Techmeme: Sources: India plans ~$2.7B in fresh subsidies and import tariff cuts to help boost local manufacturing, especially of smartphones made by companies like Apple (Bloomberg)

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January 6, 2025, 10:55 AM

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Sam Altman:

Sam Altman says “we are now confident we know how to build AGI as we have traditionally understood it” and that OpenAI is turning its focus to superintelligence — The second birthday of ChatGPT was only a little over a month ago, and now we have transitioned into the next paradigm of models that can do complex reasoning.

More: The Verge, The Economic Times, The Guardian, 9to5Mac, Marcus on AI, CCN.com, AI News, MakeUseOf, TechCrunch, Maginative, Constellation Research, Neowin, CryptoSlate, Decrypt, The Crypto Times, BGR, Analytics India Magazine, and Cointelegraph

Bluesky: @domw, @daniloc.xyz, and @theopriestley.com. Threads: @mergesort

X: @jeffjarvis, @alliekmiller, @nickadobos, @singularitynet, @skirano, @teortaxestex, @edkrassen, and @kimmonismus

Forums: Hacker News and Slashdot

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:

Sam Altman says that OpenAI, which isn't profitable, is losing money on its $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro plan because “people use it much more than we expected” — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says that the company is currently losing money on its $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro plan because people are using it more than expected

More: Computerworld, The Verge, Business Today, Sherwood News, Tech.co, diginomica, Benzinga, Nairametrics, Analytics India Magazine, WinBuzzer, Business Insider, and Tech in Asia

Bluesky: @edzitron.com and @amardguru

X: @sama, @sama, @yoheinakajima, @mattprd, @hkproj, @rmedranollamas, @cuenca, @nickadobos, @koltregaskes, and @teslatommy1. Forums: r/technology

Josh Tyrangiel / Bloomberg:

Q&A with Sam Altman on OpenAI's and ChatGPT's first few years, his removal as CEO, OpenAI's structure, AGI, AI safety, nuclear fusion, Trump, Musk, and more — On Nov. 30, 2022, traffic to OpenAI's website peaked at a number a little north of zero. It was a startup so small and sleepy …

More: PYMNTS.com, The Information, Fortune, Business Insider, The Decoder, Cryptopolitan, CCN.com, TechCrunch, and Marginal REVOLUTION

X: @andrewcurran_, @bradstone, @newley, @tsarnick, @0xlaiyuen, and @tyrangiel. LinkedIn: Mattias Rost

Forums: r/slatestarcodex and r/OpenAI

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Disney and Fubo announce a deal wherein Disney will combine Hulu + Live TV with Fubo in a joint venture and Fubo will drop its Venu Sports antitrust lawsuit — Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery will pay Fubo $220 million to settle antitrust suit — Disney announced a deal …

More: TechCrunch, Bloomberg, ir.fubo.tv, The Verge, The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, Yahoo Finance, Associated Press, Proactive, The Hill, Sportico, Quartz, Benzinga, The Wrap, IndieWire, NBC News, TVNewsCheck, CNN, Cord Cutters News, One America News Network, Axios, Radio & Television …, Latest from Tv Technology, Streaming Better, Watcher Guru, The Desk, Deadline, Advanced Television, WORLD SCREEN, The Streamable, TVNewsCheck, TVLine, Sports Media Watch, The Streamable, Reuters, Cord Cutters News, Barron's Online, and Fox Business

Bluesky: @willman.online and @philthepill.online

X: @tvgrimreaper, @xpangler, @jbflint, @tvanswerman, @matthewkeyslive, @knox_vol865, @allie_canal, @michellef_davis, @mikestrawmedia, @chrisharihar, @nycmikehenry, @davidclinchnews, @frankthetank111, and @mgsiegler

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Jon Henley / The Guardian:

Emmanuel Macron joins growing European criticism of Musk, says “the owner of one of the world's largest social networks” is “intervening directly in elections” — French president accuses world's richest man of intervening directly in continent's democratic processes

More: Bloomberg, Politico, Agence France-Presse, Bloomberg, The Mirror, The Times, Spectator, Politico, and New York Times

Bluesky: @marypcbuk and @jestastrophy

X: @skynews, @lewis_goodall, @elonmusk, @elonmusk, and @elonmusk

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

Samsung unveils a suite of AI experiences for its TVs, including Click to Search, Live Translate, and a way to recognize food on the screen and provide recipes — For this year's lineup, Samsung said that AI will come to life in more ways than just great picture quality.

More: Samsung Newsroom, The Verge, XDA Developers, PCMag, Business Standard, Financial Express, Moneycontrol, T3, MediaPost, SamMobile, BGR, TechRadar, TechCrunch, Interesting Engineering, SammyGuru, Android Authority, PhoneArena, Sammy Fans, Android Police, Phandroid, Neowin, Analytics India Magazine, and TechCrunch

Bluesky: @antiquequaalude, @bdsams.com, and @kentindell. Threads: @chriswelch

Bloomberg:

Sources: India plans ~$2.7B in fresh subsidies and import tariff cuts to help boost local manufacturing, especially of smartphones made by companies like Apple — - Proposed incentives will help smartphone makers like Apple — Final decision to be made by cabinet; details likely in budget

More: 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, MacRumors, Supercharged, Apple Must, and MacDailyNews

Financial Times:

Chinese VCs are targeting failed founders' personal assets and blacklisting them as debtors when they don't pay, throwing China's funding ecosystem into crisis — Pursuit of entrepreneurs threatens start-up ecosystem as investors target personal assets to claw back funding

Bluesky: @kylebrussell. X: @tomaxwell

Andrew Cunningham / Ars Technica:

Intel launches Arrow Lake Core Ultra 200U, 200H, and 200HX laptop CPUs; none of the CPUs meet the AI performance requirements for Microsoft's Copilot+ — Core Ultra 200U, 200H, and 200HX will all fall short of Copilot+ compatibility. — Intel's Core Ultra 200 series is currently bifurcated between …

More: HotHardware, Windows Central, CNET, Gizmodo, XDA Developers, VentureBeat, PCMag, Engadget, Tom's Hardware, VideoCardz.com, PCWorld, TechCrunch, The Verge, ZDNET, Neowin, Bloomberg, OC3D, Laptop Mag, WinBuzzer, Tom's Guide, TechRadar, Techaeris, TechPowerUp, KitGuru, Liliputing, Digital Trends, NewsBytes, and Notebookcheck

X: @tomwarren. Forums: Ars OpenForum

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge:

Ring announces a new partnership with fire safety brand Kidde to launch smart smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, launching for $54.97 and $74.97 in April 2025 — Ring has announced a new partnership with fire safety brand Kidde to launch smart smoke and carbon monoxide alarms that connect …

More: The Sun, GeekWire, Engadget, PCWorld, TechCrunch, Tom's Guide, TechRadar, Bloomberg, and Business Wire

Preetika Rana / Wall Street Journal:

Uber and Lyft are embracing autonomous vehicle operators like Waymo, May Mobility, and others, after abandoning developing their own driverless taxis years ago — After ending their own driverless plans, the ride-sharing companies are embracing autonomous-vehicle operators and offering new app features

More: PYMNTS.com and New York Times. Bluesky: @davelee.me

Lillian Rizzo / CNBC:

Comcast plans to launch Universal Ads in Q1 2025 to simplify ad buying and win over SMB advertisers from Big Tech, and signs deals with NBCUniversal and others — Comcast plans to launch a new advertising platform that will make it easier for smaller businesses to buy ad time — and …

More: Ad Age. X: @eric_seufert. LinkedIn: Dan Abend

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Zoho Workplace gets yet another security boost: The addition of Zoho Vault — Information is the new currency. More than ever, safeguarding sensitive data is now paramount. A data breach can not only damage …

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From Mediagazer

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:

The Washington Post is laying off roughly 4% of its workforce, affecting fewer than 100 people across its business divisions; its newsroom is not affected

Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:

Roku says it passed 90M US streaming households in the first week of January, up from 85.5M in October, and is now in nearly half of all US broadband households

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Emma Roth / The Verge:

TiVo plans to launch TiVo OS in the US with a new Sharp TV, arriving as soon as February 2025, rivaling the likes of Roku, Google TV, and Amazon's Fire TV

More: Light Reading. Bluesky: @davezatz

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:

Avataar debuts Velocity, an AI tool that generates product videos based on a product link, and says HP, Victoria's Secret, Lowe's, and others are using the tool

Forums: r/artificial

Gabrielle Canon / The Guardian:

A look at the rise of Watch Duty, a wildfire monitoring app active in 14 US states that has gained up to 7.2M active users in the three years since its launch

Bluesky: @guardian-climate and @jdaldern. Mastodon: @salixsericea@mastodon.social

Margaux MacColl / TechCrunch:

A profile of headhunter Peterson Conway, who worked with Palantir and other Silicon Valley defense and hard tech firms and is now the talent head at VC firm A*

Yantoultra Ngui / Reuters:

Singapore-based Digital Edge, which operates 21 data centers in Japan, South Korea, India, and others, raised $1.6B+, including ~$640M in equity and $1B in debt

More: Bloomberg, DatacenterDynamics, Total Telecom, Enterprise Times, Digital Edge, TNGlobal, Pulse 2.0, Silicon Republic, and Tech in Asia

Teresa Xie / Bloomberg:

Advertising company Outfront, whose clients include Mercury, Brex, Klarna, and Venmo, says fintech ad spend is up 45%+ YoY on average over the past three years

More: PYMNTS.com

Earlier Picks

Bloomberg:

Sources: Italy is in advanced talks for a €1.5B, five-year SpaceX deal to provide the government with secure telecom services, Europe's largest such project

More: PCMag, Politico, TelecomTV, ZeroHedge News, Light Reading, Fortune, CCN.com, Hindustan Times, Proactive, TechRadar, Semafor, Seeking Alpha, Reuters, and The Independent

Bluesky: @quinnypig.com and @timlatimer

Forums: r/esa, r/Starlink, r/technology, r/worldnews, and r/europe

Financial Times:

Malaysia's environment minister says global tech companies should expect to pay a premium for access to energy and water to serve data centers in the country

More: Wall Street Journal and Global Corporate Venturing

Wall Street Journal:

A look at Chinese hackers' attacks on US infrastructure and telecoms; sources: Charter, Consolidated Communications, and Windstream networks were also breached

More: SC Media, CSO, BleepingComputer, Reuters, TechRadar, Security Affairs, Android Headlines, New York Post, Tom's Hardware, Semafor, Livemint, and Bloomberg

Bluesky: @hatr and @retr0.id. Threads: @carnage4life

X: @e_atpitt_, @jerrydunleavy, @andrewcmyers, @hraleighspeaks, @0xalexei, @0xalexei, @lukolejnik, @committeeonccp, @lukolejnik, @jerrydunleavy, @jerrydunleavy, @fdd, @drewfitzgerald, @dnvolz, @m_miho_jpn, @dnvolz, and @dnvolz

LinkedIn: Sarah Krouse and Isaac Stone Fish

Forums: r/craftofintelligence and Slashdot

Jane Lanhee Lee / Bloomberg:

Foxconn reports Q4 revenue of ~$64.6B, up 15% YoY vs. est. of a 13% rise, boosted by data center spending, with December 2024 bringing in ~$19.8B, up 42% YoY

More: Barron's Online, Wall Street Journal, Quartz, Benzinga, GreenBot, Cryptopolitan, Reuters, Hon Hai Technology Group, BNN Bloomberg, Tech in Asia, and Livemint. X: @dnystedt

Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:

PitchBook: AI startups building medical note-taking apps raised $800M in 2024, up from $390M in 2023, as Microsoft, Amazon, and others compete for market share

More: PYMNTS.com and Cryptopolitan

Bluesky: @petetrainor.fyi. LinkedIn: Dr Harpreet Sood and Mona Sloane