Subj : DeepSeek tops app store ¨, Microsoft's TikTok bid ¨, Apple's leaked AI memo ¨ To : All From : TLDR Date : Mon Jan 27 2025 11:34:22 --eHZdPAtH Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Many in the tech industry have been praising DeepSeek over the recent rel= ease of its reasoning model, R1. R1 seemingly matches or beats OpenAI's= o1=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0= =E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2= =A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C= =C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80= =8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0= =E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80= =8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0= =E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2= =A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C= =C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80= =8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0=E2=80=8C=C2=A0= =E2=80=8C=C2=A0 Sign Up [1] |Advertise [2]|View Online [3]=20 = =09=09TLDR=20 =09=09TOGETHER WITH [Vanta] [4] TLDR 2025-01-27 = DRIVE 526% ROI WITH VANTA (SPONSOR) [4]=20 Vanta's a game-changer for = businesses and their security teams=E2=80=94and we can prove it. This new= IDC study shows [4] how Vanta drives significant ROI, saves time, and bo= osts team productivity. Demonstrating trust to customers and prospects= is critical to closing deals=E2=80=94but it can also be costly, time-int= ensive, and complex. Vanta [4] turns GRC programs into growth drivers, al= l while making it easy to manage your security risks. Get the white = paper [4]. =F0=9F=93=B1=20 BIG TECH & STARTUPS DEEPSEEK GETS = SILICON VALLEY TALKING (2 MINUTE READ) [5]=20 Many in the tech industry= have been praising DeepSeek over the recent release of its reasoning mod= el, R1. R1 seemingly matches or beats OpenAI's o1 model on certain benchm= arks. It only cost $5.6 million to train, much less than the hundreds of = millions of dollars it has taken leading US companies to train their mode= ls. The company achieved all this while facing US sanctions that prohibit= the sale of advanced chips to Chinese companies. DeepSeek's AI assistant= is now the top free app in the Apple App Store.=20 ORACLE AND MICROS= OFT ARE REPORTEDLY IN TALKS TO TAKE OVER TIKTOK (2 MINUTE READ) [6]=20 = Oracle, Microsoft, and a group of investors are in talks to take over= TikTok's global operations. The deal will allow ByteDance to keep a mi= nority stake in TikTok while the app's algorithm, data collection, and so= ftware updates will be overseen by Oracle. Oracle's server network alread= y provides the bulk of TikTok's backbone. President Trump earlier issued = an executive order giving TikTok and others a 75-day reprieve from any en= forcement action related to the US' requirement that ByteDance divest fro= m TikTok.=20 =F0=9F=9A=80=20 SCIENCE & FUTURISTIC TECHNOLOGY WH= AT DID DEEPSEEK FIGURE OUT ABOUT REASONING WITH DEEPSEEK-R1? (4 MINUTE RE= AD) [7]=20 Chinese AI lab DeepSeek recently released a reasoning model = trained on a GPU cluster a fraction the size of any of the big western AI= labs that is better than the current best reasoning models. Reasoning = models are able to 'think' about questions, which results in better answe= rs. DeepSeek used a reinforcement learning approach, as opposed to a fine= -tuning approach, to train its reasoning model, which resulted in cost an= d quality benefits. This approach can only really train the model on codi= ng and mathematics, but this might not matter as superintelligence in cod= ing/mathematics might transfer to other domains - this has yet to be demo= nstrated in practice.=20 WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE CAN'T JUST BUILD BIGGER A= I DATACENTERS ANYMORE? (6 MINUTE READ) [8]=20 AI's continued growth m= ay ultimately hinge on a new kind of supercomputer that spans entire coun= tries. This will involve stitching together existing datacenters to distr= ibute the workload. The infrastructure required to stitch datacenters tog= ether already exists, but it is tuned more for disaster recovery and high= -availability than large-scale AI training. Research is already underway = to improve the technology, which will help address power challenges by al= lowing datacenters in different regions to work as one.=20 = =F0=9F=92=BB=20 PROGRAMMING, DESIGN & DATA SCIENCE FINALLY, AN AD = SPOT TECHIES WON'T SKIP (SPONSOR) [9]=20 Tech inboxes are crowded, but = TLDR stands out=E2=80=94and so do the ads inside. With over 5 million sof= tware devs, founders and other tech decision-makers tuning in daily, this= is where ideas, tools, and products get noticed. Learn more about advert= ising with TLDR. [9] INTRODUCING SCOPEDB: MANAGE DATA IN PETABYTES FO= R AN OBSERVABILITY PLATFORM (12 MINUTE READ) [10]=20 ScopeDB is a dat= abase built on top of S3 that unleashes the power of cloud elasticity and= workload isolation. It achieves ten times cost-efficiency and performanc= e improvement compared to databases built with shared-nothing architectur= e. ScopeDB servers use a single stateless binary, so there is no need to = manage local disks, data sharding, or complex leader action. A demo playg= round to test out the features of ScopeDB is available.=20 LAB (GITHU= B REPO) [11]=20 Lab allows developers to experiment with code instantly= without the overhead of creating files and folders. Users can just type = 'lab' with any extension (eg. lab py) and start coding. It automatically= organizes experiments with smart names in a folder and cleans them up = after seven days to keep things tidy. A demo video is available.=20 = =F0=9F=8E=81=20 MISCELLANEOUS THE SECRET SAUCE OF CHINESE SOCIAL M= EDIA APPS (8 MINUTE READ) [12]=20 In the days leading up to the deadlin= e for TikTok to be banned in the US, users flocked to other Chinese apps = such as Xiaohongshu and Lemon8. These apps have many of the same features= that made TikTok so appealing: an infinite scroll of hyper-targeted reco= mmendations and interactions with friendly strangers. They blend entertai= nment and networking with sales to monetize their addictive algorithms. T= his strategy has been very profitable, making China the global leader in= social commerce.=20 HERE ARE APPLE'S TWO MAIN PRIORITIES FOR AI THIS= YEAR, PER LEAKED MEMO (2 MINUTE READ) [13]=20 Apple has two main int= ernal priorities for its AI efforts this year: revamp Siri and improve it= s AI models. Siri is undergoing a big transformation into 'LLM Siri', whi= ch will be shipping in the spring of 2026, possibly in iOS 19.4. Apple's = AI models have been criticized for regularly including errors, so there i= s a clear need to improve them. The company has temporarily disabled summ= aries in iOS 18.3 for select app categories presumably until the backing = AI model can be brought up to par.=20 =E2=9A=A1=20 QUICK LINKS = WORKSHOP: BUILD A TESTING CULTURE WITHOUT MICROMANAGING DEVELOPERS (S= PONSOR) [14]=20 Learn how to build a culture of testing and help your t= eam succeed in this livestream with Sentry and Growth Tribe. RSVP for thi= s Tuesday. [14]=20 ELON MUSK EMAIL TO X STAFF: =E2=80=98WE'RE BARELY = BREAKING EVEN' (2 MINUTE READ) [15]=20 Banks are preparing a coordina= ted move to sell some of the $13 billion in debt they loaned Elon Musk to= buy Twitter.=20 PERPLEXITY AI REVISES TIKTOK MERGER PROPOSAL THAT COUL= D GIVE THE U.S. GOVERNMENT A 50% STAKE (4 MINUTE READ) [16]=20 Perple= xity's proposal to merge with TikTok now allows for the US government to = own up to 50% of the new company upon a future IPO.=20 THE PAST, PRESEN= T, AND FUTURE OF UI AT GITHUB (15 MINUTE READ) [17]=20 This page contai= ns the slides from Joel Hawksley's talk presented at Boulder Ruby.=20 = THE SHORT CASE FOR NVIDIA STOCK (72 MINUTE READ) [18]=20 DeepSeek's ef= ficiency breakthrough suggests that the entire industry has been massivel= y over-provisioning compute resources.=20 2025 WILL LIKELY BE ANOTHER B= RUTAL YEAR OF FAILED STARTUPS, DATA SUGGESTS (5 MINUTE READ) [19]=20 = More startups shut down last year than the year before - the trend is exp= ected to continue this year.=20 NO ONE IS DISRUPTING BANKS (13 MINUTE R= EAD) [20]=20 Despite 30 years of trying, Fintech companies have still n= ot disrupted any of the big banks and have hardly challenged the key ba= nking model - taking deposits and issuing loans.=20 Love TLDR? Tell your= friends and get rewards! Share your referral link below with friends= to get free TLDR swag!=20 https://refer.tldr.tech/1fd848fa/ [21]=20 = =09=09 Track your referrals here. [22]=20 Want to advertise in TLDR? = =F0=9F=93=B0 If your company is interested in reaching an audience of= tech executives, decision-makers and engineers, you may want to ADVERTIS= E WITH US [23].=20 Want to work at TLDR? =F0=9F=92=BC APPLY HERE= [24] or send a friend's resume to jobs@tldr.tech and get $1k if we hire = them!=20 If you have any comments or feedback, just respond to this ema= il!=20 Thanks for reading,=20 Dan Ni [25] & Stephen Flanders [26]=20 = Manage your subscriptions [27] to our other newsletters on tech, startup= s, and programming. Or if TLDR isn't for you, please unsubscribe [28]. = =20 Links: ------ [1] https://tldr.tech/signup?utm_source=3Dtl= dr [2] https://advertise.tldr.tech/?utm_source=3Dtldr&utm_medium=3Dnewsle= tter&utm_campaign=3Dadvertisetopnav [3] https://a.tldrnewsletter.com/web-= version?ep=3D1&lc=3Db5bb39ac-a04f-11ee-8692-6388dbdd6fd1&p=3D29d1aabc-dc7f-= 11ef-af90-b3db61c7485b&pt=3Dcampaign&t=3D1737977662&s=3De11a75b3448a4204f7e= 8707593e77c1c4b04a335b2d776d97a00af8d3739a466 [4] https://www.vanta.com/l= p/idc-business-value-roi-white-paper?utm_campaign=3Didc-business-value&utm_= source=3Dtldr&utm_medium=3Dnewsletter [5] https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/= 26/deepseek-gets-silicon-valley-talking/?utm_source=3Dtldrnewsletter [6] = https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/25/24351973/oracle-microsoft-tiktok-takeove= r-deal?utm_source=3Dtldrnewsletter [7] https://www.seangoedecke.com/deeps= eek-r1/?utm_source=3Dtldrnewsletter [8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/= 01/24/build_bigger_ai_datacenters/?utm_source=3Dtldrnewsletter [9] https:= //advertise.tldr.tech/?utm_source=3Dtldr&utm_medium=3Dnewsletter&utm_campai= gn=3Dsecondary01272025 [10] https://www.scopedb.io/blog/manage-observabil= ity-data-in-petabytes?utm_source=3Dtldrnewsletter [11] https://github.com= /lugenx/lab?utm_source=3Dtldrnewsletter [12] https://restofworld.org/2025= /tiktok-algorithm-shopping-china/?utm_source=3Drss&utm_medium=3Drss&utm_cam= paign=3Dfeeds [13] https://9to5mac.com/2025/01/24/apples-two-main-priorit= ies-for-ai-this-year-per-leaked-memo/?utm_source=3Dtldrnewsletter [14] ht= tps://sentry.io/resources/build-testing-culture-workshop/?utm_source=3Dtldr= &utm_medium=3Dpaid-community&utm_campaign=3Dcodecov-fy25q4-testculture&utm_= content=3Dnewsletter-testculture-rsvp [15] https://www.theverge.com/2025/= 1/24/24351317/elon-musk-x-twitter-bank-debt-stagnant-growth?utm_source=3Dtl= drnewsletter [16] https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/26/perplexity-tiktok-revis= ed-merger-proposal.html?utm_source=3Dtldrnewsletter [17] https://hawksley= ..org/2025/01/08/past-present-future-of-UI-at-github.html?utm_source=3Dtldrn= ewsletter [18] https://youtubetranscriptoptimizer.com/blog/05_the_short_c= ase_for_nvda?utm_source=3Dtldrnewsletter [19] https://techcrunch.com/2025= /01/26/2025-will-likely-be-another-brutal-year-of-failed-startups-data-sugg= ests/?utm_source=3Dtldrnewsletter [20] https://www.popularfintech.com/p/n= o-one-is-disrupting-banks?utm_source=3Dtldrnewsletter [21] https://refer.= tldr.tech/1fd848fa/ [22] https://hub.sparklp.co/sub_32edf8dd66ae/1 [23]= https://advertise.tldr.tech/?utm_source=3Dtldr&utm_medium=3Dnewsletter&utm= _campaign=3Dadvertisecta [24] https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/tldr.tech [25] h= ttps://twitter.com/tldrdan [26] https://twitter.com/SteveFlanders22 [27= ] https://tldr.tech/tech/manage?email=3Dtldr%40synchro.net [28] https://a= ..tldrnewsletter.com/unsubscribe?ep=3D1&l=3Dcfa2d55a-b7be-11e8-a3c9-06b79b62= 8af2&lc=3Db5bb39ac-a04f-11ee-8692-6388dbdd6fd1&p=3D29d1aabc-dc7f-11ef-af90-= b3db61c7485b&pt=3Dcampaign&pv=3D4&spa=3D1737975655&t=3D1737977662&s=3Dcea36= aa265c0868b452a8bcc8bf4bb3ca7df0868dd0f53d2a8297a35a3fc77ae --eHZdPAtH Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable TLDR
Many in th= e tech industry have been praising DeepSeek over the recent release of its = reasoning model, R1. R1 seemingly matches or beats OpenAI's o1 = =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C = =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C = =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C = =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C = =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C = =E2=80=8C  =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C=  =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C=  =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C=  =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C=  =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C=  =E2=80=8C =E2=80=8C 

TLDR

Together With 3D"V=

TLDR 2025-01-27

Drive 526% ROI with Vanta (= Sponsor)

Vanta's a game-changer for businesses a= nd their security teams=E2=80=94and we can prove it. This new IDC study sh= ows how Vanta drives significant ROI, saves time, and boosts tea= m productivity.

Demonstrating trust to customers and prospects is critical to closing de= als=E2=80=94but it can also be costly, time-intensive, and complex. Vanta<= /span> turns GRC programs into growth drivers, all while making it easy= to manage your security risks.

Get the white paper.

=F0=9F= =93=B1

Big Tech & Startups

DeepSeek gets Silicon Valle= y talking (2 minute read)

Many in the tech industry have been pra= ising DeepSeek over the recent release of its reasoning model, R1. R1 seemi= ngly matches or beats OpenAI's o1 model on certain benchmarks. It only cost= $5.6 million to train, much less than the hundreds of millions of dollars = it has taken leading US companies to train their models. The company achiev= ed all this while facing US sanctions that prohibit the sale of advanced ch= ips to Chinese companies. DeepSeek's AI assistant is now the top free app i= n the Apple App Store.
Oracle and Microsoft are re= portedly in talks to take over TikTok (2 minute read)

Oracle, Microsoft, and a group of inves= tors are in talks to take over TikTok's global operations. The deal will al= low ByteDance to keep a minority stake in TikTok while the app's algorithm,= data collection, and software updates will be overseen by Oracle. Oracle's= server network already provides the bulk of TikTok's backbone. President T= rump earlier issued an executive order giving TikTok and others a 75-day re= prieve from any enforcement action related to the US' requirement that Byte= Dance divest from TikTok.
=F0=9F= =9A=80

Science & Futuristic Technology

What did DeepSeek figure ou= t about reasoning with DeepSeek-R1? (4 minute read)

Chinese AI lab DeepSeek recently releas= ed a reasoning model trained on a GPU cluster a fraction the size of any of= the big western AI labs that is better than the current best reasoning mod= els. Reasoning models are able to 'think' about questions, which results in= better answers. DeepSeek used a reinforcement learning approach, as oppose= d to a fine-tuning approach, to train its reasoning model, which resulted i= n cost and quality benefits. This approach can only really train the model = on coding and mathematics, but this might not matter as superintelligence i= n coding/mathematics might transfer to other domains - this has yet to be d= emonstrated in practice.
What happens when we can't = just build bigger AI datacenters anymore? (6 minute read)

AI's continued growth may ultimately hi= nge on a new kind of supercomputer that spans entire countries. This will i= nvolve stitching together existing datacenters to distribute the workload. = The infrastructure required to stitch datacenters together already exists, = but it is tuned more for disaster recovery and high-availability than large= -scale AI training. Research is already underway to improve the technology,= which will help address power challenges by allowing datacenters in differ= ent regions to work as one.
=F0=9F= =92=BB

Programming, Design & Data Science

Finally, an ad spot techies= won't skip (Sponsor)

Tech inboxes are crowded, but TLDR stan= ds out=E2=80=94and so do the ads inside. With over 5 million software devs,= founders and other tech decision-makers tuning in daily, this is where ide= as, tools, and products get noticed. Learn more about advertising with TLDR.

Introducing ScopeDB: Manage= Data in Petabytes for An Observability Platform (12 minute read)

ScopeDB is a database built on top of S= 3 that unleashes the power of cloud elasticity and workload isolation. It a= chieves ten times cost-efficiency and performance improvement compared to d= atabases built with shared-nothing architecture. ScopeDB servers use a sing= le stateless binary, so there is no need to manage local disks, data shardi= ng, or complex leader action. A demo playground to test out the features of= ScopeDB is available.
Lab (GitHub Repo)

Lab allows developers to experiment wit= h code instantly without the overhead of creating files and folders. Users = can just type 'lab' with any extension (eg. lab py) and start coding. It au= tomatically organizes experiments with smart names in a folder and cleans t= hem up after seven days to keep things tidy. A demo video is available.
=F0=9F= =8E=81

Miscellaneous

<= /div>
The secret sauce of Chinese= social media apps (8 minute read)

In the days leading up to the deadline = for TikTok to be banned in the US, users flocked to other Chinese apps such= as Xiaohongshu and Lemon8. These apps have many of the same features that = made TikTok so appealing: an infinite scroll of hyper-targeted recommendati= ons and interactions with friendly strangers. They blend entertainment and = networking with sales to monetize their addictive algorithms. This strategy= has been very profitable, making China the global leader in social commerc= e.
Here are Apple's two main p= riorities for AI this year, per leaked memo (2 minute read)

Apple has two main internal priorities = for its AI efforts this year: revamp Siri and improve its AI models. Siri i= s undergoing a big transformation into 'LLM Siri', which will be shipping i= n the spring of 2026, possibly in iOS 19.4. Apple's AI models have been cri= ticized for regularly including errors, so there is a clear need to improve= them. The company has temporarily disabled summaries in iOS 18.3 for selec= t app categories presumably until the backing AI model can be brought up to= par.
=E2=9A= =A1

Quick Links

Workshop: Build a testing c= ulture without micromanaging developers (Sponsor)

Learn how to build a culture of testing= and help your team succeed in this livestream with Sentry and Growth Tribe= .. RSVP for this = Tuesday.
Elon Musk email to X staff:= =E2=80=98we're barely breaking even' (2 minute read)

Banks are preparing a coordinated move = to sell some of the $13 billion in debt they loaned Elon Musk to buy Twitte= r.
Perplexity AI revises Tikto= k merger proposal that could give the U.S. government a 50% stake (4 minute= read)

Perplexity's proposal to merge with Tik= Tok now allows for the US government to own up to 50% of the new company up= on a future IPO.
The Past, Present, and Futu= re of UI at GitHub (15 minute read)

This page contains the slides from Joel= Hawksley's talk presented at Boulder Ruby.
The Short Case for Nvidia S= tock (72 minute read)

DeepSeek's efficiency breakthrough sugg= ests that the entire industry has been massively over-provisioning compute = resources.
2025 will likely be another= brutal year of failed startups, data suggests (5 minute read)

More startups shut down last year than = the year before - the trend is expected to continue this year.
No one is disrupting banks = (13 minute read)

Despite 30 years of trying, Fintech com= panies have still not disrupted any of the big banks and have hardly challe= nged the key banking model - taking deposits and issuing loans.

Love TLDR? Tell your friends and get rewards!

Share your referral link below with friends to get free TLDR swag!
https://refer.tldr.tech/1fd848fa/
Track your referrals here.

Want to advertise in TLDR? =F0=9F=93=B0

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Want to work at TLDR? =F0=9F=92=BC

Apply here or send a friend's resume to jobs@tldr.tech and get $1k if we hire them!

If you have any comments or feedback, just respond to this email!

Thanks for reading,
Dan Ni &a= mp; Stephen = Flanders


Manage your subscriptions to our other newsletters on tech, st= artups, and programming. Or if TLDR isn't for you, please unsubscribe.
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