Techmeme
January 27, 2026, 11:35 PM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Memo: Tim Cook told employees that he is “heartbroken by the events in Minneapolis” and calls for a “deescalation”  —  Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook became the latest executive to weigh in on the killing of a man in Minneapolis by federal agents …
David McCabe / New York Times:
TikTok says the new US entity has not updated its algorithm since the joint venture was announced, after users accused it of suppressing posts related to ICE  —  Some users had accused the app of blocking them from posting videos about Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  The app said it was a power outage issue.
Bobby Allyn / NPR:
Will Douglas Heaven / MIT Technology Review:
OpenAI launches Prism, a free cloud-based LaTeX editor that embeds GPT-5.2 to assist in scientific paper drafting and citation management  —  OpenAI just revealed what its new in-house team, OpenAI for Science, has been up to.  The firm has released a free LLM-powered tool for scientists called Prism …
Cecilia Kang / New York Times:
TikTok settles a California lawsuit ahead of a landmark social media addiction trial; Snap recently settled the suit, while Meta and YouTube remain defendants  —  The settlement means TikTok will avoid a trial where plaintiffs had planned to argue that social media platforms are inherently defective …
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
SEC filing: Pinterest plans to lay off less than 15% of its workforce by Q3 and cut back on office space, saying it is “reallocating resources” to AI teams  —  Pinterest said Tuesday it plans to lay off less than 15% of its workforce and cut back on office space as the company embraces artificial intelligence.
Financial Times:
Sources: Anthropic is set to raise about $20B led by Singapore's GIC and Coatue, double the amount it had targeted, at a $350B valuation  —  Company in talks to raise new funds from Coatue, GIC, Iconiq and Sequoia at $350bn valuation  —  Anthropic is set to raise about $20bn from venture capitalists …
Robert Hart / The Verge:
Google adds Gemini 3 to AI Overviews as the default model globally and now lets users ask follow-up questions “seamlessly” via AI Mode  —  Gemini 3 is coming to AI Overviews and you can ask follow-ups for a ‘seamless Search experience.’  —  Google is making Search less about links and more about AI.
John Sakellariadis / Politico:
Sources: the interim director of CISA, Madhu Gottumukkala, triggered automated security warnings last summer by uploading sensitive documents to ChatGPT  —  Cybersecurity sensors at CISA flagged the uploads this past August, said the four officials.  One official specified there were multiple …
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Amazon plans to close all 57 Fresh and 15 Go locations in the US, as it pivots its physical retail strategy to focus exclusively on Whole Foods  —  Amazon's homegrown grocery stores are getting shelved.  —  The company said Tuesday morning that it's closing all of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh locations …
Raphael Satter / Reuters:
WhatsApp launches Strict Account Settings, a high-security mode to protect high-risk users like journalists and public figures from sophisticated cyberattacks  —  Meta's WhatsApp messaging service is offering users an advanced security mode, joining a growing number of U.S. tech firms …
David Gilbert / Wired:
Meta blocks users from sharing links to ICE List, which compiles names of DHS staffers; Meta cites a policy against “asking for personally identifiable” info  —  Users of Meta's social platforms can no longer share links to ICE List, a website listing what it claims are the names of thousands of DHS employees.
Pascale Davies / Euronews:
France plans to replace Microsoft Teams and Zoom with French-made and Outscale-hosted Visio by 2027, as part of a push to drop US software vendors in government  —  France announced that it will roll out the Visio platform across all government departments by 2027.
Bloomberg:
Chinese startup Moonshot releases Kimi K2.5, saying the model can process text, images, and videos simultaneously and beats its open-source peers in some tests  —  Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.-backed Moonshot AI released an upgrade of its flagship model, heating up a domestic arms race ahead …
Kimi:
Emily Nicolle / Bloomberg:
Tether launches USAT, a US-regulated stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, marking the company's direct return to the US market that it left in 2018  —  Tether Holdings SA said it has launched a US-focused stablecoin, as the world's largest issuer of dollar-pegged tokens prepares to return to crypto's largest market.
Jeff Horwitz / Reuters:
Court filings: Mark Zuckerberg approved allowing minors to access AI chatbot companions that safety staffers warned were capable of sexual interactions  —  Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg approved allowing minors to access AI chatbot companions that safety staffers warned were capable …
Henry Chandonnet / Business Insider:
Clawdbot creator Peter Steinberger says he is changing the name of the viral AI agent to Moltbot after he “was forced to rename the account by Anthropic”  —  - Clawdbot, the viral AI agent that's leading techies to buy up Mac Minis, is now named Moltbot.
Ashley Capoot / CNBC:
An interview with Mozilla president Mark Surman about plans to deploy its ~$1.4B in reserves to fund an AI “rebel alliance” to challenge companies like OpenAI  —  From his small, snow-covered farm outside Toronto, home to cats and a dog, and soon some donkeys …
Naga Avan-Nomayo / The Block:
Crypto payments network Mesh raised a $75M Series C led by Dragonfly at a $1B valuation, bringing its total funding to $200M  —  Partner offers  —  Quick Take  — Mesh raised $75 million in a Series C funding round led by Dragonfly Capital, valuing the crypto payments startup at $1 billion.
New York Times:
Internal Slack message: Sam Altman tells OpenAI staff that “What's happening with ICE is going too far” and he hopes President Trump “will rise to this moment”  —  Business leaders continue to feel pressure to speak out about the immigration crackdown and the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens.
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google expands its AI Plus subscription to 35 new countries and territories, including the US at $7.99/month, with “enhanced access” to Gemini 3 Pro and more  —  After introducing the plan internationally in September, Google is bringing its AI Plus subscription to 35 new countries, including the US.
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple releases iOS 12.5.8 for the iPhone 5s and iPhone 6, extending software support for these devices to 13 and 12 years after their respective launches  —  Alongside iOS 26.2.1, Apple today released an updated version of iOS 12 for devices that are still running that operating system update …
Eli Tan / New York Times:
AdImpact: Meta spent $6.4M in November and December 2025 to run TV ads in eight US state capitals and DC, aiming to change negative opinions about data centers  —  The advertisement began with a panning shot of Altoona, Iowa, a town of 20,000 near Des Moines.  The camera moved from a diner to a farm to a high school football field.
More: The Verge
Kyt Dotson / SiliconANGLE:
Ai2 launches Open Coding Agents, starting with SERA, an open-source family that includes 32B and 8B parameter models designed to adapt to private codebases  —  Artificial intelligence is moving swiftly, changing how developers craft, as code flows ever faster into repositories such as GitHub …
Steven Melendez / Fast Company:
Privacy-focused MVNO Cape, which has raised $61M from a16z and others, launches across the US following a March 2025 beta, offering a $99 monthly plan  —  A privacy-centric cellphone carrier called Cape is now officially available across the United States, offering a unique set of features …
More: Cape
Jack Ryan / Bloomberg:
Paolo Ardoino says Tether now holds ~140 tons of gold, worth ~$23B, has been buying one to two tons a week, and plans to keep doing so for the next few months  —  There are roughly 370,000 nuclear bunkers in Switzerland, a legacy of the Cold War that are now rarely used.  One of them, though, is a hive of activity.
More: ZyCrypto
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google expands Android's anti-theft suite, including a dedicated toggle for its Failed Authentication Lock feature on devices running Android 16 or later  —  Google on Tuesday announced an expanded set of Android theft protection features, designed to make its mobile devices less of a target for criminals.

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Samantha Cole / 404 Media:
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Washington Post:
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