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Tue. 04/22 – FTC As Today’s Main Character Apr 22, 2025

Show notes

As the US v. Google remedy trial begins, the FTC also sues Uber and makes Airbnb disclose all fees. Looks like tech regulation is still very much a thing. Bluesky begins rolling out verification. Meta is using AI to find if kids are lying about their age on Instagram. And Microsoft is forging ahead with that Recall feature.

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Justice Dept. asks judge to ‘thaw’ Google’s search monopoly by forcing Chrome sale (Washington Post)
FTC sues Uber, says company charged for Uber One without consent (CNBC)
Airbnb to Show Fees in Price Display to Comply With FTC Rule (Bloomberg)
Bluesky Is Rolling Out Official Verification (Wired)
Google Messages Sensitive Content Warnings for nudity rolling out (9to5Google)
Meta is ramping up its AI-driven age detection (The Verge)
Microsoft Is Dedicated To Building A Dodgy New Database Of Every Windows 11 User’s Online Behaviors (TechDirt)

Mon. 04/21 – Trump Helps Zuck Get A Reprieve In Europe Apr 21, 2025

Show notes

Meta and Apple were about to go to the woodshed in Europe, but it looks like Trump’s tariffs have run interference for them. Everyone wants in on stablecoins, example number 23. Beware of phishing emails from Google.com. And are OpenAI’s latest models good, bad, or just “jagged”?

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Links:

EU Delayed Punishing Apple, Meta Just Before Trade Talks Started (WSJ)
Crypto Knocks on the Door of a Banking World That Shut It Out (WSJ)
Phishers abuse Google OAuth to spoof Google in DKIM replay attack (Bleeping Computer)
Coinbase in hot water over $12 million ‘content coin’—but exec tells haters to lean in (Fortune Crypto)
OpenAI’s new reasoning AI models hallucinate more (TechCrunch)
On Jagged AGI: o3, Gemini 2.5, and everything after (Ethan Mollick)

Fri. 04/18 – The Google Antitrust Snowball Apr 18, 2025

Show notes

Google is ruled an illegal monopoly. Again. But for a different reason this time. Switch 2 pre-orders are back on. Americans are flocking to Temu and Shein alternatives. And in the Weekend Longreads Suggestions, what if I told you 25 percent of community college applicants are now AI bots? And not only that, the bots are now “attending classes” in quotes.

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Google Broke the Law to Keep Its Advertising Monopoly, a Judge Rules (NYTimes)
Google loses online advertising monopoly case (Axios)
Google Found GUILTY of Monopolization Again (The Big Newsletter)
Nintendo Switch 2 preorders start April 24th and the price is still $449.99 (The Verge)
The latest viral ChatGPT trend is doing ‘reverse location search’ from photos (TechCrunch)
Chinese shopping app Taobao joins DHgate in Top 5 on US App Store (TechCrunch)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

As ‘Bot’ Students Continue to Flood In, Community Colleges Struggle to Respond (Voice Of San Diego)
Astronomers Detect a Possible Signature of Life on a Distant Planet (NYTimes)

Thu. 04/17 – Mooooaaar Models! Apr 17, 2025

Show notes

OpenAI has a new reasoning model, and more lower cost models as well. Is OpenAI about to acquire a coding startup? Is Perplexity turning to Samsung for distribution and branding? A Neuralink rival gets FDA approval. And why is Jensen Huang on a code-red mission to China at the moment?

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Links:

OpenAI's new o3 and o4-mini models are all about 'thinking with images' (Engadget)
OpenAI debuts Codex CLI, an open source coding tool for terminals (TechCrunch)
Vibe Check: o3 Is Here—And It’s Great (Every)
OpenAI In Talks to Buy Windsurf for About $3 Billion (Bloomberg)
Perplexity AI in Talks to Integrate Assistant Into Samsung, Motorola Phones (Bloomberg)
Neuralink Rival Gets FDA Clearance in Path to Less Invasive Brain Implants (Bloomberg)
Nvidia chief Jensen Huang flies to Beijing for talks (FT)

Wed. 04/16 – Why Does OpenAI Want A Social Network? Apr 16, 2025

Show notes

Well, it looks like DOGE has finally come for cybersecurity. It sounds like the tariff stuff is already biting Nvidia to the tune of $5 billion. Why is OpenAI building a social network? The government would have settled the antitrust case with Meta to the tune of $30 billion. And why did Mark Zuckerberg consider spinning off Instagram voluntarily?

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Tue. 04/15 – Why Is OpenAI Going Backwards (Name-Wise)? Apr 15, 2025

Show notes

OpenAI releases its latest next gen models but you wouldn’t know it by the nomenclature because the numbers are going backwards. What’s up with that? Apple is tying itself in a pretzel to train on user data but still stick to privacy. And a big rundown of the first day of the big Meta antitrust trial.

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Links:

OpenAI’s new GPT-4.1 AI models focus on coding (TechCrunch)
OpenAI launches another model before GPT 5 — here’s what this one can do (Tom's Guide)
Nvidia says it plans to manufacture some AI chips in the US (TechCrunch)
Apple to Analyze User Data on Devices to Bolster AI Technology (Bloomberg)
Zuckerberg testifies as FTC, Meta trade opening salvos in antitrust trial (Politico)
Mark Zuckerberg Takes Stand to Defend Meta Against Antitrust Suit (NYTimes)

Mon. 04/14 – Tariff Groundhog Day Apr 14, 2025

Show notes

You know that meme of Ebenezer Scrooge shouting out the window? “Hey boy, what tariff regime is it today?” Sam Altman again implies ChatGPT usage has exploded. If you’re coding with AI, a big new vulnerability you need to know about. And is Apple pivoting the Vision Pro to the type of product I thought they should have done all along?

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Links:

Apple, Nvidia Score Relief From US Tariffs With Exemptions (Bloomberg)
Sony raises PlayStation 5 prices in Europe citing ‘challenging’ economic environment (CNBC)
ChatGPT Hits 1 Billion Users? ‘Doubled In Just Weeks’ Says OpenAI CEO (Forbes)
LLMs can't stop making up software dependencies and sabotaging everything (The Register)
AI-hallucinated code dependencies become new supply chain risk (Bleeping Computer)
Apple Readies Pair of Headsets While Still Looking Ahead to Glasses (Bloomberg)

Fri. 04/11 – Why COULDN’T Apple Make An iPhone In The US? Apr 11, 2025

Show notes

Europe says it could tax social media ads if the tariff wars get really nasty. Why COULDN’T Apple make an iPhone in the US as President Trump wants? Is OpenAI cutting corners on safety in order to stay ahead in the AI race? And as always, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions.

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Links:

EU could tax Big Tech if Trump trade talks fail, says von der Leyen (Financial Times)
Why Trump’s Dream of Made-in-the-USA iPhones Isn’t Going to Happen (Bloomberg)
OpenAI updates ChatGPT to reference your past chats (TechCrunch)
OpenAI slashes AI model safety testing time (Financial Times)
Mira Murati doubled the fundraising target for her new AI startup to $2 billion. It could be the largest seed round in history. (Business Insider)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

12 Graphs That Explain the State of AI in 2025 (IEEE Spectrum)
Generative AI is learning to spy for the US military (MIT Technology Review)
How Apple Fumbled Siri’s AI Makeover (The Information)

Thu. 04/10 – JK, JK, JK Apr 10, 2025

Show notes

At the time of this writing, the tariffs are back off, but who know what will happen by the time you hear this. OpenAI sues back. Google wants a framework for AI agents to talk to each other. Oh, and how many iPhones can you pack in a jumbo jet?

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Links:

Trump temporarily drops tariffs to 10% for most countries, hits China harder with 125% (CNBC)
Nintendo Gains Time to Prep Switch 2 Debut With Tariff Pause (Bloomberg)
How Many New iPhones Can Fit on a Freight Plane? (Daring Fireball)
Wall Street Consultant Paul Atkins Confirmed to Lead SEC (Bloomberg)
OpenAI countersues Elon Musk, claims harassment (Reuters)
Google launches Agent2Agent protocol to connect AI agents across platforms (Testing Catalog)
OpenAI launches program to design new ‘domain-specific’ AI benchmarks (TechCrunch)
AI is set to drive surging electricity demand from data centres while offering the potential to transform how the energy sector works (IEA)
AI to double data centre energy demand by 2030 (Silicon Republic)

Wed. 04/09 – Instagram iPad App But For REAL This Time? Apr 09, 2025

Show notes

Google unveils its new TPU’s, this time with inference! Temu and Shein officially get nuked from orbit. More signs of pullback in AI datacenter buildout. Are we actually, for real, about to get an iPad Instagram app? And a cute little home robot from ages ago, looks like it’s finally coming to a house near you this summer.

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Links:

Ironwood is Google’s newest AI accelerator chip (TechCrunch)
Google announces ‘Workspace Flows’ automation with Gems, audio in Docs, and more Gemini (9to5Google)
US Raises Charges on Small Parcels, Targeting Chinese Retailers (Bloomberg)
Microsoft pauses $1bn data center plans in Licking County, Ohio (Data Center Dynamics)
Instagram’s Mosseri Positions App for TikTok Turmoil (The Information)
Amazon Seeks Partners for $15 Billion Warehouse Expansion Plan (Bloomberg)
Google Maps is launching tools to help cities analyze infrastructure and traffic (The Verge)
Samsung Taps Google AI to Launch Long-Promised Ballie Robot With Video Projector (Bloomberg)

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