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January 12, 2026, 6:30 PM
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Samantha Subin / CNBC:
Apple signs a multiyear Google deal to use Gemini and Google Cloud to power Siri's features in 2026, saying Google's tech “provides the most capable foundation”  —  Apple is joining forces with Google to power its artificial intelligence features for products such as Siri later this year.
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Forums: Hacker News, r/technology, r/singularity, r/apple, Slashdot, and MacRumors Forums
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Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Google says Gemini will help power not only a more personalized version of Siri, but also future Apple Intelligence features  —  Google today announced that its AI platform Gemini will help power not only a more personalized version of Siri, but a range of future Apple Intelligence features.
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Elon Musk says Apple and Google's Gemini deal “seems like an unreasonable concentration of power for Google given that [they] also have Android and Chrome”  —  Elon Musk today expressed concern about Apple and Google partnering on a more personalized version of Siri powered by Google's generative AI platform Gemini.
Financial Times:
Ofcom opens an investigation under the OSA into Grok over the sexualized deepfakes of women and kids being generated on X and threatens X with a ban or a fine  —  Promise by technology secretary comes after media regulator threatens X AI chatbot with ban or multimillion-pound fine
BBC:
The UK plans to bring into force a law this week that will make it illegal to create non-consensual intimate images, as Ofcom investigates X  —  The UK will bring into force a law which will make it illegal to create non-consensual intimate images, following widespread concerns over Elon Musk's Grok AI chatbot.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Meta appoints Dina Powell McCormick, a prominent banking executive and former Republican official, as president and vice chair, reporting to Mark Zuckerberg  —  Dina Powell McCormick, a prominent banking executive and former Republican official, is joining Meta full-time as president and vice chairman …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Mark Zuckerberg says Meta is establishing a new “top-level” initiative called Meta Compute to build “tens of gigawatts” of AI infrastructure during this decade  —  Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday said his company is establishing a new “top-level” …
Webb Wright / ZDNET:
Anthropic launches Cowork for Claude, built on Claude Code to automate complex tasks with minimal prompting, as a research preview for Claude Max subscribers  —  ZDNET's key takeaways  — Anthropic is launching Cowork for Claude as a research preview.  — It's built upon Claude Code and can automate complex tasks.
New York Times:
Sources: Meta plans to lay off ~10% of its 15,000-person Reality Labs division, disproportionately affecting those working on VR headsets and Horizon Worlds  —  The layoffs are set to be announced this week and would affect Meta's work on the metaverse, as the company spends heavily on building artificial intelligence.
Laura Mandaro / The Information:
OpenAI acquires Torch, a one-year-old AI healthcare app that aggregates and analyzes medical records; source: OpenAI is paying $100M in equity  —  OpenAI has agreed to buy Torch, a one-year-old AI healthcare app, for about $100 million in equity, according to a person with direct knowledge of the acquisition.
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Eddy Cue says 2025 was a “record-breaking year” for Apple services: December was a monthly TV engagement record, the App Store has 850M+ weekly users, and more  —  The Apple services executive released a note saying that Apple TV set new monthly engagement records, while Apple Music has hit subscriber records.
Nasteho Said / Bloomberg:
Meta says it shut down nearly 550K accounts in Australia to comply with its under-16 social media ban, including 330,639 Instagram and 173,497 Facebook accounts  —  Meta Platforms Inc. said it has shut down almost 550,000 accounts in Australia to comply with the country's landmark social media ban for children.
Emily Mason / Bloomberg:
Personal finance app Betterment says an individual accessed certain systems to send fake crypto scam notification and believes the person accessed user info  —  Personal finance platform Betterment fell victim to an online attack that allowed an unauthorized individual to send some customers a …
Bloomberg:
Nvidia and Eli Lilly say they will invest $1B over five years in a new Silicon Valley-based AI drug lab, aiming to speed up the pharmaceutical industry's AI use  —  Nvidia Corp. plans to invest $1 billion over five years in a new laboratory with Eli Lilly & Co., aiming to speed up the use …
Counterpoint Research:
Global smartphone shipments rose 2% YoY in 2025; Apple led with 20% market share and 10% YoY growth, followed by Samsung's 19% market share and 5% YoY growth  —  - Global smartphone shipments grew 2% YoY in 2025, driven by increasing premium demand and improving momentum in key emerging markets.
New York Times:
Sources and filings: Peter Thiel donated $3M to a group to beat California's wealth tax proposal, the first of several expected tech leader donations in 2026  —  More large donations from wealthy Silicon Valley figures are expected as they try to marshal opposition to a proposed ballot measure …
Financial Times:
A viral Chinese app called “Are You Dead?” that asks users living alone to “check in” with a button press becomes the top paid app in Apple's App Store in China  —  Popularity among Chinese Apple users highlights concerns created by rapidly changing demographics
Dan Gallagher / Wall Street Journal:
Despite dire projections of PC and phone memory shortages, producers like Micron will proceed cautiously in adding new capacity, ever mindful of past downcycles  —  Sandisk, Western Digital, Seagate and Micron need to keep undershooting demand  —  The world needs a lot more memory chips and hard drives.

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From Mediagazer

Lillian Rizzo / CNBC:
In a letter to WBD shareholders, David Ellison says Paramount filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Chancery Court seeking information in its hostile takeover attempt

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Amy Poehler's Good Hang won the Golden Globes' inaugural podcast award, beating five other nominees, including Call Her Daddy, SmartLess, and NPR's Up First

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Chartbeat data: global Google search referrals to publishers fell by 33% in the year ending November 2025, with US-specific organic search traffic down 38%

More News

James Hunt / The Block:
Michael Saylor's Strategy bought 13,627 bitcoin for ~$1.25B between January 5 and 11, taking its total holdings to 687,410, and boosts its USD reserve to $2.25B

Earlier Picks

Andrew Gregory / The Guardian:
Investigation: Google removed AI Overviews for two liver health queries after experts warned of “alarming” results, but slight tweaks still trigger AI responses
Rachael Levy / Reuters:
President Trump says “we may speak to Elon” about using Starlink to restore the internet in Iran, which has blocked the internet since January 8 amid protests
Bloomberg:
Chinese AI executives say China is unlikely to eclipse the US in the AI race anytime soon, citing limited resources and US chip export curbs as key constraints
Eugene Kim / Business Insider:
Anthropic debuts Claude for Healthcare, which offers HIPAA-ready tools for providers, insurers, and consumers, building on its Claude for Life Sciences offering
Terrence O'Brien / The Verge:
Instagram denies a breach and says it fixed an issue that let an “external party” send password reset emails, after a report that 17.5M users' data was exposed
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Google unveils the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open standard that lets AI agents work across customer buying processes, from discovery to support
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