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December 20, 2025, 10:50 PM
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Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Mariella Moon / Engadget: |
Google says it needs more time to upgrade Assistant to Gemini on most Android devices; Google previously planned to complete the transition by the end of 2025 — The transition from Assistant to Gemini will continue into 2026. — Google wanted to remove Assistant from most Android phones … | Business Insider: |
Google advises some employees on visas, including H-1B visas, not to travel outside the US due to processing delays, following new social media screening rules — - Google and Apple are advising some employees with visas not to travel outside the US, per memos viewed by Business Insider.
| Wall Street Journal: |
Inside NeurIPS 2025, and how it has transformed from a small academic conference into a massive industry event with 24,000+ attendees, yacht parties, and more — It used to be a small gathering just for nerdy researchers. Now there are yacht parties—and everyone is feeling bubbly.| April Roach / CNBC: |
S&P Global: data center deals hit $61B globally in 2025; debt issuance nearly doubled YoY to $182B, with Meta raising $62B debt since 2022, ~50% of that in 2025 — Global data centers dealmaking surged to hit another record high this year, driven by a rush to build out the infrastructure required for energy-intensive AI workloads.
More: Mashable, Bloomberg, The Guardian, and Reuters
X: @ttunguz, @jack_hoogland, @stealthqe4, @morningbrew, and @business
LinkedIn: April Roach and Iuri Struta
| Max Knoblauch / Sherwood News: |
Morgan Stanley: ad tiers account for 30% of Netflix subscribers and 50% of Disney+ subscribers; ad tiers accounted for all net subscriber additions in 2025 — As streaming prices climb, ad-free subscribers are becoming a rarity. — A mass digital migration is taking place … | Isabelle Bousquette / Wall Street Journal: |
The RAISE Act requires AI companies with $500M+ in revenue to publish safety protocols and disclose safety incidents within 72 hours, with fines up to $3M — Days after President Trump moved to block states from regulating AI, New York's governor signs what the bill's sponsor calls the strongest AI safety law in the U.S.| Jennifer Elias / CNBC: |
A profile of Josh Woodward, the head of Google Labs who is credited with turning around the Gemini app, growing its MAUs from 350M in March to 650M by October — Josh Woodward may not be a household name in Silicon Valley. But inside Google, everybody knows about him.
X: @sal19
| Jon Keegan / Sherwood News: |
A look at Meta's 2GW Hyperion data center in Louisiana, with the first phase opening in 2028; an analysis shows sales tax breaks on GPUs could total $3.3B+ — $10 billion of investment. Code names to disguise projects and companies. Mixed opinions. Skyrocketing property values.
More: KALB-TV and Meta Newsroom
X: @ljkawa and @enriqueabeyta
Bluesky: @sherwood.news, @joshadams, and @jonkeegan.com
| OpenAI: |
OpenAI introduces a framework to evaluate chain-of-thought monitorability and a suite of 13 evaluations designed to measure the monitorability of an AI system — We introduce evaluations for chain-of-thought monitorability and study how it scales with test-time compute, reinforcement learning, and pretraining.
More: WinBuzzer. X: @mileskwang, @zhuokaiz, @tomekkorbak, @koylanai, @mileskwang, @sama, @mileskwang, and @andersonbcdefg
| Dan Gallagher / Wall Street Journal: |
Micron projects FY Q2 sales to grow over 2x YoY to $18.7B and adjusted operating income to rise over 5x to $11.3B, signaling higher memory chip prices in 2026 — The AI gold rush is creating shortages for memory chips that could raise prices for all sorts of gadgets
More: Barron's Online, Yahoo Finance, The Straits Times, Barchart.com, The Next Platform, and Android Headlines. Mastodon: @remixtures@tldr.nettime.org
| Emma Roth / The Verge: |
OpenAI rolls out an update to let users adjust ChatGPT's characteristics, including how warm or enthusiastic it is, and its use of headers, lists, and emojis — OpenAI is making it easier to edit emails with ChatGPT, too. … OpenAI will now give you the ability to dial up — or down — ChatGPT's warmth and enthusiasm.
More: TechCrunch, The Decoder, iClarified, Mashable, Tech in Asia, and Blockchain.News
Shopify:
Shopify's new AI commerce stack — Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Shopify's new AI commerce stack — Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.Sponsor Post
| Cheng Ting-Fang / Nikkei Asia: |
Sources: TSMC plans to move chipmaking tools into its second Arizona fab in summer 2026, in line with its push to accelerate US production by “several quarters” — TAIPEI — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plans to start moving chipmaking tools into its second plant …
More: Android Headlines, Phoenix Business Journal, and Semafor
| Ashley Carman / Bloomberg: |
YouTube's head of products for podcasts Steve McLendon says viewers streamed 700M+ hours of podcasts on TV in October, up from 400M hours in October 2024 — That's up from 400 million hours a year ago as podcasts become the new late-night TV. — People are spending more time tuning … | Bloomberg: |
China issues new rules letting online merchants set their own prices across platforms for goods and services they sell, effective April 10, 2026, for five years — China issued rules for governing pricing-related practices of internet platform operators to safeguard the interests of consumers and merchants …
More: Tech in Asia
Sponsor Posts
Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro — Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Try Gemini 3 Pro — Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify's new AI commerce stack — Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Shopify's new AI commerce stack — Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Zoho:
Zoho People in 2025: A year in review — As we wrap up 2025, we're taking a moment to look back on a year filled with progress and transformation at Zoho People. Our team has been constantly pushing boundaries …
Zoho People in 2025: A year in review — As we wrap up 2025, we're taking a moment to look back on a year filled with progress and transformation at Zoho People. Our team has been constantly pushing boundaries …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box 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 & Box 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's Potential, Google's Speedy Model, Copilot Hits Turbulence
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:
Why Roomba Died + Tech Predictions for 2026 + A Hard Forkin' Xmas Song
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:
Betting on reality with Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Lenny's Podcast:
The new AI growth playbook for 2026: How Lovable hit $200M ARR in one year | Elena Verna (Head of Growth)
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
"Neither Side Is Used to Losing." Lucas Shaw on What's Next for Netflix and Paramount in the Battle for Warner Bros.
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.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
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.
Newest
Jennifer Elias / CNBC:
A profile of Josh Woodward, the head of Google Labs who is credited with turning around the Gemini app, growing its MAUs from 350M in March to 650M by OctoberFind
2½ hours ago
April Roach / CNBC:
S&P Global: data center deals hit $61B globally in 2025; debt issuance nearly doubled YoY to $182B, with Meta raising $62B debt since 2022, ~50% of that in 2025Find
5½ hours ago
Business Insider:
Google advises some employees on visas, including H-1B visas, not to travel outside the US due to processing delays, following new social media screening rulesFind
7 hours ago
Isabelle Bousquette / Wall Street Journal:
The RAISE Act requires AI companies with $500M+ in revenue to publish safety protocols and disclose safety incidents within 72 hours, with fines up to $3MFind
9 hours ago
Max Knoblauch / Sherwood News:
Morgan Stanley: ad tiers account for 30% of Netflix subscribers and 50% of Disney+ subscribers; ad tiers accounted for all net subscriber additions in 2025Find
10 hours ago
Mariella Moon / Engadget:
Google says it needs more time to upgrade Assistant to Gemini on most Android devices; Google previously planned to complete the transition by the end of 2025Find
12 hours ago
Wall Street Journal:
Inside NeurIPS 2025, and how it has transformed from a small academic conference into a massive industry event with 24,000+ attendees, yacht parties, and moreFind
13 hours ago
From Mediagazer
Paul Glynn / BBC:Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Ken Vogel / @kenvogel:
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| Dan Goodin / Ars Technica: |
More: PCMag, Digit, and Inc
Bluesky: @tvtater, @danielaldrich, @abr, @glenngabe, @lukaszolejnik, and @campuscodi.risky.biz
Earlier Picks
| Chris Stokel-Walker / Fast Company: |
| Blake Brittain / Reuters: |
More: The Keyword, Search Engine Roundtable, Search Engine Journal, The Verge, Search Engine Land, Pixel Envy, The Information, Ars Technica, MLex, and Bloomberg Law
X: @ipullrank, @erinkwoo, and @jason_kint
Forums: Hacker News, r/redditstock, and Slashdot