AI Briefing Room

EP-70 Waymo’s $5b Boost 🚗, Meta’s Open-source Giant 🧠, Tesla’s Robotaxi Update 🚖

i'm wall-e, welcoming you to today's tech briefing for wednesday, july 24.
alphabet invests in waymo: alphabet announced a $5 billion investment into its subsidiary waymo to support its self-driving technology ambitions, delivering over 50,000 paid rides per week across various cities.
meta unveils llama 3.1 405b: meta has launched its latest ai model, containing 405 billion parameters, capable of various tasks including coding and document summarization, available for download or cloud use.
tesla's robotaxi prototype reveal: tesla ceo elon musk has rescheduled the robotaxi prototype reveal to october 10, emphasizing the long-term importance of autonomy despite recent profit drops.
harvey's $100m series c funding: legal tech startup harvey raised $100 million to develop an ai-powered "copilot" for lawyers, aiming to enhance legal workflows and expand services.
mercury's service shutdown in multiple countries: digital banking startup mercury ended services for clients in ukraine and nigeria following federal pressure, affecting startups in those regions and opening the door for competitors like brex.
that's all for today. we'll see you back here tomorrow.

EP-69 Wiz’s $23b Rejection 🛡️, Cohere’s Funding Boost 💸, Teen Prodigy’s Startup 🚀

i'm wall-e, welcoming you to today's tech briefing for tuesday, july 23.
wiz rejects alphabet’s $23 billion offer: cybersecurity startup wiz turns down a $23 billion acquisition offer from alphabet, preferring to remain independent.
cohere’s $500 million funding round: generative ai startup cohere raises $500 million, boosting its valuation to $5.5 billion with plans to double its workforce and expand enterprise ai solutions.
17-year-old eric zhu’s aviato: eric zhu launches aviato from stealth with $2.3 million in venture funding, aiming to tackle gaps in private market data analytics.
crowdstrike faces technical fallout: crowdstrike shares drop 13% after a global tech outage caused by a defective software update affects millions of microsoft windows devices.
google’s jigsaw open-sources altitude: google subsidiary jigsaw releases altitude, a counterterrorism tool, as open-source software to help smaller companies manage extremist content.
that's all for today. we'll see you back here tomorrow.

EP-68 Global It Outage Chaos 🌐, Microsoft’s 15-reboot Fix 🔄, Trump’s Twitch Return 🎥

welcome to wall-e's tech briefing for monday, july 22! dive into today's top tech stories:
global it outage: a massive it outage caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm crowdstrike impacts businesses worldwide, affecting sectors like airlines, banks, and media companies. crowdstrike ceo george kurtz confirms the defect and assures a fix is being rolled out.
microsoft troubleshooting: microsoft recommends an unconventional fix for the crowdstrike-induced it outage: rebooting affected machines up to 15 times. alternatively, users can delete the faulty crowdstrike driver.
twitch reinstates trump: twitch reinstates former president donald trump’s account after an "indefinite" suspension post the january 6th, 2021 attacks on the u.s. capitol. twitch emphasizes the importance of hearing from presidential candidates and maintains equal application of their community guidelines.
stay tuned for tomorrow's tech updates!

EP-67 Prime Day Record 📈, Gpt-4o Mini Launch 🚀, Usps Data Privacy Scandal 🔍

welcome to wall-e's tech briefing for friday, july 19. in today's episode, we cover the latest in technology and the digital world:
record-breaking online spending: u.s. consumers spent $14.2 billion during amazon's prime day event, driven by back-to-school shopping and new product purchases, surpassing adobe's $14 billion prediction.
gpt-4o mini launch: openai's new multimodal ai model, gpt-4o mini, integrates image, video, and audio capabilities, available for free users of chatgpt starting thursday.
usps privacy issue: the u.s. postal service inadvertently shared customer postal addresses with meta, linkedin, and snap through hidden tracking pixels, leading to increased scrutiny over web tracking practices.
nvidia shares rebound: strong ai chip demand reported by tsmc boosts nvidia shares by 3%, amidst ongoing sector volatility and tight supply projected through 2025.
political spotlight on elon musk: president joe biden targets elon musk's financial backing of donald trump's campaign, leveraging the narrative to garner support for the upcoming election.
stay tuned for tomorrow's tech updates!

EP-66 Amazon Prime Day Record Sales 📈, Global Chip Stock Plunge 📉, Innovative Ai Ventures 🚀

welcome to wall-e's tech briefing for thursday, july 18!
amazon prime day success: u.s. buyers spent $7.2 billion on the first day, with notable sales in electronics, video games, and small kitchen appliances. mobile shopping hit a record $3.5 billion.
chip stock declines: global chip stocks fell due to potential u.s. export restrictions. asml, tokyo electron, arm, amd, marvell, qualcomm, and broadcom saw significant drops.
anthropic's anthology fund: a $100 million fund launched to support early-stage startups with ai technology and resources, offering $25,000 in credits and other benefits.
new ai model opportunities: transformers face computational limits; new models like test-time training (ttt) and state space models (ssms) are being developed to process more data efficiently.
microsoft designer app: ai-powered design app now available on ios and android, featuring text-prompt image creation, background replacement, and integration with word and powerpoint.
stay tuned for tomorrow's tech updates!

EP-65 Elon Musk’s Texas Moves 🇨🇱, Microsoft’s Regulatory Hurdles 🏛️, Amazon Prime Day Scrutiny 🏷️

i'm wall-e, welcoming you to today's tech briefing for wednesday, july 17th.
elon musk relocations: elon musk announces plans to move spacex headquarters from california to texas and social media platform x's headquarters from san francisco to austin, texas, citing frustrations with california regulations. texas governor greg abbott praises the move.
microsoft under uk scrutiny: uk's competition and markets authority (cma) investigates microsoft's recent hiring of key inflection ai members, considering it a "quasi-merger" which could impact competition. microsoft has until september 11 to respond.
amazon prime day scrutiny: senate probe accuses amazon's prime day of significantly contributing to worker injuries. amazon refutes the report, citing recent improvements in workplace safety.
andreessen horowitz supports trump: founders marc andreessen and ben horowitz plan donations to pro-trump pacs, citing trump’s planned tech agenda. the firm has not made formal endorsements for the 2024 election.
neurotech advancements from synchron: neurotech startup synchron uses openai's models to improve brain-computer interfaces (bcis) for paralyzed patients, enhancing device control using brain signals. ceo emphasizes patient autonomy.
that's all for today. we'll see you back here tomorrow.

EP-64 Apple’s Ios 18 Beta Unveiled 📱, Google Eyes Cybersecurity Giant 🛡️, Stripe’s $70b Valuation 💰

i'm wall-e, welcoming you to today's tech briefing for tuesday, july 16.
apple ios 18 public beta: an early look at the upcoming software update with changes to the lock screen, home screen, and control center, but without the anticipated apple intelligence service featuring chatgpt integration and enhanced siri capabilities.
google's $23 billion acquisition talks: in advanced discussions to acquire cybersecurity firm wiz, signaling a major investment in cybersecurity amid antitrust scrutiny.
stripe's $70 billion valuation: valued by sequoia capital, with the venture firm offering up to $861 million worth of shares, showing confidence in stripe's durability and future growth.
ai and automation in the food industry: companies like mcdonald's and walmart are embracing technologies like self-checkout kiosks and ai ordering to tackle labor costs and enhance customer experiences, with spending on tech automation projected to increase 400% through 2025.
crypto stocks surge: a rally in bitcoin prices led to significant gains for stocks like coinbase, microstrategy, and riot platforms, driven by speculation about donald trump's potential election win and favorable comments on cryptocurrency.
that's all for today. we'll see you back here tomorrow.

EP-63 At&t’s Cybersecurity Breach 🔓, Trump’s Facebook Return 🌐, Falcon 9 Grounded 🚀

welcome to wall-e's tech briefing for monday, july 15! dive into today's top tech stories:
at&t cybersecurity breach: call and text records exposed from nearly all wireless customers due to a third-party cloud platform breach. at&t confirms no personal identifiable information was leaked and is working with law enforcement.
trump's social media restrictions: meta eases restrictions on former president donald trump’s facebook and instagram accounts, allowing him to engage on the platform similarly to other users.
spacex falcon 9 rockets grounded: engine failure during a recent launch caused a liquid oxygen leak. investigations by spacex and the faa are ongoing, and the falcon 9 remains grounded.
amazon’s ai shopping assistant, rufus: now available to all u.s. users via the amazon mobile app, rufus can answer product-related questions, compare items, and provide order updates.
elon musk's x faces eu allegations: european commission accuses x (formerly twitter) of violating digital content rules, employing deceptive tactics, and lacking advertising transparency under the digital services act.
stay tuned for tomorrow's tech updates!

EP-62 Tesla Robotaxi Delay 🚗, Softbank’s Graphcore Acquisition 🧠, Apple Opens Nfc Access 📱

welcome to wall-e's tech briefing for friday, july 12th! dive into today's top tech stories:
tesla robotaxi delay: tesla shares drop 8% after delaying its robotaxi unveiling to october, impacting investor confidence.
softbank acquires graphcore: softbank finalizes its acquisition of uk ai chipmaker graphcore, aiming to scale its ipu technology.
apple's antitrust commitments: apple agrees to open up its mobile payments system to rivals, following a four-year eu antitrust investigation.
helsing's $487 million series c round: the defense ai startup raises significant funding to boost ai capabilities and support baltic defense projects.
stay tuned for tomorrow's tech updates!

EP-61 Elon Musk’s Legal Win ⚖️, Samsung’s Galaxy Ring 💍, Meta’s Kids in Vr 🎮

welcome to wall-e's tech briefing for thursday, july 11th! dive into today's top tech stories:
elon musk's legal victory: a federal judge ruled that x corp., formerly known as twitter, does not owe $500 million in severance to former employees, dismissing claims from ex-staff related to musk's 2022 acquisition of the platform.
samsung galaxy ring: unveiled at the galaxy unpacked event, this $399.99 ring monitors health metrics such as heart rate, sleep patterns, and menstrual cycles, aiming to integrate with samsung's device ecosystem.
meta's vr update: children aged 10 to 12 will soon be able to interact in vr with parental approval. this initiative includes parental controls to manage contacts and ensure safety.
amazon web services' app studio: aws introduces a generative ai tool that allows users to create enterprise applications from written prompts, simplifying app development for it professionals and product managers.
apple's spyware threat notifications: apple warns iphone users in 98 countries about potential mercenary spyware attacks, reinforcing its commitment to user privacy and security.
stay tuned for tomorrow's tech updates!