Techmeme: Docs: Character.AI and Google agree to settle lawsuits with families of teenagers who killed or harmed themselves after interacting with Character.AI's chatbot (Amrith Ramkumar/Wall Street Journal)

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January 7, 2026, 9:45 PM

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Ina Fried / Axios:

OpenAI unveils ChatGPT Health, which lets users import medical records and other data from health apps into ChatGPT, available to a small group via a waitlist — OpenAI is expanding its capabilities by adding a dedicated health tab to ChatGPT, allowing people to bring in electronic medical records …

More: OpenAI, The Verge, SiliconANGLE, Bloomberg, Ars Technica, PYMNTS.com, BleepingComputer, Business Insider, ZDNET, Fidji Simo, Digit, The Indian Express, Baller Alert, Gizmodo, b.well Connected Health, Implicator.ai, MedCity News, Tom's Guide, Fast Company, Android Authority, HIT Consultant, Thurrott, TechCrunch, TestingCatalog, iPhone in Canada, Tech in Asia, MacRumors, Digital Trends, Becker's Hospital Review, Blockchain.News, Wccftech, iClarified, Android Headlines, MobiHealthNews, Channel NewsAsia, The Information, CNBC, AppleInsider, and 9to5Mac

X: @thekaransinghal, @raizamrtn, @omooretweets, @openai, @fidjissimo, @tomwarren, @borismpower, @johnonolan, @slow_developer, @_danielsinclair, @kimmonismus, @nickaturley, @andrewcurran_, @daveshapi, @peterwildeford, @nickadobos, @shakeelhashim, and @gdb. LinkedIn: Olivia Deitcher. Bluesky: @janerosenzweig. Threads: @carnage4life

Forums: r/technology and r/BetterOffline

Wall Street Journal:

Apple announces JPMorgan Chase as the new issuer of the Apple Card, taking over from Goldman Sachs, with an expected transition in about 24 months — Goldman Sachs is offloading the credit-card balances at a more than $1 billion discount — JPMorgan Chase has reached a deal …

More: Apple, The Verge, MarketWatch, PYMNTS.com, Engadget, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, Macworld, Financial Times, The Information, The Mac Observer, The Apple Post, Channel NewsAsia, American Banker, Cult of Mac, iClarified, Daily Mail, CNBC, Bloomberg, 9to5Mac, iPhone in Canada, Wccftech, MacRumors, and 9to5Mac on YouTube

X: @snazzylabs, @tatchero, @matthewkeyslive, @paytondev, @fttechnews, @aaronp613, @bzamayo, and @iphoneincanada. Threads: @chancehmiller

Forums: r/AppleCard, r/apple, r/AppleCard, Slashdot, and MacRumors Forums

Kate Clark / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Anthropic plans to raise $10B led by Singapore's GIC and Coatue Management at a $350B valuation before the new investment, up from $183B in September — The startup behind chatbot Claude is raising money from investors including GIC and Coatue Management

More: SiliconANGLE, The Times, The Economic Times, PYMNTS.com, Bloomberg, CNBC, Reuters, Forbes Middle East, The Information, and TechCrunch

X: @lessin, @tszzl, @lessin, @mashadrokova, @zephyr_z9, @andrewcurran_, @alex, @samsolid57, @danprimack, and @deredleritt3r. LinkedIn: Kate Clark

Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:

Cyera researchers detail Ni8mare, a critical RCE flaw that lets hackers access local instances of the n8n workflow automation platform, impacting ~100K servers — A maximum severity vulnerability dubbed “Ni8mare” allows remote, unauthenticated attackers to take control over locally deployed instances …

More: GitHub, Cyera, CyberScoop, Security Affairs, The Hacker News, Cyber Security News, CSO, and SiliconANGLE

Forums: r/cybersecurity and r/netsec

Barron's Online:

Alphabet surpassed Apple in market cap for the first time since 2019 after its shares closed up 2.5% on Wednesday, valuing it at $3.89T vs. Apple's $3.85T — So long, Apple . There's a new No. 2 in the market-capitalization rankings. Alphabet surpassed Apple in market cap on Wednesday …

More: The Information, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, Benzinga, and Tech in Asia

Forums: r/stocks and r/StockMarket

Amrith Ramkumar / Wall Street Journal:

Docs: Character.AI and Google agree to settle lawsuits with families of teenagers who killed or harmed themselves after interacting with Character.AI's chatbot — The cases involving Character.AI's virtual companions highlighted concerns about artificial intelligence and mental health

More: Washington Post, TechCrunch, CNBC, Associated Press, Axios, Business Insider, New York Times, The Information, The Verge, Agence France-Presse, The Information, Reuters, Financial Times, CBS News, RNZ, CNN, RTÉ, Channel NewsAsia, Tech in Asia, and Engadget

X: @tech_oversight and @tech_oversight. Forums: Slashdot

Vicky Ge Huang / Wall Street Journal:

Trump family's World Liberty Financial says its entity World Liberty Trust has applied for a US banking license, which would let it issue the USD1 stablecoin — Critics have said World Liberty and its stablecoin pose a major conflict of interest for President Trump

More: World Liberty Financial, The Hill, CoinDesk, Reuters, Yahoo Finance, The Block, Cointelegraph, The Information, American Banker, Financial Times, Crypto Briefing, Politico, Bloomberg, Blockchain.News, Bitcoin Insider, Axios, and crypto.news. Bluesky: @grahamsteele

Financial Times:

Polymarket is disputing that the US mission to capture Nicolás Maduro constituted an “invasion”, refusing to pay out bets on a contract with $10.5M+ in wagers — Prediction market disputes US raid amounted to an invasion in fight over more than $10.5mn in wagers

More: Washington Times, Bloomberg, Quartz, Yahoo Finance, and MarketWatch

X: @thetrillbillies, @rmdmac, @admcrlsn, @trader_53, @ahall_research, @divine_economy, @mikeandallie, @kath_krueger, @theneedledrop, @yc, @ripplebrain, @edzitron, and @fortunapro_sol. LinkedIn: Harriet Weber

Bluesky: @jkarsh, @gowder.io, @stevekovach, @jessicacalarco.com, @caseynewton, @carnage4life, and @nicoledesignsdata.com

Forums: Hacker News and Slashdot

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:

WhatsApp rolls out new group chat features: member tags that show user roles, text stickers generated from any word, and custom event reminders — WhatsApp on Wednesday said it's rolling out new features to group chats, including member tags, text stickers, and event reminders.

Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg:

Samsung expects Q4 operating profit up 208% YoY to ~$13.8B, vs. ~$12.3B est., and revenue up 23% to ~$64.2B, as demand for AI servers lifted memory chip prices — Samsung Electronics Co.'s quarterly profit more than tripled to a record high after global demand for AI servers sharply lifted memory chip prices.

More: SiliconANGLE, Reuters, CNBC, The Korea Times, Samsung Newsroom, Yonhap News Agency, and Korea Joongang Daily

Bloomberg:

Samsung says it expects memory chip supply shortages to raise prices across the electronics industry, including potentially among its own consumer products

More: Nikkei Asia, Android Headlines, iPhone in Canada, Deal N Tech, Taipei Times, Engadget, Pocket-lint, GSMArena.com, and PYMNTS.com

Reuters:

Arm creates a “Physical AI” unit to focus on robotics and automotive sectors, as part of a reorganization that includes “Cloud and AI” and “Edge” business units — Chip technology company Arm Holdings has reorganized the company to create a Physical AI unit …

More: SiliconANGLE, Implicator.ai, Arm Newsroom, and Tech in Asia. Bluesky: @mortenbay

Qianer Liu / The Information:

Sources: China has told some local tech companies to temporarily halt purchase orders for Nvidia's H200 chips while officials deliberate whether to approve them — The Chinese government this week asked some tech companies to temporarily halt plans to buy Nvidia's H200 AI chips …

More: DigiTimes, Channel NewsAsia, Investing.com, Watcher Guru, iTnews, Blockonomi, The Decoder, Tom's Hardware, Tech in Asia, and Yahoo Finance

X: @zephyr_z9. Forums: r/technology

Michael Acton / Financial Times:

Jensen Huang says Nvidia has “fired up” H200 production in the expectation of resuming China sales and it is finishing the “last details” with the US government

More: The Information and Breitbart

Lizette Chapman / Bloomberg:

Lux Capital raised $1.5B for its ninth fund, the largest in its history, to back companies focusing on fields like breakthrough science and national security — Venture firm Lux Capital raised $1.5 billion for its ninth fund — the largest in its more than 20-year history …

Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:

WBD's board unanimously rejects Paramount's amended $108.4B acquisition offer, saying the bid still has “significant” risks compared to Netflix's $83B offer — The board says the revised $108.4 billion bid continues to offer “significant costs, risks and uncertainties” compared to its $83 billion deal with Netflix

Katherine Doherty / Bloomberg:

Polymarket agrees to supply Dow Jones outlets like the WSJ and Barron's with prediction market trading data for online and in print, its first media partnership — Polymarket will supply Dow Jones with trading data under a new partnership, the latest in a string of deals between exchanges …

More: Polymarket, Reuters, Blockonomi, Bitcoin Magazine, Coinspeaker, and crypto.news

X: @polymarket, @polymarket, and @jasonshubnell

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From Mediagazer

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:

The Post-Gazette closes in five months, leaving time for Pittsburgh institutions to react, maybe by growing a replacement or helping its owner start a nonprofit

Wall Street Journal:

Paramount reaffirms its commitment to its $30-per-share offer to acquire WBD and says that its analysis values Discovery Global at $0 per share

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

Disney announces it is adding vertical videos to Disney+ later this year, following the launch of ESPN's “Verts” in the ESPN app last August

More News

Jing Yang / The Information:

Source: Ant Group's Ant International grew revenue by 20% to 25% in 2025 to an estimated $3.7B, or ~10% of Ant's total 2025 revenue, as it competes with Visa

More: Payments Dive and American Banker

Terrence O'Brien / The Verge:

Spotify launches Listening Activity on iOS and Android, letting users view friends' real-time listening via the sidebar alongside chats, as an opt-in feature

More: Spotify, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, Digital Music News, TechCrunch, The Mac Observer, Neowin, Digital Trends, Engadget, Pocket-lint, iPhone in Canada, and Phandroid. X: @glenngabe

Axios:

London-based e-commerce logistics startup Swap raised a $100M Series C led by DST Global and Iconiq, after raising a $40M Series B in March 2025

More: Business Wire and TechCrunch

Jamie Smyth / Financial Times:

As Trump and Big Tech aim to build SMRs to “win” the AI race, a look at the issues they face; none of the 50+ SMRs under development have a US operating license

More: Axios, Washington Examiner, and Wall Street Journal

Bluesky: @drpauldorfman and @gilesyb. Forums: r/nuclear

Matthew Kish / Oregonian:

Nike quietly sold its digital products subsidiary RTFKT on December 16 for an undisclosed sum, after Nike acquired it in 2021 and shuttered the NFT unit in 2024

More: The Block, Inside Bitcoins, The Business of Fashion, Portland Oregon startups …, Blockonomi, Blockchain.News, and NFTgators. Bluesky: @caseynewton

Jack Pitcher / Wall Street Journal:

Memo: JPMorgan's asset management unit cuts all proxy advisory firm ties and will use its AI-powered Proxy IQ platform to assist on US votes, an industry first

More: CNBC, New York Times, Bloomberg, American Banker, PYMNTS.com, and Fortune. Forums: r/AusFinance

Financial Times:

London-based data center startup GTR raised $1.5B from KKR and ~$400M from Oak Hill to develop its facilities in England, Barcelona, Zurich, and Tel Aviv

More: KKR, The Information, Data Center Knowledge, and Fierce Network

Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:

Intel spinout and enterprise AI startup Articul8 raised over half of a $70M Series B at a $500M pre-money valuation and expects the round to close in Q1 2026

More: SiliconANGLE

Earlier Picks

Jay Peters / The Verge:

Roblox expands using Persona's tech for age estimations for chat features to all regions, after rolling it out in Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands

More: Roblox, GamesIndustry.biz, Neowin, PCMag, Gameranx, CNET, and Engadget

X: @2thousandsunny, @kreekcraft, @thesmilesfamily, and @roblox

Forums: r/Games, r/TwoBestFriendsPlay, and r/roblox

Kyu-seok Shim / Reuters:

Filing: Samsung plans to acquire ~$1.73B of its stock for employee and executive compensation, as part of a performance-linked scheme introduced in October 2025

Bloomberg:

Chinese AI startups Zhipu and MiniMax are set to go public in Hong Kong on January 8 and 9, respectively; Zhipu has 8,000+ clients and MiniMax has 210M+ users

More: Reuters, Nikkei Asia, and South China Morning Post. X: @poezhao0605

Stu Woo / Wall Street Journal:

GWI: LinkedIn's revenue rose from $7B in 2020 to $17B in 2025 as users doubled to 1.3B; 4.7% of US users checked more than once daily in 2025, vs. 3.9% in 2020

LinkedIn: Mukund Mohan. Bluesky: @metacurity.com

Duncan Riley / SiliconANGLE:

PitchBook-NVCA: global VC investments hit $512B in 2025 and AI accounted for 50%+; fundraising fell to $118.6B, a 10-year low and nearly $100B less than in 2024

More: Wall Street Journal and Inc.com. X: @mukund

Paige Smith / Bloomberg:

Dutch fintech Bunq applies to become a US bank; Klaros: more than 30 companies have applied to become US banks under the second Trump administration

Puyaan Singh / Reuters:

The US FDA says it will limit regulation of non-medical wellness wearables and AI software, provided they don't make claims about disease diagnosis or treatment

More: DataBreachToday.com, The American Bazaar, and Gadgets & Wearables

X: @drmakaryfda, @rapidresponse47, @willahmed, and @seckennedy

Chris Welch / Bloomberg:

Motorola unveils the Razr Fold, its first book-style foldable phone, with a 6.6" outer display and an 8.1" 2K LTPO inner screen, expected to launch this summer