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January 14, 2026, 5:00 AM
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Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Jay Peters / The Verge: |
As part of its Reality Labs cuts, Meta is closing three VR gaming studios and will stop developing new content and features for its VR fitness app Supernatural — Developers from Twisted Pixel Games and Sanzaru Games have posted about their studios being closed down.
More: UploadVR, Sources, Engadget, The Overspill, Digit, GameSpot, WebProNews, Game Developer, TheSixthAxis, TechRaptor, Shacknews, and VG Charts
X: @andythps, @afoxdesign, @thedowd, @pranavdixit, @bmfshow, @tomwarren, @sophiebaybey, @asychov, @raeljamsesh, @jasteinerman, @victor_lucas, @dbloodworth2, @killian_c_u, @bangbangclick, @glitchfandango, @hero_kvatch, @mauronl3, @vescosein, @neogamespark, and @karn_ex
Bluesky: @davelee.me, @marioprime, and @themoonis.gay
Threads: @kathrynyu and @denny_cloudhead
Forums: r/pcgaming and r/Games
| Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg: |
More: Video Games Chronicle, Gematsu, Kotaku, The Hans India, Gizmodo, Hindustan Times, Engadget, Silicon UK, Polygon.com, Tech in Asia, Proactive, PC Gamer, SFGATE, Road to VR, MediaPost, Sharecafe, Forbes, Mashable, Android Headlines, Reuters, Thurrott, iPhone in Canada, GamesIndustry.biz, Entrepreneur, Bloomberg, WinBuzzer, Fast Company, Benzinga, Sherwood News, The Information, UploadVR, The Verge, eWeek, Fox Business, Forbes, International Business Times, Road to VR, PYMNTS.com, PCMag, Silicon Republic, Social Media Today, GeekWire, SiliconANGLE, New York Times, Business Insider, and Axios
X: @nathievr, @sadlyitsbradley, @ibrews, @thejobchick, @grummz, @stocksavvyshay, @cixliv, @amitisinvesting, @scobleizer, @vladtheinflator, @benz145, @xuwu, @samsolid57, @mikeisaac, @eringriffith, @p_remarks, @caktusjaxk1, @mikeisaac, and @anshelsag
LinkedIn: Emil Protalinski and John Thompson
Bluesky: @handpressed.net, @ohheymarc, @ianbetteridge.com, @gematsu.com, @elucidating …, and @quinnypig.com
Threads: @wongmjane, @jank0, @karissabe, and @firerock31
Forums: r/TwoBestFriendsPlay, r/SonicTheHedgehog, r/PSVR, r/virtualreality, r/Games, r/Slycooper, r/augmentedreality, and Slashdot
| Luz Ding / Bloomberg: |
Z.ai releases GLM-Image, an open-source multimodal AI model trained on Huawei chips that it says is China's first to be fully trained using domestic chips — Chinese AI startup Knowledge Atlas Technology JSC Ltd. released a new multimodal model that it says is the country's …
More: Z.ai, Z.ai on Hugging Face, Tech in Asia, and Z.ai on GitHub
| Maya Perez / WebProNews: |
Bandcamp bans music and audio that is “generated wholly or in substantial part by AI”, hoping to build trust with fans that the music they find was human-made — Bandcamp has banned music substantially generated by AI to uphold human artistry and authenticity, amid rising concerns over AI flooding platforms like Spotify.
More: Bandcamp Updates, Consequence, Stereogum, BrooklynVegan, and PC Gamer
X: @danielraffel and @future_of_music
Bluesky: @ripridermusic, @nowplaying.cool, @mwl.io, @negativeagent, @davidgerard.co.uk, @lesterlee, @colinhemphill.com, @2mello.net, @lauramarie, @logicalnuisance, @rrrrroseazerty …, @mmmmmmuhh, and @bandcamp.com
Forums: Hacker News, r/BandCamp, and r/TIdaL
| Reuters: |
Sources: Chinese officials told customs agents that Nvidia H200 chips are barred from China and instructed local tech companies not to buy them unless necessary — Chinese customs authorities told customs agents this week that Nvidia's (NVDA.O) H200 artificial intelligence chips are not permitted … | Bloomberg: |
More: Modern Diplomacy, Reuters, Fox Business, DigiTimes, Outlook India, Agence France-Presse, Wall Street Journal, The Register, DatacenterDynamics, South China Morning Post, and WebProNews
X: @ohlennart, @eastland_maggie, @kakashiii111, @ohlennart, @samsolid57, @chorzempamartin, and @dnystedt. Bluesky: @awpiitr. Forums: r/politics
| Bloomberg: |
The US Senate passes the Defiance Act that would allow victims to sue over nonconsensual, sexually explicit AI-generated images, amid furor over Grok images — The US Senate unanimously passed legislation Tuesday that would allow victims to sue over nonconsensual, sexually explicit AI-generated images …
More: The Atlantic, Engadget, The Verge, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin …, Tech Times, The 19th, CBS News, Global News, Fast Company, and The Economic Times
Bluesky: @themilfmag.net and @themilfmag.net
Forums: r/goodnews and Slashdot
| Financial Times: |
How smuggled Starlink receivers and customized software let some Iranians evade a near-total internet blackout as the regime brutally cracked down on protesters — Tehran went from ‘halal internet’ to near-total blackout but activists have smuggled in Starlink devices to get information out
More: Ars Technica and The Guardian
| Loni Prinsloo / Bloomberg: |
Holistic Resilience, a US group that helps Iranians secure internet access, says SpaceX has waived Starlink subscription fees amid a days-long internet blackout — Elon Musk's SpaceX is now offering free Starlink satellite service in Iran amid deadly protests and a days-long internet blackout.
More: Financial Times, Forbes, CBS News, Wall Street Journal, Crikey, CNN, Newser, Washington Examiner, New York Times, PCMag, ZeroHedge News, Telecompaper, Benzinga, Vox, and Clayton Cramer
X: @zachweinberg. Forums: r/crime, r/circled, r/SpaceXLounge, r/Starlink, r/neoliberal, r/PERSIAN, r/thedavidpakmanshow, r/YAPms, and Slashdot
| Ben Fritz / Wall Street Journal: |
Matthew McConaughey secured eight trademarks of himself from the USPTO in the past several months to protect his likeness and voice from unauthorized AI use — Actor plans to use trademarks of himself saying ‘Alright, alright, alright’ and staring at a camera to combat AI fakes in court| Hayden Field / The Verge: |
Anthropic shakes up its C-suite: CPO Mike Krieger will become the co-lead of its Labs incubator, and head of product Ami Vora will take over Krieger's duties — Chief product officer Mike Krieger will change roles and join the “Labs” team. … Mike Krieger, the Instagram co-founder …
More: The Register, The Information, and Anthropic
X: @anthropicai, @omarshaikdev, @yenkel, @mikeyk, and @shensi_. LinkedIn: Hayden Field. Forums: r/ClaudeAI
| Pew Research Center: |
Survey: 41% of US teens aged 13 to 17 support a ban on middle and high school students from using phones in class while 51% oppose it; 73% oppose a full-day ban — Schools nationwide are cracking down on students' cellphone use. At the same time, support for cellphone bans is rising among U.S. adults.| The Information: |
A source details how Apple's Gemini deal works: new Siri features will launch in spring and at WWDC, Apple can finetune Gemini, no Google branding, and more — In another AI win for Google lately, Apple announced on Monday that it will use Google's Gemini models to power … | Nikkei Asia: |
Sources: Apple and Qualcomm are scrambling to secure glass cloth fiber, used in chip substrates and PCBs, as the AI boom boosts demand for the component — TAIPEI/TOKYO — It looks something like heavy-duty plastic wrap and is buried so deep in the guts of an iPhone that most users don't even know it exists.| Google Research: |
Google announces MedGemma 1.5 with improved medical imaging support, and MedASR for medical dictation, both available on Hugging Face and Vertex AI — Daniel Golden, Engineering Manager, and Fereshteh Mahvar, Software Engineer, Google Research — We are updating our open MedGemma model with improved medical imaging support.| Jonathan Greig / The Record: |
The US urged UN members to take a tougher stance against North Korea IT worker scams and crypto thefts; an October 2025 report said 40+ countries were affected — The U.S. on Monday urged United Nation member states to take a tougher stance against North Korean efforts to skirt sanctions through …
More: UN Web TV and KCNA Watch
| John Sakellariadis / Politico: |
President Trump renominates Sean Plankey to be the next director of CISA, which has been running without a full-time chief since Trump's return to office — Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) scotched Plankey's confirmation in 2025, reportedly due to a Coast Guard ship-building contract.| Dan Goodin / Ars Technica: |
A look at Confer, an open-source AI assistant project from Signal creator Moxie Marlinspike that is designed to provide end-to-end encryption for AI chats — Moxie Marlinspike—the pseudonym of an engineer who set a new standard for private messaging with the creation of the Signal Messenger …
More: Gizmodo. X: @jasoncrawford, @moxie, @sandeepssrin, and @moxie. Bluesky: @smcgrath.phd
Mastodon: @tommorris@mastodon.social, @dangoodin@infosec.exchange, @tomgag@infosec.exchange, and @mattburgess@infosec.exchange
Forums: Hacker News, r/signal, r/privacy, r/technology, Lobsters, Slashdot, and Ars OpenForum
| Katie Drummond / Wired: |
Q&A with Reid Hoffman on wanting Silicon Valley to speak out against the Trump administration, AI regulation, the role of AI in art and creativity, and more — The LinkedIn cofounder and frequent Trump target has a simple message for his peers: “Just speak up about the things that you think are true.”
Forums: r/politics and r/siliconvalley
| BBC: |
The UK government drops plans for mandatory digital IDs to work in the country, marking a reversal from when the UK first announced the policy in September 2025 — The government has dropped plans requiring workers to sign up to its digital ID scheme in order to prove their right to work in the UK.| Josh Noble / Financial Times: |
An interview with IMG President Adam Kelly on streaming platforms' increasing share of sports media rights, live sports as an antidote to AI content, and more — As Netflix and Apple expand their sports ambitions, the head of IMG says media rights are entering a new phase driven by scarcity, retention and measurable returns| SemiAnalysis: |
Highlights from IEDM 2025: 3D NAND is suddenly relevant again, interconnect metals beyond copper are emerging, 2D materials that could replace silicon, and more — IEDM 2025 Round-Up — It's an odd time in the chipmaking industry. On one hand, we are ramping into the biggest supercycle ever seen.| Jiyoung Sohn / Wall Street Journal: |
In South Korea's competition to develop an indigenous AI model, three of the five finalists used foreign open-source code, which they argue is practical — Korea's efforts show how hard it is to develop homegrown AI models and break a reliance on U.S. or Chinese tech giants| The Economic Times: |
India lacks specific policies or zoning regulations for overseeing quick commerce dark stores, which are projected to hit 5,000 to 5,500 by FY2026 end, per HSBC — The army of on-the-clock delivery boys, imperilling themselves and pedestrians, has become a familiar sight across urban India.| Ryan Lawler / Axios: |
WithCoverage, which replaces traditional insurance brokers with its AI-based flat-fee risk management model, raised a $42M Series B led by Sequoia and Khosla — WithCoverage, which replaces traditional insurance brokers with a flat-fee risk management model, raised $42 million in Series B funding … | New York Times: |
An inside look at a Myanmar online scam center that opened in 2024 with 3,500 workers from ~30 countries and closed in November 2025 after rebels captured it — Times journalists got a rare look inside one of the compounds where the online fraud industry makes its billions.
More: 9News and San Diego Union-Tribune
| Bloomberg: |
Saudi Arabia's PIF transfers ~$12B worth of gaming company shares, including Nintendo, to Savvy Games; PIF transferred 11M Take-Two shares in December 2025 — Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund is transferring roughly $12 billion worth of gaming company shares, including firms … Sponsor Posts
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