Techmeme
January 16, 2025, 6:00 PM

Top News

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Nintendo teases the Switch 2, featuring a new kickstand design and backward compatibility for physical and digital games, with more details on April 2, 2025  —  The console looks a lot like the original, but it's bigger.  In the video, the Joy-Con controllers are black with colored accents, and they attach to the console magnetically.
Eric Geller / Wired:
Joe Biden issues a cybersecurity EO to improve the way the government monitors its networks, buys software, uses AI, and punishes foreign hackers  —  US president Joe Biden just issued a 40-page executive order that aims to bolster federal cybersecurity protections, directs government use of AI …
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple disables notification summaries for News & Entertainment apps in iOS 18.3 beta and makes other changes to summaries, including using italicized text  —  Apple released iOS 18.3 beta 3 to developers this afternoon.  The update includes a handful of changes to the notification summaries feature of Apple Intelligence.
NBC News:
An official says the Biden administration is “exploring options” to implement the law without causing TikTok to go dark for US users on January 19  —  Barring action by the Supreme Court, a ban in the U.S. on the popular app is set to begin on Sunday.
New York Times:
The Information:
Sources: RedNote staff is scrambling to hide US users' posts from Chinese users after China raised concerns about politically sensitive English-language posts  —  A pending ban of TikTok in the U.S. is prompting a flood of TikTok users to try out Chinese social media app RedNote.
Reuters:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft bundles its AI-powered Office features into Microsoft 365 Personal and Home subscriptions for an extra $3 per month  —  Microsoft is bundling its AI-powered Office features into Microsoft 365 Personal and Home subscriptions, but it's also raising prices as a result.
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
UK's Ofcom imposes robust age checks on porn sites, which could include photo ID matching, facial age estimation technology, and credit card checks  —  Ofcom sets out new rules that could include photo ID matching and credit card verification  —  The UK media regulator will make it harder …
Reed Albergotti / Semafor:
An interview with Replit CEO Amjad Masad, who says the company's revenue grew 5x over the past six months after releasing a new AI coding tool called Agent  —  THE SCENE  —  Replit has had a turbulent year, but CEO Amjad Masad's sonorous voice was almost zen-like as he spoke to me on Monday …
Austin Carr / Bloomberg:
A look at the legal dispute between Walgreens and Cooler Screens, which installed 10,000 smart doors that track shoppers and show ads at Walgreens' US stores  —  A startup promised the pharmacy chain its high-tech coolers would track shoppers and spark an in-store ad revolution.
Reuters:
NOYB files complaints against AliExpress, Shein, TikTok, Xiaomi, Temu, and WeChat over claims they are unlawfully sending EU user data to China  —  TikTok, Shein, Xiaomi (1810.HK) and three other Chinese companies were named in a privacy complaint filed on Thursday by Austrian advocacy group Noyb …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Letter: Google told EU it will not add fact checks to search results and YouTube videos or use them in ranking or removing content, despite new EU requirements  —  - The code would require Google to incorporate fact-check results alongside Google's search results and YouTube videos.
New York Times:
Sources: Zuckerberg told Stephen Miller that he would do nothing to obstruct Trump's agenda and blamed Sheryl Sandberg for an inclusivity initiative at Facebook  —  Stephen Miller was the architect of Donald J. Trump's hard-line immigration agenda in his first term.
Leo Schwartz / Fortune:
CFPB announces a $175M settlement with Block, including $120M in refunds to consumers, saying Cash App allowed rampant fraud while misleading its customers  —  On Thursday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a massive $175 million settlement with Block, the publicly traded financial conglomerate led by Jack Dorsey.
Carly Page / TechCrunch:
US school districts hit by PowerSchool's December breach say hackers accessed “all” historical student and teacher data; PowerSchool has 50M+ US student records  —  U.S. school districts affected by the recent cyberattack on edtech giant PowerSchool have told TechCrunch that hackers accessed …
Gaby Del Valle / The Verge:
Tech trade groups NetChoice and TechNet sue CFPB for its efforts to regulate digital payment apps like Apple Pay, Google Wallet, and Venmo more like banks  —  Two major tech trade groups are challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) effort to treat payment apps and digital wallets like banks.
Matthew Keys / The Desk:
Trump plans to nominate Olivia Trusty, policy director for a US Senate committee, as the third Republican member of the FCC's five-person commission  —  President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday said he intends to nominate Olivia Trusty to fill an upcoming vacancy at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
New York Times:
Anduril plans to build a $1B factory in Columbus, Ohio called Arsenal-1 to eventually produce tens of thousands of autonomous systems and weapons each year  —  The company said its Columbus plant could eventually produce tens of thousands of autonomous systems and weapons each year.
Bloomberg:
Zhou Chaonan, the chairwoman of data center operator Range Intelligent, has become China's third richest woman after her company's stock rose 105% in 2024  —  - Range Intelligent's chairwoman Zhou joins world's 500 richest  — TikTok owner ByteDance is one of Range's major customers
Eli Blumenthal / CNET:
AT&T stops 5G Internet Air service in New York, as a new law mandates monthly broadband rates of $15 for 25Mbps or $20 for 200Mbps for low-income residents  —  A new affordable broadband law in the Empire State has led to AT&T dropping its 5G home internet product entirely.
William Langley / Financial Times:
Canalys: China smartphone shipments rose 4% YoY to 285M units in 2024, with Vivo up 11% to a 17% market share, Huawei up 37% to 16%, and Apple down 17% to 15%  —  US tech giant faces competition on mainland as it struggles to introduce AI features on its flagship product

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Earlier Picks

Daniel Kuhn / The Block: