Meta is completely revamping its fact-checking program, going instead with a version of Community Notes. A new Tesla recall, but for a different reason. Dell is taking rebranding to new, Google-like lows. All the headlines from a jam-packed Nvidia keynote. And what about an AI copilot but for gaming?

Sponsors:

• LinkedIn.com/ride

Links:

• US opens probe into 2.6 million Tesla vehicles over remote driving feature (Reuters)
• Getty Images and Shutterstock agree to merge (Axios)
• Getty Images and Shutterstock to Merge in $3.7 Billion Deal (The Wrap)
• Dell kills the XPS brand (The Verge)
• Nvidia announces next-gen RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 GPUs (The Verge)
• Nvidia’s Project Digits is a ‘personal AI supercomputer’ (TechCrunch)
• Razer Project Ava: would you pay an AI to help you get good at games? (The Verge)

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Sam Altman says AGI isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? Superintelligence. Why is nobody using Meta’s AI profiles? Keep an eye on Zuck, is my advice. The big trend at CES so far is AI inside smart TVs. And our first day wrap up of some of the cool things we’ve seen so far at CES.

Sponsors:

• Oracle.com/techmeme

Links:

• Reflections (Sam Altman's Blog)
• Meta's AI Profiles Are Indistinguishable From Terrible Spam That Took Over Facebook (404 Media)
• Samsung spreads Vision AI across its 2025 TV portfolio (VentureBeat)
• LG and Samsung are adding Microsoft’s Copilot AI assistant to their TVs (The Verge)
• LG’s 2025 OLED TVs are its best yet — but they risk going overboard with AI (The Verge)
• CES 2025: We Spent Hours Watching a Robot Vacuum Pick Up Socks. It's a Dream Come True (CNET)
• Stop Scalding Your Tongue: This $25 Cat Robot 'Blows' on Your Drink to Cool It (CNET)
• Elvie unveils an app-controlled smart bouncer that transforms into a bassinet at CES 2025 (TechCrunch)
• TiVo-powered TVs are coming to the US (The Verge)

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Apple pays a fine cause Siri was listening in on what you said. Strava does a tie-in with Apple Fitness+. Net Neutrality is dead again, and it looks like for good this time. The nuclear winter in the VC space, CES is coming for us all, and a Weekend Longreads Suggestion.

Links:

• Apple to pay $95 million to settle Siri privacy lawsuit (Reuters)
• Apple Fitness Plus and Strava are collaborating with a new integration (The Verge)
• US appeals court blocks Biden administration effort to restore net-neutrality rules (Reuters)
• AI-generated phishing scams target corporate executives (Financial Times)
• Number of US venture capital firms falls as cash flows to tech’s top investors (Financial Times)
• Asus, Samsung, and MSI announce world’s first 27-inch 4K OLED 240Hz monitors (The Verge)

Weekend Longreads Suggestion:

• AI Needs So Much Power, It’s Making Yours Worse (Bloomberg)

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Among other things, learn how Miami Vice inspired the Golden Girls, how the Golden Girls helped finance the making of the movie Reservoir Dogs, whether or not Betty White and Bea Arthur hated each other, where the Golden Girls house was, and the real ages of the actresses when they were playing Golden Girls.

Special guest, Christina Warren, @film_girl!

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AT&T and Verizon say they’ve rooted out Salt Typhoon. Trump asks the Supreme Court to intervene in the TikTok situation. All the banks want to be like Tether. And as we slide into this new year, it’s a USB-C world now, we’re just living in it.

Links:

• AT&T, Verizon Say Networks Now Clear After Salt Typhoon Hack (Bloomberg)
• Trump Asks Supreme Court to Pause Law Threatening TikTok Ban (Bloomberg)
• Biden administration proposes new cybersecurity rules to limit impact of healthcare data leaks (Reuters)
• Banks Want In on Tether’s Billions in Stablecoin Profits (Bloomberg)
• ‘Grand Theft Auto VI’ set to break records despite gaming slowdown (FT)
• The USB-C charging mandate arrives in the EU — here’s what that means (The Verge)

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Microsoft and OpenAI are reportedly having problems deciding how make this whole, reclassifying as for-profit thing work. Oh, also, they secretly decided on a new definition of artificial general intelligence that is tied to tangible dollar value. At the tail end of the year, the most interesting new AI model of the year. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions.

Links:

• Microsoft and OpenAI Wrangle Over Terms of Their Blockbuster Partnership (The Information)
• Microsoft and OpenAI’s Secret AGI Definition (The Information)
• DeepSeek-V3, ultra-large open-source AI, outperforms Llama and Qwen on launch (VentureBeat)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

• Video Games Can’t Afford to Look This Good (NYTimes)
• Hawk Tuah Wasn’t What It Seemed (The Atlantic)
• The Paper Passport Is Dying (Wired)
• You Need to Create a Secret Password With Your Family (Wired)

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Was Calvin And Hobbes the greatest comic strip ever? Or maybe a great work of art of the 20th Century? Why did Bill Watterson disappear? Was Calvin "good" (morally)? Was Hobbes "real"? Why were there never any toys? Would we ever really want Calvin and Hobbes to come back?

With special guest @kibblesmith!

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How about a Ring Doorbell, but from Apple? How about Meta Ray Ban’s but crossed with Google Glass? How everybody is combining forces to bid for defense contracts. How Tether won the crypto profitability wars. And how Britannica has not only survived the Internet era, but is actually thriving?

Sponsors:

• 1Password.com/ride

Links:

• Apple Explores a Face ID Doorbell and Lock Device in Smart Home Push (Bloomberg)
• Meta to add display to Ray-Bans as race over smart glasses intensifies (FT)
• Palantir and Anduril join forces with tech groups to bid for Pentagon contracts (FT)
• Tether Sees $10 Billion in Net Profits for 2024 (Bloomberg)
• Britannica Didn’t Just Survive. It’s an A.I. Company Now. (NYTimes)

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