Fri. 02/22 - The Most Acquisitive Unicorns

Tons of things today. Google’s new Gemini 3 model. Signs the “second tier” of AI startups is starting to get product market fit. The EU has announced that watering down of GDPR that was rumored. And will Meta’s big win against the government mean mergers and acquisitions are back on the tech menu? Google is launching Gemini 3, its ‘most intelligent’ AI model yet (The Verge) AI Music Platform Suno Valued at $2.45 Billion (WSJ) TikTok will let you choose how much AI-generated content you want to see (TechCrunch) Europe is scaling back its landmark privacy and AI laws (The Verge) Meta Did Not Violate Antitrust Law, Judge Rules (NYTimes) Meta’s Victory Opens the Way for Silicon Valley to Go Deal Shopping (NYTimes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

19 Marras 202521min

What happened with Cloudflare this morning. Grok’s new model wants to be creative. Catching you up on the bloodbath in crypto if you were unaware. Databricks is 12 years old but it seems to be one of the big AI winners. And debt continues to pile in to the AI buildout. A massive Cloudflare outage brought down X, ChatGPT, and even Downdetector (The Verge) Grok 4.1 has arrived — and it's bringing the fight to ChatGPT with these new features (Tom's Guide) Crypto market sheds $1.2tn as traders shun speculative assets (Financial Times) Google boss says trillion-dollar AI investment boom has 'elements of irrationality' (BBC) Amazon Raises $15 Billion in First US Bond Sale in Three Years (Bloomberg) Databricks in Talks to Raise Capital at a Valuation Above $130 Billion (The Information) Roblox will require age estimation to chat starting next year (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

18 Marras 202521min

Jeff Bezos is going to be a CEO once again. Could Tim Cook step down from Apple’s CEO position in a matter of months? Maybe don’t buy an AI teddy bear. What big AI startup would you short, if you could? And data-centers in spaaaaaaacceee… Jeff Bezos Creates A.I. Start-Up Where He Will Be Co-Chief Executive (NYTimes) Apple intensifies succession planning for CEO Tim Cook (FT) Apple’s iPhone Overhaul Will Reduce Its Reliance on Annual Fall Spectacle (Bloomberg) Happy holidays: AI-enabled toys teach kids how to play with fire, sharp objects (The Register) At a major AI conference, one startup got voted most likely to flop (Business Insider) Now Tech Moguls Want to Build Data Centers in Outer Space (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

17 Marras 202521min

A portfolio profile episode of Hypercubic.ai, a seed-stage company that wants to not only preserve knowledge in legacy code, but legacy knowledge in enterprises. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

15 Marras 202547min

OpenAI is testing out group chats as a sort of collaborative prompting experience. The hyperscalers are lining up against Nvidia in one specific arena. The Sam Altman Elon Musk feud isn’t over. Google knows who sent you that fake UPS shipment alert text. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. ChatGPT launches pilot group chats across Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and Taiwan (TechCrunch) Amazon and Microsoft Back Effort That Would Restrict Nvidia’s Exports to China (WSJ) OpenAI, Apple Lose Bid to Toss Musk xAI Suit Over Competition (Bloomberg) AI startup Cursor raises $2.3 billion funding round at $29.3 billion valuation (CNBC) You know those fake USPS texts? Google says it's found who's behind them (Fast Company) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Sundar Pichai Is Google’s AI ‘Wartime CEO’ After All (Bloomberg) CRYPTO: Realm of the Coin (Vanity Fair) I'm Going to Be a Dad. Here's Why I'm Not Posting About My Kid Online (CNET) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

14 Marras 202520min

Valve is taking on gaming consoles and creating a new type of VR headset, all at the same time. GPT-5 gets “warmer.” Cursor’s new raise means it has 10x’d its valuation in the span of a year. And we’re one step closer to your phone completely replacing your wallet. Valve brings back Steam Machine and Steam Controller — hands-on with Valve's new AMD-based living room gaming hardware (Tom's Hardware) The Steam Frame is a surprising new twist on VR (The Verge) Microsoft to Use OpenAI’s Custom Chip Work to Help In-House Effort (Bloomberg) OpenAI says the brand-new GPT-5.1 is ‘warmer’ and has more ‘personality’ options (The Verge) The AI Coding Startup Favored by Tech CEOs Is Now Worth $29.3 Billion (WSJ) Apple launches Digital ID, a way to carry your passport on your phone for use at TSA checkpoints (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

13 Marras 202521min

Forget text-to-video AI, we’re rapidly moving into the text-to-world-generating AI models. What if you showed up to your Airbnb and the fridge was already fully stocked? It seems like there is NO uncanney valley when it comes to AI generated music. And does the Big Short guy have a point when he concern trolls about the AI CAPEX buildout? Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs speeds up the world model race with Marble, its first commercial product (TechCrunch) Airbnb Will Test Adding Instacart Grocery Delivery to Its App in Services Push (Bloomberg) Are you listening to bots? Survey shows AI music is virtually undetectable (Reuters) 50,000 AI tracks flood Deezer daily – as study shows 97% of listeners can’t tell the difference between human-made vs. fully AI-generated music (MusicBusinessWorldwide) The AI Bubble Is Ignoring Michael Burry’s Fears (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

12 Marras 202520min

The iPhone Air isn’t selling, and it isn’t selling to the degree that Apple is delaying the next version. Yan LeCun is gonna strike out on his own. The big illegal streaming site takedown you might not have hear about. And Facebook doesn’t like likes anymore, at least not external likes. Apple Delays Release of Next iPhone Air Amid Weak Sales (The Information) Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun plans to exit and launch own start-up (FT) SoftBank sells Nvidia stake for $5.8bn as it prepares for AI investments (FT) Anthropic Is on Track to Turn a Profit Much Faster Than OpenAI (WSJ) Streameast: How the authorities took down the world’s largest illegal sports streaming platform (The Athletic) Meta is killing off the external Facebook Like button (Engadget) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

11 Marras 202521min