|
January 1, 2026, 8:20 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: SiliconANGLE, TechCrunch, 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
| 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| 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
| 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: The Hans India, Mashable, New York Sun, The American Bazaar, Business Insider, Livemint, Moneycontrol, News9live, Digit, and Eschaton
X: @brij, @elonmusk, @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
| 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
| Michael Acton / Financial Times: |
IDC estimates that Apple shipped just 45,000 Vision Pro units in Q4 2025; Sensor Tower says Apple reduced its digital ad spend for the headset by 95%+ in 2025 — High prices, limited apps and comfort issues expose difficulty of turning futuristic hardware into a mass-market product| Miles Kruppa / The Information: |
Brookfield is launching a cloud company called Radiant and a new $10B AI fund, and 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, Reuters, and Yahoo Finance
| 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
| Karissa Bell / Engadget: |
Adam Mosseri details trends shaping Instagram and says it'll be more practical to authenticate real media than label AI, as AI gets better at imitating reality — Adam Mosseri says creators should prioritize “unflattering” images to prove they are real. — It's no secret that AI-generated …
More: The Verge, On my Om, Social Media Today, Moneycontrol, KnowTechie, Livemint, HotHardware, Implicator.ai, Mashable, Business Insider, The Decoder, NDTV Profit, Ben Werdmuller, 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
| 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
| Rishabh Jaiswal / Reuters: |
Starlink plans to lower its satellites 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 (342 miles) …
X: @michaelnicollsx, @blaze_r935, @seattle_rt, @wagamemnonglenn, @marcushouse, @philipjohnston, @bassonbrain, @iniallanderson, @justin_je_mabie, @teslatino, and @yrouel86. Bluesky: @fack. Mastodon: @hannorein@mastodon.social. Forums: Hacker News
Sponsor Posts
ElevenLabs:
ElevenAgents by ElevenLabs — You know us for voice. Now meet ElevenAgents — featuring Expressive Mode, our most human-sounding AI voice technology in 70+ languages with ultra-low latency. Hear it for yourself.
ElevenAgents by ElevenLabs — You know us for voice. Now meet ElevenAgents — featuring Expressive Mode, our most human-sounding AI voice technology in 70+ languages with ultra-low latency. Hear it for yourself.
Intel:
5G's most deployed platform — Powering live networks with built-in Inference across Core and RAN. That's the power of Intel Inside®
5G's most deployed platform — Powering live networks with built-in Inference across Core and RAN. That's the power of Intel Inside®
Zoho:
Introducing intelligent document processing with Zoho RPA — Documents are a major bottleneck at many organizations. Invoices, contracts, forms, ID cards, receipts: They all arrive in different shapes and sizes …
Introducing intelligent document processing with Zoho RPA — Documents are a major bottleneck at many organizations. Invoices, contracts, forms, ID cards, receipts: They all arrive in different shapes and sizes …
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:
OpenAI buys TBPN, SpaceX's $2 Trillion IPO?, Iran Disables Amazon Infrastructure
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.
Hard Fork:
The Future of Addictive Design + Going Deep at DeepMind + HatGPT
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.
Great Chat:
Go touch some grass (but don't tweet about it)
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.
Lenny's Podcast:
An AI state of the union: We've passed the inflection point, dark factories are coming, and automation timelines | Simon Willison
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.
Access:
The future of AI might be on your finger
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ryan Roslansky: Turning AI Anxiety into Skills for the Future of Work
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 8:20 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
Sara Guaglione / Digiday:Sam Spratford / Publishers Weekly:
Tom Friend / Sports Business Journal:
Upcoming Tech Events
More News
| Adi Robertson / The Verge: |
| George Hammond / Financial Times: |
More: Benzinga, iPhone in Canada, Dow Jones Newswires, and The Decoder
Earlier Picks
| Biz Carson / Bloomberg: |
More: 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