Techmeme
January 3, 2025, 8:25 PM

Top News

Jason Koebler / 404 Media:
After backlash, Meta says newly viral AI profiles on Facebook and Instagram were created in 2023 in “an early experiment”, and it is deleting the profiles  —  Earlier this week, Meta executive Connor Hayes told the Financial Times that the company is going to roll out AI character profiles …
Mike Allen / Axios:
Sources: Tim Cook will personally donate $1M to President-elect Trump's inaugural committee in the spirit of unity; Apple is not expected to donate  —  The company is not expected to give.  — Cook, with a consistent presence in Washington, has made it clear over the years that he believes …
Carly Page / TechCrunch:
The US sanctions Beijing-based cybersecurity company Integrity Technology over its alleged links to China-backed hacking group Flax Typhoon  —  The U.S. government has sanctioned a Beijing-based cybersecurity company over its alleged links to a China government-backed hacking group, tracked as Flax Typhoon.
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Microsoft says it expects to spend $80B in FY 2025 on the construction of data centers that can handle AI workloads, with 50%+ of the spending in the US  —  Microsoft expects to spend $80 billion in fiscal 2025 on the construction of data centers that can handle artificial intelligence workloads, the company said in a Friday blog post.
Alexandra S. Levine / Bloomberg:
An unredacted lawsuit from Utah's AG claims TikTok has long known that TikTok Live promoted sexual content streams to minors and facilitated money laundering  —  - Unredacted lawsuit claims TikTok knew about teen safety issues  — Lawsuit also alleges company facilitated money laundering
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Samsung and Google plan to bring Eclipsa Audio, a new open-source 3D audio standard, to some YouTube videos later this year on Samsung's 2025 TVs and soundbars  —  Samsung and Google are ready to push a new standard, Eclipsa Audio. … Over the years, Samsung notably hasn't supported Dolby Vision HDR …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Getty Images is exploring a merger with rival Shutterstock; Getty jumped 13% for a $983M market value, Shutterstock rose 7.9% for a $1.1B market value  —  - Getty weighing how to structure combo with stock-photo rival … Getty has been weighing how to structure a combination …
More: Reuters and The Information
Bluesky: @siscoX: @davidclinchnews and @unusual_whalesLinkedIn: Paul MelcherForums: Slashdot
Max Woolf / Max Woolf's Blog:
In a test, asking Claude 3.5 Sonnet to “write better code” iteratively improved the code's features and speed, but more aggressive prompt engineering added bugs  —  In November 2023, after OpenAI added the ability for ChatGPT to generate images from DALL-E 3 within the ChatGPT web interface …
Victoria Song / The Verge:
Apple and Strava partner to feature Strava athletes in Apple Fitness+ programming, add more detailed Fitness+ workout summaries in the Strava app, and more  —  Apple Fitness Plus is getting a fresh makeover in the Strava app.  The two companies just announced they're collaborating to revamp …
Katie Deighton / Wall Street Journal:
Influencer marketing company Later acquires Mavely, which pays commissions to social-media creators for the sales they generate, for $250M in cash and stock  —  Later, an influencer and social-media marketing company, acquired social commerce app Mavely for $250 million
Molly White / Citation Needed:
An in-depth look at Elon Musk's criticisms of Wikipedia, as he joins a growing chorus of right-wing voices attacking information sources outside their control  —  The world's richest man has joined a growing chorus of right-wing voices attacking Wikipedia as part of an intensifying campaign against free and open access information.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Reimagine your photos with a prompt  —  Our new native image generation and editing is state-of-the-art, and ranked #1 in the world.  Try it for free in the Gemini app.
Atlassian:
The AI Collaboration Index  —  Discover the secret to AI-enabled impact.  Download the report.
Zoho:
App Spotlight: Storm AI Landing Pages for Zoho CRM  —  App Spotlight brings you hand-picked solutions that enhance your Zoho apps and tools.  Visit Zoho Marketplace to explore all of our apps, integrations …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
F5:
Securing AI models and agents in the enterprise  —  The new AI stack creates a highly dynamic attack surface, and traditional controls aren't keeping up.  F5's recent acquisition will bring advanced AI guardrails to enterprise apps.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
Anthropic Chief Product Officer: Why AI Model Development Is Accelerating — With Mike Krieger
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.
Great Chat:
David vs. Goliath, but make it venture-backed
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Vince Hankes from Thrive Capital
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Why the Guardian Doesn't Need a Billionaire to Thrive
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
[trading places]:
TP EP6: Peter Walker of Carta 📊 | OpenAI Tender 🧾| Revolut $75B Valuation 💳 | Is 3X 3X 2X 2X 💀?
a very bad podcast about broken unicorns & busted carry hosted by dave mcclure and aman verjee
Subscribe to [trading places].
The Social Radars:
Founder Mode: Jen Herbach, Founder & CEO, Adventris Pharmaceuticals
Come be a fly on the wall as Y Combinator's Jessica Livingston and Carolynn Levy talk to some of the most successful founders in Silicon Valley about how they did it.
Subscribe to The Social Radars.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:25 PM ET, January 3, 2025.

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

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Dave Lee / Bloomberg:
Dean W. Ball / Hyperdimensional:

Earlier Picks

Rita El Khoury / Android Authority:
Bloomberg:
Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
Bob Van Voris / Bloomberg:
David Shepardson / Reuters:
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch: