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Wed. 01/22 – The Galaxy S25 Lineup Jan 22, 2025

Show notes

All the headlines from today’s Samsung event, including the S25 lineup. The Silk Road creator gets a pardon. A huge joint venture for a new AI datacenter effort. Will Elon take half of TikTok and the US the other half? And guess what? Netflix is raising prices again.

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The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra smooths out some sharp edges (The Verge)
Trump Pardons Creator of Silk Road Drug Marketplace (NYTimes)
OpenAI teams up with SoftBank and Oracle on $500B data center project (TechCrunch)
'Stargate' Squares Some AI Circles (Spyglass/MG Siegler)
Trump Says He’s Open to Elon Musk or Larry Ellison Purchasing TikTok (Bloomberg)
Meta Plans Oakley-Branded Glasses, Explores Watches and Earbuds (Bloomberg)
Meta will soon let you link your WhatsApp account with Instagram and Facebook (TechCrunch)
Netflix Adds 19 Million Subscribers in Latest Quarter (NYTimes)

Tue. 01/21 – TikTok Lives? Jan 21, 2025

Show notes

Alright, I’ll sum up everything that happened this weekend with TikTik, but also get to all of the changes the new Trump administration has made, which is relating to tech, in just the past 24 hours. How folks are trying to eat TikTok’s lunch. Should Apple buy Sonos? And the IMDB loses its founder after 25 years.

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Trump signs order refusing to enforce TikTok ban for 75 days (The Verge)
Trump signs executive order to halt TikTok ban, risking legal showdown (Washington Post)
President Trump signs exec order to make Musk’s DOGE commission more official (TechCrunch)
Meta announces a new CapCut rival called Edits (TechCrunch)
Bluesky adds TikTok mode while Elon mulls reviving Vine in the latest banning drama (Windows Central)
Apple Is Unlikely to Buy Sonos, But Amazon or Spotify Might Consider It (Bloomberg)
IMDb Founder Col Needham Steps Aside as CEO, COO Nikki Santoro Promoted to Chief Exec (Variety)

(BNS) Senator Ron Wyden On TikTok, AI, Regulation And His New Book Jan 18, 2025

Show notes

I speak to Senator Ron Wyden about the TikTok ban, AI and regulation, tech regulation in general, and his new book: It Takes Chutzpah: How to Fight Fearlessly for Progressive Change

Fri. 01/17 – TikTok Loses In The Supreme Court Jan 17, 2025

Show notes

The Supreme Court rules against TikTok, but at this point, I think this is all kabuki theater. Somehow TikTok is going to survive. Bumble’s founder returns to the company. Is Apple Intelligence really working for anyone? Does anyone care that the Chinese have allegedly hacked everything at this point? And, of course, The Weekend Longreads suggestions.

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Supreme Court Upholds Law That Threatens US TikTok Ban (Bloomberg)
Bumble Founder Whitney Wolfe Herd to Return as CEO in March (Bloomberg)
iOS 18.3 temporarily disables Apple Intelligence notification summaries for select apps, more (9to5Mac)
General Motors Is Banned From Selling Driving Behavior Data for 5 Years (NYTimes)
FBI Warned Agents It Believes Phone Logs Hacked Last Year (Bloomberg)
Chinese Hackers Accessed Yellen's Computer in US Treasury Breach (Bloomberg)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

Charlwin Mao, the Chinese tech founder welcoming ‘TikTok refugees’ (Financial Times)
Kids Turn to a Mental-Health Chatbot to Share Their Anxieties (WSJ)
To release Animal Crossing in the West, Nintendo ‘had to change everything’ (Polygon)

Thu. 01/16 – Nintendo Switch 2 Jan 16, 2025

Show notes

Nintendo finally takes the wraps off the Switch 2. Everybody seems to want to give TikTok more time, but can they find a way to do it? A big new AI research lab. A check in with Nothing. The company, I mean. And the weird story of when Walgreens tries to replace refrigerator doors with smartscreens.

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Here’s the Nintendo Switch 2 (The Verge)
Trump considers executive order hoping to ‘save TikTok’ from ban or sale in U.S. law (Washington Post)
Biden administration looks for ways to keep TikTok available in the U.S. (NBCNews)
AI researcher François Chollet founds a new AI lab focused on AGI (TechCrunch)
Phone Startup Nothing Raises Funding, Crosses $1 Billion in Lifetime Sales (Bloomberg)
Walgreens Replaced Fridge Doors With Smart Screens. It’s Now a $200 Million Fiasco (Bloomberg)

Wed. 01/15 – SEC Sues Elon Musk Jan 15, 2025

Show notes

The SEC is suing Elon Musk. Big AI insertions in Microsoft Copilot, Google Workspace and even LinkedIn. How TikTok plans to handle the immediate aftermath of a shutdown. Another new Instagram alternative. And have your AirPods been misbehaving? Here’s what Apple did without telling anyone.

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Musk Accused by SEC of Cheating Twitter Investors Out of Millions (Bloomberg)
Microsoft relaunches Copilot for business with free AI chat and pay-as-you-go agents (The Verge)
Google Workspace business users getting full Gemini experience, price increasing (9to5Google)
LinkedIn adds free AI tools for job hunters and recruiters (TechCrunch)
TikTok Prepares for Immediate Shut-Off in the U.S. on Sunday (The Information)
Decentralized Instagram alternative Pixelfed launches mobile apps (TechCrunch)
Apple starts pushing AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 owners into Transparency or Noise Cancellation modes repeatedly, without an easy opt out (Key Discussions)

Tue. 01/14 – Could Elon Buy TikTok? Jan 14, 2025

Show notes

Break out your 2025 headline bingo cards. Did you have Elon Musk maybe buying TikTok on there? You’re a better bingo player than I am. Is the EU going to back off Tech in the Trump era? More layoffs come to Meta. The big streaming sports play that isn’t gonna happen now. And why is Barcelona a hub for spyware companies?

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China Weighs Sale of TikTok US to Musk as a Possible Option (Bloomberg)
EU reassesses tech probes into Apple, Google and Meta (Financial Times)
Meta to Cut Roughly 5% of Staff, Targeting Lowest Performers (Bloomberg)
Databricks Inks $5 Billion of Private Credit, Bank Funding (Bloomberg)
Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox Pull the Plug on Venu Sports Streaming Venture (THR)
Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery call off plans to launch Venu sports streaming service (CNBC)
How Barcelona became an unlikely hub for spyware startups (TechCrunch)

Mon. 01/13 – Nvidia Isn’t Happy With New Chip Rules Jan 13, 2025

Show notes

The Biden administration unveils its long planned new chip export rules, and Nvidia isn’t happy. That whole botched Sonos app debacle has cost the CEO his job. Why we might not see blockbuster tech IPOs this year. Why some of Nvidia’s customers are returning Blackwell chips. And say hello to China’s answer to Instagram.

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Links:

US imposes export controls on chips for AI to counter China (FT)
Sonos CEO Leaving After Botched App Revamp Led to Customer Revolt (Bloomberg)
Sonos CEO Patrick Spence steps down after disastrous app launch (The Verge)
Silicon Valley’s largest start-ups to shun IPOs in 2025 (Financial Times)
Nvidia’s Top Customers Face Delays From Glitchy AI Chip Racks (The Information)
Xiaohongshu, China’s answer to Instagram, hits no. 1 on the App Store as TikTok faces US shutdown (TechCrunch)

(BNS) Simon Willison And SWYX Tell Us Where AI Is In 2025 Jan 11, 2025

Show notes

The great Simon Willison joins SWYX and I to talk about everything we learned about LLMs in 2024, and what the state of AI is generally, as we go into 2025.

Here is Simon's blog post we keep referring to:

https://simonwillison.net/2024/Dec/31...

00:00 The State of AI in 2025

10:05 The Evolution of AI Models

19:54 Challenges in AI Agents

30:07 The Future of AI in Creative Industries

38:29 The Rise of AI Influencers

40:54 Credibility in the Age of AI

43:15 The Future of User Interfaces for LLMs

51:17 Local LLMs and Desktop AI Applications

55:17 AI Tools and Applications for Everyday Use

01:01:26 The Future of OpenAI and AI Regulation

01:08:08 The Need for Better Criticism of LLMs

01:10:41 The Future of Wearables and AI Integration

Fri. 01/10 – The Controversies Continue Jan 10, 2025

Show notes

All the controversies continue. I’ll update you on the Meta moderation controversy. The latest twist in the WordPress brouhaha. The TikTok thing is coming to a head right now as we speak, in the form of Supreme Court arguments. Asking again if the business model of Triple A gaming development is broken. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions.

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Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

The New $30,000 Side Hustle: Making Job Referrals for Strangers (Bloomberg)
The smart glasses era is here — I got a first look (The Verge)
The Anti-Social Century (The Atlantic)

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