Wed. 03/22 – Google Bard Joins The Fray

OpenAI has a new agent that can control your entire computer. You might soon be able to put crypto in your 401k. Why is Apple suing a prominent YouTuber? And in the Weekend Longreads, the one article that has done the most to radicalize me, as an investor, in a long, long time. Links: OpenAI’s new ChatGPT Agent can control an entire computer and do tasks for you (The Verge) OpenAI ChatGPT Agent announcement LIVE — all the big news from today's livestream (Tom's Guide) Netflix says it’s streamed 95 billion hours in 2025, and a lot of ads too (The Verge) Donald Trump set to open US retirement market to crypto investments (Financial Times) AI start-up Perplexity’s valuation tops $18bn months after latest funding round (Financial Times) Apple Sues Jon Prosser Over iOS 26 Leaks (Macrumors) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: 4.6 Billion Years On, the Sun Is Having a Moment (The New Yorker) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

18 Juli 19min

TSMC earnings suggest the AI buildout is continuing apace. Stablecoin regulation clears a major hurdle. Is Anthropic doing well growing revenue? Maybe not OpenAI well, but well enough? More signs Microsoft is struggling to sell its own branded AI. And how AI might be about to change how we pay for everything… forever. Links: TSMC Raises 2025 Outlook in a Big Boost for AI Demand Hopes (Bloomberg) US House agrees to consider crypto legislation in big win for the digital asset industry (Reuters) Investors Float Deal Valuing Anthropic at More Than $100 Billion (The Information) Microsoft's Copilot Is Getting Lapped by 900 Million ChatGPT Downloads (Bloomberg) Delta moves toward eliminating set prices in favor of AI that determines how much you personally will pay for a ticket (Fortune) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

17 Juli 20min

Jensen is feeling his oats after the reprieve on China, spilling lots of tea about where he see the AI industry. OpenAI is going after the office and also the storefront, with interesting new integrations. Why is it so hard to create LLM’s in other languages? And a first person account of what its like to work at OpenAI, the culture, the pressure, etc. Links: Nvidia Boss Expects US to Move Fast on First H20 China Licenses (Bloomberg) OpenAI Preps ChatGPT Agents in Challenge to Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint (The Information) OpenAI to take cut of ChatGPT shopping sales in hunt for revenues (Financial Times) Fed up with ChatGPT, Latin America is building its own (Rest Of World) Reflections on OpenAI (Calvin French-Owen) Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

16 Juli 17min

Has the US government suddenly allowed Nvidia back in business in China? A segment wherein I make the case the GW’s are the new metric that matters to the tech industry, over and above anything else. Windsurf finds a permanent home. And is China already producing the smartglasses Zuck wants to see next? Links: Nvidia, AMD to Resume AI Chip Sales to China in US Reversal (Bloomberg) Apple to Buy Rare Earths From Pentagon-Backed US Producer MP (Bloomberg) Zuckerberg Says Meta Will Build Gigawatt-Size Data Centers (Bloomberg) Meta’s New Superintelligence Lab Is Discussing Major A.I. Strategy Changes (NYTimes) Cognition AI Buys Windsurf as A.I. Frenzy Escalates (NYTimes) China’s AI glasses market takes shape as Xiaomi’s entry inspires early adopters (SCMP) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

15 Juli 16min

Google snatched the Windsurf acquisition out from under OpenAI in a big new acquihire. SpaceX is investing in xAI. ChromeOS and Android to merge, but for real this time? Was there a new sort of DeepSeek moment over the weekend? And example number 74 of how YouTube is now the king of video entertainment. Links: Google to Pay $2.4 Billion for Windsurf Staff, IP After Startup Ends OpenAI Talks (The Information) Google Is Said to Pay $2.4 Billion for Windsurf Assets, Talent (Bloomberg) An OpenAI Acquisition Turns Into a Google 'Hackqusition'... (Spyglass) Elon Musk’s xAI seeks up to $200bn valuation in next fundraising (Financial Times) SpaceX to Invest $2 Billion Into Elon Musk’s xAI (WSJ) Google exec: ‘We’re going to be combining ChromeOS and Android’ (The Verge) 'I think you see the future first on Android' – Google's Android leader Sameer Samat (TechRadar) Moonshot AI’s Kimi K2 outperforms GPT-4 in key benchmarks — and it’s free (VentureBeat) Eight Things We’ve Learned About Hollywood This Year (Bloomberg) The Streaming Wars Come Down to 2: YouTube vs. Netflix (NYTimes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

14 Juli 17min

Mega Omnibus Episode Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

12 Juli 2h 8min

So, it sure looks like Grok tries to align some of its answers with the views of its maker, Elon Musk, but the question is why… Does AI have to align with political views more generally? New, tangible data suggests you actually might NOT be coding faster due to AI. It might just be in your head. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links: Grok: searching X for “from:elonmusk (Israel OR Palestine OR Hamas OR Gaza)” (Simon Willison's Blog) Grok 4 seems to consult Elon Musk to answer controversial questions (TechCrunch) A Republican state attorney general is formally investigating why AI chatbots don’t like Donald Trump (The Verge) Study: Apple’s newest AI model flags health conditions with up to 92% accuracy (9to5Mac) Not So Fast: AI Coding Tools Can Actually Reduce Productivity (Second Thoughts) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: The Grand Unified Theory of Rogue Waves (Quanta Magazine) This Breakthrough Sponge Could Change How the World Gets Clean Water (SciTechDaily) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

11 Juli 18min

Grok 4 is out, plus Grok 4 Voice, Grok 4 Code, a bunch more. Ok we know Zuck wants to catch up on AI, but an insider explains why they think Meta fell behind in the first place. Are AI web browsers the next battlefield in the AI wars. And if your electricity bill goes up substantially, you’ll never guess what you can blame. Links: Grok 4 is live — here’s what makes it Elon Musk’s most advanced AI yet (Tom's Guide) Meta Poached Apple’s Pang With Pay Package Over $200 Million (Bloomberg) Zuckerberg’s $100 Million AI Job Offers Are Paying Off (Bloomberg) Exclusive: OpenAI to release web browser in challenge to Google Chrome (Reuters) Microsoft Touts $500 Million AI Savings While Slashing Jobs (Bloomberg) America's largest power grid is struggling to meet demand from AI (Reuters) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

10 Juli 16min