Google Adopts Anthropics MCP Protocol | NVIDIA’s Million Dollar Dinner | Microsoft 365 Issues

In today's episode, we discuss Google's adoption of Anthropics Model Context Protocol (MCP) for its Gemini AI models, marking a potential shift towards MCP as a leading standard. We also delve into NVIDIA's recent dinner with President Trump leading to the reversal of export restrictions on AI chips to China, Microsoft's 365 Family subscribers facing unexpected license expiration issues, and the impact of increased US tariffs on Chinese sellers on Amazon. Join host Jim Love as he breaks down these major stories in tech and more.

00:00 Introduction and Overview
00:30 Google Adopts MCP Standard
02:44 NVIDIA's Million Dollar Dinner
04:09 Microsoft 365 Licensing Issues
06:22 Impact of US Tariffs on Chinese Sellers
09:19 Conclusion and Upcoming Topics

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Google adopts Anthropicsmodel context protocol.
Is it now the defacto standard?
A million dollar dinnerand $16 billion in sales.
Microsoft Home, 365 users loseaccess and all that cheap stuff you
buy on Amazon might be going Buy.
Buy.

(00:24):
Welcome to hashtag Trending.
I'm your host, Jim Love.
Let's get into it.
Google's recent decision to adoptAnthropics model context protocol or
MCP for its Gemini AI models and SDKmarks a significant step towards MCP
becoming the leading standard forintegrating AI models with data sources.

(00:47):
Now, MCP is an open standard developedby Anthropic that enables developers
to establish secure two-way connectionsbetween aI models and various data
sources, such as business tools,content repositories, and even
application development environments.
This protocol facilitates seamlessdata integration, allowing AI

(01:09):
applications to access and utilizeexternal information effectively.
Prior to Google's endorsement,companies, including OpenAI Block,
Apollo Rept, code, dium, and SourceGraph had already integrated MCP
into their platforms indicating itsgrowing acceptance within the industry.

(01:29):
Google DeepMind, CEO.
Demi Hassabis highlighted MCP's rapidemergence as an open standard for the
AI agentic era, and expressed enthusiasmfor collaborative development with the
MCP team and other industry players.
Now, why is this standard important?
The biggest complaint about AI isthat it remains a bit of a novelty,

(01:52):
doing mundane tasks like readingemail, or writing reports, and
there's nothing wrong with that.
We use a lot of time looking for analyzingand writing documents and reports, but
to actually integrate and engage withour corporate systems and data stores
requires standards, and that's where MCPbecomes so important in linking AI with

(02:14):
corporate applications and functions.
While Google's adoption significantlybolsters MCP's position, determining
whether now it's the dominant standardisn't a done deal, the AI industry is
dynamic with multiple protocols andstandards under development but MCP's
widespread acceptance is a good signfor developing a key standard to allow

(02:37):
for the rapid integration of AI withbusiness applications and data sources.
The Trump administration has reversedits plans to restrict exports of NVIDIA's
H 20 Artificial Intelligence chipsto China, following a recent dinner
between President Donald Trump andNvidia, CEO Jensen Huang at Mar-a-Lago.

(02:59):
According to reports, Huang attended theevent with a $1 million admission fee
and , Nvidia committed to investing inUS-based AI data centers, following that
by what I'm sure is pure coincidence,the administration decided that the H 20
chips weren't that big of a security risk.
Before the dinner, the proposedrestrictions aimed to limit the sale of

(03:21):
NVIDIA's H 20 chips, the most advancedAI processors legally available in
China under current US regulations.
These measures had been under developmentfor months and were nearly implemented.
However, NVIDIA's pledged to enhancethe domestic AI infrastructure may
have influenced the reconsideration.
Notably Chinese technology firms,including Bite Dance, Alibaba and Tencent

(03:44):
have reportedly placed orders totalingapproximately $16 billion for these chips
just in the first quarter of next year.
So a million dollar dinner, 16billion in sales, and what was
that national security issue?

(04:05):
I forget.
Microsoft 365 Family subscribersencountered a significant disruption
on April 10th as many users reportedbeing unable to access their office
applications due to unexpectedlicense expiration messages.
According to Microsoft Service HealthPage, a licensing issue is causing users

(04:29):
with family subscriptions to be unableto open their office suite problems.
Started around 1100 UTC this morning withfully paid up and licensed shared users.
Seeing the message yoursubscription expired.
While others say they'reseeing the message, your
subscription has been canceled.

(04:49):
The issue predominantly affects sharedusers within the family subscription.
While primary account holders remainunaffected, despite subscriptions
being current, these shared users areprompted to renew your subscription.
Leading to confusion and somefrustration, users have taken online
forums to express their concerns.

(05:09):
One.
Microsoft Support Forum member notedmain user is fine, but the shared
users are not and showing as expired.
Okay.
Attempts to resolve the issue byremoving and reeding affected.
Users had proven ineffective andsome users reported temporary
success after reinviting membersonly to face the same problem.
Hours later, Microsoft has acknowledgedthe problem and is currently

(05:32):
reviewing service telemetry andrecent changes within the service
to isolate the source of the issue.
Now as of 1630 UTC time, Microsoftindicated that it had identified a
recent change that may be responsibleand is working to revert it.
Some users have reported restorationof services following these efforts,
and Microsoft recommends thatusers still experiencing issues,

(05:55):
refresh their browser or restart theapplication to update client side
caching and expedite their relief.
I have just one question about this.
With only Office and Libra office andeven Google Docs available for free, who
is actually paying for family licensesthat they need hosted in the cloud?

(06:18):
I'm asking for a friend.
There are thousands of themselling everything from school
bags to Bluetooth speakers.
Little gadgets that look so cool,and what the heck, they're so cheap.
You might as well try it out.
These Chinese sellers on Amazon arenow facing significant challenges due

(06:39):
to the US government's recent decisionto increase tariffs on Chinese imports
to 125% up from the previous 104%.
This escalation is compellingmany sellers to either raise their
prices for us consumers or considerexiting the US market altogether.
Wang Shin, head of the ShechenCross-Border E-Commerce Association,

(07:03):
which represents over 3000 Amazon sellers,emphasized the severity of the situation.
This isn't just a tax issue, it'sthat the entire cost structure
gets entirely overwhelmed.
It'll be hard for anyone tosurvive in the US market.
He said.
The city of Sheen alone hosts over 100,000Amazon businesses generating approximately

(07:31):
$35 billion in annual revenue.
The increased tariffs are causing somesellers to raise prices by up to 30%,
while others are reducing inventorylevels and advertising expenditures.
For instance, products that cost $3to produce could now incur additional
costs of $4 more due to tariffs,necessitating price increases of 20 to

(07:54):
50% or more to maintain profitability.
In response to these challenges, somesellers are exploring alternative markets
such as Europe, Canada, and Mexico.
Additionally, there's considerationof relocating manufacturing operations
to countries like Vietnam or Mexicoto mitigate the impact of US tariffs.

(08:16):
But the broader retail industryis also feeling the effects.
Amazon has reportedly canceledsome merchandise orders from China.
Following the tariff announcements,reflecting the uncertainty and adjustments
companies are making in response to theevolving trade policies, the question
is, will anybody miss these sellers?

(08:38):
Most of the articles on this topictalked about what a colossal drop
in sales it was, but they also musedabout the low quality of most of these
products, but with $35 billion insales, somebody's buying this stuff.
Okay?
Full confession.
I might be part of the problem whileI look around in my office at the pile

(09:01):
of electronic gadgets, that seemedlike a really good idea at the time.
So these tariffs mighthave some positive effects.
And save me money in storage space.
Damnit, I live in Canada.
We might be tariff free on this.
And that's our show for today.
And if I look a little more relaxed, we'vehad power for the past 24 hours and, uh.

(09:25):
Uh, and to celebrate.
I took a long, long shower and tonightI'll even be able to wash my clothes.
Ah, the real luxuries of atechnological society this weekend,
project synapses back with morediscussion on AI and its impacts.
Join us on Saturday morning or wheneveryou listen to long form podcasts.

(09:49):
Otherwise, I'll be back inthe news chair on Monday with
news stories bright and early.
I'm your host, Jim Love.
Have a fantastic Friday.