Techmeme
December 17, 2024, 12:40 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
Databricks is raising $10B from a16z, Thrive, others at a $62B valuation, among the largest VC raises in history; documents 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:
The Irish Data Protection Commission fines Meta €251M over a Facebook breach that affected ~29M users globally and ~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 that affected millions of users …
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 …
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
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.
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
NBC News:
Source: Trump meets with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at Mar-a-Lago, the same day that the company asks the Supreme Court to block the law that could ban the app  —  President-elect Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok in 2020 but was blocked by the courts.  He has since changed his position on the issue.
Lawrence Hurley / NBC News:
Rishav Chatterjee / Reuters:
Australia's privacy watchdog says Meta agreed to a AU$50M settlement over a 2020 Cambridge Analytica lawsuit alleging 300K+ Facebook users' data was exposed  —  The Australian Information Commissioner said on Tuesday it has withdrawn civil penalty proceedings against Meta Platforms (META.O) …
Juro Osawa / The Information:
Sources: Character.AI rival Talkie, one of the most-downloaded AI apps in the US and made by China's MiniMax, prepares an AI video feature to reignite growth  —  Many of you may not have heard of Talkie, a competitor to Character.AI in providing personalized artificial intelligence chatbots.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Mark Zuckerberg says Threads now has 100M+ DAUs, revealing its DAU figure for the first time, and 300M+ MAUs, up from 275M+ MAUs in November 2024  —  It's a notable milestone not just because it's a big number; it's also the first time Meta has a daily active user figure publicly.
Paayal Zaveri / Bloomberg:
Grammarly buys productivity startup Coda, set to close in January, and names Coda co-founder and CEO Shishir Mehrotra as CEO; Coda had a $1.4B valuation in 2021  —  Coda co-founder and CEO Shishir Mehrotra will take over that position at Grammarly, according to statement from the two companies Tuesday.
CNBC:
Waymo plans to test its robotaxis in Tokyo in early 2025, its first international expansion, partnering with taxi operator Nihon Kotsu and taxi hailing app GO  —  Alphabet-owned Waymo announced Monday that it will start testing its autonomous vehicles in Tokyo in early 2025, the company's first step toward international expansion.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Google debuts Whisk, an image generator that takes other images as prompts to suggest the subject, scene, and style, and uses the new, “latest” Imagen 3 version  —  Google has announced a new AI tool called Whisk that lets you generate images using other images as prompts instead of requiring a long text prompt.
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
New York Times:
Some tech leaders say they're optimistic that Trump will increase visas to highly skilled foreign workers, despite Trump curbing such programs in his first term  —  Silicon Valley hopes that tech giants like Elon Musk could help to push the incoming Trump administration toward offering more visas to highly skilled foreign workers.

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Earlier Picks

Sonia Rolley / Reuters:
Bloomberg:
Matt Levine / Bloomberg:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Rachel Metz / Bloomberg: