TSMC has fired employees for allegedly attempting to pilfer information on their 2nm tech. Figma could have raised more money in its IPO but chose not to. Creating entire video game worlds with just a text prompt. And exactly how big Patreon has grown in the creator economy.
00:32 TSMC Spygate
02:50 Cloudflare V. Perplexity
04:52 Figma Followup
07:35 Music AI
09:53 New Google Models
14:58 Patreon Numbers
Links:
TSMC says employees tried to steal trade secrets on iPhone 18 chip process (9to5Mac)
Cloudflare says Perplexity’s AI bots are ‘stealth crawling’ blocked sites (The Verge)
Figma’s Pursuit of Long-Term Backers Kept IPO Price in Check (Bloomberg)
Voice Startup ElevenLabs Launches AI Music Service (WSJ)
Google’s new AI model creates video game worlds in real time (The Verge)
Google’s Kaggle to host AI chess tournament to evaluate leading AI models’ reasoning skills (Silicon Angle)
Exclusive: Patreon crosses $10 billion creator payment milestone (Axios)
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20:32
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20:32
Mon. 08/04 – The AI Researcher Who Turned Down $1.5 Billion From Zuck
Robotaxies are coming to Europe. Apple wants Answers. Literally. The AI researcher who turned down a billion and a half dollars. How the vibe seems to have definitively shifted in Silicon Valley. And will rollable laptop screens become mainstream?
00:33 Robotaxis In Europe
02:12 Apple Wants Answers
03:57 Lina Khan
05:54 Billion Dollar Turn-Down
07:54 AI Trading Bots
10:25 The Silicon Valley Boom Is Back
14:23 A Rollable Laptop
Links:
Lyft Partners With Baidu on Robotaxis in European Expansion (Bloomberg)
Apple’s New ‘Answers’ Team Eyes ChatGPT-Like Product in AI Push (Bloomberg)
Lina Khan points to Figma IPO as vindication of M&A scrutiny (TechCrunch)
Thanks for Your $1 Billion Job Offer, Mark Zuckerberg. I’m Gonna Pass. (WSJ)
‘Dumb’ AI Bots Collude to Rig Markets, Wharton Research Finds (Bloomberg)
Silicon Valley Is in Its ‘Hard Tech’ Era (NYTimes)
Lenovo’s rollable laptop is the coolest computer I’ve used all year (The Verge)
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20:09
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20:09
Fri. 08/01 – Tech IPO’s Are Back On The Menu, Boys…
Well, it looks like Tech IPO’s might be back on the menu because Figma’s first day pop was like the good old days. Anthropic seems to be getting traction, OpenAI raises again. Earnings from Apple and Amazon, and of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions.
Chapters:
00:33 Figma IPO
04:57 Anthropic And Open AI Numbers
08:45 New Deep Think Model
11:08 Tech Earnings Omnibus
14:35 Longreads
Links:
Figma more than triples in NYSE debut after selling shares at $33 (CNBC)
Anthropic Revenue Pace Nears $5 Billion in Run-Up to Mega Round (The Information)
Exclusive: OpenAI Secures Another Giant Funding Deal (NYTimes)
Google rolls out Gemini Deep Think AI, a reasoning model that tests multiple ideas in parallel (TechCrunch)
Reddit wants to be a search engine now (The Verge)
Weekend Longreads Suggestions:
The first commercial space station is nearly here. And it could change space forever (BBC Science Focus)
A Deadly Fungus Killed 10 Scientists Working in a Tomb. It Could Be a Breakthrough in Curing Cancer. (Popular Mechanics)
What happens once we spot the asteroid that will hit Earth? (FT)
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22:08
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22:08
Thu. 07/31 – Microsoft Joins The $4 Trillion Club
Microsoft and Meta earnings suggest AI is paying off so far, at least for the big guys. Has OpenAI’s revenues tripled so far in 2025? Devs are using AI more than ever, but that doesn’t mean they trust it. And at the end of the show, as promised, the huge podcast announcement.
Links:
Microsoft officially tops $4 trillion in market cap, joining Nvidia in exclusive club (CNBC)
Investors Cheer an A.I. Spending Bonanza (NYTimes)
Meta shares climb 10% on revenue beat, raised forecast (CNBC)
Apple, Google, OpenAI to Work With Federal Agencies to Make Health Data Helpful (Bloomberg)
OpenAI Hits $12 Billion in Annualized Revenue, Breaks 700 Million ChatGPT Weekly Active Users (The Information)
Stack Overflow data reveals the hidden productivity tax of ‘almost right’ AI code (VentureBeat)
Google DeepMind says its new AI can map the entire planet with unprecedented accuracy (VentureBeat)
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21:56
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21:56
Wed. 07/30 – The Real Money In AI Video Is In Robotics?
Age verification for web users is sweeping the globe. ChatGPT debuts a study mode for students. What, exactly is Zuckerberg trying to achieve by hiring everyone in AI? Maybe Cohere is the real dark horse in the AI model race. And what if the real money in AI video is in training robots?
Links:
YouTube rolls out age-estimation tech to identify US teens and apply additional protections (TechCrunch)
ChatGPT’s Study Mode Is Here. It Won’t Fix Education’s AI Problems (Wired)
Apple Loses Fourth AI Researcher in a Month to Meta’s Superintelligence Team (Bloomberg)
Meta’s AI Recruiting Campaign Finds a New Target (Wired)
AI Startup Cohere Projects $200 Million Revenue Pace as New Funding Nears (The Information)
Runway, Luma Target Sales to Robotics Companies (The Information)
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