Techmeme
January 21, 2026, 9:25 PM

Top News

The Information:
Sources: Apple is developing an AirTag-sized AI wearable pin with cameras, a speaker, microphones, and wireless charging that could be released as early as 2027  —  Apple is developing an AI-powered wearable pin the size of an AirTag that is equipped with multiple cameras, a speaker …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple plans to revamp Siri this fall in iOS 27 and macOS 27 by turning it into the company's first AI chatbot, replacing the current Siri interface  —  Apple Inc. plans to revamp Siri later this year by turning the digital assistant into the company's first artificial intelligence chatbot …
Beatrice Nolan / Fortune:
Anthropic overhauls Claude's “constitution” to enable the AI model to generalize and apply broad principles rather than mechanically follow specific rules  —  Anthropic is overhauling a foundational document that shapes how its popular Claude AI model behaves.
Benoit Berthelot / Bloomberg:
Ubisoft cancels six games and delays others amid a restructuring into five genre-specific “creative houses”; it expects net bookings of ~€1.5B for FY 2025-2026  —  Ubisoft Entertainment SA is canceling game projects, shutting down studios and cutting its guidance …
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Blue Origin unveils TeraWave, a satellite communications network for enterprise, data center, and government customers, and plans to begin deployment in Q4 2027  —  Jeff Bezos' space venture Blue Origin announced Wednesday it plans to deploy 5,408 satellites in space for a communications network that will take on SpaceX and Amazon.
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan publishes his annual letter, saying YouTube aims to reduce “AI slop” and has strengthened parental controls, and teases Shorts updates  —  The executive published his annual letter to the YouTube community Wednesday, outlining his priorities for the video platform.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Ernesto Van der Sar / TorrentFreak:
Unsealed docs: Spotify and labels sued Anna's Archive over plans to release scraped Spotify data; a US court grants a temporary order taking down some domains  —  Spotify and several major record labels, including UMG, Sony, and Warner, have taken legal action against the unknown operators of Anna's Archive.
Daniel Kuhn / The Block:
Neynar, a startup focused on decentralized social media infrastructure, is acquiring Ethereum-based social media project Farcaster from R&D firm Merkle  —  - Decentralized social media infrastructure firm Neynar is acquiring Farcaster, the Ethereum-based protocol that was last valued at $1 billion.
Mickey Djuric / Politico:
A Canadian federal court overturned a 2024 order that would have shuttered TikTok Canada's business operations over national security concerns  —  “We welcome the decision to set aside the order to shut down TikTok Canada, and look forward to working with the Minister towards a resolution that's …
Business Insider:
Layoffs hit Vimeo for the second time since September 2025, when it laid off 10% of its workforce; Bending Spoons acquired Vimeo for around $1.38B in November  —  - Vimeo is laying off staffers globally in a new round of cuts.  — The job cuts arrived a few months after tech holding company Bending Spoons bought Vimeo.
Myles Miller / Bloomberg:
Marketing tech startup Applecart raised $100M in a minority funding round led by Blackstone's growth equity business, a source says at a ~$700M valuation  —  Applecart, a marketing technology startup, raised $100 million in a minority funding round led by Blackstone Inc.'s growth equity business.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
X unveils Bluesky-like “Starterpacks” to help users find accounts that match their interests, curated by X and rolling out in the coming weeks  —  Bluesky's “Starter Packs,” the curated lists of suggested users to follow, have proven a popular way to help people connect with others …
Bloomberg:
Sources: AI chip startup SambaNova is seeking to raise $300M to $500M after talks to sell the company to Intel for about $1.6B, including debt, stalled  —  Artificial intelligence startup SambaNova Systems Inc. is considering raising up to $500 million after talks to sell to Intel Corp. stalled …
Kate Rooney / CNBC:
OpenEvidence, which is building “ChatGPT for doctors”, raised $250M led by Thrive and DST at a $12B valuation, up from $6B in October and $1B in February 2025  —  A startup widely known as “ChatGPT for doctors” raised a new funding round that values the company at $12 billion.
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Adobe updates Acrobat to add new AI features, including presentation generation, file editing, and creating podcast summaries from docs stored in Adobe Spaces  —  Adobe has been aggressively adding AI features to all its products in the last few years.  The company is now adding more AI tools to Acrobat …
The Information:
Sources: OpenAI has begun offering its chatbot ads to dozens of advertisers, initially charging based on ad view, not ad click, asking for <$1M in commitments  —  OpenAI has started offering its new chatbot ads to dozens of advertisers, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
ElevenLabs launches an album of original tracks made by artists like Liza Minnelli and Art Garfunkel in “collaboration” with its Eleven Music AI model  —  Several well-known music artists have turned to ElevenLabs' AI as a virtual muse — and record producer.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Meta plans to expand ads on Threads to all users globally starting next week; Threads began testing ads in the US and Japan a year ago  —  Meta on Wednesday announced it's expanding ads on Threads to all users globally.  The expansion, which starts next week, will be gradual …
Chris Welch / Bloomberg:
Sony launches the $230 LinkBuds Clip, open-style earbuds that sit outside the ear canal, with IPX4 water resistance and a 9-hour battery life, available now  —  Sony Group Corp. introduced its latest pair of consumer earbuds, with a clip-on design that resembles recent efforts from Bose Corp. …
Mauro Orru / Wall Street Journal:
Jensen Huang says that AI is already bringing economic benefits and needs more investment, and “the AI bubble comes about because the investments are large”  —  Jensen Huang called for higher investments to further spread the technology across developed and emerging economies

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.

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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:25 PM ET, January 21, 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.

More News

Earlier Picks

Financial Times:
Simon P. Couch: