Morning Briefing

1. Meta promises to offer EU users compliant personalized ad options
2. Google showcases three Android XR device prototypes
3. Viwoods launches AiPaper Reader C color e-ink device
4. Jolla completes crowdfunding for the new Jolla Phone
5. Meituan releases LongCat-Image, its new image generation model
6. Zhipu AI open-sources the GLM-4.6V multimodal model series
7. Google Gemini web version adds a “My Content” folder
8. Just some rumors to glance at

Meta promises to offer EU users compliant personalized ad options

On December 8, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition and Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology issued a statement noting that the EU has acknowledged Meta’s decision to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Meta will offer Facebook and Instagram users in the EU an option to view ads with a lower level of personalization. Users will be able to choose to share all of their data and receive fully personalized ads, or share less personal information and see ads with reduced personalization. This is the first time such an option has appeared on Meta’s social platforms. The change will go live in January 2026. Previously, in April 2025, the EU informed Meta that it was not in compliance and engaged in close discussions afterward. The Commission stated that once the feature rolls out, it will continue engaging with Meta and other stakeholders to gather feedback, assess the impact of the changes, and collect relevant evidence. Source

Google showcases three Android XR device prototypes

At its Android XR media preview event on Monday, Google unveiled three prototypes of Android XR devices. The first, Project Aura, is developed in collaboration with Chinese manufacturer XREAL. Its form factor is similar to the Galaxy XR and requires connection to an external device, making it more of a “less immersive” head-mounted display. Project Aura is expected to officially launch in 2026.

The second prototype resembles the Meta Ray-Ban glasses, embedding a display in the right lens as a single-eye display setup, but in an even lighter and thinner design. Media attending the event said the prototype’s display performance, software smoothness, and Gemini integration were noticeably improved compared to what Google showed at I/O 2025. This prototype must be connected to a smartphone, which serves as its computing hub. Google prohibited photography of the device. The final retail version will be jointly developed by Google, Samsung, and eyewear companies Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, and is planned for a 2026 release, with an audio-only version also available.

The third prototype is still in an early development stage and was only shown in a short demo. It features displays embedded in both lenses, offering better audio performance and a wider field of view. With dual-eye displays, it can also create depth effects. The product corresponding to this prototype will not be released in 2026. Source

Viwoods launches AiPaper Reader C color e-ink device

On December 8, Viwoods introduced the AiPaper Reader C to overseas markets. It features a 6.13-inch color e-ink display suitable for reading comics and viewing images. The device is largely similar to the previously released AiPaper Reader, with the main upgrade being the transition to a color screen. It is equipped with a 6.13-inch Carta 1300 panel using Kaleido 3 color technology. However, when operating in color mode, the resolution drops to 824 × 1648, and pixel density falls to 150 PPI. The device runs on an octa-core 2.0 GHz processor with 4GB LPDDR4X RAM and comes with Android 16, supporting the installation of third-party apps. Its dimensions are 159.39 × 80.27 × 6.7 mm. It has a built-in 2580mAh battery and supports Wi-Fi connectivity, as well as a physical SIM card slot that enables 4G mobile data when on the go, though phone calls are not supported. It includes a microphone, a side-mounted fingerprint sensor integrated into the power button, and page-turn buttons on the right side, allowing page flips without touching the screen. The product is now available overseas at a retail price of 359 euros. Source

Jolla completes crowdfunding for the new Jolla Phone

The Finnish company Jolla, known for carrying forward the legacy of Nokia’s MeeGo system, has recently completed crowdfunding for its new Jolla Phone. The device runs Sailfish OS 5, a Linux-based system, and supports Android apps through Jolla AppSupport. It features a replaceable battery and back cover, as well as physical privacy switches. The processor is an unspecified MediaTek model, and the phone supports 5G. It comes with a 6.36-inch display and 12GB of RAM. The first batch is priced at 499 euros, the second batch at 549 euros, and the official retail price starts at 599 euros. Source

Meituan releases LongCat-Image, its new image generation model

On December 8, Meituan’s LongCat team officially released and open-sourced the LongCat-Image model. Built with a high-performance architecture, systematic training strategies, and comprehensive data engineering, the model reaches the performance level of larger models in core text-to-image and image editing capabilities, despite having only 6B parameters. It offers highly controllable image editing and accurate Chinese text generation. For text-to-image generation, Meituan conducted large-scale human evaluations using MOS (Mean Opinion Score), scoring four key dimensions: text-image alignment, visual plausibility, visual realism, and aesthetic quality. LongCat-Image shows outstanding realism compared to mainstream open and closed models, and reaches state-of-the-art levels among open-source models in text-image alignment and plausibility. For image editing, Meituan adopted strict side-by-side (SBS) evaluations focusing on overall editing quality and visual consistency—two core user-experience metrics. Results indicate that while LongCat-Image still trails some commercial models like Nano Banana and Seedream 4.0, it significantly outperforms other open-source solutions. The model is now available for download on Hugging Face and GitHub. Source

Zhipu AI open-sources the GLM-4.6V multimodal model series

On December 8, Zhipu AI launched and open-sourced the GLM-4.6V series of multimodal large models, including the base GLM-4.6V (106B-A12B) designed for cloud and high-performance cluster scenarios, and the lightweight GLM-4.6V-Flash (9B) aimed at local deployment and low-latency applications. GLM-4.6V increases the training-time context window to 128k tokens, achieves state-of-the-art visual understanding performance for its parameter size, and integrates tool-calling capabilities natively into the vision model. Compared with GLM-4.5V, the GLM-4.6V series is priced 50% lower, with API pricing adjusted to 1 RMB per million input tokens and 3 RMB per million output tokens. Source

Google Gemini web version adds a “My Content” folder

Google recently rolled out an upgraded web version of Gemini, introducing a dark theme and a streamlined “My Content” folder to improve readability and highlight its latest generative image model: Nano Banana Pro. With this update, Gemini’s web interface now aligns more closely with the mobile version. The new light theme carries a subtle blue-gray tint, while the dark theme switches to a pure-black background. The greeting on the landing page has been simplified from “Hello” to “Hi,” and the prompt input field and suggestion features have been moved to the bottom. The hamburger menu has also been reorganized, adding a new “My Content” module alongside Gems and Conversations. It separates AI-generated images, videos, Canvas creations, and chat histories into distinct categories for easier access. When users click on an item in “My Conversations,” they can see all chat threads associated with that content. Additionally, when users start a new conversation, the star icon on the Gemini homepage now features a rotation animation, and the input box outline is more prominent. The chat history section in the hamburger menu also gains a new “more actions” button, allowing users to share, pin, rename, or delete items. Source

Just some rumors to glance at

After Netflix announced its acquisition deal with Warner Bros., Paramount made a hostile takeover bid to Warner Bros. shareholders at 30 USD per share, totaling 108 billion USD. Source

JD.com has launched “Jing Min Tong,” a public services portal. Users can access it by searching “京民通” within the JD or JD Finance apps. Source

Xiaohongshu announced that it will suspend its “Xiao Hong Card” program starting January 1, 2026. All current cardholders will retain their full benefits until then, and after the service ends, all purchased cards will be automatically refunded in full. Source

Douyin officially responded on Weibo to user questions, stating that 952420 is the official number of the Douyin Safety Center. Users will receive calls from this number if they have interacted with accounts involved in fraud. Source

IBM announced a 11 billion USD all-cash acquisition of data platform company Confluent, aiming to strengthen its enterprise AI data platform offerings. Source

Apple Fitness+ will launch on December 15 in 28 new storefront regions including Chile, Hong Kong, India, the Netherlands, Singapore, and Taiwan, and will arrive in Japan early next year. Courses will gradually roll out with AI-generated dubbing in Spanish, German, and Japanese. Source

Microsoft announced that commercial versions of Microsoft 365 and Office 365 will see various price increases starting July 1, 2026. Source

Tesla’s Optimus robot fell during a demo last weekend, and a video posted by a Reddit user shows that just before falling, Optimus made a motion resembling a remote operator removing a VR headset. Tesla has indeed used VR operators in the lab to train the Optimus robot. Source