Tech Brew Ride Home

Ok, fine, says Sam, here’s a new GPT model so you’ll hopefully stop saying we’re behind. Broadcom as another AI bellwether. Now that Disney is in bed with OpenAI, they’re ceasing and desisting Google. And, of course, The Weekend Longreads Suggestions. OpenAI Launches GPT-5.2 as It Navigates ‘Code Red’ (Wired) GPT-5.2 is OpenAI’s latest move in the agentic AI battle (The Verge) Trump threatens fund...

Disney signs a blockbuster deal to license characters to OpenAI AND invest $1 billion dollars in the company. Oracle as the new bellwether for thinking about OpenAI’s prospects. More on the whole Data Centers In Space phenomenon. And let me introduce you to the Model Context Protocol to make the web safe for AI agents. Disney Inks Blockbuster OpenAI Deal to Bring More Than 200 Characters to Sora V...

Instagram is giving you some control over your algorithm. Is Instacart using algorithmic pricing? SpaceX thinks it will be worth $1.5 trillion. Has DeepSeek been smuggling chips? And what if your startup’s side-hustle can plug into the AI CAPEX bonanza? Instagram Will Start Letting You Pick What Shows Up in Your Reels (Wired) Same Product, Same Store, but on Instacart, Prices Might Differ (NYTimes...

Trump says Nvidia and others can ship chips to China, but the question is, will China take delivery. OpenAI is ending the code red in about a month, after getting a new model out the door. Meta wants a new Llama model, maybe in a month. And a new smart ring that is pretty intriguing… Trump greenlights Nvidia H200 AI chip sales to China if U.S. gets 25% cut, says Xi responded positively (CNBC) Chin...

Looks like that big Netflix bid for Warner Brothers isn’t gonna go smoothly as Paramount launching a hostile counter-bid. We’ve got a full-on executive suite crisis at Apple. SpaceX could IPO next year. And more data on how AI usage is evolving. Paramount Skydance launches hostile bid for WBD ‘to finish what we started,’ CEO Ellison tells CNBC (CNBC) Trump Warns Netflix-Warner Deal May Pose Antitr...

Turns out the Albanian army was triumphant as Netflix is buying HBO (and WBD’s studios). The NYT is suing Perplexity. Man, everybody is heading for the exits at Apple at the same time. And get ready for a slew of insider trading controversies in our prediction market world. Netflix agrees $83bn takeover of Warner Bros Discovery (FT) New York Times Sues A.I. Start-Up Perplexity Over Use of Copyrigh...

On the one hand, Meta poached Apple’s design head in a major coup to make hardware and software for AI, but there are signs Zuck is souring on the Metaverse could even abandon it entirely. Is Amazon about to abandon your mailman? And why Dario Amodei is playing a blinder right now. Apple Design Executive Alan Dye Poached by Meta in Major Coup (Bloomberg) Meta’s Zuckerberg Plans Deep Cuts for Metav...

We might soon have the first big IPO of the AI era, and it doesn’t look like it will be OpenAI. Amazon takes another few swings at Nvidia’s dominance. Proof positive that self driving cars really are significantly safer. And the disastrous 4k upscaling of Mad Men. Anthropic taps IPO lawyers as it races OpenAI to go public (FT) Amazon’s Custom Chips Pose Another Threat to Nvidia (WSJ) Amazon Has Ne...

Sam Altman declares a “Code Red” for OpenAI. All hands on deck. Molly, you in danger, girl, to quote Oda Mae Brown from the movie Ghost. Long term, is Apple in trouble cause of Google’s ascendency in AI? Samsung announces but does not launch a tri-fold phone. And Ben Thompson weighs in on the obsession of the day. OpenAI CEO Declares ‘Code Red’ to Combat Threats to ChatGPT, Delays Ads Effort (The...

While Runway releases a new video model, let me break down the big analysis piece that had everyone concern trolling about Nvidia over the weekend. Why doesn’t Netflix want you to cast to your tv anymore? And AI means less jobs in consulting, but more jobs in a specific type of construction. Runway rolls out new AI video model that beats Google, OpenAI in key benchmark (CNBC) TPUv7: Google Takes a...

We're back again with Susan Lyne, to talk about running Martha Stewart's company when Martha went to prison, her startup career with Gilt Groupe, and her investing career with BBG Ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’ve maybe never interviewed anyone in my entire time as a historian and podcaster who has had a career as broad and varied as Susan Lyne. Yes, I obviously wanted to talk to Susan about her role helping startup Gilt Group, and her current role as the managing partner of the VC firm BBG Ventures. But, holy how. Susan also launched and oversaw the golden era of Premiere Magazine. She was the CEO of...

Trump has a plan to boost AI innovation. Polymarket is now street legal in the US. Google thinks it needs to double AI capacity every 6 months. Is Starlink about to face its first serious competition. And for reasons I’ll explain, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Trump aims to boost AI innovation, build platform to harness government data (Reuters) Polymarket Secures CFTC Approval for Regulated...

Now Anthropic says it’s leapfrogged OpenAI with its new model and is the AI horserace in play? OpenAI is still focusing on things like shopping. Nvidia answers a question people weren’t asking. And is Google soaring because they also might be able to go after Nvidia’s chip throne? Anthropic introduces cheaper, more powerful, more efficient Opus 4.5 model (Ars Technica) ChatGPT's new shopping resea...

What sort of a world do we live in if you can’t be sure where an X account comes from? Google isn’t out of the woods yet when it comes to antitrust. Insurers still don’t want to touch AI. Let me tell you about “AI grooming.” And we might be running out of capacity for specific types of chips. X’s messy About This Account rollout has caused utter chaos (The Verge) What OpenAI Did When ChatGPT Users...

Google phone users can now work with Airdrop on the iPhone cause Google cleverly found a way. Google might have jumped ahead in the AI race and Sam Altman knows it. I’ve heard of quantum computing, but a quantum internet? The Weekend Longreads suggestions, and at the end, a long rant about my latest AI experiments. Google cracked Apple’s AirDrop and is adding it to Pixel phones (The Verge) Altman...

Are we about to have a battle over who gets to regulate AI? Now there’s Nano Banana Pro. The creator ecosystem is exploding for advertisers. Battlefield did exactly what EA needed it to do. And I’m telling you, the consumer robots for your home… they’re actually starting to arrive. Here’s the Trump executive order that would ban state AI laws (The Verge) Google rolling out Gemini 3-powered ‘Nano B...

Tons of things today. Google’s new Gemini 3 model. Signs the “second tier” of AI startups is starting to get product market fit. The EU has announced that watering down of GDPR that was rumored. And will Meta’s big win against the government mean mergers and acquisitions are back on the tech menu? Google is launching Gemini 3, its ‘most intelligent’ AI model yet (The Verge) AI Music Platform Suno...

What happened with Cloudflare this morning. Grok’s new model wants to be creative. Catching you up on the bloodbath in crypto if you were unaware. Databricks is 12 years old but it seems to be one of the big AI winners. And debt continues to pile in to the AI buildout. A massive Cloudflare outage brought down X, ChatGPT, and even Downdetector (The Verge) Grok 4.1 has arrived — and it's bringing th...

Jeff Bezos is going to be a CEO once again. Could Tim Cook step down from Apple’s CEO position in a matter of months? Maybe don’t buy an AI teddy bear. What big AI startup would you short, if you could? And data-centers in spaaaaaaacceee… Jeff Bezos Creates A.I. Start-Up Where He Will Be Co-Chief Executive (NYTimes) Apple intensifies succession planning for CEO Tim Cook (FT) Apple’s iPhone Overhau...

A portfolio profile episode of Hypercubic.ai, a seed-stage company that wants to not only preserve knowledge in legacy code, but legacy knowledge in enterprises. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

OpenAI is testing out group chats as a sort of collaborative prompting experience. The hyperscalers are lining up against Nvidia in one specific arena. The Sam Altman Elon Musk feud isn’t over. Google knows who sent you that fake UPS shipment alert text. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. ChatGPT launches pilot group chats across Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and Taiwan (TechCru...

Valve is taking on gaming consoles and creating a new type of VR headset, all at the same time. GPT-5 gets “warmer.” Cursor’s new raise means it has 10x’d its valuation in the span of a year. And we’re one step closer to your phone completely replacing your wallet. Valve brings back Steam Machine and Steam Controller — hands-on with Valve's new AMD-based living room gaming hardware (Tom's Hardware...

Forget text-to-video AI, we’re rapidly moving into the text-to-world-generating AI models. What if you showed up to your Airbnb and the fridge was already fully stocked? It seems like there is NO uncanney valley when it comes to AI generated music. And does the Big Short guy have a point when he concern trolls about the AI CAPEX buildout? Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs speeds up the world model race with...

The iPhone Air isn’t selling, and it isn’t selling to the degree that Apple is delaying the next version. Yan LeCun is gonna strike out on his own. The big illegal streaming site takedown you might not have hear about. And Facebook doesn’t like likes anymore, at least not external likes. Apple Delays Release of Next iPhone Air Amid Weak Sales (The Information) Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun pl...