Tech Brew Ride Home

The biggest sign yet of the state of the gaming industry, EA is being taken private. DeepSeek’s new model might start a new AI price war. OpenAI announces their parental controls for teen users. And, the Wall Street Journal says debt financing is now playing an increasing role in AI CAPEX buildout. Electronic Arts Goes Private for $52.5 Billion in Largest LBO Ever (WSJ) EA Agrees to $55 Billion Sa...

One of the very first VCs of the Internet Era, and especially the NYC tech ecosystem, Jerry Colonna reflects on his journey from growing up in New York to becoming a successful journalist and venture capitalist. Jerry discusses his transition to venture capital, the founding of Flatiron with Fred Wilson, and the challenges faced during the dot-com bubble and 9/11. He emphasizes the importance of c...

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) A...

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 Bi...

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 Di...

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 th...

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. entreprene...

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...

(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. ⁠⁠Nvidia in talks for $500mn investment in UK self-driving start-up Wayve⁠⁠ (FT) ⁠⁠Google Inject...

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 and Intel announce jointly developed 'Intel x86 RT...

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 them...

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...

Nano Banana is such a hit that Gemini is suddenly ahead of ChatGPT, at least if we’re measuring by the app store. Lots of interesting new data about how people are actually using AI. A new accelerator program from OpenAI itself, and is the AI boom like the dawn of the microprocessor or more like the dawn of containerization? Google Gemini is the top free iPhone app (9to5Google) Here’s what the dat...

John Borthwick on Betaworks shares his journey from a tech-savvy youth to a prominent figure in the New York City tech scene. He discusses his early experiences with computers, the transformative impact of the World Wide Web, and the vibrant tech culture of the 90s. Borthwick reflects on his role in creating Total New York, the lessons learned from the AOL acquisition, and the challenges faced dur...

OpenAI and Microsoft say they have ironed out their differences… tentatively. Not officially. I’ll explain why that is interesting. With new FDA clearance for the Apple watch are millions of people about to discover they have hypertension? What if AI is less corrupt than humans? And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. OpenAI and Microsoft reach tentative deal to revise partnership (Axio...

Well we now know one of the big contracts that sent Oracle shares flying. OpenAI of course. We have another IPO pop. YouTube videos now have multilanguage dubbing. Is it risky to bet on just one version of AI? And a deep dive analysis of how Oracle got AI religion. Oracle, OpenAI Sign $300 Billion Cloud Deal (WSJ) Klarna Climbs 15% in Trading Debut After $1.37 Billion IPO (Bloomberg) Microsoft's f...

Larry Ellison becomes the richest person in all the land! Is Oracle the new Nvidia? Spotify finally delivers on lossless audio. Robinhood is going to roll out true social trading. Quantum computing continues to be hot. And the startup that’s taking my AI podcast experiment to the next, logical level. Oracle Is the New Nvidia, for Better or Worse (WSJ) Spotify adds lossless streaming after 8 years...

All the headlines from the iPhone event earlier today, including the new iPhone Air. The judge isn’t happy with Anthropic’s $1.5 B payday to authors. OpenAI isn’t happy with California and might leave. And despite what it’s said publicly, Google recently argued in court that the post-AI web is already dying. Links: Apple announces iPhone Air: the thinnest iPhone ever (9to5Mac) Apple’s iPhone 17 Pr...

Anthropic has agreed to pay $1.5 billion dollars to authors of books that might have trained their AI. Would my book qualify for some of that money? Also, why this is interesting in general. OpenAI is making a movie. Tokenizing the stock market. Three interesting raises, and at the end of the show, let me tell you about my weekend experiment with AI. Links: Anthropic Reaches $1.5 Billion Author Co...

Julie Samuels shares her journey from a journalism major to a prominent figure in the tech advocacy space, detailing her experiences at NCSA, her work with EFF, and her role in founding Tech NYC. She discusses the evolution of the internet, the cultural differences between Silicon Valley and New York City, and the importance of community engagement in shaping the future of technology. Julie emphas...

From the, this wasn’t on my bingo card file, OpenAI has launched a sort of job board? Why Broadcom might become Nvidia’s big rival. Is AI image generation about to have its Napster moment? And in the Longread Suggestions, a deep-dive state of the job market in tech. 00:00 Intro 00:33 OpenAI Job Search 04:22 Broadcom Competes With Nvidia? 07:41 AI Image Napster Moment? 11:30 Nividia's "Self Dealing...

Mark Gurman lays out how Apple intends to jump into AI search as soon as this Spring. You’ll never guess who’s one of the biggest players in quantum computing. The Browser Company gets a soft landing, and after a decade and a half of waiting, we finally have the iPad app for Instagram you say you always wanted. Links: Apple Plans AI-Powered Web Search Tool for Siri to Rival OpenAI, Perplexity (Blo...

Google whistles past the graveyard with the remedy ruling on its antitrust case. OpenAI makes a big acquisition. Anthropic has a big new raise and a huge new valuation to boot. And why are AI companies finding it so hard to engineer safe interactions with Chatbots? Links: Google stock jumps 8% after search giant avoids worst-case penalties in antitrust case (CNBC) Google, Apple, and Mozilla Win in...

The Trump family’s big new crypto coin makes its debut. OpenAI outlines new safety guardrails. Dolby announces its biggest new TV tech in years. Say hello to Dolby Vision 2. Fintech seems to be back. And as the price per token for AI models has fallen, why are costs for developers rising? Links: Trump family’s World Liberty Financial token falls in trading debut (FT) Parental controls are coming t...

In this conversation, Bradley Tusk discusses his unique career at the intersection of politics and technology. He shares insights from his early experiences in New York City politics, his time working with Senator Schumer, and his role as Deputy Governor of Illinois. Tusk reflects on the Bloomberg campaign during the financial crisis and how he merged political strategies with business through Tus...