/Top Stories/ Last Updated: Thu, Jan 16th, 2025 @ 3:35pm EST

Fast Company

Reuters

Energy utilities get nearly $23 billion from Biden administration to fix energy infrastructure

The program guarantees loans to projects that retool or replace energy infrastructure that has stopped operating or that enables reductions in emissions blamed for global warming.

The U.S. Energy Department’s loan office on Thursday announced $22.92 billion in conditional financing for several energy utilities across a dozen states.

Fast Company

Eve Upton-Clark

‘Welcome, TikTok refugee’: Duolingo sees a 216% spike in U.S. users learning Mandarin

Millions are joining RedNote ahead of the TikTok ban. But the app’s default language is Mandarin.

“Oh so NOW you’re learning mandarin,” Duolingo tweeted on Monday. 

Fast Company

Reuters

TikTok refugees or propagandists? China’s RedNote users share mixed responses to U.S. influx

Not everyone was happy, though, with some grumbling that RedNote was being taken over and nationalist bloggers warning against American influences.

Users of the Chinese social media app RedNote welcomed “TikTok refugees” from the United States with selfies and messages on Wednesday, as Beijing said it encouraged stronger cultural ties with other countries in response to the sudden influx.

ESPN.com

Shams Charania

LeBron's manager leading upstart to rival NBA

Maverick Carter, LeBron James' business manager, has been enlisted as an adviser by a group of investors seeking to raise $5 billion to form an international basketball league that would serve as a rival to the NBA, sources confirmed to ESPN.

The Verge

Gaby Del Valle

CFPB sued for trying to regulate digital payment apps more like banks

Illustration: Hugo Herrera / The Verge

Two major tech trade groups are challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) effort to treat payment apps and digital wallets like banks. In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, DC, NetChoice and TechNet claim that the CFPB’s digital payment regulation, announced on November 21st, 2024, is arbitrary and capricious.

“The CFPB’s unlawful power grab undermines the rule of law, further bloats the administrative...

The Verge

Adi Robertson Lauren Feiner

Will RedNote get banned in the US?

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

I’m not the first to note the irony of TikTok users flooding RedNote this week. The TikTok divest-or-ban rule was supposed to drive Americans away from a foreign-owned social network that was subject to influence or data harvesting by the Chinese government. Instead, it pushed them onto a different foreign-owned social network that poses the exact same hypothetical risks — and that might be subject to the exact same kind of ban.

TikTok faces a ban...

The Verge

Emma Roth

Apple is pausing notification summaries for news in the latest iOS 18.3 beta

Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge

Apple has temporarily stopped showing notification summaries for news and entertainment apps as part of the iOS 18.3 developer beta released Thursday, according to reports from MacRumors and 9to5Mac. The Apple Intelligence-powered feature was criticized after it inaccurately summarized content from outlets such as the BBC.

Apple will reenable the notifications “with a future software update” as it continues to work on the feature, 9to5Mac...

BuzzFeed - Latest

David Lynch, "Twin Peaks" And "Blue Velvet" Director, Has Died At 78

The acclaimed filmmaker's family released a statement on Facebook.

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Mashable

Score the Beats Solo 4 Minecraft Edition headphones for half off at Target

SAVE $100: As of Jan. 16, get the Beats Solo 4 Minecraft Edition headphones at Target for $99.99, down from their usual price of $199.99. That's a 50% discount.

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Mashable

The Garmin Venu 3S is back at its Black Friday price

SAVE $100: The Garmin Venu 3S smartwatch (41mm, Ivory) is on sale at Amazon for $349.99, down from the normal price of $449.99. That's a 22% discount that matches the lowest price we've ever spotted at Amazon.

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Mashable

What to expect at Samsung Galaxy Unpacked

With CES 2025 behind us, you might think that you'd have a break from big tech company announcements.

Well, think again! 

Samsung's very own event, Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2025, is just around the corner: January 22 at 1pm ET to be exact.

While Samsung focused on "AI for All" at CES, showcasing mostly their latest home appliances and the AI-integrations in these products, the company held off on any announcements for their flagship line of smartphones, tablets, and other connected mobile...

Mashable

Get a like new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and save hundreds at Woot

SAVE $570: As of Jan. 16, get a like new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra from Woot for $849.99, which is $570 off its new price of $1,419.99. That's a discount of 43%.

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Mashable

TikToks CEO might attend Trumps inauguration, new report says

It looks like Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk won't be the only tech CEOs attending President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday. According to The New York Times, Shou Chew, the CEO of TikTok, will also attend.

This comes as the Supreme Court continues to debate the fate of Chew's app in the U.S., which could result in 170 million people losing access to it. If the court upholds the ban, as other courts have done, it will go into effect on Sunday, Jan. 19.

...

NYT > Home Page

Colleen Hagerty

The Cost of Surviving a Wildfire

Evacuating a disaster is often the lifesaving choice, but it comes with short-term costs to address immediate needs and incalculable personal and financial tolls in the future.

NYT > Home Page

J. Hoberman

David Lynch Dead: ‘Twin Peaks’ and ‘Mulholland Drive’ Director Was 78

A visionary, his films included “Eraserhead,” “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive,” considered his masterwork. He brought his skewed view to the small screen with “Twin Peaks.”

NYT > Home Page

Maggie Haberman, David McCabe and Sapna Maheshwari

Trump Is Said to Consider Executive Order to Circumvent TikTok Ban

The move is under discussion as the Chinese-owned app faces a Sunday deadline to find a new buyer or shut down in the United States.

NYT > Home Page

Amanda Hess

TikTok Refugees Get Wry Welcome on RedNote, Another Chinese App

In their mass migration to the Chinese app RedNote, social media users make a gleeful mockery of the American government.

NYT > Home Page

Karoun Demirjian

House Passes Bill to Deport Immigrants Convicted of Violence Against Women

Scores of Democrats joined Republicans in approving the measure, even though existing law already allows immigrants with contested legal status who are convicted of sex crimes to be deported.

Fast Company

Jessica Bursztynsky

How to test out the new Nintendo Switch 2

Fans of the handheld gaming console can enter a lottery for a chance to try out the Switch 2 this spring.

Nintendo unveiled its highly anticipated Nintendo Switch 2 that’s set to be released later this year. Nintendo didn’t provide a launch date, but said it would share more at an April 2 event.

BuzzFeed - Latest

Wendy Williams Gave A Rare Interview Where She Claimed She's Being Held "Hostage" In Her Guardianship

Last year, Wendy's team claimed that she was "cognitively impaired and permanently incapacitated."

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