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Is TikTok US Only Worth $14B? Sep 26, 2025

Show notes

Maybe… the TikTok thing has finally reached a resolution. Again. Maybe Amazon owes us all some money. Maybe that Neon app from yesterday was a bad idea. OpenAI and Meta make some super interesting strategic AI moves. And, of course, The Weekend Longreads Suggestions.

Trump signs executive order supporting proposed deal to put TikTok under US ownership (AP)
TikTok Being Sold for a Song (Spyglass)
Amazon agrees largest ever civil penalty in $2.5bn settlement with US regulators (Financial Times)
Viral call-recording app Neon goes dark after exposing users’ phone numbers, call recordings, and transcripts (TechCrunch)
OpenAI really, really wants you to start your day with ChatGPT Pulse (The Verge)
Meta launches ‘Vibes,’ a short-form video feed of AI slop (TechCrunch)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

AI isn't replacing radiologists (Works In Progress)
HSBC claims quantum trading breakthrough (FT)

Jerry Colonna Interview On YouTube

Get Paid To Train AI On Your Phone Calls? Sep 25, 2025

Show notes

Another lawsuit against OpenAI, this time from xAI. Intel approached Apple about bailing them out. What if crypto was reversable so you could recover fraud. Drama in open source land. And would you like to get paid to train AI on your phone calls? You’re in luck!

Musk's xAI accuses rival OpenAI of stealing trade secrets (Reuters)
Intel Is Seeking an Investment From Apple as Part of Its Comeback Bid (Bloomberg)
Spotify to label AI music, filter spam and more in AI policy change (TechCrunch)
Stablecoin issuer Circle examines ‘reversible’ transactions in departure for crypto (Financial Times)
Microsoft embraces OpenAI rival Anthropic to improve Microsoft 365 apps (The Verge)
Shopify, pulling strings at Ruby Central, forces Bundler and RubyGems takeover (Joel Drapper)
Neon, the No. 2 social app on the Apple App Store, pays users to record their phone calls and sells data to AI firms (TechCrunch)

The AI Incentives Game Sep 24, 2025

Show notes

Stargate gets off the ground, or at least, announces it is. What if OpenAI leases the chips from Nvidia instead of buying them. I go a bit deep in this episode in terms of the incentives behind all these AI moves. And what happens if AI makes translation as ubiquitous as spell check?

OpenAI Teams Up With Oracle and SoftBank to Build 5 New Stargate Data Centers (Wired)
In OpenAI Megadeal, Nvidia Discusses a New Business Model: Chip Leasing (The Information)
Nvidia’s $100bn bet on ‘gigantic AI factories’ to power ChatGPT (FT)
Alibaba Shares Soar After Hiking AI Budget Past $50 Billion (Bloomberg)
VCs to AI Startups: Please Take Our Money (Bloomberg)
Disney+, Hulu, ESPN to Hike Prices Again in October (The Wrap)
WhatsApp adds built-in text translations on iPhone and Android (The Verge)

Ouroboros All The Way Down? Sep 23, 2025

Show notes

Nvidia is investing $100B in OpenAI, and there are a billion angles to that fact, so get ready to dive into it. Why were there giant sim farms popping up around NYC? The new AI to help you with Candy Crush, I guess. And new buzzword alert: say hello to “workslop.”

Nvidia is partnering up with OpenAI to offer compute and cash (The Verge)
Altman, Huang and the last-minute negotiations that sealed the $100 billion OpenAI-Nvidia deal (CNBC)
Secret Service Thwarts Plot to Take Out Cell Service Near UN (Bloomberg)
Play Games Sidekick is Gemini Live for Android games (9to5Google)
AI Generated "Workslop" Is Destroying Productivity (Harvard Business Review)

TikTok Deals? Visa Rules? Sep 22, 2025

Show notes

Once again, I THINK a TikTok deal is happening, so updates on that. Why lots of folk in the tech industry are worried about new H-1B visa rules. Might those annoying cookie consent checkboxes be going away? And why the real land grab in data center building is happening in Scandinavia.

Inside Trump's deal to save TikTok (Axios)
Startup leaders warn new $100K H-1B visa fee will hurt U.S. entrepreneurship and innovation (GeekWire)
Big Tech companies, foreign governments scramble after Trump slaps $100,000 fee on H-1B visas (CNBC)
Europe’s cookie law messed up the internet. Brussels wants to fix it. (Politico)
Oura Ring Maker to Become $11 Billion Company With Latest Raise (Bloomberg)
Coinbase CEO: We Want To Become A Super App (CoinDesk)
Nordic Data Center Boom Fueled by Low Prices, Empty Land and Cool Weather (Bloomberg)

My most recent AI content experiment

(BNS) Datadog Founder Olivier Pomel Sep 20, 2025

Show notes

Today I’m joined by Olivier Pomel, cofounder/CEO of Datadog. We trace his path from French open-source tinkerer to NYC founder, the dev-vs-ops friction that sparked Datadog, finding product-market fit through integrations, and the choice to stay independent en route to a 2019 IPO and S&P 500. Olivier shares scaling war stories, culture and GTM lessons, and what observability means in an AI era. If you build software—or companies—this one’s packed with playbooks, from hiring to pricing to platform bets that work.

(CORRECT) OpenAI’s Hardware Plans Worry Apple Sep 19, 2025

Show notes

(Sorry about the editing error earlier)

Nvidia is investing in self-driving AI tech. Google has given up the ghost and is making Chrome a full AI tool. Would you tolerate advertisements on the screen of your smart refrigerator? And why Apple executives are growing worried about OpenAI’s hardware plans.

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

⁠⁠Since Leaving Washington, Elon Musk Has Been All In on His A.I. Company⁠⁠ (NYTimes)
⁠⁠OpenAI Raids Apple for Hardware Talent, Manufacturing Partners⁠⁠ (The Information)

Nvidia And Intel Get Together Sep 18, 2025

Show notes

Has Intel found the big customer for its Foundry that it needs to survive? The big tie up with Nvidia announced this morning. All the announces from Meta’s event last night. Smartglasses and maybe the Metaverse is still a thing. And AI pattern matching might work as well for health prediction as it has proven to do with weather forecasting.

Nvidia In Trouble In China Again Sep 17, 2025

Show notes

The framework of a TikTok deal is finally coming together. Nvidia suffers another major setback in China. Bunch of new AI stuff from YouTube. A coming MacBook with a touchscreen. And a roundup of the reviews of the iPhone Air.

U.S. Investors, Trump Close In on TikTok Deal With China (WSJ)
China bans tech companies from buying Nvidia’s AI chips (FT)
YouTube to use AI to help podcasters promote themselves with clips and Shorts (TechCrunch)
YouTube announces new generative AI tools for Shorts creators (TechCrunch)
Kuo: OLED MacBook Pro to Feature Touch Screen Display (MacRumors)
AI Chip Startup Groq Raises $750 Million at $6.9 Billion Valuation (Bloomberg)
Apple iPhone Air review: statement piece (The Verge)

Listener survey link: https://www.theverge.com/tech/779588/apple-iphone-air-review-battery-camera

Meta Smartglasses Leak Sep 16, 2025

Show notes

Looks like we’re going to be getting new Meta smartglasses later this week. OpenAI wants to up its AI for coding game. Is the whole TikTok saga finally coming to a conclusion? Almost half a billion people use Spotify for free? And how to use the best feature of the new iOS.

'Meta Ray-Ban Display' Glasses Design & HUD Clips Leak Ahead Of Connect (Upload)
OpenAI upgrades Codex with a new version of GPT-5 (TechCrunch)
Beijing says TikTok’s US app will use Chinese algorithm (Financial Times)
Spotify will now let free users pick and play tracks (TechCrunch)
iOS 26 Review: A New Look I'll Be Happy With for the Next 12 Years (CNet)

Podcast Listener Survey: https://www.morningbrewbreakroom.com/c/r/Tech-Brew-Ride-Home

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