Techmeme
December 17, 2024, 5:45 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
Databricks is raising $10B from a16z, Thrive, and others at a $62B valuation, among the largest VC raises in history; docs show Databricks has $2.6B in revenue  —  As CEO of Databricks, Ali Ghodsi has performed a series of ‘strategic surgeries’ to make his company one of the fastest-growing startups in Silicon Valley
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Ireland's Data Protection Commission fines Meta €251M for a Facebook security breach that affected ~29M users globally, ~3M in the EU and EEA, in September 2018  —  Meta has been fined €251 million (around $263 million) in the European Union for a Facebook security breach …
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Framework releases a $39 modular component to add two extra M.2 slots to the Laptop 16, letting users have 26TB+ of storage, and updates the Laptop 16's cooling  —  The most ambitious laptop ever made just got a long-promised modular upgrade. … At launch, you only had two options …
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
The US FTC issues long-awaited rules requiring companies to display the full price of hotels, concert tickets, and more up front, rather than hiding “junk fees”  —  The industries must display the full price of a hotel room, concert ticket or sporting event upfront to customers or face potential federal punishment.
Edith Hancock / Wall Street Journal:
The European Commission opens a formal DSA investigation into TikTok over concerns foreign actors used it to interfere in the Romanian presidential elections  —  The probe comes after judges in the country annulled the outcome of the first round of presidential elections, citing concerns of Russian interference
Financial Times:
The UK opens a consultation on AI and copyright, and aims to offer an “opt out” copyright exception, force companies to open models to scrutiny, and more  —  Consultation could see easier access to copyrighted works but require tech groups to be clearer on what they have used
Todd Spangler / Variety:
CAA partners with YouTube to help CAA clients identify and remove AI-generated content that features their likeness, with a wider rollout planned in early 2025  —  In what's being touted as the first partnership of its kind, CAA is collaborating with YouTube on a program promising to let actors …
Jody Godoy / Reuters:
Grubhub settled with the US FTC and IL AG for $25M, for allegedly adding restaurants without consent and misleading users about order fees and drivers about pay  —  Grubhub settled with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Tuesday for allegedly misleading customers …
Anna Tong / Reuters:
NYC-based AI-powered accounting startup Basis raised a $34M Series A led by Khosla Ventures, with Nat Friedman, Jeff Dean, Adam D'Angelo, and others investing  —  Artificial intelligence startup Basis has raised $34 million in a Series A funding round for its AI-powered accounting automation product, the company said on Tuesday.
New York Times:
Tech consultant Nima Momeni was convicted by a San Francisco jury in the fatal stabbing of Cash App founder Bob Lee that occurred on April 4, 2023  —  Nima Momeni, 40, was convicted by a San Francisco jury in the fatal stabbing of Bob Lee, a well-known tech executive.
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
OpenAI says it's rolling out o1 to its API for some developers, announces new versions of GPT-4o and GPT-4o mini as part of the Realtime API, and more  —  OpenAI is bringing o1, its “reasoning” AI model, to its API — but only for certain developers, to start.
John Voorhees / MacStories:
Game emulator Delta adds an in-app link to pay via Patreon outside of the App Store, likely the first US app to use Apple's External Purchase Link Entitlement  —  Delta, the MacStories Selects App of the Year, received an important update today that allows users of the game emulator to support …
Molly White / Bloomberg:
After Trump's win, a look at what the crypto industry could do next, including weakening financial rules that might protect consumers from the next crypto crash  —  The industry is now in a position to weaken financial rules that might protect consumers from the next crypto crash.

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Featured Podcasts

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The Upstarts Podcast:
TBC's Alex Ksendzovsky: The Neurosurgeon Using Brain Cells To Build Better AI
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Earlier Picks

Sonia Rolley / Reuters:
Rishav Chatterjee / Reuters:
Jay Peters / The Verge:
NBC News:
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: