Sarah Lane (2:30)

This is the weekend edition of Daily Tech Headlines for the week ending Saturday, January 24, 2026. I'm Sarah Lane. Let's catch up on a bit of breaking news and essential news over the past week. TikTok's revamped privacy policy under its new US based ownership pulls in more user data, now collecting precise location information if granted device permissions, something it previously had not done in the U.S. it also explicitly logs user interactions with AI tools, including prompts and model outputs. And TikTok is expanding its ads network, letting data be used for targeted ads beyond the app, with publishers now listed as partners. Google Photos is adding a generative feature called Me Meme that lets users create memes with their own images. It's experimental, it is US only at launch and is run on Google's Gemini Image Tech users pick a template, upload a selfie and generate a meme. With more templates coming over time, the rollout will hit iOS and Android in the coming weeks. Amazon is offering early access to its upgraded Alexa assistant in Mexico, localized in Spanish with new voices and support for slang. Amazon's head of devices and services Panos Panay says adoption is strong after launches in the US And Canada. Alexa will stay free during early access and be free for prime members afterward. The more conversational assistant supports more than 600 million Alexa enabled devices and is expanding to mobile web, Samsung TVs, BMW cars and smart home appliances. Tesla is now offering fully driverless robo taxi rides in Austin, Texas, with the cars running with no human safety monitor on board. It builds on a smaller supervised rollout from last summer. Tesla is charging for rides, appears to be using chase cars or cars with human drivers in proximity during the trip for oversight, and plans to fold the fully driverless vehicles into Austin's broader fleet, which still has cars but with safety monitors for now. Tesla is also removing lane centering called auto steer as a standard feature on new Model 3 and Model Y purchases in the US and Canada, and putting it behind the 99 per month full self driving supervised subscription. Traffic Aware cruise control is still included. The shift only affects new buyers, but aligns with Tesla's broader move to subscription only FSD after February 14, when the $8,000 one time buy option will go away. Meta is pausing teen access to its AI characters across all apps while it works on an updated version with tighter parental controls and age appropriate responses. The move comes as the company faces mounting legal and regulatory scrutiny over teen safety and mental health, including a trial in New Mexico set for next week. Meta says the revamped AI characters will launch for all users, with parents able to monitor and restrict topics and turn the feature off entirely. Snap has settled with a 19 year old plaintiff in a social media addiction lawsuit just days before the case was set to go to trial in Los Angeles. Terms weren't disclosed, but the lawsuit argued the algorithmic design on major platforms fosters addiction and harms mental health. Other defendants in the same case, including Meta, TikTok and YouTube, and haven't announced any settlements, and jury selection is still scheduled for January 27. IPhone shipments in India hit roughly 14 million units in 2025, giving Apple a record share of 9%, up from 7% the prior year. Counterpoint Research attributes the gains to rising aspirational demand and broader retail availability. India's overall smartphone market was flat at around 152 to 153 million units for the fourth straight year. Premium phones priced above 30,000 rupees grew 15% and reached a record 23% of shipments, benefiting Apple, of course, despite Chinese brands still leading in volume. Apple is also reportedly prepping a major overhaul to Siri, internally dubbed Campos, that would turn the assistant into a chatgpt style chatbot capable of handling voice and text. The update is expected to be announced at WWDC in June and and widely seen as a response to the success of competing AI chatbots and the possibility of OpenAI moving into hardware. After arriving late to the generative AI wave, Apple has reversed course and confirmed a deal to use Google's Gemini as its AI partner. After weighing other options, Netflix updated its bid for Warner Brothers and HBO, switching to an all cash offer of $27.75 per per WBD share. The move replaces its earlier cash and stock proposal and is meant to streamline the deal while countering Paramount's hostile takeover offer of $30 per share for all of WBD. Under Netflix's pitch, the rest of WBD, including CNN, would be spun out into a new company called Discovery Global, a plan that WBD's board supports even as Paramount argues those leftover networks aren't worth much. For more analysis of the tech news of the day, subscribe to DailyTech News Show.com you can find show notes and links to all these headlines there as well. I'm Sarah Lane. Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend and talk to you Monday.

Raj (8:13)

Hey, it's Raj and Noah, and we're back with a new season of Am I Doing It Wrong? The show that explores the all too human anxieties we have about trying to get our lives right because we're still.

Noah (8:22)

Doing a lot of stuff wrong.

Raj (8:23)

But who isn't that's why each week we're talking about the topics that we could all use a little helping hit with. Whether it's making new friends as an adult, managing our emotions, or even dreaming.

Noah (8:32)

We'Ll be talking to experts in their fields who are definitely doing things right, so the rest of us can be a bit wiser and a lot better equipped to handle whatever life throws at us.

Raj (8:41)

Subscribe now and listen to new episodes of Am I Doing It Wrong? Dropping every Thursday starting January 1st, wherever you get your podcasts.

Noah (8:49)

And for the first time ever, we're going to have full video episodes on YouTube. Because as long as there are things to get wrong, we're going to be right here to help you do them better.

Raj (8:57)

Love y'.

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