Tech Brew Ride Home

Latest Episodes:

Fri. 05/30 – Big Meta/Anduril Deal Is A Big Deal May 30, 2025

Show notes

Why Meta’s big deal with Anduril is a big deal for the entire tech industry. Microsoft is kinda not joining, but also kind of all in on the handheld gaming race. Count Hugging Face as someone else serious about AI robots. And in the longreads, more signs that the AI job apocalypse might already be upon us.

Links:

Meta Fired Palmer Luckey. Now, They’re Teaming Up on a Defense Contract. (WSJ)
Mark Zuckerberg Finally Found a Use for His Metaverse — War (Bloomberg)
EXCLUSIVE: Xbox's first-party handheld has been sidelined (for now), as Microsoft doubles down on 'Kennan' and Windows 11 PC gaming optimization (Windows Central)
Black Forest Labs’ Kontext AI models can edit pics as well as generate them (TechCrunch)
Hugging Face unveils two new humanoid robots (TechCrunch)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

Thu. 05/29 – Somebody Knows Victoria’s Secrets May 29, 2025

Show notes

Nvidia had solid earnings, though they’re quite concerned about being boxed out of China. The apparent hack of Victoria’s Secret gave me a dad-joke-title for today’s episode. Why DeepSeek’s recent R1 update is a bigger deal than even they are letting on. And why the CEO of Anthropic says we should be more worried about the AI he’s unleashing than people are aware.

Links:

Nvidia beats on earnings and revenue as data center sales jump 73% (CNBC)
Nvidia CEO Warns That Chinese AI Rivals Are Now ‘Formidable’ (Bloomberg)
NVIDIA GeForce NOW launches a native Steam Deck app, unlocking 4K cloud gaming & extended battery life for Valve's handheld (Windows Central)
Victoria’s Secret takes down website after security incident (BleepingComputer)
Apple to Launch iOS 26, macOS 26 in Major Rebrand Tied to Software Redesigns (Bloomberg)
DeepSeek Quietly Drops AI Update That Outperforms Google's Best (Implicator.ai)
Behind the Curtain: A white-collar bloodbath (Axios)

Wed. 05/28 – Apple Playing Games Again May 28, 2025

Show notes

Apple is making noises in the gaming space once again, but I feel like we’ve heard this all before. Getty is still deadly serious about suing AI companies. Self driving trucks seem to be juuuust about to hit the roads. And a big piece about the enmity between Apple and Elon Musk.

Sponsors:

Shopify.com/ride

Links:

Apple acquires RAC7, its first-ever video game studio (Digital Trends)
Apple to Debut Dedicated Gaming App Within Days of Switch 2’s Arrival (Bloomberg)
Texas Adopts Online Child-Safety Bill Opposed by Apple’s CEO (Bloomberg)
Getty Images spending millions to battle a ‘world of rhetoric’ in AI suit, CEO says (CNBC)
Driverless Semi Trucks Are Here, With Little Regulation and Big Promises (NYTimes)
Apple’s Satellite Ambitions Threatened by Elon Musk, Internal Resistance (The Information)

Tue. 05/27 – The “Holy Grail” Of AI Models May 27, 2025

Show notes

Salesforce is back in the acquisition swing. Circle is going for an IPO. Is Netflix about to lose the streaming service crown? The Holy Grail of AI Models. And is your boss more demanding of your output now that you use AI?

Links:

Salesforce Agrees to Buy Informatica in Deal Worth $8 Billion (Bloomberg)
Stablecoin Giant Circle File for IPO on NYSE (CoinDesk)
The Browser Company mulls selling or open-sourcing Arc Browser amid AI-focused pivot (TechCrunch)
Cricket gives Disney-Ambani unit in India almost as many users as Netflix (Financial Times)
One of Europe’s top AI researchers raised a $13M seed to crack the ‘holy grail’ of models (TechCrunch)
At Amazon, Some Coders Say Their Jobs Have Begun to Resemble Warehouse Work (NYTimes)
Khosla Ventures among VCs experimenting with AI-infused roll-ups of mature companies (TechCrunch)

(Bonus) Calmwave Profile May 26, 2025

Show notes

Find out more about Calmwave at Calmwave.ai.

The case study we mention is here: https://catalyst.wellstar.org/casestudies/calmwave/

Fri. 05/23 – Tim Apple’s Very Bad Week May 23, 2025

Show notes

Tariff fun is back and this time there’s only one tech company in the crosshairs: Apple. Anthropic releases flagship new Claude models, and they seem to be impressive, but half the story here is how weird they behave. Like, ratting on users to authorities, blackmailing engineers and maybe creating biological weapons. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions.

Links:

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

Thu. 05/22 – OpenAI Acquihires Jony Ive! May 22, 2025

Show notes

Is this is biggest acquihire of all time? Jony Ive is joining OpenAI to the tune of $6.5 billion dollars. And what is he going to do there? Create hardware devices that Sam Altman expects to ship 100 million of. Why Google has a unique advantage in the AI race. Why Signal is blocking Recall. And why is weather forecasting AI’s next big trick?

Sponsors:

CornbreadHemp.com/ride and code RIDE

Links:

Wed. 05/21 – Everything Google Everywhere And All At Once May 21, 2025

Show notes

It’s Google day. Everything Google, everywhere, all at once. All the headlines from IO and there were a ton. What even is Google search in the age of AI? Google’s big push into smartglasses, a wild new video model and a ton, ton more. Here’s what you missed, yesterday, mostly, I guess, in the world of tech.

Sponsors:

Venice.ai/techmeme and code techmeme

Links:

Google is rolling out AI Mode to everyone in the US (Engadget)
Android XR is getting stylish partners in Warby Parker and Gentle Monster (The Verge)
My demo with Google's AR glasses went better than the one on stage (AndroidCentral)
Google launches Veo 3, an AI video generator that incorporates audio (CNBC)
Watch Me Try Google’s Live Language Translator. It’s Wild. (WSJ)
Google moves to reassure EU cloud users amid concern over Trump threat (Financial Times)

Tue. 05/20 – Microsoft Build 2025 May 20, 2025

Show notes

He noted the firm has the OVX computer that is meant to do simulation and graphic simulation physics engine, and it is used to synthesize and generate data. And this data is consumed by the DGX computer, which are used to train foundation models. And then it is deployed to the HX computer, which is the runtime on the edge for platforms like humanoid robots.

Sponsors:

1password.com/ride

Links:

GitHub’s new AI coding agent can fix bugs for you (The Verge)
The new Microsoft Discovery agentic platform targets scientists and researchers (Neowin)
Trump signs the Take It Down Act into law (The Verge)
Stablecoin Bill Advances in US Senate in Big Win for Crypto (Bloomberg)
EU to impose €2 tax on low-cost items in blow to Temu and Shein (FT)
Nvidia charges ahead with humanoid robotics aided by the cloud (GamesBeat)
Autonomous cars with ‘social sensitivity’ cut threat to road users, study finds (FT)

Mountainhead Trailer

Mon. 05/19 – How Apple Lost AI May 19, 2025

Show notes

The big, long saga of how Apple lost the AI race. Nvidia wants you to bring your own gear. 23andMe’s assets are acquired. Why are Apple and Epic still bickering? And why has kidnapping suddenly become a major issue for big crypto players?

Sponsors: