Techmeme
January 2, 2026, 11:10 AM

Top News

Rishabh Jaiswal / Reuters:
SpaceX plans to lower its Starlink satellites from orbiting at ~550km to ~480km in 2026 to improve space safety and reduce the likelihood of debris collisions  —  Starlink will begin a reconfiguration of its satellite constellation by lowering all of its satellites orbiting at around 550 km …
Dan Wang:
Tech analyst Dan Wang reflects on the Chinese Communist Party vs. Silicon Valley, AI and manufacturing, and how China and the US are building the future  —  One way that Silicon Valley and the Communist Party resemble each other is that both are serious, self-serious, and indeed, completely humorless.
More: Blockchain.News and CNBC
X: @bgurley.  LinkedIn: Mark Pesce.  Bluesky: @gnat, @frankpasquale, and @conorsen.  Mastodon: @yiningkarlli@mastodon ….  Forums: Hacker News
Stephanie Palazzolo / The Information:
Sources: OpenAI is taking steps to improve its audio AI models, in preparation for its AI-powered personal device, which is expected to be largely audio-based  —  OpenAI is taking steps to improve its audio AI models, in preparation for its eventual release of an AI-powered personal device, said a person with knowledge of the effort.
Vincent Chow / South China Morning Post:
DeepSeek researchers detail mHC, a new architecture they used to train 3B, 9B, and 27B models, finding it scaled without adding significant computational burden  —  DeepSeek has published a technical paper co-authored by founder Liang Wenfeng proposing a rethink of its core deep learning architecture
Philosopher Count:
How AI automation can fulfill Thomas Piketty's predictions on rising economic inequality, and why highly progressive taxes on capital can help slow the spiral  —  Piketty was wrong about the past.  He's probably right about the future.  —  1. Introduction
Rachel Clun / BBC:
UK crypto buyers are required to share their account details with tax officials starting January 1 or face penalties, as the UK seeks to collect unpaid taxes  —  People buying cryptocurrency in the UK now need to share their account details or face penalties, in changes that came into effect on 1 January.
Bloomberg:
xAI's Grok says “lapses in safeguards” led it to create sexualized images of minors in response to user prompts on X; the images have been taken down  —  Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok created sexualized images of minors in response to user prompts in recent days …
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
A look at US tech laws coming in 2026, like California's SB 53 AI transparency law and Virginia's new social media limits for minors, effective from January 1  —  As usual, 2025 was a year of deep congressional dysfunction in the US.  But state legislatures were passing laws that govern everything …
Nikkei Asia:
How Arizona is training talent for its growing chip industry as suppliers fear tighter US immigration policy; Arizona has drawn $200B+ in investments since 2020  —  PHOENIX, Arizona — On a late afternoon in autumn at Mesa Community College, a diverse group had gathered for their “Quick Start” …
Bluesky: @whortana

Sponsor Posts

Command Line:
Copilot to autopilot: Why no single safeguard is enough  —  Microsoft designed a layered model that lets an AI agent resolve network incidents on its own within defined boundaries.
Will Reed:
The best sales leaders aren't job hunting.  Here's how to reach them without months of cold outreach.  —  Our team came from Box, Square, and Brex, so we already know the GTM leaders worth meeting.
Zoho:
Diwali 2026: Your festive planning checklist with Zoho Notebook  —  The Diwali countdown is on!  From lighting up every corner of the house to going a little overboard with the festive shopping …
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

Great Chat:
AI's Spooky Season
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
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Sources:
Sundar Pichai on Gemini 4 and the AI compute crunch
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
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Machine Gods:
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Channels with Peter Kafka:
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Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
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Big Technology Podcast:
Google CEO Sundar Pichai: AI's Infinite Possibilities, Compute Scarcity Dilemmas, Future AI Products
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
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Cheeky Pint:
How Toto Wolff built the most valuable team in F1
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
Subscribe to Cheeky Pint.
 

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More News

Bloomberg:
Sneha Kumar / Reuters:
Angel Au-Yeung / Wall Street Journal:

Earlier Picks

Iris Deng / South China Morning Post:
Simon Willison / Simon Willison's Weblog: