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.
SCOTUS upholds the TikTok divest-or-ban law, says free speech rights must yield to concerns that Chinese control of the app creates a national-security risk
The Supreme Court upheld a law that threatens to shut down the wildly popular TikTok social media platform in the US as soon as Sunday …
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.
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.
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.
Trump says he will “be making the decision” about TikTok and confirms he had a conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the app
The Supreme Court ruled Friday that a controversial ban on TikTok may take effect this weekend, rejecting an appeal from the popular app's owners …
Sources: Chinese hackers breached US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's computer and accessed fewer than 50 unclassified files; two deputies were also hacked
- Two deputies also ensnared in sprawling espionage campaign — Fewer than 50 unclassified files on Yellen's machine accessed
Crypto wallet Phantom raised a $150M Series C co-led by Sequoia Capital and Paradigm at a $3B valuation, more than double its $1.2B valuation in January 2022
Phantom raised $150 million from big-name investors. — Cryptocurrency-wallet provider Phantom Technologies Inc. has raised $150 million …
EU expands its X probe, asking for internal docs about X's recommendation algorithm, following complaints from German politicians about boosting the far right
Move follows complaints from German politicians ahead of election next month — Brussels has ordered Elon Musk …
Lenovo acquires enterprise storage startup Infinidat and plans to turn it into its Israel development center; Infinidat raised $350M from TPG and others
The Chinese computer giant will pay hundreds of millions of dollars for Infinidat, which will become its Israel development center.
Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd will return to the company as CEO in mid-March, replacing current CEO Lidiane Jones, who is departing for “personal reasons”
She will replace the current chief executive, Lidiane Jones, who is departing for “personal reasons,” the firm said.
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
and that's exactly what Nintendo needs Bluesky: Shane Luis / @rerez.net : Switch 2 seems to be exactly what I wanted so far! — + Bigger Screen — + Bigger Controls — + Digital & Physical Game Bac...
An in-depth look at the UK's AI Safety Institute, whose researchers test AI systems for risks and for capabilities that might become dangerous in the future
In May 2023, three of the most important CEOs in artificial intelligence walked through the iconic black front door of No. 10 Downing Street …
Sources: Mira Murati's AI startup has poached about 10 researchers and engineers, including former OpenAI Head of Special Projects Jonathan Lachman, from rivals
It's a major get for Murati's mysterious startup, which has also poached engineers and researchers from a number of other prominent AI firms.
Instabase, which lets companies process unstructured data from different document types, raised a $100M Series D led by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund
Instabase, a company that creates software for extracting processing unstructured data from myriad document types, has raised $100 million in a Series D round of funding.
A survey of US teens aged 13-17 found 26% used ChatGPT for schoolwork in 2024, up from 13% in 2023, while 79% had heard of it, up from 67% in 2023
As debates continue over whether chatbots should have a role in the classroom, more teens are turning to ChatGPT to help with schoolwork.
Source: Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth told staff that some of Meta's changes were “pretty ham-fisted, borderline unintentional” and Meta is planning some corrections
Kalley Huang / The Information : Bluesky: @abunchofmalarkey . Threads: @firerock31 . X: @amir Bluesky: @abunchofmalarkey : Nothing to worry about. There are only 3 billion facebook users worldwide. ...
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
As Crypto Experts Push For Stockpile On Day One Gustaf Kilander / The Independent : A crypto council? Trump plans to make cryptocurrency a national priority with executive order Ronaldo Marquez / News...
The US sanctions a China-based cybersecurity company involved in the Salt Typhoon hacks and a Shanghai-based hacker involved in the recent US Treasury breach
The U.S. Treasury department on Friday issued cyber-related sanctions related to the Salt Typhoon hack on Singaporean Yin Kechen …
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
Olivia is currently the Policy Director on the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, where she has fought tirelessly to grow the Economy, empower Innovation, and rei...
Sources: Shield AI, maker of software for autonomous aircraft and drones, is raising ~$200M from Palantir and others at a $5B valuation, up from $2.8B in 2024
Maker of software for autonomous aircraft is raising around $200mn from backers — Artificial intelligence start-up Shield AI …
PitchBook: investors put $74.6B into US startups in Q4 2024, up from an average of $42B in the prior nine quarters, with $32B invested across just five deals
After two years of relatively muted investment activity, it seems that VCs are starting to pour capital into startups at pandemic-era levels once again.
Apple launches its dedicated Apple Store app in India, allowing customers to purchase products, receive personalized shopping recommendations, and more
Manish Singh / TechCrunch :
Job listings show Xiaohongshu is rushing to hire English-speaking moderators to help manage the unexpected influx of English videos and posts on the platform
a sign of wider censorship. Earlier this week, China's Cyberspace Administration warned Xiaohongshu to “ensure China-based users can't see posts from US users.” [image] Stuart Gilmour / @drstuartgilmo...
Sources: Instagram and YouTube gear up to welcome TikTok users; two Meta employees say execs discussed resource allocation on January 15 to handle TikTok users
New York Times :
Sources: Meta's Community Notes won't apply to paid ads, but will be enabled for organic content, which includes brands' and influencers' unpromoted posts
Patrick Coffee / Wall Street Journal :
Doc: FBI leaders have warned that they believe the hackers who broke into AT&T's system last year stole months of their agents' call and text logs
Bloomberg :
Microsoft bundles its AI-powered Office features into Microsoft 365 Personal and Home subscriptions for an extra $3 per month
MS takes the thing they were charging €20 p/m for, drops the price to €3 p/m but then tapes it to the product everyone has to buy so you can't even avoid it at the lower price. — https://www.theverg...
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
Today, NetChoice joined @TechNetUpdate in a new lawsuit to protect consumers, businesses and innovation from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau [image] Chris Marchese / @chrismarchese9 : Incredi...
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%
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC :
CFPB announces a $175M settlement with Block, including $120M in refunds to consumers, saying Cash App allowed rampant fraud while misleading its customers
The company blamed “unprecedented growth during the pandemic.” 🤔 — fortune.com/2025/01/16/j... Justin Maxwell / @303 : hooray — got scammed 2x on cashapp a while back (before venmo had paypal's G...
In a first, Samsung will pay 50%-100% of executive bonuses in stock starting January 2026, linking compensation to share performance amid chipmaking struggles
Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg :
A look at Pump.Fun, a service for launching memecoins that has generated $350M+ in revenue via a 1% trading fee in the 12 months since its launch in Jan. 2024
Joel Khalili / Wired :
Researchers fear TikTok is softening Taiwanese youth's stance on China with pro-China content; a report says 22% of Taiwan's population uses TikTok or Douyin
Kathrin Hille / Financial Times :
Robotics company Symbotic agrees to take control of Walmart's automation business for $200M in cash and up to $350M in “additional contingent consideration”
Brian Heater / TechCrunch :
Shopify: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26
Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control
Picture this: It's Monday morning. You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
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.