Google co-founder Sergey Brin said he “made a lot of mistakes with Google Glass” during an onstage interview at Google I/O 2025 on Tuesday. Brin was a surprise addition to an interview with Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis conducted by Big Technology Podcast’s Alex Kantrowitz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Three years ago, as the pandemic caused chaos for companies big and small, Colgate-Palmolive’s chief supply chain officer Luciano Sieber orchestrated a “logistics blitz.” The result gave Sieber a better understanding of how Colgate-Palmolive moves its products around the world. But it stuck Sieber with another problem: too much data. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
South Loop Ventures, a Houston-based venture firm, announced a $21 million Fund I, with Rice Management Company and Chevron Technology Ventures serving as anchor investors. The firm, which launched in 2022, focuses on seed and pre-seed companies, with $400,000 as the average check size Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
SparkCharge raised $15.5 million in equity and secured a $15 million loan to expand its fleet charging operations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
MIT says that due to concerns about the “integrity” of a high-profile paper on the effects of artificial intelligence on the productivity of a materials science lab, the paper should be “withdrawn from public discourse.” The paper in question, “Artificial Intelligence, Scientific Discovery, and Product Innovation,” was written by a doctoral student Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
VUZ, a startup known for offering immersive video experiences from red carpets and football stadiums, has raised $12 million as it doubles down on its presence in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as accelerates expansion into Africa, Asia, and the United States Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chips are a critical component of the AI industry. But new chips don’t hit the market with the same speed as new AI models and products do. Cognichip has a lofty goal of creating a foundational AI model that can help bring new chips to market faster. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman laid out a big vision for the future of ChatGPT at an AI event hosted by VC firm Sequoia earlier this month. When asked by one attendee about how ChatGPT can become more personalized, Altman replied that he eventually wants the model to document and remember everything in a person’s life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
As part of a broader app update, Airbnb on Tuesday introduced a new feature that allows travelers to book services and experiences, like getting a message, haircut, or chef-prepared meal, or taking part in some activity. These new offerings can be added to your stay, but they can also be booked independently, Airbnb says. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok appeared to experience a bug on Wednesday that caused it to reply to dozens of posts on X with information about genocide in South Africa, even when the user didn’t ask anything about the subject. The strange responses largely came from the X account for Grok. Also, digital consumer bank Chime has moved forward with its IPO by filing its S-1 paperwork Tuesday. Chime had reportedly filed confidential S-1 paperwork back in December. S-1 filings typically reveal all kind...
The decision to reverse course comes after an industry lobby group called for the rule change to be withdrawn. Also, speaking during a business summit in Doha, Trump said he met with Cook and asked him to stop building in India and instead increase production in the US ... and YouTube introduced an interactive product feed for shoppable TV ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is using his olive oil inefficiently in an “offense to horticulture,” the Financial Times humorously reports. For its “Lunch with the FT” series, the paper joined Altman in his kitchen. He prepared a garlicky pasta and salad Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Lithium-manganese-rich (LMR) batteries should slash costs without sacrificing much range. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The mobile controller company Backbone unveiled its Backbone Pro controller this week, which brings iOS and Android gaming experiences to the next level. A successor to the Backbone One controller, the Pro features full-size joysticks, re-mappable buttons, and Bluetooth compatibility, making for a more premium gaming setup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The material has 50% more tensile strength than steel with a strength-to-weight ratio that’s ten-times better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
For millions of movie enthusiasts in the ’90s, Moviefone’s 777-FILM number was the go-to source for obtaining showtimes. Now, under new ownership, Moviefone is trying to make a comeback. On Friday, as part of its 35th anniversary celebration, Moviefone announced the relaunch of its mobile app and a new nationally syndicated broadcast TV series. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Microsoft employees aren’t allowed to use DeepSeek due to data security and propaganda concerns, Microsoft vice chairman and president Brad Smith said in a Senate hearing today. “At Microsoft we don’t allow our employees to use the DeepSeek app,” Smith said, referring to DeepSeek’s application service (which is available on both desktop and mobile.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Much of the world isn’t paying close attention to Greece right now. That may be a mistake. Best known for its stunning islands, sun-soaked cities, and deep historical roots, Greece has been quietly laying the foundation for something far less expected: a modern, resilient tech economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
During his junior year study abroad, Max Morganroth, traveled to 30 countries, primarily flying in business and first class. His jet setting was funded almost entirely by airline points he collected through strategic credit card applications and miles redemptions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Rubrik co-founder Soham Mazumdar has a new data startup called Wisdom AI. It offers an agentic data analyst that works with structured, unstructured, even “dirty” data. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Employer.com has acquired MainStreet.com for an undisclosed amount, the latest fintech startup to get snapped up by the workforce management company. In a post on X, Employer.com Chairman and co-founder Jesse Tinsley said the two companies were “merging forces to simplify business back office solutions into one powerhouse platform.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Energy Star program's signature yellow labels appear on appliances and electronics for sale throughout the U.S.; Ford is raising the price of the all-electric Mustang Mach-E SUV and popular entry-level Maverick pickup by as much as $2,000 due to the import taxes President Donald Trump is placing on vehicles made in Mexico, according to Reuters. Higher prices could make it harder for traditional automakers like Ford to sell their EVs; Tech executives have long talked about how AI is going to ...
Cnaught is a market maker seeking to ease the pain of buying carbon credits for companies without dedicated teams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
While most African digital lenders depend on working capital to fuel growth, MoneyFellows has quietly done what few others have: lend billions of Egyptian pounds with almost no debt or balance sheet exposure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Pinterest is upgrading its visual search feature with a handful of new capabilities. On Monday, the company announced it’s rolling out new functionality to improve its feature that allows users to search using an image instead of text. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
World, the biometric ID company best known for its eyeball-scanning Orb devices, at an event late on Wednesday announced several partnerships aimed at driving sign-ups and demonstrating the applications of its tech. World is partnering with Match Group, the dating app conglomerate, to verify the IDs of Tinder users in Japan. Also, Airbnb started rolling out an AI-powered customer service bot in the U.S. last month, CEO Brian Chesky said during the firm’s first-quarter conference call on Thursday...
OpenAI says it’ll make changes to the way it updates the AI models that power ChatGPT, following an incident that caused the platform to become overly sycophantic for many users. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Meta made a prediction last year its generative AI products would rake in $2 billion to $3 billion in revenue in 2025, and between $460 billion and $1.4 trillion by 2035, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Amazon on Thursday released what it claims is the largest, most capable AI model in its Nova family, Nova Premier. Nova Premier, which can process text, images, and videos (but not audio), is available in Amazon Bedrock, the company’s AI model development platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The crush of traffic going into training and running AI has quickly turned into a major cost and resource headache for organizations. Cast AI is a startup building tools to ease and optimize AI and other workloads with automation — is raising a major round of funding on the back of its strong growth Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
