobolik, @rushdoshi, and @davidshepardson
Forums: r/neoliberal and MacRumors Forums
| Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter: |
Memo: the TikTok US deal is set to close on Jan. 22; terms include retraining the recommendation algorithm on US user data and Oracle overseeing data protection — Abu Dhabi's state investment fund will also be a managing investor. — The TikTok sale is officially happening … | Jake Kanter / Deadline: |
YouTube terminates Screen Culture and KH Studio, two large channels that used AI to create fake movie trailers; the platform earlier suspended the channels' ads — The Google-owned video giant has switched off Screen Culture and KH Studio, which together boasted well over 2 million subscribers and more than a billion views.
More: Ars Technica, The Wrap, CNET, Tech Times, Simon Owens's Media Newsletter, San Francisco Chronicle, How-To Geek, Cord Cutters News, World of Reel, and TVNewsCheck
Bluesky: @scalzi.com, @jason1749, @jessehawken, and @phantomantis. Mastodon: @UKFilmNerd@mastodon.me.uk
| Meghan Bobrowsky / Wall Street Journal: |
Sources: Meta is developing a new image and video-focused AI model codenamed Mango, expected to be released in H1 2026 along with its new LLM dubbed Avocado — Alexandr Wang, the company's AI chief, said the new model will debut soon, along with a large language model dubbed Avocado| OpenAI: |
OpenAI releases GPT‑5.2-Codex, with improvements on long-horizon work through context compaction, stronger performance on large code changes, and more — The most advanced agentic coding model for professional software engineering and defensive cybersecurity. — Get started
More: SiliconANGLE, Cyber Security News, and Blockchain.News
X: @embirico, @synthwavedd, @aaazzam, @thsottiaux, @sama, @sama, @thsottiaux, and @rudrank
LinkedIn: Frederic Lardinois and Romain Huet
Bluesky: @phillipcarter.dev and @timkellogg.me
Forums: Hacker News, r/accelerate, r/programare, r/singularity, and r/codex
| Suzanne Smalley / The Record: |
Pennsylvania's Supreme Court rules that police can get Google search data without a warrant; an expert warns it may encourage warrantless searches nationwide — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that police did not need a warrant to obtain a convicted rapist's Google searches when investigating the crime.
More: The Information and The National Law Review
Bluesky: @asgvisalaw, @dakota.graphics, @watermanlarry, @profciara, and @profferguson. Mastodon: @AAKL@infosec.exchange
| Lydia Beyoud / Bloomberg: |
The US Senate confirms Trump pick Michael Selig as chairman of the CFTC, as lawmakers consider legislation to give the agency more control over digital assets — The US Senate on Thursday night confirmed Michael Selig as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Travis Hill …
More: Crypto Briefing. X: @milesjennings, @blockchainassn, @kmsmithdc, @solanainstitute, @iampaulgrewal, and @digitalchamber
| Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer: |
France charges a crew member of an Italian passenger ferry for allegedly infecting the ship with a remote access tool on behalf of a foreign power — French authorities arrested two crew members of an Italian passenger ferry suspected of infecting the ship with malware that could have enabled them to remotely control the vessel.
More: France 24, The Cyber Express, and gCaptain
| Joanna Stern / Wall Street Journal: |
In an experiment, Claude ran a vending machine in the WSJ newsroom and lost $1,000+ after it dropped prices to zero, gave away a free PlayStation, and more — Anthropic's Claude ran a snack operation in the WSJ newsroom. It gave away a free PlayStation, ordered a live fish—and taught us lessons about the future of AI agents.
More: TechEBlog, kottke.org, The Wall Street Journal on YouTube, Fortune, Anthropic on YouTube, Anthropic, and NextDraft
X: @jeffwilen, @lara_korte, @andonlabs, @ceostroff, @andonlabs, @arpitrage, @joannastern, @chafkin, @thelincoln, @byklong, @anthropicai, @joannastern, @anthropicai, @anthropicai, @metedata, @thestalwart, @darelmass, @andonlabs, and @katherinemiller
Bluesky: @peark.es, @kevincollier, @prietschka, @damon.kiesow.net, @benzipperer.org, @paleofuture, @hammancheez, @davelee.me, @lopatto, @aedwardslevy, @kashhill, @brenttoderian, @skynetandchill.com, @ceostroff, and @klong. Threads: @young.mete
Mastodon: @stevendbrewer@wandering.shop, @dcoderlt@ohai.social, @srol@mellified.men, @gwynnion@mastodon.social, and @christianschwaegerl …
Forums: Hacker News, r/ClaudeAI, r/technology, r/Economics, and Beehaw
| Michael Nuñez / VentureBeat: |
Anthropic launches Agent Skills as an open standard with a specification and SDK, and says VS Code, GitHub, Cursor, Goose, and others already support the format — Anthropic said on Wednesday it would release its Agent Skills technology as an open standard, a strategic bet that sharing …
More: Claude, The New Stack, Simon Willison's Weblog, Runtime, SiliconANGLE, Axios, and ZDNET
X: @ghchangelog, @adocomplete, @vercel_dev, @claudeai, @claudeai, @claudeai, @code, @mweinbach, @letta_ai, @alexalbert__, and @thdxr
| Financial Times: |
Trump Media agrees to merge with Google-backed fusion energy company TAE in a $6B deal and build the “world's first utility-scale fusion power plant” in 2026 — Trump Media & Technology Group's shares rise 37% after deal with TAE Technologies — The Trump family media group …
More: New York Times, GlobeNewswire News Room, Gizmodo, The Verge, Fortune, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, The Joy of Tech, Washington Post, Politico, Bloomberg, Fast Company, The Register, masslive.com, The National Pulse, NDTV Profit, MS NOW, New York Sun, Sherwood News, Breitbart, Straight Arrow News, Modern Diplomacy, New York Post, The Hill, Latitude Media, Engadget, ZeroHedge News, Blockchain.News, Media Play News, The Federalist, Reuters, NucNet, New Republic, Yahoo Finance, and Fox Business
X: @tae, @joshgans, @rodneyabrooks, @ruthbenghiat, @danielnewmanuv, @denver4va, @amy_siskind, @sollenbergerrc, @sullycnbc, @luke_metro, @shanumathew93, @jsneedles, @timodc, @divestech, @danprimack, @ashtonforbes, @silvermanjacob, @adamscochran, @ryp__, @wendysiegelman, @themainewonk, @keithedwards, @danielnewmanuv, and @pkafka
Bluesky: @thedesk.net, @mattmcneilshow, @robpegoraro.com, @mgsiegler.com, and @terrybsrq
Forums: r/energy, r/WallStreetbetsELITE, r/politics, r/Destiny, r/neoliberal, and r/wallstreetbets
| Annie Palmer / CNBC: |
Instacart will pay $60M to settle FTC allegations that it used deceptive tactics in its subscription signup and “satisfaction guarantee” advertising — Instacart will pay $60 million to settle allegations by the Federal Trade Commission that it misled users with false advertising and deployed … | Chris McGuire / Council on Foreign Relations: |
US approving Nvidia H200 exports to China is based on the idea that Huawei is a viable competitor, but data shows the gap between Nvidia and Huawei is widening — Executive Summary — On December 8, the Trump administration announced plans to loosen U.S. export controls on artificial intelligence …
More: Reuters and Tom's Hardware
X: @chrisrmcguire, @chrisrmcguire, @rebeccaarcesati, @cfr_org, @chrisrmcguire, @chrisrmcguire, @chrisrmcguire, @juliangewirtz, @garyhaubold, and @noahpinion
LinkedIn: Liza Tobin and Marc Gustafson
| Wall Street Journal: |
Sources: OpenAI's new fundraising round could value it at as much as $830B; it aims to raise up to $100B and complete the round by the end of Q1 at the earliest — Concerns about an AI bubble have weighed on many publicly traded tech-related companies — OpenAI is aiming to raise … | Wall Street Journal: |
Sources: Armadin, launched by Mandiant's founder Kevin Mandia to fight AI hacking, raised a $24M seed and is in talks to raise $100M+ at a $600M+ valuation — As AI threatens to give advantage to attackers, man who built Google's $5.4 billion Mandiant business works to restore balance
Bluesky: @metacurity.com
| Juli Clover / MacRumors: |
Apple makes iOS changes in Japan to comply with local laws, including alternative app stores and payment options, a new fee structure, and new default controls — Apple today introduced several changes to the App Store in Japan to meet the requirements of the Mobile Software Competition Act (MSCA) that goes into effect on December 18.
More: Apple, TechCrunch, Moneycontrol, 9to5Mac, The Verge, iDrop News, MacRumors, Apple Support, 9to5Mac, Engadget, Michael Tsai, iPhone in Canada, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Finimize, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, and Reuters
Forums: r/apple, Beehaw, Slashdot, and MacRumors Forums
| Tim Sweeney / @timsweeneyepic: |
More: Apple Developer, iClarified, Thurrott, MacRumors, Windows Central, 9to5Mac, and AppleInsider
X: @timsweeneyepic, @datwarlordguy, @zkurishi, @fortnitejpnews, @flimmzyytt, @ramblingsnerd, and @timsweeneyepic. Threads: @altstoreio
Mastodon: @altstore@fosstodon.org and @nicolas17@social …
| Mistral AI: |
Mistral launches Mistral OCR 3, featuring improvements in processing forms, scanned documents, complex tables, and handwriting, priced at $2 per 1,000 pages — Overview — Mistral OCR 3 is designed to extract text and embedded images from a wide range of documents with exceptional fidelity.
More: VentureBeat and WinBuzzer
X: @qtnx_, @mistralai, @guillaumelample, and @dilmegani
Forums: r/LocalLLaMA and r/singularity
| Anvee Bhutani / Wall Street Journal: |
Trump signs the annual defense bill with provisions authorizing the president to screen and restrict US financing of Chinese tech companies — Trump signs annual National Defense Authorization Act into law with provisions meant to cut off capital for military and surveillance projects
More: South China Morning Post and Fox Business
| Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg: |
Sources: Riot Games is working on a major overhaul of League of Legends, internally called League Next, for 2027; Riot confirms a big update is in the works — A refreshed version being called ‘League Next’ is planned for 2027 — Riot Games is working on a major overhaul of its flagship game League …
More: Comic Book, GamesRadar, Dexerto, and TheGamer
Forums: r/ValorantCompetitive, r/VALORANT, r/leagueoflegends, r/Games, and r/PedroPeepos
| Alex Kantrowitz / Big Technology: |
Q&A with Sam Altman on OpenAI's “code red” call, enterprise strategy, product ambitions, IPO plans, ChatGPT's personalization plans, and more — OpenAI's CEO joins Big Technology for a candid discussion covering OpenAI's strategy, its product ambitions …
More: Silicon Continent and Don't Worry About the Vase
| Courtney Subramanian / Bloomberg: |
Twenty-four companies, including Microsoft, Google, Nvidia, OpenAI, and AWS, join the US Genesis Mission to boost the use of AI for scientific discovery — Two dozen top artificial intelligence companies have signed on to join the federal government's “Genesis Mission,” … | Todd Bishop / GeekWire: |
Amazon rolls out Alexa+ on the web to early access users, with chat functionality, smart home controls, file management, and cross-device conversations — Amazon is quietly rolling out the last big pillar of its AI-powered Alexa+ vision: the Alexa.com website, bridging the gap between its Echo devices … | The Information: |
Sources describe tensions between OpenAI's research and ChatGPT product groups, leading to the “code red”; OpenAI is set to beat its 2025 revenue goal of $13B — Over the past year, some OpenAI staffers noticed a concerning change in the way people who used ChatGPT were reacting to improvements in the chatbot.| Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: |
Apple says it will roll out more App Store ads in 2026 “to increase opportunity in search results”; Apple's website says 800M+ users visit the App Store weekly — Apple is expanding the number of ads that appear in App Store search results. In an update on its Apple Ads website today …
More: Apple Ads, Moneycontrol, AppleInsider, Communicate Online, MacRumors, MobileSyrup, Ubergizmo, Engadget, and Cult of Mac
Mastodon: @louie@pdx.social, @marcoarment@mastodon.social, and @jamesthomson@mastodon.social. Forums: MacRumors Forums
| Jake Bleiberg / Bloomberg: |
Amazon CSO Stephen Schmidt says subtle keystroke data lag, measuring 110ms instead of the expected tens of milliseconds, helped catch a North Korean IT worker — Security personnel tracked connections from a contractor. — An infinitesimal delay in the typed commands of a new IT worker provided …
More: Tom's Hardware and The Register
Forums: r/cybersecurity, r/nottheonion, r/worldnews, and Slashdot
| Lily Mae Lazarus / Fortune: |
Sources: Salient, which uses AI to automate loan servicing, raised $10M following a $60M Series A in June, pushing its valuation to ~$500M; its ARR hit $25M — In an industry where high churn is the norm, Salient has retained all of its customers.COURTESY OF MATRIX.VC
X: @ajs
| Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News: |
Nirvana, which uses real-time driving telematics to build insurance policies for truckers, raised a $100M Series D at a $1.5B valuation, up from $830M in March — Nirvana Insurance, an AI-based commercial insurance platform for the trucking industry, has raised a $100 million Series D round …
LinkedIn: Kamiel Sumsion Smith
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