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December 17, 2024, 1:40 PM
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Wall Street Journal:
Databricks is raising $10B from a16z, Thrive, others at a $62B valuation, among the largest VC raises in history; documents show Databricks has $2.6B in revenue  —  As CEO of Databricks, Ali Ghodsi has performed a series of ‘strategic surgeries’ to make his company one of the fastest-growing startups in Silicon Valley
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
The Irish Data Protection Commission fines Meta €251M over a Facebook breach that affected ~29M users globally and ~3M in the EU and EEA in September 2018  —  Meta has been fined €251 million (around $263 million) in the European Union for a Facebook security breach that affected millions of users …
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Framework releases a $39 modular component to add two extra M.2 slots to the Laptop 16, letting users have 26TB+ of storage, and updates the Laptop 16's cooling  —  The most ambitious laptop ever made just got a long-promised modular upgrade. … At launch, you only had two options …
Edith Hancock / Wall Street Journal:
The European Commission opens a formal DSA investigation into TikTok over concerns foreign actors used it to interfere in the Romanian presidential elections  —  The probe comes after judges in the country annulled the outcome of the first round of presidential elections, citing concerns of Russian interference
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
The US FTC issues long-awaited rules requiring companies to display the full price of hotels, concert tickets, and more up front, rather than hiding “junk fees”  —  The industries must display the full price of a hotel room, concert ticket or sporting event upfront to customers or face potential federal punishment.
Financial Times:
The UK opens a consultation on AI and copyright, and aims to offer an “opt out” copyright exception, force companies to open models to scrutiny, and more  —  Consultation could see easier access to copyrighted works but require tech groups to be clearer on what they have used
New York Times:
Sources: OpenAI is working to sever the nonprofit's control while compensating its board, possibly in the billions, and promised investors a two-year schedule  —  As the maker of ChatGPT battles Google and Meta for A.I. supremacy, it's also fighting to end control by a nonprofit board.
New York Times:
Tech consultant Nima Momeni was convicted by a San Francisco jury in the fatal stabbing of Cash App founder Bob Lee that occurred on April 4, 2023  —  Nima Momeni, 40, was convicted by a San Francisco jury in the fatal stabbing of Bob Lee, a well-known tech executive.
Rishav Chatterjee / Reuters:
Australia's privacy watchdog says Meta agreed to a AU$50M settlement over a 2020 Cambridge Analytica lawsuit alleging 300K+ Facebook users' data was exposed  —  The Australian Information Commissioner said on Tuesday it has withdrawn civil penalty proceedings against Meta Platforms (META.O) …
NBC News:
Source: Trump meets with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at Mar-a-Lago, the same day that the company asks the Supreme Court to block the law that could ban the app  —  President-elect Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok in 2020 but was blocked by the courts.  He has since changed his position on the issue.
Lawrence Hurley / NBC News:
ByteDance asks SCOTUS to block the US law that could ban TikTok on January 19; when asked about the law, Trump says he has a “warm spot” in his heart for TikTok
Juro Osawa / The Information:
Sources: Character.AI rival Talkie, one of the most-downloaded AI apps in the US and made by China's MiniMax, prepares an AI video feature to reignite growth  —  Many of you may not have heard of Talkie, a competitor to Character.AI in providing personalized artificial intelligence chatbots.
Emily Mason / Bloomberg:
Parafin, a startup run by ex-Robinhood staff offering spend management and savings tools as well as loan products, raised a $100 Series C at a $750M valuation  —  - Firm offers loan products, spend management and savings tools  — Valuation was boosted from $520 million at last equity raise
More: FinSMEs
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Google debuts Whisk, an image generator that takes other images as prompts to suggest the subject, scene, and style, and uses the new, “latest” Imagen 3 version  —  Google has announced a new AI tool called Whisk that lets you generate images using other images as prompts instead of requiring a long text prompt.
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Google DeepMind unveils Veo 2, a video generation model that can create clips over two minutes long at resolutions up to 4K, available in VideoFX via a waitlist

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From Mediagazer

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Some groups are building resources to defend against Trump lawsuits; they should gather lawyers and money, and people who know how to respond to performance art

Nicole Sperling / New York Times:
Some streamers now believe that releasing movies in theaters, promoted by expansive marketing and PR campaigns, helps makes movies successful on their platforms

Mia Sato / The Verge:
Sources: Forbes is cutting ties with freelancers who wrote for Forbes Vetted, its product review section, citing Google's “site reputation abuse” policy on SEO

More News

Earlier Picks

Sonia Rolley / Reuters:
Congo files criminal complaints against Apple subsidiaries in France and Belgium, accusing the tech firm of using conflict minerals in its supply chain
Bloomberg:
Digital bank Tyme Group, which operates in South Africa and the Philippines, raised a $250M Series D led by Brazilian digital bank Nubank at a $1.5B valuation
CNBC:
Waymo plans to test its robotaxis in Tokyo in early 2025, its first international expansion, partnering with taxi operator Nihon Kotsu and taxi hailing app GO
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Mark Zuckerberg says Threads now has 100M+ DAUs, revealing its DAU figure for the first time, and 300M+ MAUs, up from 275M+ MAUs in November 2024
Matt Levine / Bloomberg:
After probing an open-and-shut SEC violation for two years, it's nearly too late for the SEC to do anything over how Musk acquired Twitter before Trump moves in
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