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Tech Brew Ride Home

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Silicon Valley's water cooler podcast. A tech news summary every day... 15 minutes and you're up to date. From Tech Brew, Morning Brew's tech hub.
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Episodes

A Canticle For Leibowitz

Gemini is getting with the increased cadence of AI releases. Honestly, can we even keep up at this point? A dispatch from the social media trial as Zuck takes the stand. At long last, Amazon dethrones Walmart. Apple seems poised to unleash a slew of AI wearables. And the new storage system to preserve data, Canticle for Leibowitz -style. Google announces Gemini 3.1 Pro for ‘complex problem-solving’ (9to5Google) Mark Zuckerberg said he reached out to Apple CEO Tim Cook to discuss ‘wellbeing of te...

Feb 19, 202621 min

New Pixel

New pixel phone. A bunch of new AI models including Gemini’s entry into the music AI space. Everybody is trying to make AI fetch happen in India. And Matthew Ball’s state of the gaming industry report doesn’t paint as gloomy a picture as our own headlines might have suggested this year. The Pixel 10A is a little too much like last year’s phone (The Verge) Anthropic releases Sonnet 4.6 (TechCrunch) Google’s AI music maker is coming to the Gemini app (The Verge) Adani bets $100 billion on data cen...

Feb 18, 202622 min

AI Gettin' SaaS-y

The big regulatory guns are out for Grok. Memory chip shortage now hit the Steam Deck. Manus is already coming to your favorite messaging app. Turns out Buy Now Pay Later really works for vacations. And another lengthy AI essay, this time detailing what it’s doing, and has the potential to do to SaaS companies. EU privacy watchdog opens probe into Elon Musk’s X over sexualised AI images (FT) Valve’s Steam Deck OLED will be ‘intermittently’ out of stock because of the RAM crisis (The Verge) Raspb...

Feb 17, 202622 min

OpenAI Grabs OpenClaw’s Creator

OpenClaw’s creator is joining OpenAI, but the OpenClaw project lives on. The AI-caused memory shortage might delay the next Playstation. Is the Pentagon about to cut ties with Anthropic? And Vitalik Buterin is growing concerned with the prediction markets. OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger is joining OpenAI (The Verge) Peter Steinberger Chose OpenAI. The Code Was Never the Point. (Implicator.AI) Rampant AI Demand for Memory Is Fueling a Growing Chip Crisis (Bloomberg) ByteDance to curb AI video...

Feb 16, 202620 min

Anthropic Makes Its Move

Anthropic raises the second largest financing round of all time. Other AI players are beginning to show hockey stick revenue growth. Meta wants to add facial recognition to its glasses. Ring pulls back from some recognition partnerships for its camera. And, of course, your Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Anthropic closes $30 billion funding round as cash keeps flowing into top AI startups (CNBC) Enterprise AI startup Cohere tops revenue target as momentum builds to IPO: Investor memo (CNBC) Meta ...

Feb 13, 202620 min

Pour Moi, C'est Le Déluge

Aaannddd…. Right on time here come the Chinese AI models. Elon Musk kicks off a major reorg of xAI. Google is warning of AI distillation attacks. New Waymo cars hit the road. And another interesting AI essay to read to you. Chinese AI startup Zhipu releases new flagship model GLM-5 (Reuters) Musk announces xAI re-org following co-founder departures, SpaceX merger (CNBC) Elon Musk Wants to Build an A.I. Satellite Factory on the Moon (NYTimes) Google says attackers used 100,000+ prompts to try to ...

Feb 12, 202621 min

The “Covid Moment” For AI?

Forget the ChatGPT moment, is this the “Covid Moment” for AI, the moment when everything has changed its just that not everyone knows it yet? More weird musical chairs at the AI companies. TikTok but for around the block. And do we finally have a universal translator but for phone calls? ⁠Something Big Is Happening⁠ (Matt Shumer) ⁠OpenAI Executive Who Opposed ‘Adult Mode’ Fired for Sexual Discrimination⁠ (WSJ) ⁠TikTok launches an opt-in Local Feed in the US leveraging users’ precise location⁠ (T...

Feb 11, 202621 min

AI: Better, Faster, Stronger… Or Just Working Harder?

So, have you hit the ads in ChatGPT yet, cause they’re there. Spotify comes out of nowhere with killer good earnings. The coming tidal wave of Chinese AI launches. The coming deluge of social media trials. And does AI usage reduce the amount of work you do, or actually compound it? OpenAI begins testing ads in ChatGPT (Mashable) Spotify Shares Surge After Adding Record Number of New Users (Bloomberg) Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance Offer AI Red Packets to Lure Users (Bloomberg) New Mexico lawsui...

Feb 10, 202619 min

The AI Superbowl

Sam Altman assures staff that OpenAI has a good week, but is Anthropic definitively growing faster at this point? Is the CapEx spend about to eat ALL of Silicon Valley’s free cashflow while Apple sits out the party? And the Crypto.com guy runs the same playbook but now with Ai.com. Sam Altman touts ChatGPT’s reaccelerating growth to employees as OpenAI closes in on $100 billion funding (CNBC) How Capex Ramp Up Will Squeeze Google, Amazon, Meta (The Information) Apple is the only Big Tech company...

Feb 09, 202621 min

Piracy Is Back!

Claude Opus 4.6 arrives to crown Anthropic’s very good week, at least, for them it was good. You thought tech was spending big to build out for AI, but this week we’ve seen how big. Crypto seems to have really hit a sharp bear market. And in the Weekend Longreads Suggestions, tv piracy is back, baby! Anthropic Releases New Model That’s Adept at Financial Research (Bloomberg) Anthropic debuts new model with hopes to corner the market beyond coding (The Verge) Big Tech to Spend $650 Billion This Y...

Feb 06, 202622 min

Is Software Eating The World Being Eaten By AI?

Alphabet earnings. Claude goes to the Superbowl. Why AI brand loyalty isn’t even remotely a thing yet. And is the whole Marc Andreessen theory of software eating the world in the process of being eaten by AI? Wall Street is worried about that very scenario. Google set to double AI spending to $185bn after strong earnings (FT) OpenAI Frontier is a single platform to control your AI agents (The Verge) Anthropic says ‘Claude will remain ad-free,’ unlike ChatGPT (The Verge) Microsoft’s Pivotal AI Pr...

Feb 05, 202624 min

(BNS) Ring Founder Jamie Siminoff

Check out Jaime's book: Ding Dong: How Ring Went From Shark Tank Reject To Everyone's Front Door Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 04, 202643 min

SpaceX Acquires xAI

As SpaceX acquires xAI, all of Elon’s companies under one umbrella is pretty much an inevitability isn’t it? What is with this weird game of chicken that Nvidia and OpenAI and now Oracle are all engaging in all of the sudden. And self-driving cars are about to be ubiquitous, indication number 37. Musk’s SpaceX Combines With xAI at $1.25 Trillion Valuation (Bloomberg) SpaceX acquires xAI, plans to launch a massive satellite constellation to power it (ArsTechnica) OpenAI's Codex just got its own M...

Feb 03, 202621 min

Is Jensen Worried About OpenAI?

Is Nvidia going through with their massive OpenAI investment or not? Does Apple have what it takes to win in the AI era or not? Is Elon the only one who can make datacenters in space happen or not? And a roundup of the continued fascination with Moltbook. The $100 Billion Megadeal Between OpenAI and Nvidia Is on Ice (WSJ) Nvidia CEO Says New OpenAI Investment May Be Largest Yet (Bloomberg) Apple’s Historic Quarter Doesn’t Change the Need for AI Reckoning (Bloomberg) SpaceX seeks FCC nod for sola...

Feb 02, 202621 min

Elon Might Just Merge All His Companies Into One

Apple does a big acquisition. OpenAI is racing to IPO. Elon might just merge all his companies into one. Google’s Project Genie is the latest thing that will make you say, gee, AI can do that?! And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Apple buys Israeli start-up Q.AI for close to $2bn in race to build AI devices (FT) OpenAI Plans Fourth-Quarter IPO in Race to Beat Anthropic to Market (WSJ) SpaceX in merger talks with other Musk companies ahead of IPO (Reuters) Elon Musk’s SpaceX Said t...

Jan 30, 202621 min

Clawdbot Is Now Moltbot

Meta earnings good. The street like the AI spending. Microsoft earnings bad. Why is growth in their cloud business not as robust all of the sudden? Elon is following through on taking Tesla all in on robots and AI. The AI inspired layoffs are NOT just for the tech industry. And are you actually technical enough to run that Clawdbot? Zuckerberg teases agentic commerce tools and major AI rollout in 2026 (TechCrunch) Microsoft stock drops 7% on slowing cloud growth, light margin guidance (CNBC) Tes...

Jan 29, 202622 min

The Amazon Layoffs

The Amazon layoffs showed up on schedule. Is Tether behind the rise in the price of gold? A new type of privacy screen tech from Samsung. Elon wants to IPO on his birthday. Anthropic raises more ahead of its IPO. And AI is finding weird stuff in Space. Amazon says it is laying off 16,000 employees (TechCrunch) Tether Is Shaking Up the Gold Market With Massive Metal Hoard (Bloomberg) Samsung confirms Galaxy S26's insane 'pixel level' privacy feature (SamMobile) SpaceX weighs June IPO timed to pla...

Jan 28, 202621 min

Is TikTok’s Algo Changing?

I think we have to gird ourselves for a slew of Chinese AI releases in the coming weeks. Are AI inspired layoffs poised to sweep the tech industry? Meta goes with subscriptions. Uber wants to train AI for others. And Dario Amodei has a pretty stark warning about AI. China’s Moonshot Unveils AI Model Ahead of DeepSeek Release (Bloomberg) Pinterest laying off 15% of workforce in push toward AI roles and teams (CNBC) TikTok says a power outage caused a 'cascading systems failure' that messed up its...

Jan 27, 202621 min

Now We Have The Clawdbot

Did you even notice that new TikTok privacy policy over the weekend? AirTags finally have a second generation. Microsoft confirms it will give out your BitLocker recovery keys if you’re silly enough to store them with them. And let me introduce you to Clawdbot. Since you can’t see the spelling, you won’t understand how this is different until I explain. TikTok Is Now Collecting Even More Data About Its Users. Here Are the 3 Biggest Changes (Wired) Apple launches AirTag 2 with improved range, lou...

Jan 26, 202621 min

MAYBE TikTok Is A Done Deal (This Time?)

Ok, ok, maybe the whole TikTok thing is a done deal at long last? Amazon is planning another major round of layoffs. Are Epic Games and Google doing an end-run around the judge? Capital One acquires Brex. And, of course, The Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Trump’s TikTok deal is a gift to China (FT) Exclusive: Amazon plans thousands more corporate job cuts next week, sources say (Reuters) Epic and Google have a secret $800 million Unreal Engine and services deal (The Verge) Apple Expands Hardware...

Jan 23, 202621 min

Apple’s Wearable AI Pin

Apple is developing their own AI wearable, the size of an AirTag. Anthropic overhauls Claude’s constitution. South Korea is the latest place to ride the AI rocket ship. And I think I know why your boss thinks AI is the solution to everything: it’s the solution to all of the work THEY have to do. Apple Developing AI Wearable Pin (The Information) Anthropic rewrites Claude’s guiding principles—and entertains the idea that its AI might have ‘some kind of consciousness or moral status’ (Fortune) Jef...

Jan 22, 202621 min

Elon Says: IPO NOW!

Anthropic continues to project strength in the AI race. How OpenAI is rolling out ads on ChatGPT. Netflix wants to become TikTok faster than TikTok can become them. YouTube wants to have it both ways when it comes to AI. And Elon wants SpaceX to win the great IPO race of 2026. Anthropic’s CEO stuns Davos with Nvidia criticism (TechCrunch) OpenAI rolls out age prediction on ChatGPT (Reuters) OpenAI Lines Up Advertisers, Reveals Key Details Ahead of Ads Launch (The Information) Netflix Is Testing ...

Jan 21, 202621 min

The “Assistant Axis”

Netflix ups its bid with all cash. Sony is spinning off its legendary TV business with TCL. One of the biggest seed rounds I’ve ever heard of. Reels continues to win for Zuck. And let me introduce you to the “Assistant Axis” and what it might mean for AI. Netflix revises its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery. Now, it’s all cash (CNN) Sony’s TV business is being taken over by TCL (The Verge) An A.I. Start-Up Says It Wants to Empower Workers, Not Replace Them (NYTimes) Most of Instagram’s ads ran o...

Jan 20, 202621 min

Ads Come To ChatGPT

This episode covers OpenAI's strategic move to introduce ads in ChatGPT and its impressive revenue growth, despite massive compute costs and burn rate. It also highlights the widespread excitement and disruption caused by Anthropic's Claude AI, which is transforming coding and impacting software stock valuations. Further discussions include Elon Musk's substantial damages claim against OpenAI and Microsoft for alleged fraud, the dramatic staff exodus at the AI startup Thinking Machines, and the unexpected success of "The Thinking Game," a documentary about Google DeepMind.

Jan 19, 202621 min

I’m Calling It: The Metaverse Is Over

More fallout from the Thinking Machines stuff. I’m officially calling it: I think the Metaverse is over, at least at Meta. Cloudflare continues to make an effort to protect the web and creators from AI strip mining. And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 16, 202620 min

Ain’t No Drama Like AI Industry Drama

Apparently their ain’t no drama like AI industry drama, proven once again by some high-profile defections from Thinking Machine Labs. Grok says it’s cleaned up its act. TSMC is winning thanks to AI. More price rises from Spotify. And why is Ireland missing out on the AI datacenter boom? Two Thinking Machines Lab Cofounders Are Leaving to Rejoin OpenAI (Wired) Grok was finally updated to stop undressing women and children, X Safety says (ArsTechnica) TSMC delivers another record quarter as profit...

Jan 15, 202622 min

NOT Alright, Alright, Alright

Nvidia can officially sell its chips in China, but not if China doesn’t let anyone buy them. Tesla will stop selling FSD beginning next month. Matthew McConaughey says NOT alright alright alright to unauthorized AI use of his voice. And another story about how AI is disrupting the consultancy game. Exclusive: China's customs agents told Nvidia's H200 chips are not permitted, sources say (Reuters) Meta is closing down three VR studios as part of its metaverse cuts (The Verge) Tesla Driver-Assist ...

Jan 14, 202620 min

Microsoft Pledges To Pay Its Own Way

Microsoft tries to calm data center buildout backlash. Layoffs come to the Metaverse. Apple has a new creator subscription package. More implications from that Apple/Google AI deal from yesterday. And is Cowork for Claude the personal AI agent we’ve been waiting for? Microsoft responds to AI data center revolt, vowing to cover full power costs and reject local tax breaks (GeekWire) Meta Begins Job Cuts as It Shifts From Metaverse to AI Devices (Bloomberg) Apple debuts ‘Apple Creator Studio’ subs...

Jan 13, 202620 min

Siri Goes With Gemini

Apple announces that its going with Google’s Gemini to power Siri later this year, and Google joins the $4T club on the news. Governments around the world are still mad at Grok. AI has essentially killed Stack Overflow but its making more money than it ever has. And how you get get AI to give you the full text of books. Apple picks Google’s Gemini to run AI-powered Siri coming this year (CNBC) UK’s Ofcom investigates X over Grok’s sexualised AI images of women and children (FT) Anthropic expands...

Jan 12, 202621 min
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