Techmeme
January 26, 2026, 7:15 AM

Top News

Reece Rogers / Wired:
TikTok presents users in the US with a new privacy policy; the changes were part of the app's US ownership transition and now allow precise location tracking  —  According to its new privacy policy, TikTok now collects more data on its users, including their precise location …
Barbara Moens / Financial Times:
The EU opens a formal DSA investigation into xAI over Grok generating sexualized images of women and children; xAI faces fines of up to 6% of global revenue  —  European regulators begin investigation into creation and spread of sexualised images of women and children
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
A deep dive into Apple's AI strategy reset, as it prepares to announce a Gemini-powered personalized Siri next month and a reimagined chatbot-like Siri at WWDC  —  Apple shakes up its AI efforts with a Google partnership, management changes and two new versions of Siri.
Jasmine Sun / @jasmine's substack:
Claude Code can feel daunting, and most people's problems are not software-shaped, but it is clearly autonomous and the home-cooked app renaissance is great  —  are your problems software-shaped?  —  ∙ Paid  —  If you tell a friend they can now instantly create any app, they'll probably say “Cool!
Cade Metz / New York Times:
Ricursive, founded by ex-Google researchers to automate advanced chip design, raised $335M from Sequoia, Radical, Lightspeed, and others at a $4B valuation  —  One new start-up is called Recursive with an “e.”  Another is called Ricursive with an “i.”  They are trying to do the same thing …
Bloomberg:
Sources: SoftBank halts talks about a ~$50B acquisition of US data center operator Switch, a setback to Masayoshi Son's goal to roll out Stargate infrastructure  —  SoftBank Group Corp. has halted talks about an acquisition of US data center operator Switch Inc., a setback …
Ashley Gold / Axios:
OpenAI says nearly 1.3M weekly users are discussing “advanced topics in hard science” in January, with an average of 8.4M ChatGPT messages on those topics  —  AI is increasingly being used as a research collaborator for mathematicians and scientists, per a new report from OpenAI shared exclusively with Axios.
Nat Rubio-Licht / The Deep View:
London-based enterprise AI video startup Synthesia raised a $200M Series E led by GV at a $4B valuation, up from $2.1B after raising $180M in January 2025  —  W  —  hile AI video generators like OpenAI's Sora, Google's Veo, and Kling are best known for creating “AI slop” …
Jason Lemkin / SaaStr:
Many AI founders now find it necessary to raise at valuations requiring absolute domination of the field; Brex, once valued at $12B, shows the downsides of this  —  Capital One just announced it's acquiring Brex for $5.15 billion.  An incredible, top .1% “exit” in less than 10 years …

Sponsor Posts

Command Line:
Cheap code, precious trust: Code modernization at scale  —  The promise—and challenges—of agentic software engineering, from large-scale code migration to language modernization.
Will Reed:
The best sales leaders aren't job hunting.  Here's how to reach them without months of cold outreach.  —  Our team came from Box, Square, and Brex, so we already know the GTM leaders worth meeting.
Zoho:
Pro Tips: 5 ways to keep your OKR rollout on track past the three-month mark  —  Three months into an OKR rollout is when the cracks appear.  Manual tracking stalls, CRM data and strategic goals drift apart, and missed targets catch leaders by surprise.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Channels with Peter Kafka:
You Can't Escape AI. Here's How to Live With It.
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.
Training Data:
European Defense Sovereignty Starts in the Factory: Stark's Uwe Horstmann and Johannes Schaback
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
Subscribe to Training Data.
Cheeky Pint:
The airline CEO putting Starlink on every plane
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
Subscribe to Cheeky Pint.
Invest Like the Best:
Cliff Sosin - Owning the Complements to Intelligence
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Big Technology Podcast:
Emergency Pod: Anthropic's S-1 IPO Filing — With Dan Primack
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.
The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'Lubricate the Inside of the Hinge', With Joanna Stern
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 7:15 AM ET, January 26, 2026.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks

Thomas Brewster / Forbes: