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Tech

AI Summary

  • Artificial intelligence is expanding rapidly across industries, from design to legal tech, but is also facing intense scrutiny over ethical concerns like child safety, deepfakes, and data privacy.
  • TikTok's US operations are experiencing significant upheaval following a new ownership deal, marked by widespread technical issues, user migration to alternative platforms, and allegations of content censorship.
  • Big tech firms are under increased pressure regarding user privacy and regulatory compliance, evident in Google's settlement over voice assistant data and federal investigations into autonomous vehicle operations.
  • Significant venture capital is flowing into specialized tech, with AI chip startups and design tools securing massive funding rounds, alongside the introduction of high-end consumer hardware and new subscription-based service models.
  • Social media platforms are exploring new revenue streams through premium subscriptions, while simultaneously contending with user trust issues, platform outages, and legal challenges concerning content moderation and data usage.

TechCrunch


Hacker News


Engadget

  • The Samsung Galaxy Z Trifold will cost $2,900 in the US 34 minutes ago by Anna Washenko
    Technology & Electronics, Handheld & Connected Devices, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Anna Washenko

    As promised, Samsung is bringing its Galaxy Z Trifold smartphone to shoppers in the US. The unique foldable goes on sale on January 30.  The phone was announced along with its select markets' sale dates at the close of 2025. We didn't have price information for Samsung's domestic market at that time, and even though we were anticipating the Galaxy Z Trifold to cost a bundle, the actual cost is more absurd than we'd guessed. In reality, getting your hands on this slim triple-screen smartphone will run you $2,900.  Putting aside the ludicrous expense, this smartphone is pretty dang cool. After his

  • Lego has a new round of Star Wars sets that work with the Smart Brick an hour ago by Sarah Fielding
    Robots, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Sarah Fielding

    Lego unveiled its Smart Play system at CES 2026 earlier this month, with a selection of sets designed for the engaging feature. Now, the toy company has announced five new compatible sets — all Stars Wars themed — available now for pre-order. Anthony Daniels, the original C-3PO, shared the news during the Nuremberg Toy Fair.  The Smart Play system, Lego's newest venture, involves a Smart Brick, Smart Tags and Smart Minifigures. Each Smart Brick has proximity sensors, an accelerometer, a speaker and more. The Smart Tags and Smart Minifigures relay what's happening to the Brick. For example, if you whoosh a

  • Apple's AirPods Pro 3 are on sale for $199 right now 2 hours ago by Andre Revilla
    Technology & Electronics, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Andre Revilla

    The AirPods Pro 3 are on sale and back at their record low price of $199. This is marked down from $250, a hefty 20 percent discount. This model was just released in September of last year, so consider this a substantial discount for such a recent product. We gave these AirPods a score of 90 out of 100 in our review and we consider them the best wireless earbuds for iPhone users. The third generation model is a substantial update to an already impressive product, bringing new features like live translation to the table. The AirPods Pro 3 also offer heart-rate

  • California will investigate TikTok's alleged censorship of anti-Trump posts 2 hours ago by Mariella Moon
    Politics & Government, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Mariella Moon

    California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced that his office is investigating whether TikTok is truly censoring content critical of Trump, days after ByteDance finalized a deal to spin off its business in the US. Newsom made the announcement in response to a post on X, claiming that you can no longer send messages in the app with the word “Epstein” in it. Newsom’s office, in a separate post, said it was able to independently confirm instances wherein TikTok suppressed content critical of President Donald Trump. The governor’s office told Politico that it tried to send a direct message with the word

  • The Morning After: Apple's new louder, high-precision AirTag 2 hours ago by Mat Smith
    Technology & Electronics, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Mat Smith

    Between the new Macs, iPhones and rumored AI gadgets, Apple surprised us with an upgraded, second-generation AirTag. It has Apple’s latest Ultra Wideband chip — the same one used in the iPhone 17 lineup and the Apple Watch Ultra 3. It also uses Precision Finding to reach items up to 50 percent further away than the previous AirTag model. This feature will now work with any Apple Watch Series 9, Ultra 2 or newer. TMA Apple Apple says the new tag is 50 percent louder and features a “distinctive new chime.” So you can show off that you’ve got the new kind of


The Verge

  • Pinterest cuts workforce by around 15 percent to focus on AI 27 minutes ago by Jess Weatherbed
    AI, Business, News, Social Media, Tech

    Pinterest is making cuts to fund its AI plans. Pinterest is planning to lay off hundreds of workers and reduce its office space to reallocate resources for its artificial intelligence initiatives. In a regulatory filing posted Tuesday, Pinterest says the reduction is expected to impact "less than 15 percent" of its current workforce, and that the layoffs should be complete by September 30th, 2026. Pinterest said it had 4,666 full-time employees as of the end of 2024, which would mean around 700 staffers are impacted by today's announcement. The document said these changes are to support three "transformation initiatives," with two of

  • The Samsung Trifold will cost nearly three grand 34 minutes ago by Allison Johnson
    Foldable Phones, Gadgets, Mobile, News, Samsung, Tech

    The phone that thinks it’s a tablet. Samsung's much-anticipated Galaxy Z Trifold goes on sale on this Friday, January 26th, and the price is every bit as steep as we'd feared: $2,899, which gets you 512GB of storage and a phone that kind of wants to be a tablet all the time. The Trifold first premiered in Korea late last year, so the sky-high price isn't totally unexpected. You can spend two thousand bucks on a slab-style iPhone after all; maybe $2,900 for three phones in one isn't so outrageous. Samsung first teased the Trifold almost exactly a year ago, which is

  • Truth and AI in Minneapolis an hour ago by David Pierce
    Creators, Netflix, Podcasts, Policy, Streaming, Tech, TikTok, Vergecast

    When federal agents killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday morning, video of the shooting - from lots of people, and lots of angles, with wildly varying levels of quality - immediately began to fly around the internet. This is what always happens in times like these, and there have unfortunately been a lot of times like these recently. Verge subscribers, don't forget you get exclusive access to ad-free Vergecast wherever you get your podcasts. Head here. Not a subscriber? You can sign up here. There was something different about this one, though. Something about how visible the whole act was. Something

  • Google Photos now lets you describe how to transform images into video 2 hours ago by Jess Weatherbed
    AI, Creators, Google, News, Tech

    Google Photos users are no longer limited to using preset editing suggestions. Google is giving Photos users more control over the app's generative AI photo-to-video feature. Google Photos now supports text prompts for video generation, according to the update announcement on Monday, allowing users to describe the specific movement, style, or effect they want to see when bringing still images to life. Text prompts join the existing "Subtle Movement" and "I'm feeling lucky" options that are already available for Google Photos' image-to-video tool - neither of which allowed users to enter their own descriptions to guide the results. Google says Photos will

  • Roland’s TR-1000 is the ultimate drum machine 3 hours ago by Terrence O’Brien
    Entertainment, Gadgets, Music, Reviews, Tech

    This is actually tidier than my desk normally looks. It took way too long, but Roland finally caved and gave the people what they want: a proper analog successor to the iconic TR-808 drum machine. The 808's sound, especially the kick drum, is embedded so deeply in the DNA of modern music that it would be a gross disservice to try and boil its influence down to a single sentence or a list of artists. (Note: Not all of the songs linked necessarily use an actual 808, but they at least feature samples or approximations of its sounds.) But, in typical Roland


Wired


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