Journals

Charisma Madarang / Rolling Stone: Dudesy, a podcast generated by AI and curated by humans, releases an hour-long comedy special featuring an AI recreation of George Carlin, who died in 2008  —  The hour-long special arrived from Dudesy, a podcast… Read More »Dudesy, a podcast generated by AI and curated by humans, releases an hour-long comedy special featuring an AI recreation of George Carlin, who died in 2008 (Charisma Madarang/Rolling Stone)

Reuters: USDC stablecoin issuer Circle confidentially files for a US IPO, without saying the number of shares for sale or price range; Circle had a $9B valuation in 2022  —  Circle Internet Financial, the company behind stablecoin USDC, said on… Read More »USDC stablecoin issuer Circle confidentially files for a US IPO, without saying the number of shares for sale or price range; Circle had a $9B valuation in 2022 (Reuters)

Bloomberg: After spending $13M+ on US lobbying in the past decade, Huawei quietly shutters its in-house lobbying operation, ending an effort to overturn the US bans  —  – Chinese firm lost its last Washington fixers in recent months  — Hired… Read More »After spending $13M+ on US lobbying in the past decade, Huawei quietly shutters its in-house lobbying operation, ending an effort to overturn the US bans (Bloomberg)

Moneycontrol: ByteDance plans to shut down music streaming service Resso in India on January 31, after removing the App Store and Google Play apps in mid-December 2023  —  ByteDance said all existing users of Resso in India will be offered… Read More »ByteDance plans to shut down music streaming service Resso in India on January 31, after removing the App Store and Google Play apps in mid-December 2023 (Moneycontrol)

Abner Li / 9to5Google: Google plans to remove 17 “underutilized” Assistant features in February, including voice-controlled Play Books audiobooks, media alarms, and Calm meditation  —  Bard is the future of Assistant.  Ahead of that happening, Google announced today that Assistant… Read More »Google plans to remove 17 “underutilized” Assistant features in February, including voice-controlled Play Books audiobooks, media alarms, and Calm meditation (Abner Li/9to5Google)

Emma Roth / The Verge: After announcing the $199 R1 “Large Action Model” AI handheld at CES, Rabbit sold 10,000 units in one day; second batch orders should ship in April to May 2024  —  The R1, the pocket-size gadget… Read More »After announcing the $199 R1 “Large Action Model” AI handheld at CES, Rabbit sold 10,000 units in one day; second batch orders should ship in April to May 2024 (Emma Roth/The Verge)

Abner Li / 9to5Google: Google’s Gboard adds a physical keyboard toolbar on Android tablets, to access the clipboard, translation, and more, after adding stylus handwriting support  —  After rolling out the new stylus handwriting capabilities last month, Gboard now offers… Read More »Google’s Gboard adds a physical keyboard toolbar on Android tablets, to access the clipboard, translation, and more, after adding stylus handwriting support (Abner Li/9to5Google)

Krystal Hu / Reuters: Ripple Labs, creator of the XRP cryptocurrency, plans to buy back $285M in shares from early investors and employees, sources say at an $11.3B valuation  —  Cryptocurrency company Ripple Labs, known for its XRP coins, is… Read More »Ripple Labs, creator of the XRP cryptocurrency, plans to buy back $285M in shares from early investors and employees, sources say at an $11.3B valuation (Krystal Hu/Reuters)

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Munich-based car subscription startup Finn, which manages 25K subscriptions in Germany and the US, raised a €100M Series C at a €600M post-money valuation  —  Finn, a startup based out of Munich that operates a platform… Read More »Munich-based car subscription startup Finn, which manages 25K subscriptions in Germany and the US, raised a €100M Series C at a €600M post-money valuation (Ingrid Lunden/TechCrunch)

Martin Coulter / Reuters: London-based Hyperexponential, which offers math modeling tools to insurance companies to help price policies, raised $73M led by Battery Ventures  —  U.S. venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz has backed London-based insurance startup Hyperexponential in a $73… Read More »London-based Hyperexponential, which offers math modeling tools to insurance companies to help price policies, raised $73M led by Battery Ventures (Martin Coulter/Reuters)