Techmeme
January 16, 2025, 11:00 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.
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.
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.
ABC News:
A US official says the Biden administration won't force TikTok to go dark in the country on January 19 and will leave it up to Trump to implement the law  —  The ban goes into effect on Sunday unless the Supreme Court intervenes.  —  TikTok logo on a smartphone.
New York Times:
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.
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 …
Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
The FTC bans GM from selling driver behavior and geolocation data to consumer reporting agencies for five years, after finding GM didn't properly inform drivers  —  An investigation by the Federal Trade Commission determined that consumers had not been aware that the automaker was providing their driving information to data brokers.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Trump plans an EO to elevate crypto to a national imperative or priority and create a crypto advisory council to advocate for industry priorities  —  - Executive order expected to create a crypto advisory council  — Trump allies are discussing stopping federal crypto litigation
David Yaffe-Bellany / 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:
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.
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
The UK's Ofcom imposes age checks on sites containing porn or other harmful content, which could include photo ID matching and facial age estimation technology  —  Ofcom sets out new rules that could include photo ID matching and credit card verification  —  The UK media regulator …
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.
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
The US FTC refers a complaint against Snap to the DOJ, alleging Snapchat's My AI chatbot poses “risks and harms to young users”; SNAP closed down 5%  —  Snap shares closed down 5% on Thursday after the Federal Trade Commission said it would refer a complaint against the company to the Department of Justice.
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.
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 …
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 …
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.
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).

Sponsor Posts

Soxton:
Fast, affordable law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
F5:
Accelerate AI Adoption at F5's AI Virtual Summit  —  Learn how to architect, secure, and scale AI for production with real-world insights from industry leaders on June 23.  Register now to save your spot.
Zoho:
Say hello to Zia Answer Bot: Your organization's knowledge, on-demand in every Zoho Lens session.  —  Imagine your technician is halfway through a live remote assistance session.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
Are AI Glasses Over?, Big Technology Audience Questions, Alex Stamos on AI Cybersecurity
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.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Mutiny's Jaleh Rezaei: Walking Away From Millions In Software To Grow Even Faster With Sales AI
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Hard Fork:
'Hard Fork' Live, Part 3: Differing Visions of an A.I. Future
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Access:
The billionaire paying AI researchers to stay out of Big Tech
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
The Race to the Middle
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
Subscribe to The Nick, Dick and Paul Show.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
AI's Mythos Moment: Rishi Sunak on preparing governments for AI
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:00 PM ET, January 16, 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

Tonya Riley / Bloomberg Law:
Eli Blumenthal / CNET:

Earlier Picks

Reuters:
New York Times:
Paresh Dave / Wired:
William Langley / Financial Times:
TechCrunch: