|
January 1, 2026, 9:35 PM
|
Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Stephanie Palazzolo / The Information: |
Sources: OpenAI is taking steps to improve its audio AI models, in preparation for its AI-powered personal device, which is expected to be largely audio-based — OpenAI is taking steps to improve its audio AI models, in preparation for its eventual release of an AI-powered personal device, said a person with knowledge of the effort.
More: TechCrunch, SiliconANGLE, The Decoder, Phandroid, and Digit
X: @zhihuipikachu, @jukan05, @jukan05, @keytryer, @gregkamradt, @mark_k, @kimmonismus, @andrewcurran_, @kylebrussell, @btibor91, and @steph_palazzolo. Bluesky: @carnage4life
Forums: r/OpenAI and r/singularity
| Vincent Chow / South China Morning Post: |
DeepSeek researchers detail mHC, a new architecture they used to train 3B, 9B, and 27B models, finding it scaled without adding significant computational burden — DeepSeek has published a technical paper co-authored by founder Liang Wenfeng proposing a rethink of its core deep learning architecture
More: arXiv.org, SiliconANGLE, Livemint, and Blockonomi
| Simon Willison / Simon Willison's Weblog: |
Some LLM takeaways for 2025: reasoning as a signature feature, coding agents were useful, subscriptions hit $200/month, and Chinese open-weight models impressed — This is the third in my annual series reviewing everything that happened in the LLM space over the past 12 months.
More: Ben Werdmuller, Ars Technica, and Don't Worry About the Vase
Bluesky: @carnage4life, @daniloc.xyz, @mikehadlow.com, and @jeremymorrell.dev. Mastodon: @Khrys@mamot.fr
Forums: Hacker News and Lobsters
| Philosopher Count: |
How AI automation can fulfill Thomas Piketty's predictions on rising economic inequality, and why highly progressive taxes on capital can help slow the spiral — Piketty was wrong about the past. He's probably right about the future. — 1. Introduction
X: @elocinationn, @erikbryn, @saikatc, @pawtrammell, @tszzl, @garrytan, @besttrousers, @harryh, @dwarkesh_sp, @pawtrammell, @jankulveit, @yonashav, @stevehou, @jackwiseman_, @dwarkesh_sp, @deepdishenjoyer, @t_holden, @alltheyud, @garrytan, @daniel_271828, @krishnanrohit, @briancalbrecht, @briancalbrecht, @garrytan, @digeconlab, @jsevillamol, @daveg, @mylesudland, @drydenwtbrown, @ks_kulk, @dwarkesh_sp, @robinhanson, @mortenstostad, @alltheyud, and @dwarkesh_sp. LinkedIn: Viktor Shvets. Bluesky: @tachikoma.elsewhereunbound …. Mastodon: @carnage4life@mas.to
| C.J. Chivers / New York Times: |
Ukraine has become a live-fire test range for AI drones like the Bumblebee, provided by a secretive Eric Schmidt-led venture, raising alarms in Kremlin circles — As the war grinds on, sophisticated Russian defenses have pushed Ukraine to develop a frightening new weapon: semiautonomous killing machines.
More: Fox News, Business Insider, and UPI
| Financial Times: |
A look at the rise of AI companionship apps; a researcher found 206 on Apple's App Store and 253 on Google Play, with a total of 220M+ downloads as of July 2025 — The technology is changing the way many people meet and form relationships but some experts believe it may do more harm than good| Angel Au-Yeung / Wall Street Journal: |
Startups have started to offer free nicotine pouches as a perk, as some employees claim the products help them focus during the workday, despite health hazards — A nicotine replacement for smokers has started popping up in offices in the tech industry, despite health hazards| Reuters: |
Elon Musk says that Neuralink plans to start “high-volume production” of its BCI devices and move to an “almost entirely automated surgical procedure in 2026” — Elon Musk's brain implant company Neuralink will start “high-volume production” of brain-computer interface devices …
More: Mashable, The Hans India, New York Sun, The American Bazaar, Business Insider, Livemint, Moneycontrol, News9live, Digit, and Eschaton
X: @elonmusk, @brij, @kskgroup2017, @teortaxestex, @cathiedwood, @checkcanopy, @mmjukic, @astrodanish, @serobinsonjr, @quinnypig, @0xunihax0r, @moneyacademyke, @andrewzywiecmd, @sovmichael, and @teslaradiox
Bluesky: @hooli, @jowolff, @steveparks.me, @t0nyyates, @webrant, @shwshnkdufresne, @hellocullen, @malwarejake, @yermazaguddin, @segfaultvicta.aludel.xyz, @dburbach, @sharonk, @anamusingaddress, @whynotscott, @ktfalvey, @harrymckillen.com, @hushuo, @parismarx.com, @keithfitzgerald, @juniorhoncho, @bumblesnuff, @rowyourbot, @samwhyte, @rowyourbot, @fiddledidi, @lorak, @brienneofsnark, @niedermeyer.online, and @fagankara
Forums: r/RealTesla, r/behindthebastards, r/musked, and r/EnoughMuskSpam
| Miles Kruppa / The Information: |
Brookfield is starting cloud company Radiant and a new $10B AI fund, after saying it plans to acquire up to $100B in land, data centers, and power assets for AI — Private-equity firm Brookfield is starting its own cloud business, going up against tech giants like Amazon by arguing it can bring down the costs of developing AI.
More: SiliconANGLE, Yahoo Finance, and Reuters
| Rishabh Jaiswal / Reuters: |
SpaceX plans to lower its Starlink satellites from orbiting at ~550km to ~480km in 2026 to improve space safety and reduce the likelihood of debris collisions — Starlink will begin a reconfiguration of its satellite constellation by lowering all of its satellites orbiting at around 550 km …
X: @michaelnicollsx, @wagamemnonglenn, @marcushouse, @philipjohnston, @bassonbrain, @iniallanderson, @justin_je_mabie, @teslatino, @yrouel86, @blaze_r935, and @seattle_rt. Bluesky: @fack. Mastodon: @hannorein@mastodon.social. Forums: Hacker News
| Adi Robertson / The Verge: |
A look at US tech laws coming in 2026, like California's SB 53 AI transparency law and Virginia's new social media limits for minors, effective from January 1 — As usual, 2025 was a year of deep congressional dysfunction in the US. But state legislatures were passing laws that govern everything … | Sneha Kumar / Reuters: |
Baidu's AI chip unit Kunlunxin confidentially files for a Hong Kong IPO, paving the way for a spin-off; a recent fundraising reportedly valued it at ~$3B — Chinese internet search giant Baidu (9888.HK) said on Friday its AI chip unit Kunlunxin has confidentially filed a listing application … | Iris Deng / South China Morning Post: |
Report: China-based Moonshot AI, which makes Kimi AI models, raised a $500M Series C at a $4.3B valuation led by IDG Capital; Alibaba and Tencent also invested — The Kimi AI model developer is now valued at US$4.3 billion, with cash reserves worth US$1.4 billion
More: The Decoder, SiliconANGLE, DealStreetAsia, Caixin Global, and TechNode
X: @rohanpaul_ai, @poezhao0605, @zephyr_z9, @macastel3, and @sino_market
| Song Jung-a / Financial Times: |
Analysts and manufacturers warn that smartphone, PC, and consumer electronics prices could rise by up to 20% in 2026, as AI demand drives up memory chip costs — Manufacturers and analysts warn AI data centre build-out is crowding out market for semiconductors
More: The Irish Times, iPhone in Canada, and Fortune
Sponsor Posts
Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning — SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds. Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning — SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds. Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cloudflare:
Cloudflare Connect 2026: The Agentic Conference — Stop preparing for agents. Start running them. 100+ sessions, workshops, and speakers from OpenAI, Arm, and Cloudflare across AI, security, and performance.
Cloudflare Connect 2026: The Agentic Conference — Stop preparing for agents. Start running them. 100+ sessions, workshops, and speakers from OpenAI, Arm, and Cloudflare across AI, security, and performance.
Zoho:
Introducing User Journey in Zoho PageSense — Your visitors have a path. Now you can see what it actually is. You've built a website journey. Product page to pricing to signup.
Introducing User Journey in Zoho PageSense — Your visitors have a path. Now you can see what it actually is. You've built a website journey. Product page to pricing to signup.
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.
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:
Special Report: Will AI Wipe Out Humanity? (And Who Profits)
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
The Atlantic's CEO on AI, Billionaire Owners, and Moonlighting as a Creator
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.
Sources:
Mark Zuckerberg on Muse, Meta's biggest AI bet yet
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
Subscribe to Sources.
Lenny's Podcast:
How we built Grok Bot in a month | Roman Ugarte (SpaceXAI)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Invest Like the Best:
Walter Russell Mead - How America Keeps Winning
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Grit:
The AI Race Has a Leaderboard | Arena CEO Anastasios Angelopoulos
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
About This Page
This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:35 PM ET, January 1, 2026.
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 Friend / Vanity Fair:Joe Sonka / Louisville Public Media:
New York Times:
Upcoming Tech Events
More News
| George Hammond / Financial Times: |
More: Benzinga, iPhone in Canada, Dow Jones Newswires, and The Decoder
| Michael Acton / Financial Times: |
Earlier Picks
| Karissa Bell / Engadget: |
More: The Verge, On my Om, Social Media Today, Moneycontrol, KnowTechie, HotHardware, Implicator.ai, Mashable, Livemint, NDTV Profit, Business Insider, Ben Werdmuller, The Decoder, Digit, and The Verge
X: @milkkarten. LinkedIn: Stuart McDonald. Bluesky: @ykomska, @thatoldbear, @mattschrader, @joeuchill, @karissabe, @iansociologo, @brocktoon, @blackamazon, @bwjones, @benmffowler, @sarkastiklover, @chronotope.aramzs.xyz, @mathewolson.com, @danhon.com, @voidfemme, @highway62, @violetsalazar, @thetrudz.photo, @hypervisible.blacksky.app, and @jrosenbaum.com.au
| Biz Carson / Bloomberg: |
More: Wall Street Journal, Thiel Capital, Washington Post, Business Insider, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Business Times, South Florida Business Journal, and New York Post
X: @govpressoffice, @chamath, @chamath, @bizcarson, @shaughnessy119, @cernovich, @julianklymochko, @jason, @jason, @teddyschleifer, and @teddyschleifer
Bluesky: @danny.page and @rmac
| Jeff Horwitz / Reuters: |
More: Sherwood News, SiliconANGLE, Digit, Communicate Online, MS NOW, Interesting Engineering, and ZeroHedge News
X: @achimmuellers, @raywilton4, and @zerohedge
Bluesky: @brunojnavarro, @sarwark.org, @andrewlevesque, @romanad, @caseynewton, @jbakcoleman, @migueldeicaza, @worklesshard, @campuscodi.risky.biz, @socialmedialab.ca, @jeffhorwitz, @jeffhorwitz, and @jeffhorwitz
Threads: @andymstone, @andymstone, @andymstone, and @andymstone
Forums: Hacker News, r/cybersecurity, r/neoliberal, and r/technology