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January 9, 2025, 1:35 PM
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Top News

Carly Page / TechCrunch:
Ivanti warns that threat actors exploited a critical-rated zero-day in its widely used Connect Secure VPN tool to compromise its corporate customers' networks  —  U.S. software giant Ivanti has warned that a zero-day vulnerability in its widely-used enterprise VPN appliance has been exploited …
Richard Lawler / The Verge:
Apple says it “has never used Siri data to build marketing profiles” and never sold it for advertising or other purposes, after paying $95M to settle a lawsuit  —  A Siri lawsuit settlement over privacy issues has dredged up old rumors about iPhone ad targeting …
Stephen Totilo / Game File:
December court filing: Activision revealed that Call of Duty: Black Ops III cost $450M+ to make, Modern Warfare cost $640M+, and Black Ops Cold War cost $700M+  —  The biggest development budgets ever disclosed by a game company, buried in a court filing (but found by Game File), along with updated sales figures.
Financial Times:
Analysis: Elon Musk's UK obsession is driven by a few X accounts; an ex-Twitter exec says Musk may be the first tech leader to be radicalized by his own product  —  Tech billionaire's posts about grooming gangs scandal have elevated issue  —  Elon Musk's recent obsession with UK politics …
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
xAI is testing a standalone iOS app for its chatbot Grok in several countries, like the US, Australia, and India; Grok was available only to X users until now  —  Elon Musk's AI company, xAI, is testing out a standalone iOS app for its chatbot, Grok, which was available only to X users until now.
Ashley Capoot / CNBC:
Google and Microsoft donate $1M to Trump's inauguration; Google says the donation, a YouTube livestream, and a homepage event link align with past inaugurations  —  Google donated $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration fund, becoming the latest major tech company to try …
Vince Dioquino / Decrypt:
Filing: the Northern District Court of California gives the US government final approval to sell 69,370 BTC, worth $6.5B, seized in its Silk Road investigation  —  The ruling does not ensure immediate liquidation of the seized Bitcoin, as federal asset forfeiture requires several administrative processes.
Colby Hall / Mediaite:
GOP Senator Markwayne Mullin says Mark Zuckerberg met with Trump the day before announcing that Meta would replace fact-checking with Community Notes  —  Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with President-elect Donald Trump the day before announcing his social media platforms would end …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Meta revamping its content moderation systems with Community Notes is good, but Zuckerberg pretending it's about free speech is bad, and the timing is stupid
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Mastodon CEO Eugen Rochko says Meta's moderation changes are “deeply troubling”, and Mastodon will take action on Threads accounts violating Mastodon's policies
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google rolls out Daily Listen, which uses AI to generate a five-minute personalized audio overview of stories and topics that a user follows, to its mobile app  —  Google is kicking off a new experiment in Search Labs today called “Daily Listen.”  It's a bit like NotebookLM's Audio Overviews, while there are also podcast parallels.
Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat / Reuters:
Frank McCourt's Project Liberty says it made a formal bid to ByteDance to buy TikTok's US assets and keep the app alive without its current algorithm  —  Entrepreneur and former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt's Project Liberty and its consortium of partners in The People's Bid …
Taylor Nicole Rogers / Financial Times:
Analysts say that contract negotiations between US dockworkers and the shipping industry over automation could help provide a template for agreements nationwide

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:35 PM ET, January 9, 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.

From Mediagazer

David Ellison / @ellisonskydance:
David Ellison announces that the combined Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery will be called Skydance “to preserve what has made each of these studios iconic”

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Disney licenses a large group of titles to Netflix, including all five Ice Age movies, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Felicity, Elio, and more

New York Times:
Sources: Trump personally told his budget director to use taxpayer money for TV ads praising his presidency; at least four spots have run at a cost of ~$5.5M

More News

Lillian Rizzo / CNBC:
Disney says it has an estimated 157M global MAUs watching ad-supported content across its streaming services Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, including 112M US users

Earlier Picks

Mari Yamaguchi / Associated Press:
Japan says Chinese hacking group MirrorFace is linked to 200+ cyberattacks from 2019 to 2024 targeting the country's national security and advanced tech data
Richard Lawler / The Verge:
Adam Mosseri says Meta is adding political content recommendations to Instagram and Threads; Threads' political content control setting will have three options
Cheyenne Ligon / CoinDesk:
Do Kwon's criminal fraud trial in the US is scheduled for January 2026; prosecutors expect challenges accessing encrypted devices and translating communications
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