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4 min read

Week 13, 2025

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highlights

Google makes its largest acquisition ever

Google Cloud acquired Wiz, an Israeli cloud security startup, for $32 billion. This is the biggest acquisition in Alphabet's history, representing a bold bet to gain advantage over Amazon and Microsoft in the cloud market. Wiz, founded in 2020, has grown rapidly, achieving annual revenue of $500 million. Wiz's founders previously sold a cloud company to Microsoft and have experience developing security for Azure.

Apple replaces head of Siri development

CEO Tim Cook decided to shuffle leadership after questioning John Giannandrea's ability to execute on product development. Inside the Siri team, development delays were described as having reached "embarrassing levels." Mike Rockwell, who previously led Vision Pro development, has been appointed as the new head.

Nvidia is building a quantum research center

Nvidia will open NVAQC center in Boston, partnering with Harvard and MIT quantum research groups. The center aims to solve practical quantum computing challenges using AI supercomputing. CEO Jensen Huang apologized for previously claiming useful quantum computers were 20 years away.

Tencent ramps up AI investment and competition

Tencent nearly doubled its net profit in Q4 last year by integrating AI into its advertising platform. The company recently launched its Hunyuan T1 model targeting DeepSeek R1 on both performance and price. Hunyuan matched DeepSeek's level with a 91.8 score in Chinese language evaluation. Competition for AI leadership among Chinese tech companies is intensifying, with DeepSeek at the center of this rivalry.

Huawei unveils a unique foldable phone

Huawei has revealed its new flip-style foldable phone, the 'Pura X,' featuring a 16:10 screen ratio. Unlike typical flip phones that open vertically, the Pura X adopts a distinctive form factor that unfolds horizontally. The wider 16:10 aspect ratio is optimized for video viewing. Global release plans remain undetermined.

OpenAI's Sora criticized for gender·racial bias

Sora shows gender stereotypes in occupational depictions, portraying men as pilots and professors, while women appear as nurses and receptionists. In appearance descriptions, the model favors young, smiling women. Racially, it primarily represents white and black individuals while showing limitations in depicting other ethnicities. OpenAI acknowledges these biases and says it's working to reduce them.

Obama joins Bluesky, sparks attention

Former President Obama made headlines by joining Bluesky, with his first post commemorating Obamacare's 15th anniversary. Progressive Americans have been migrating to Bluesky as MAGA sentiment grows on X following Musk's support for Trump. This shift helped Bluesky quickly amass new users last year. Obama's arrival is expected to further accelerate the exodus of Democratic supporters from X.

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AI - Tech/Product

Nvidia unveils HART, fast AI image generator

    • Co-developed w/ MIT
    • Generates image in 1 sec
    • 10x faster than Google Imagen
    • Uses 31% less compute
    • Runs well on local device
    • See demo

Anthropic finally adds real-time search

    • Now live on Claude 3.7
    • Available to US paid users

Tencent unveils new reasoning model

OpenAI upgrades voice AI models

OpenAI: don't punish chatbots for lying

    • It might train them to lie better

​Gemini introduces Audio Overviews

    • AI turns docs into podcast-style summaries

​Gmail introduces AI search

Google boosts health AI tools

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AI - Business

Apple shakes up Siri leadership

Apple sued over Apple Intelligence delays

    • Hit with class-action suit claiming false advertising
    • "Contrary to Defendant's claims of advanced AI capabilities, the Products offered a significantly limited or entirely absent version of Apple Intelligence, misleading consumers about its actual utility and performance."

​​​Perplexity seeking $18 billion valuation

    • Currently raising ~$1B

​Tencent Q4 profit jumps 90%

    • AI-powered ads led growth

​OpenAI may cut prices in India

    • Potentially by 75-85%
    • ChatGPT Plus for $3-5/month
    • Talking to Reliance for local hosting

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AI - Other

Sora accused of sexual·racial bias

Hollywood actors urge AI companies respect copyright

    • Sent open letter to White House
    • “We firmly believe that America’s global AI leadership must not come at the expense of our essential creative industries”

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Chips / Cloud

Alphabet buys Wiz for $32B

SoftBank buys Ampere for $6.5B

    • Now owns both Arm and Ampere

Nvidia buys synthetic data startup Gretel

Nvidia unveils 4-yr GPU roadmap

    • Blackwell Ultra('25)
      Vera Rubin('26)
      Rubin Ultra('27)
      Feynmann('28)

Nvidia to open quantum research center

CoreWeave IPO priced to raise ~$2.7B

    • Faces investor scrutiny over $7.5B debt load

TSMC improves 2nm yields

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Commerce

Shopify moves from NYSE to Nasdaq

    • Ticker SHOP remains unchanged
    • Likely to join Nasdaq-100
    • Shares up 6%

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Social Media

X raises $1B at $44B valuation

X sues India over censorship

Musk served summons over X stake disclosure

Barack Obama joins Bluesky

Reddit channels federal workers' fears

TikTok adds Amber Alerts

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Content / Entertainment

Apple TV+ loses over $1B annually

    • Has 45M subs
    • Way behind Netflix (300M)
    • US market share < 1%
    • Budget cut by $500M
    • But negligible loss for Apple
    • 'Value add' for device biz

YouTube Music launches AI radio generator

Netflix announces first MMO game

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Device / Hardware

Apple Watch may get a camera

Huawei Pura X launches unique flip

Apple's foldable iPhone expected in 2026

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App / Platform

Google Maps deletes 10K fake listings

Google mistakenly deleted some users' Maps Timeline data

    • Some lost years of history
    • No back-up, no restoration.

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EV / Autonomous

Tesla recalls 46000 Cybertrucks

    • Trim detaching issue

Tesla faces rising arson attacks

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Space

SpaceX brings back NASA astronauts

NASA to give Boeing second chance

Verizon launches satellite texting

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Policy / Regulation

Trump praises Bezos changing Washinton Post

Malaysia tightens chip rules under US pressure

UK considers cutting digital tax

EU goes after Google and Apple

SEC drops suit against Ripple

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Etc

Yahoo sells TechCrunch

StubHub files for IPO

Klarna partners w/ Doordash

LG shuts down NFT marketplace

North Korea launches AI hacking unit

McDonald's launches Minecraft Happy Meal

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