Techmeme
January 27, 2026, 1:55 PM

Top News

Kimi:
Bloomberg:
Chinese startup Moonshot releases Kimi K2.5, saying the model can process text, images, and videos simultaneously and beats its open-source peers in some tests  —  Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.-backed Moonshot AI released an upgrade of its flagship model, heating up a domestic arms race ahead …
Washington Post:
US court filings detail Anthropic's Project Panama, an effort to “destructively scan” up to 2M books with a hydraulic “cutting machine” led by an ex-Google exec  —  In early 2024, executives at artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic ramped up an ambitious project they sought to keep quiet.
New York Times:
Internal Slack message: Sam Altman tells OpenAI staff that “What's happening with ICE is going too far” and he hopes President Trump “will rise to this moment”  —  Business leaders continue to feel pressure to speak out about the immigration crackdown and the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens.
Julie Bort / TechCrunch:
M.G. Siegler / Spyglass:
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Amazon plans to close all 57 Fresh and 15 Go locations in the US, as it pivots its physical retail strategy to focus exclusively on Whole Foods  —  Amazon's homegrown grocery stores are getting shelved.  —  The company said Tuesday morning that it's closing all of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh locations …
Henry Chandonnet / Business Insider:
Clawdbot creator Peter Steinberger says he is changing the name of the viral AI agent to Moltbot after he “was forced to rename the account by Anthropic”  —  - Clawdbot, the viral AI agent that's leading techies to buy up Mac Minis, is now named Moltbot.
Robert Hart / The Verge:
Google adds Gemini 3 to AI Overviews as the default model globally and now lets users ask follow-up questions “seamlessly” via AI Mode  —  Gemini 3 is coming to AI Overviews and you can ask follow-ups for a ‘seamless Search experience.’  —  Google is making Search less about links and more about AI.
Tyler Katzenberger / Politico:
California Governor Gavin Newsom says he will launch a review into whether TikTok is violating state laws by censoring content critical of President Trump  —  In a separate X post Monday, the governor's press account said Newsom was launching the review after his office “received reports …
Bobby Allyn / NPR:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google expands Android's anti-theft suite, including a dedicated toggle for its Failed Authentication Lock feature on devices running Android 16 or later  —  Google on Tuesday announced an expanded set of Android theft protection features, designed to make its mobile devices less of a target for criminals.
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google expands its AI Plus subscription to 35 new countries and territories, including the US at $7.99/month, with “enhanced access” to Gemini 3 Pro and more  —  After introducing the plan internationally in September, Google is bringing its AI Plus subscription to 35 new countries, including the US.
Pascale Davies / Euronews:
France plans to replace Microsoft Teams and Zoom with French-made and Outscale-hosted Visio by 2027, as part of a push to drop US software vendors in government  —  France announced that it will roll out the Visio platform across all government departments by 2027.
Samantha Cole / 404 Media:
Pornhub parent Aylo says it will restrict UK users from February 2, after six months of complying with the UK's OSA; users who verified their ages can login  —  Starting February 2, many people connecting from the UK will not be able to access the porn site and many others.
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Meta says it will test new paid subscriptions that give people access to exclusive features on its apps and plans to scale Manus as part of those offerings  —  Meta plans to test new subscriptions that give people access to exclusive features on it apps, the company told TechCrunch on Monday.
Katarina Hoije / Bloomberg:
Khaby Lame, the world's biggest TikToker, partners with Nasdaq-listed Rich Sparkle in a $975M, 36-month deal to monetize his fan base, including an AI version  —  Khaby Lame, the world's biggest TikToker, partnered with Rich Sparkle Holdings Ltd. to transform his 360 million social-media followers into a commercial venture.

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:
Dear future presenter: A letter from 20 years of Zoho Show  —  Dear future presenter,There is a good chance you are reading this with a deadline approaching.Maybe you are preparing for a pitch, refining a quarterly review …
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

Big Technology Podcast:
The Fable Ban's Unintended Consequences + AI's New Economics — With Aaron Levie
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.
Acquired:
The Walt Disney Company
Learn the playbooks that built the world's greatest companies - and how you can apply them as a founder, operator, or investor.
Subscribe to Acquired.
Lenny's Podcast:
Building the most AI-pilled engineering team in the world | Fiona Fung (Manager of the Claude Code and Cowork Teams)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Mutiny's Jaleh Rezaei: Walking Away From Millions In Software To Grow Even Faster With Sales AI
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Hard Fork:
'Hard Fork' Live, Part 3: Differing Visions of an A.I. Future
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
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 1:55 PM ET, January 27, 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

Cecilia Kang / New York Times:
Laya Neelakandan / CNBC:
Chris Welch / Bloomberg:

Earlier Picks

Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Katie Tarasov / CNBC:
Wired:
Samuel Stolton / Bloomberg:
Reuters:
Geoffrey A. Fowler / Washington Post: