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January 4, 2026, 10:05 PM
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WeSmirchTop News
| Ian Hodgson / Financial Times: |
US immigration lawyers, talent managers, and creators say influencers and OnlyFans models now dominate O-1B visas, which are reserved for “exceptional” artists — Work permits increasingly being awarded on basis of online reach, favouring content creators| Herb Scribner / Axios: |
A new Polymarket account bet $30K on Maduro's capture just hours before Trump's announcement, renewing questions on insider information in prediction markets — - These bets — many of which were on Maduro's capture, and are now on what happens next to the ousted leader …
More: The Verge, Gizmodo, Bitcoinist.com, NewsBTC, Metro.co.uk, ZeroHedge News, BeInCrypto, CoinGape, Cointelegraph, Benzinga, Wall Street Journal, Event Horizon, Crooked Media, Mediaite, Bitcoin News, The Information, The Block, Fox News, The Crypto Times, Dow Jones Newswires, New Republic, and Associated Press
X: @joepompliano, @tysonbrody, @joepompliano, @mikeeisenberg, @fitzmagic13, @thesampadilla, @alexnowrasteh, @russellbrandom, @rohanspatel, @trungtphan, @tysonbrody, @meustermint, @poesdec, and @quiverquant. LinkedIn: Gavin Blair
Bluesky: @mims, @gghurley, @ryanlcooper.com, @joshsternberg.com, @upbeachbum, @peoplesfabric.com, and @raymondnorman. Threads: @joshpetersel
Forums: r/worldnews and r/Investments
| Austin Carr / Bloomberg: |
How a crew of crypto-focused criminals moved from SIM swap attacks to coordinated, violent home invasions and kidnappings, targeting small-time crypto investors — The pecking at the sliding glass door awoke Julia Goodwin shortly before midnight. She and her husband, Glenn, retirees in their 60s … | Sophie Shulman / CTech: |
Sources: Palo Alto Networks is in talks to acquire Israeli cybersecurity startup Koi for $400M; Koi has raised $48M to date — The deal would extend the cyber giant's reach in enterprise endpoint protection amid AI-driven market shifts. — Palo Alto Networks, the cybersecurity giant … | Meir Orbach / CTech: |
Sources: Cisco is in advanced talks to acquire cybersecurity company Axonius for $2B; Axonius has raised ~$700M and was valued at $2.6B during earlier rounds — Exclusive: The deal would follow a string of major acquisitions as Cisco strengthens its enterprise security portfolio.| Dominic Preston / The Verge: |
Plaud launches the $179 Plaud NotePin S AI recorder, similar to the $159 NotePin but with a button, alongside a new desktop app for recording meeting audio — Plus a new desktop app, free to Plaud hardware owners, for recording meeting audio. … Plaud has updated its compact NotePin AI recorder.
More: Forbes, ZDNET, Pulse 2.0, CNET, Digital Trends, Engadget, and TechCrunch
X: @arpitagd and @bluedietcoke
| Michael Savage / The Guardian: |
Reddit surpasses TikTok as the fourth most-visited social media service in the UK, likely driven by changes to Google's search algorithms and AI deals — Platform is now Britain's fourth most visited social media site as users seek out human-generated content
More: EasternEye. LinkedIn: Dave Earley. Forums: r/technology, r/europe, r/unitedkingdom, and Slashdot
| Jasmine Sun / New York Times: |
Tech workers in Silicon Valley are increasingly experimenting with gray-market peptide drugs from China, legal for personal use, for improving focus and more — Jayden Clark first heard about Chinese peptides at his Fourth of July party this past year. — In the backyard of a San Francisco …
More: Bloomberg. X: @maxmarchione, @cortadoedison, @synbio1, @margbaramerica, @jasminewsun, @jasminewsun, @joelgombiner, @gptbrooke, @sexylikemeiosis, @jasminewsun, @jasminewsun, @gavinpurcell, @gptbrooke, @paulabramsonmd, @jasminewsun, @user3619489, @poppy_haze, @jasminewsun, @carygee1, and @synbio1
| Stephen Foley / Financial Times: |
PwC's US boss Paul Griggs says PwC decided to “lean in” to crypto work after years of taking a more cautious stance, following Trump's embrace of digital assets — Big Four firm has made strategic pivot towards digital assets, says US boss — PwC decided to “lean in” … | Tim Bradshaw / Financial Times: |
Filing: West Co, founded by Biz Stone and Evan Sharp, raised $29M; it launched the invite-only social app Tangle, “designed for intentional living”, in November — Biz Stone and Evan Sharp raise new funds for ‘Tangle’ as they assess the ‘devastation’ caused by online excess| Victoria Song / The Verge: |
Xreal unveils the $449 1S, a pair of AR glasses with 1200p, 700 nits brightness, 52 degree FOV, and 16:10 aspect ratio; the 1S can convert any 2D video into 3D — Despite the spec bump, the Xreal 1S are $50 cheaper than their predecessor. … At CES 2026, Xreal announced an upgraded …
More: Mashable, Ubergizmo, and The Verge
X: @xreal_global, @thisistechtoday, @bengeskin, and @godfree
| Scott Stein / CNET: |
| Jiyoung Sohn / Wall Street Journal: |
A profile of June Paik, CEO of Seoul-based chip startup FuriosaAI, valued at ~$700M, whose AI chip dubbed “RNGD” is slated to enter mass production this month — June Paik spurned a takeover offer from Meta Platforms last year. Now his South Korean company, FuriosaAI, has an AI chip entering mass production.
X: @kchonyc
| Barbara Moens / Financial Times: |
EU officials and policymakers say the EC will intensify its enforcement of the DMA and DSA in 2026, a move expected to renew clashes with US Big Tech and Trump — Challenges to Google, Meta, Apple and X will test Brussels' willingness to stick with digital rule book| Jared Perlo / NBC News: |
A look at AVA, an AI chatbot developed by Alaska's court system to provide aid in the probate process, which has been plagued by delays and hallucinations — A yearlong effort to build an AI probate assistant reveals the limits of government chatbot development.
X: @napoleonmedia. LinkedIn: Georg Zoeller. Bluesky: @ianmoody, @carnage4life, and @wowbaggert
Forums: r/nottheonion, r/Futurology, r/technology, and Slashdot
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