Techmeme Ride Home
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm. From Techmeme.com, Silicon Valley's most-read news source. 15 minutes and you're up to date.
Episodes
Catching you up on the great Zuckerberg AI recruitment drive. Clueing you in to the great datacenter buildout goldrush that is, again, all about AI. TikTok is about to force everybody to use a new version of their app. And are the unicorns coming back?
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More layoffs make me more concerned the AI jobpocalypse is coming to tech this summer. In the big Meta v. OpenAI talent battle, who is desperate and who is scared? We reframe the situation a bit. Figma files for an IPO. Chinese AI seems to be gain ground worldwide. And do universities need to fundamentally rethink teaching computer science?
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Meta Superintelligence Labs is official. Cloudflare’s tool to help websites fend off AI bots is official. Will Apple throw in the towel and just buy some AI off the shelf? Does Amazon now have more robots than human workers in its warehouses? And my hands-down can’t live without you app finds a home.
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- CornbreadHemp.com/ride and code RIDE
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Weird beef between Nintendo and Amazon. Is Apple going to make a cheap Macbook with an iPhone chip inside? OpenAI claps back at Meta. The AI avatar startup. And for the first time in a decade, Spotify has changed up the Discover Weekly playlist.
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Mark Zuckerberg’s big AI plan seems still to be such a work in progress, he’s even considering abandoning Llama. Apple attempts to comply with the EU’s DMA. Instagram and TikTok want to follow YouTube to your TV. The infamous Blue Screen of Death is dying. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions.
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The legal rulings on AI are finally coming in. The problem is, they’re contradictory, so we’re not getting any legal clarity yet. Creative Commons but for AI training data. Is DeepSeek’s R2 model being stymied by lack of access to Nvidia chips? And another deep look at the question of: is AI taking jobs at tech companies, right now?
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AI is transforming job search on both sides of the equation. A first court ruling on using copyrighted books to train AI. New AI releases from Google devs will want to know about. How your kids 3rd grade teacher is using AI. And why did Apple push an ad to everybody?
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A new Xbox branded Meta Quest. Amazon is expanding same day delivery even more. What does it mean for the AI race if ChatGPT seems to be outcompeting Microsoft’s Copilot offerings in the enterprise space? Why is Wall Street leading the way on AI adoption? And what exactly is Mira Murati’s big new AI startup going to do, exactly?
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- Venice.ai/techmeme and code: techmeme
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Tesla launches its robotaxi service in Austin. Apple is negotiating desperately to avoid an EU fine coming as soon as this week. Also, why doesn’t Apple do some acquihires to get back in the AI game? Maybe Perplexity would be attractive? The Music industry gathers tools to detect AI. And is there a global divide growing when it comes to AI access?
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Meta has some new smartglasses. How long can the TikTok groundhog day go on? Masa Son wants to create a Shenzhen-like production city here in the US. Are your smart cameras a national security threat to the home front in a war? And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions.
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Are we about to see a summer of layoffs in Silicon Valley? Midjourney’s new video model. Meta continues its acqu-hire spree with some folks we know. Microsoft has its own nuclear option with OpenAI, while OpenAI is starting to get worried about its models being nuclear dangerous? And what even IS AGI?
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- CornbreadHemp.com/ride and code RIDE
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Remember how that TikTok ban or sale thing has never been resolved? Yeah. Sam Altman describes the money he says Meta is throwing at AI researchers. Is xAI the one with the real money crunch in the AI race? And a review of the first of this new wave of smartglasses.
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Among the many snags to OpenAI shifting to for-profit, the Microsoft snag is still the biggest issue. More Intel job cuts coming. Would you believe a Roblox game involving gardening is maybe bigger than Fortnite? And two big firsts: most people get their news from social media, and streaming is now the king of all TV watching.
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- MackWeldon.com promocode BRIAN
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Ads finally come to WhatsApp. Are we about to get a literal Trump phone? More ads on your TV. All ads are about to become AI. And at the end of the show, a bit of an essay from me about Google, AI, and what I think is about to happen to the larger web, literally right now.
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- AGNTCY.ORG
- QualiaLife.com/ride and code ride
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Omnibus Week Of 06/09
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Do people know when they’re using the MetaAI app, it’s public? Chime had a successful IPO so let me tell you about my IPO-meter. The financials behind that fully-AI commercial running during the NBA playoffs. More signs stablecoins are taking over, but in the Longreads, do stablecoins represent a unique danger to the global financial system?
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- FactorMeals.com/ride50off and code ride50off
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I explain how and why exactly this big Meta investment in Scale AI came about. Hollywood sues AI in a big way for the first time. A look at how stablecoins have mainstreamed crypto at long last. And episode number 205 of the long running series: we blew up traditional TV just to rebuild it.
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OpenAI rolls out an o3-pro model. Android one-ups iOS with a quick release. So far so good for the launch of the Switch 2. What is Google doing with its headcount? And is essentially a giant hologram the future of video calling?
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Zuckerberg’s big ambitions for AI seem to be coming into focus. OpenAI is actively starting to play the field when it comes to compute. More signs AI is kneecapping web traffic. And what do we think? Is liquid glass a good design choice, or a cul-de-sac for Apple?
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All the headlines from WWDC. Microsoft unveils the first iteration of that handheld gaming strategy. Meta is considering its largest external AI investment yet. And did Apple researchers reveal that Large Language Model have a structural ceiling, and are we basically there?
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