Techmeme
January 28, 2026, 2:10 PM

Top News

Beth Galetti / About Amazon:
Amazon plans to cut ~16,000 roles across the company as part of an ongoing effort to reduce organizational layers and bureaucracy, after cuts in October 2025  —  I want to let you know that we're making additional organizational changes across Amazon that will impact some of our teammates.
Business Insider:
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Roundtable:
Following UK CMA's proposals, Google says it is exploring controls to let websites opt out of AI Overviews and AI Mode  —  Google just announced it is looking into ways to allow websites to specifically opt out of Google using its content in the Search generative AI features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode.
Robert Booth / The Guardian:
The UK CMA proposes measures to let publishers opt out of content scraping for Google's AI Overviews and AI training without losing visibility in search results  —  News organisations hope proposals will increase leverage to get paid if content is used in AI summaries
Kyle Kucharski / ZDNET:
Google updates Gemini in Chrome with a new side panel, an auto browse feature that can navigate pages and take actions for AI Pro and AI Ultra users, and more  —  ZDNET's key takeaways  — Google Chrome is being upgraded with Gemini 3 and a revamped sidepanel UX.
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
A Google bug report apparently leaks the planned Android desktop interface, showing a taller status bar, a new mouse cursor, Chrome extensions, and more  —  A Google bug report on the Chromium Issue Tracker today has inadvertently leaked the Android desktop interface for the first time.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Memo: Tim Cook told Apple staff that he is “heartbroken by the events in Minneapolis”, calls for a “deescalation”, and says he discussed it with President Trump  —  Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook became the latest executive to weigh in on the killing …
Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:
ASML reports Q4 net sales of €9.7B, vs. €9.6B est., and €2.84B net profit, vs. €3.01B est., and says it expects China to account for 20% of its total 2026 sales  —  ASML reported on Wednesday orders that smashed past expectations while 2026 sales guidance was also ahead …
Sarah Jacob / Bloomberg:
Natalie Lung / Bloomberg:
Toronto-based self-driving truck startup Waabi raised a $750M Series C led by Khosla and G2 and partners with Uber, which can invest $250M based on performance  —  Waabi Innovation Inc., a Canadian startup that develops self-driving technology for trucks, has secured $1 billion in funding …
Marie Woolf / Globe and Mail:
Canada says it is talking to Meta to restore news to Facebook and Instagram as the Online News Act is put on the table as part of trade negotiations with the US  —  Save for later  —  Log in or create a free account to listen to this article.  —  Government officials are in talks …
Financial Times:
Sources: Elon Musk proposes timing SpaceX's IPO with a rare planetary alignment and his June birthday; SpaceX seeks to raise up to $50B at a ~$1.5T valuation  —  Celestial calendar meets high finance, as billionaire's personal impulses shape plans to raise $50bn in record listing
Reuters:
Sources: China approved its first batch of Nvidia H200 imports, covering 400K+ chips for ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent, during Jensen Huang's visit to China  —  China has given the green light to three of its largest tech companies to buy Nvidia's (NVDA.O) H200 artificial intelligence chips …
Carl Zimmer / New York Times:
Google DeepMind researchers unveil AlphaGenome, an AI model trained on molecular data to predict 11 different genomic processes, such as gene splicing  —  AlphaGenome is a leap forward in the ability to study the human blueprint.  But the fine workings of our DNA are still largely a mystery.
Mia Sato / The Verge:
ADL study of Grok, ChatGPT, Llama, Claude, Gemini, and DeepSeek: Grok performed worst at identifying and countering antisemitic content, while Claude was best  —  In a study, the Anti-Defamation League fed Grok, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, DeepSeek, and Llama antisemitic, anti-Zionist …
Abhijeet Mishra / SamMobile:
Samsung says it will introduce a display feature for the Galaxy S26 series that improves “privacy at a pixel level” to protect users from “shoulder surfing”  —  Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy S26 series will introduce a new display feature designed to improve privacy when using your phone in public.
Jack Ryan / Bloomberg:
Paolo Ardoino says Tether now holds ~140 tons of gold, worth ~$23B, has been buying one to two tons per week, and plans to keep doing so for the next few months  —  There are roughly 370,000 nuclear bunkers in Switzerland, a legacy of the Cold War that are now rarely used.  One of them, though, is a hive of activity.
Tyler Kingkade / NBC News:
Some US college students say they are using AI “humanizer” tools to alter text to avoid cheating accusations; AI detection tools now aim to catch “humanizers”  —  Students are taking new measures, such as dumbing down their work, spying on themselves and using AI …
Casey Newton / Platformer:
A critique of a large UK social media study that suggested measures like social media bans are unlikely to have an effect on teens' long term mental health  —  The “moral panic” framing misses how platforms actually harm kids.  PLUS: Newsom investigates TikTok over Trump, and the Clawdbot frenzy
Kate Clark / Wall Street Journal:
A look at “neolabs” such as Safe Superintelligence and Humans&, which give priority to long-term AI R&D over immediate profits; dozens have become unicorns  —  Flapping Airplanes is one of a wave of new startup research labs drawing intense interest from investors, the latest chapter in the AI race
Bluesky: @edzitron.com
Kate Clark / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: SoftBank is in talks to invest up to $30B more in OpenAI; SoftBank is already one of its largest shareholders after investing $22.5B in December 2025  —  The Japanese conglomerate is exploring further investment as part of the startup's efforts to raise up to $100 billion

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Earlier Picks

New York Times:
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