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January 22, 2026, 7:45 PM
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WeSmirchTop News
| New York Times: |
TikTok says ByteDance sold a majority stake in the app's US operations to a group of non-Chinese investors, including Oracle, MGX, and Silver Lake — TikTok said on Thursday that its Chinese owner, ByteDance, had sold a majority stake in the app's U.S. operations to a group of non-Chinese investors …
More: CNN, NBC News, TechCrunch, Slate, Business Insider, Axios, Semafor, TikTok, Politico, Newsmax, LEX 18 News, Investing.com, Sherwood News, Fox Business, iPhone in Canada, Crypto Briefing, Benzinga, and Anadolu Ajansı …
X: @adamconner, @sarafischer, @dylanbyers, and @adamconner
| Kif Leswing / CNBC: |
Intel reports Q4 revenue down 4% YoY to $13.7B, vs. $13.4B est., Data Center and AI revenue up 9% to $4.7B, Q1 guidance below est.; INTC drops 12%+ after hours — Intel reported fourth-quarter earnings Thursday that beat Wall Street expectations but offered soft guidance for the current quarter.
More: Intel, SiliconANGLE, Thurrott, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Verge, GamesBeat, Shacknews, WebProNews, FX Empire, Wall Street Journal, and Intel
X: @firstadopter, @thetranscript_, @thetranscript_, @theaustinlyons, @thetranscript_, @theaustinlyons, @danobtech, @intelnews, @zerohedge, @intelnews, @benbajarin, @deitaone, @zerohedge, @benbajarin, @benbajarin, @intelnews, @kristinaparts, @mweinbach, @firstadopter, @kristinaparts, @kristinaparts, @economyapp, @thetranscript_, and @schwabnetwork
Forums: r/hardware and r/intelstock
| Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: |
Sources: Apple expanded the job of hardware chief John Ternus to manage design teams at the end of 2025, solidifying his status as a leading CEO candidate — Apple Inc. has expanded the job of hardware chief John Ternus to include design work, solidifying his status as a leading contender …
More: Gizmodo, Macworld, 9to5Mac, Yahoo Finance, AppleInsider, MacRumors, The Verge, Daring Fireball, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, WebProNews, Hindustan Times, Stocktwits, iPhone in Canada, iClarified, and Cult of Mac
Forums: r/apple and MacRumors Forums
| Wall Street Journal: |
Capital One agrees to acquire Brex, which specializes in tech to administer corporate credit cards, expenses, and rewards, for $5.15B in cash and stock — Deal would give credit-card issuer access to technology used by thousands of companies for corporate credit cards
More: The Information, Reuters, PitchBook, TechCrunch, CoinDesk, American Banker, Axios, Washington …, Benzinga, Forbes, Fast Company, San Francisco Business Times, BoardingArea, Dow Jones Newswires, CNBC, Bloomberg, and Brex
X: @eglyman, @lulumeservey, @ericnewcomer, @hadickm, @ericnewcomer, @austin_rief, @jbahrdestefano, @brexhq, @victoralazarte, @darian314, and @jessetinsley
LinkedIn: JC Bahr-de Stefano, Sumit Mallick, Damien Weiss, and Heather Dunn
| Lora Kolodny / CNBC: |
Waymo launches its robotaxi service in Miami, its sixth market, initially covering a 60-square-mile area, and partners with Moove for fleet management — Alphabet's Waymo said Thursday that its robotaxi service is now open to paying riders in Miami, kicking off a 2026 market expansion.
More: Waymo, Axios, The Verge, WebProNews, TechCrunch, CleanTechnica, Mashable, Refresh Miami, VINnews, PCMag, Electrek, EV, Bloomberg, New York Post, Traffic Technology Today, Business Insider, and Engadget
X: @binarybits and @waymo
Forums: r/waymo, r/SelfDrivingCars, r/Miami, and Slashdot
| The Information: |
A look at Craig Federighi's approach to AI at Apple; sources say he led a push to use other companies' models to help launch a revamped Siri later in 2026 — Last fall, Apple's software chief, Craig Federighi, delivered a warm message to a meeting of the company's combined software and AI groups.
More: Daring Fireball, AppleInsider, MacRumors, Computerworld, 9to5Mac, and iPhone in Canada
X: @signulll, @parkerortolani, @waynema, @vadimyuryev, @aatilley, and @luftkopptim. Forums: MacRumors Forums
| Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer: |
The curl project plans to end its HackerOne bug bounty program at the end of January, citing a surge in low-quality AI-generated vulnerability reports — The developer of the popular curl command-line utility and library announced that the project will end its HackerOne security bug bounty program …
More: Ars Technica, The New Stack, The Register, and ITPro
Mastodon: @bagder@mastodon.social and @Viss@mastodon.social
Forums: Hacker News and r/opensource
| Aisha Malik / TechCrunch: |
Google rolls out Personal Intelligence in AI Mode, an opt-in feature that uses Gmail and Photos data for more tailored responses, for US AI Pro and Ultra users — AI Mode, Google's conversational Search feature for complex questions, is getting more personalized.
More: The Keyword, SiliconANGLE, The Verge, Android Police, B&T, WebProNews, GSMArena.com, Digital Trends, Android Headlines, Android Central, Neowin, Associated Press, Engadget, Search Engine Land, Ars Technica, BGR, TestingCatalog, Droid Life, Search Engine Journal, 9to5Google, Thurrott, Mashable, WinBuzzer, and Mercury News
| Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch: |
Elon Musk says Tesla launched robotaxi rides in Austin with no human safety driver; Tesla's AI lead says Tesla is “starting with a few unsupervised vehicles” — Tesla is offering passengers robotaxi rides in Austin without a human safety driver in the front seat.| Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: |
Apple accuses the European Commission of “political delay tactics”, as the EC seems to be preparing to blame Apple for the shutdown of the Setapp app store — Apple Inc. accused the European Commission of using “political delay tactics” to postpone new app policies as a pretense to investigate and fine the iPhone maker.| Greg Bensinger / Reuters: |
Sources: Amazon is planning a second round of job cuts next week as part of its goal of trimming 30,000 corporate workers, after cutting 14,000 jobs in October — Amazon (AMZN.O) is planning a second round of job cuts next week as part of its broader goal of trimming some 30,000 corporate workers …
More: GeekWire, Bloomberg Law, Reuters, The Straits Times, and Digit
| New York Times: |
NYT and CCDH analysis: Grok created and shared 1.8M+ sexualized images of women between December 31 and January 8, after Elon Musk promoted the feature on X — Over nine days, Elon Musk's Grok chatbot generated and posted 4.4 million images, of which at least 41 percent were sexualized images of women.
More: Center for Countering …, The Guardian, Decrypt, Axios, Ars Technica, Roll Call, WebProNews, The Jakarta Post, The 19th, The Economic Times, Newser, Mashable, The Independent, and Engadget
Bluesky: @parismarx.com, @dael, @reedfrich, @mims, @rmac, @zoecrowther, @mattburgess1, @adrianweckler, @counterhate.com, and @counterhate.com. Forums: r/EnoughMuskSpam
| Laura Mandaro / The Information: |
Yelp acquires Hatch, which charges a monthly fee for AI-powered agents that can respond to customer inquiries and make appointments, for $300M — Recommendation app Yelp on Wednesday said it agreed to acquire AI agent startup Hatch for $300 million, or roughly 12 times the startup's annual recurring revenue.
More: Business Wire, San Francisco Business Times, SiliconANGLE, Pulse 2.0, MediaPost, Skift, and PYMNTS.com
LinkedIn: Madeline Evans, Colby Morgan, and Amber Albrecht
| On Substack: |
Substack launches its Substack TV app for Apple TV and Google TV in beta for free and paid subscribers, with access matched to their current subscription levels — Today we're launching the Substack TV app for Apple TV and Google TV. Substack is the home for the best longform …
More: The Verge, 9to5Mac, Engadget, WebProNews, The Wrap, TheDesk.net, TechCrunch, The Ankler., Deadline, PCWorld, Cord Cutters News, and Pocket-lint
| New York Times: |
Inside the turmoil at Thinking Machines; sources say Meta discussed buying TML, and CTO Barret Zoph had been in talks since October 2025 about an OpenAI return — Defections, secret conversations, deal talks that fizzled and a battle for control: The turmoil at Thinking Machines Lab … | The Verge: |
Epic v. Google: Epic and Google have a secret deal involving Unreal Engine, Fortnite, and Android, with Epic spending $800M over six years on Google services — “Sorry, I'm blowing this confidentiality.” … In a hearing in San Francisco today, the court revealed that Epic and Google … | Mia Sato / The Verge: |
Cate Blanchett, Cyndi Lauper, and 800+ creatives launch “Stealing Isn't Innovation” to protest unauthorized AI training, backed by RIAA, SAG-AFTRA, and others — Cate Blanchett, Cyndi Lauper, George Saunders, and other creatives say that AI companies are … | Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch: |
Google launches free SAT practice exams in the Gemini app, providing students with performance analysis and detailed explanations for incorrect answers — Prepping for the SAT is nobody's idea of fun, but Google aims to make it less stressful with AI. The company announced that it's …
More: Ars Technica, Times of India, WebProNews, The Keyword, Forbes, Moneycontrol, Livemint, Business Insider, The Princeton Review, India Today, Android Police, ZDNET, The Hans India, CNBC-TV18, Digital Trends, PCMag, Hindustan Times, and Digit
X: @samwyri, @theankurtyagi, @googleforedu, @hippymomphd, @jeffdean, @kreatelymedia, @tomtugendhat, @himanshustwts, @jason, @google, @dvasishtha, @mehulmpt, @fangyi11101, @zeroxjackson, @joshwoodward, @hiteshdotcom, @kimmonismus, @swyx, @googleforedu, @dcinvestor, @sundarpichai, @deryatr_, @ajitpai, @boringbiz_, @neerajkh_, @mathemagic1an, @autismcapital, and @andymasley
LinkedIn: Ray Frederick Djajadinata and Dr. Nabil Hadj-Ahmed
| Bloomberg: |
Analysis: the top US tech companies spent $109M on DC lobbying in 2025, topping $100M for the first time; Meta spent $26.29M, Amazon $17.78M, and Google $13.1M — Silicon Valley has learned how to succeed in Donald Trump's Washington: Spend record amounts. Visit the White House.| Caiwei Chen / MIT Technology Review: |
Q&A with Yann LeCun on his new Paris-based startup Advanced Machine Intelligence, leaving Meta, real-world applications for world models, robotics, and more — Yann LeCun is a Turing Award recipient and a top AI researcher, but he has long been a contrarian figure in the tech world.| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Spotify expands its AI-powered Prompted Playlists beta to Premium subscribers in the US and Canada, following initial testing in New Zealand — Spotify is rolling out Prompted Playlists, a new AI playlist creation tool, to Premium subscribers in the U.S. and Canada.
More: CNET, Engadget, ZDNET, Android Central, PCMag, iPhone in Canada, How-To Geek, WebProNews, Digital Trends, Hypebot, MakeUseOf, Android Authority, Reuters, Mashable, XDA Developers, 9to5Mac, Pocket-lint, The AI Economy, Thurrott, and CNBC. X: @spotifynews
| Dina Bass / Bloomberg: |
LiveKit, which offers tools for building voice, video, and physical AI models, including for ChatGPT's voice mode, raised a $100M Series C at a $1B valuation — Funding round led by Index Ventures values company at $1 billion — LiveKit, a startup that provides software underpinning voice …
More: LiveKit Blog, TechCrunch, FinSMEs, Salesforce Ventures, and SiliconANGLE
| Bloomberg: |
Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch calls claims that Chinese AI startups lag behind the US a “fairy tale”, and China's open-source tech is “probably stressing” US CEOs — Claims that Chinese technology for artificial intelligence lags the US are a “fairy tale,” Arthur Mensch …
More: Tom's Hardware, Le Monde, and The Economic Times
| Chris Metinko / Axios: |
Railway, a cloud platform for software deployment, raised a $100M Series B led by TQ Ventures, bringing its total funding to $130M+, says it has ARR of $10M+ — Railway, a cloud platform for software deployment, raised a $100 million Series B led by TQ Ventures, founder and CEO Jake Cooper tells Axios Pro.
More: Railway Blog, WebProNews, Crypto Briefing, and FinSMEs
| Will Knight / Wired: |
Source: Google DeepMind signs a licensing deal with Hume AI, which builds emotionally intelligent voice interfaces, to hire CEO Alan Cowen and ~7 top engineers — Hume AI's CEO, Alan Cowen, will join Google DeepMind along with several top engineers as part of a major licensing deal.| Business Insider: |
The US BOP releases Caroline Ellison, the former FTX executive and ex-girlfriend of Sam Bankman-Fried, after about 14 months; she had a two-year sentence — - Caroline Ellison, the exec involved in the FTX scandal, has been released from federal custody. — The former Alameda Research CEO …
More: Gizmodo, The Information, and BeInCrypto
| Aisha Malik / TechCrunch: |
Snap updates its Family Center tool to let parents view daily screen time averages and a breakdown of time spent by specific app segment like Snap Map — Two days after settling a lawsuit accusing Snapchat of causing social media addiction and mental health issues, Snap announced that it's introducing new parental controls.
More: Snap Newsroom, The Hill, Moneycontrol, Mashable, iPhone in Canada, Social Media Today, SheKnows, and Fortune India
| Jeff John Roberts / Fortune: |
Binance files for a European MiCA license in Greece, where it has also set up a holding company — Binance, the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, has formally applied for a pan-European license known as MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) that digital asset firms operating in the continent must obtain before July 1.| Agnee Ghosh / Bloomberg: |
Inferact, founded by the creators of vLLM to create a commercial AI product for cross-hardware efficiency, raised a $150M seed led by a16z at an $800M valuation — Inferact, an AI startup formed by the creators of open-source software vLLM, has raised $150 million in a seed funding round that values the company at $800 million.| Core Memory: |
Q&A with recently departed OpenAI VP of Research Jerry Tworek, who claims OpenAI's shift toward more cautious ways made high-risk, pioneering work harder — Are all the AI superpowers playing it too safe? — ∙ Paid — On January 5th, famed AI researcher Jerry Tworek stunned world+dog …
More: The Decoder. X: @kyliebytes, @ashleevance, @kyliebytes, @apples_jimmy, @daniel_mac8, @millionint, @ddeming_, and @kyliebytes. LinkedIn: Ashlee Vance
Bluesky: @carnage4life and @kylierobison.com
Sponsor Posts
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