Open Links In New Tab
Mobile Archives Advertise Site News
Techmeme
January 7, 2026, 4:25 AM
Mediagazer memeorandum WeSmirch
Home River Leaderboards About Events Newsletter

Top News

xAI:
xAI raised a $20B Series E, exceeding its $15B targeted round size, with participation from Valor, Nvidia, and others, and says Grok 5 is currently in training  —  xAI is rapidly accelerating its progress in building advanced AI.  —  xAI completed its upsized Series E funding round …
Hugh Langley / Business Insider:
Filing: Larry Page moved assets out of California ahead of the proposed CA wealth tax, meeting an end-of-2025 deadline; a source said he has left the state  —  - Google cofounder Larry Page is cutting ties with California.  — A source said Page had already left the state.
Bloomberg:
Jensen Huang says he is “perfectly fine” with California's proposed tax on billionaires and plans to remain in the state; Nvidia is based in Santa Clara
Evan Halper / Washington Post:
How the huge data center buildout is heating up local politics in US towns across red and blue states on issues like water, electricity, and noise  —  As the buildout of AI infrastructure alarms communities, it is fast emerging as a potent electoral issue across the political divide.
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Google will now publish new source code to the Android Open Source Project twice per year, down from releasing source code for every quarterly Android release  —  Google has announced that it will publish Android source code to AOSP in Q2 and Q4 of each year.  —  •
Allison Smith / Modern Retail:
Brands complain Amazon's “Buy for Me” AI-powered shopping tool features their products on Amazon without permission and shows descriptions with errors  —  Angie Chua has avoided selling on Amazon since she founded her Palm Springs, California-based stationery brand Bobo Design Studio in 2016.
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
In the first successful US prosecution of a spyware operator in 10+ years, pcTattletale's founder pleads guilty to promoting surveillance apps for unlawful uses  —  The founder of a U.S.-based spyware company, whose surveillance products allowed customers to spy on the phones and computers …
Bloomberg:
A look at Kalshi and Polymarket's lucrative shift toward sports, as high-profile real-world bets raise questions about access, integrity, and US CFTC regulation  —  Prediction platforms pitch themselves as tools for insight, but eye-catching bets on real-world events are raising questions about access, integrity and regulation.
Stu Woo / Wall Street Journal:
GWI: LinkedIn's 2025 revenue rose to $17B from $7B in 2020 as users doubled to 1.3B; 4.7% of US users checked more than once per day in 2025, from 3.9% in 2020  —  Data show people are scrolling longer on the site.  Its secret is a founding principle that curbs toxicity.  —  It isn't just you.
Stevie Bonifield / The Verge:
Meta unveils teleprompter and EMG handwriting features for Meta Ray-Ban Display and expands Pedestrian Navigation for the glasses to four new US cities  —  Ray-Ban Display users will soon be able to reply to texts with hand gestures. … The new EMG handwriting feature …
Steve Dent / Engadget:
Meta says it is pausing the release of its Ray-Ban Display glasses to the UK, France, Italy, and Canada due to “unprecedented demand and limited inventory”
Chris Welch / Bloomberg:
Motorola unveils the Razr Fold, its first book-style foldable phone, with a 6.6" front display and an 8.1" 2K LTPO inner screen, expected to launch this summer  —  Lenovo Group Ltd.'s Motorola unveiled its first folding phone that opens like a book or passport, a departure from the string …
Paige Smith / Bloomberg:
Dutch fintech Bunq applies to become a US bank; the OCC conditionally approved national trust bank charters for several crypto firms in 2025, including Circle  —  The Dutch fintech Bunq BV applied to become a US bank two years after rescinding a previous application under former President Joe Biden.
Bloomberg:
China unveils rules banning major platforms like Alibaba from forcing merchants into discounts or practices seen as disrupting market order, effective February  —  China unveiled broad regulations Wednesday that ban major platforms such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. from coercing online merchants …
Duncan Riley / SiliconANGLE:
PitchBook-NVCA: global VC investments hit $512B in 2025 with AI accounting for 50%+; VC fundraising fell to a 10-year low of $118.6B, ~$100B less than in 2024  —  The global venture capital market hit its second-highest annual total on record in 2025, with the year seeing $512 billion in deal value …

Sponsor Posts

Soxton:
Fast, affordable law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
F5:
Accelerate AI Adoption at F5's AI Virtual Summit  —  Learn how to architect, secure, and scale AI for production with real-world insights from industry leaders on June 23.  Register now to save your spot.
Zoho:
Agentic AI: The need for a data foundation  —  This is the first post of the 4-part series on Agentic Data Infrastructure.Every business app now ships with an AI agent.  Each one is good at its own job.
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.
Sponsor Techmeme

Featured Podcasts

BG2 Pod:
 The SpaceX IPO, Fable 5, AI Capex Update & Market Check w/ Gavin Baker, Andrew Fox & Clark Tang
Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner.
Subscribe to BG2 Pod.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
 All about Interest Rates
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.
Subscribe to The Nick, Dick and Paul Show.
Training Data:
 Google DeepMind's Logan Kilpatrick: Why the Model Eats the Harness
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
Subscribe to Training Data.
Big Technology Podcast:
 What Should An AI Device Look Like? — With Alex Himel
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.
Great Chat:
 Founders dish on VC bad behavior (and bring receipts)
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
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.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
Add your podcast here
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:25 AM ET, January 7, 2026.

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.

From Mediagazer

Jake Kanter / Deadline:
Sources: new Doctor Who episodes are likely to remain off TV until at least 2028; the BBC says it will use a competitive process to find producers for Season 16

Sarah Rumpf / Mediaite:
The Washington Post faces a proposed class action lawsuit that claims the company covertly used surveillance pricing to charge loyal subscribers higher rates

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Disney study: the Toy Story franchise has driven $16B in total revenue for the company over 30 years; nearly half of the revenue was generated domestically

More News

Igor Bonifacic / Engadget:
Lenovo introduces Qira, a system-level, cross-device AI assistant for both its computers and Motorola smartphones, arriving later in Q1 2026
Marissa Newman / Bloomberg:
Mobileye is acquiring Israeli humanoid robot startup Mentee Robotics in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $900M; Mentee was founded in 2022 and has raised $50M
Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:
Nvidia brings its G-Sync Pulsar tech, which reduces motion blur by using a “rolling scan” scheme that briefly pulses the monitors' backlight, to four monitors
Corey Quinn / The Register:
Amazon raised AWS' EC2 Capacity Blocks for ML prices by ~15% on January 3, saying the adjustment “reflects the supply/demand patterns we expect this quarter”
Sam Rutherford / Engadget:
Asus redesigns the Zenbook Duo with a new “hideaway” hinge that shrinks the gap between the laptop's two 3K 144Hz Lumina Pro OLED displays to just 8.28 mm
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Meta names C.J. Mahoney, former Microsoft legal executive and deputy US Trade Representative during Trump's first term, as its chief legal officer

Earlier Picks

Dana Wollman / Bloomberg:
Chinese robot vacuum maker Roborock unveils the Saros Rover, a concept robot vacuum cleaner with two wheel-legs for climbing stairs, as robotics dominates CES
Zachary Skidmore / DatacenterDynamics:
Commonwealth Fusion Systems teams up with Nvidia and Siemens to build an AI digital twin of its SPARC fusion reactor, accelerating its push to commercial fusion
Dan Rys / Billboard:
UMG announces a partnership with Nvidia “to pioneer responsible AI for music discovery, creation, and engagement”, centered on Nvidia's Music Flamingo model
The Information:
LMArena, which runs leaderboards that rank AI models based on their performance, raised a $150M Series A led by Felicis and UC Investments at a $1.7B valuation
Mark Bergen / Bloomberg:
Accenture acquires UK-based AI startup Faculty, which works with the UK government, for an undisclosed sum; Faculty CEO Marc Warner will become Accenture's CTO
Mediagazer memeorandum WeSmirch
Home River Leaderboards About Events Newsletter