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January 29, 2026, 9:50 PM
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Reuters:
Source: SpaceX and xAI are in talks to merge ahead of a planned IPO this year; under the proposed deal, shares of xAI would be exchanged for shares in SpaceX  —  Elon Musk's SpaceX and xAI are in discussions to merge ahead of a blockbuster public offering planned for later this year.
Bloomberg:
Sources: SpaceX is considering a potential merger with Tesla, an idea some investors are pushing, while separately exploring a tie-up between SpaceX and xAI  —  SpaceX is considering a potential merger with Tesla Inc., as well as an alternative combination with artificial intelligence firm xAI …
Financial Times:
Apple acquires Q.ai, whose tech can analyze facial expressions and could enable non-verbal discussions with AI assistants; sources: the deal values Q.ai at ~$2B  —  iPhone-maker strikes deal for secretive group that creates technology that analyses facial expressions
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Apple reports Q1 revenue up 16% YoY to $143.76B, vs. $138.48B est., net income up 16% YoY to $42.1B, and EPS of $2.84, above $2.67 est.  —  Apple reported fiscal first-quarter earnings on Thursday that surpassed expectations, with revenue soaring 16% on an annual basis.
Apple:
Apple Q1: iPhone up 23% YoY to $85.27B, vs. $78.65B est., Mac down 7% to $8.39B, iPad up 6% to $8.6B, and Wearables, Home, and Accessories down 2% to $11.49B  —  All-time records for total company revenue and EPS  —  iPhone and Services revenue reach new all-time highs
Reuters:
Apple expects Q2 revenue to grow 13% to 16% YoY, vs. 10% est.; it's currently constrained by iPhone processor supply and expects memory costs to rise after Q2
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Amazon is in talks to invest up to $50B in OpenAI, which is seeking up to $100B in new capital, a round that could value it at as much as $830B  —  CEO Andy Jassy is leading the e-commerce giant's negotiations with the startup  —  Amazon.com is in talks to invest up to $50 billion in OpenAI …
Sri Muppidi / The Information:
Sources: OpenAI is in talks to raise up to $30B from Nvidia and less than $10B from Microsoft, as part of a $100B funding round
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Google launches Project Genie, which lets users create interactive worlds using Genie 3, Nano Banana Pro, and Gemini, for Google AI Ultra subscribers in the US  —  It's what I had the most fun using Google's Project Genie for, at least right now. … This week, a new generative AI tool …
Ashley Capoot / CNBC:
OpenAI plans to retire several models from ChatGPT on February 13, including GPT‑4o, GPT‑4.1, and o4-mini, saying only 0.1% of users still choose GPT-4o  —  OpenAI announced it will retire several models from its ChatGPT chatbot next month, including its GPT‑4o model that is beloved by some users.
Sean O'Kane / TechCrunch:
Waymo says a robotaxi struck a child at 6 mph near an elementary school in Santa Monica on January 23, resulting in minor injuries; the NHTSA opens a probe  —  A Waymo robotaxi struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica on January 23, according to the company.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Sources: Microsoft is focusing on fixing the core issues of Windows 11 over the coming months after persistent bugs, ads, and bloatware eroded user trust  —  Engineers are now focusing on performance, reliability, and the overall Windows experience. … Windows is in a weird spot.
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Microsoft shares fell ~10% on Thursday following an earnings report that disappointed some investors, the stock's sharpest daily decline since March 2020  —  Microsoft shares slid about 10% on Thursday following an earnings report that disappointed some investors, prompting the stock's sharpest daily decline since March 2020.
Financial Times:
Tesla plans to scrap its premium S and X models and convert its California factory into an Optimus manufacturing hub, as Elon Musk refocuses on robotics and AI  —  Elon Musk's electric-car maker invests $2bn in the billionaire's xAI  —  Tesla plans to scrap two models and invest $2bn in Elon Musk's xAI …
Bloomberg:
Perplexity signs a deal with Microsoft; sources say the $750M, three-year commitment will let Perplexity deploy AI models through Microsoft's Foundry service  —  AI startup Perplexity signed a $750 million deal with Microsoft Corp. to use its Azure cloud service, spreading its business beyond longtime cloud partner Amazon.com Inc.
More: Reuters
Kevin McLaughlin / The Information:
OpenAI has hired 7+ employees from AI coding startup Cline, including Nik Pash, who left Cline after posting “imagine the smell” on X regarding an xAI hackathon  —  OpenAI has recently hired more than a half dozen employees from Cline, a startup that develops an open-source …
Dominic Preston / The Verge:
Nothing CEO Carl Pei says the company's flagship Phone 4 won't launch in 2026: “We're not just going to churn out a new flagship every year for the sake of it”  —  CEO Carl Pei says there's no new flaghip on the way, but teased improvements for the 4A series instead.
Connor Jones / The Register:
Security researchers warn Moltbot, previously Clawdbot, requires a specialist skillset to use safely, as data exposure risks persist even when set up correctly  —  The massively hyped agentic personal assistant has security experts wondering why anyone would install it
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Darren Aronofsky's Primordial Soup debuts its short-form Revolutionary War series, made using Google DeepMind's AI tools and human voice actors  —  Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky used AI to travel back in time 250 years ago to the American Revolution.  But he tapped real-life human actors …
Sam Reynolds / CoinDesk:
The US SEC clarifies its tokenized stock rules, saying they are subject to securities and derivatives rules and issuer approval is required for true ownership  —  The agency says issuer approval is required for true tokenized ownership, warning that many stock tokens sold to retail investors provide only indirect or synthetic exposure.
Ben Wilson / Windows Central:
Nvidia launches a native GeForce NOW app for Linux, starting with Debian-based Ubuntu, after releasing a Steam Deck app in 2025; in a hands-on, it works well  —  GeForce NOW cloud gaming expands to desktops and other Ubuntu devices, with Bazzite tested and the Steam Deck thriving.

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:50 PM ET, January 29, 2026.

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From Mediagazer

Karissa Waddick / USA Today:
After Trump said some outlets wanted the US to “lose the War”, FCC Chair Carr threatened broadcasters, saying they can lose their licenses over war coverage

Catherine Shoard / The Guardian:
Warner Bros. won a record-tying 11 awards at the 98th Oscars, followed by Netflix's six; Apple, Disney, Focus, and Neon had one each, while Paramount had none

New York Times:
Sources: Jeff Bezos said “I don't care” after being told that WaPo could lose subs due to Opinion changes; 60K+ canceled their subs in February after layoffs

More News

Conor Murray / Forbes:
Social media app UpScrolled hits #1 on Apple's US app store following allegations that TikTok suppresses anti-ICE videos; its founder says it crossed 1M users

Earlier Picks

Bloomberg:
Amazon reported hundreds of thousands of pieces of potential CSAM in AI training data to NCMEC in 2025; child safety officials say Amazon didn't give the source
New York Times:
Amazon's $35M marketing campaign for Melania is ~10x the budget for similar documentaries like CNN's RBG; some suggest Amazon is currying favor with Trump
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