Feb 11, 2025 4 min read

Week 7, 2025

Earnings

Amazon reported strong earnings.

But stock fell on disappointing outlook.
Surpassed Walmart revenue for the first time.

Palantir stock soars on strong earnings.

Revenue up 36%.

Spotify revenue up 16%.

First profitable year.
Users up 12%.

AMD revenue up 24%, but stock fell 5%.

“If you were looking for a catalyst for the next six months, she(Lisa Su) didn’t give it to you”

Disney+ lost 700K subscribers, but increased profit.

Roblox missed earnings, stock dropped 11%.

Pinterest reported strong earnings.

Revenue up 18%.
First billion dollar quarter.
Global users up 11%. Shares up 22%.
“It’s possible that this quarter was a one-off, though we see enough evidence in execution to believe the pace of progress is sustainable”

AI - Tech

Stanford/UW's budget AI outperforms o1.

Built in 26 mins for under $50.

OpenAI opens ChatGPT search to all.

Mistral launches Le Chat app.

Anthropic powers Lyft customer assistant.

LinkedIn AI improves job search.

Adobe AI simplifies contracts.

AI - Business

Google removed AI weapons ban.

Demis Hassabis explained why.
“There’s a global competition taking place for AI leadership within an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape”
Many are voicing concerns.
"It’s a shame that Google has to chosen to set this dangerous precedent"
Andrew Ng welcomed the decision.
“So how the heck can an American company refuse to help our own service people that are out there, fighting for us?”
Here's the changed text.

AI spending continues despite DeepSeek.

Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta forecast a combined $320B capex in 2025.

John Schulman left Anthropic for Murati's new venture.

Schulman is one of ChatGPT's leading architects.

Sutskever's startup SSI nears $20B valuation.

Sam Altman admits OpenAI has lost its edge.

I personally think we have been on the wrong side of history here and need to figure out a different open-source strategy.

OpenAI ran its first Super Bowl ad.

Google faked Gemini use in Super Bowl ad.

Amazon to showcase upgraded Alexa.

ChatGPT rolled out at Cal State, reaching 500K new users.

OpenAI models are more persuasive than Reddit users.

OpenAI partners w/ Kakao and Softbank.

Suleyman hires former DeepMind colleagues.

Palantir CEO Karp makes controversial quote.

"Palantir is here to disrupt ... and, when it's necessary, to scare enemies and, on occasion, kill them"
Check out more comments.

Meta warns catastrophic outcome from AI.

Read full document

Anthropic's new AI security blocks 95% of jailbreaks.

Chips / Infrastructure

Chip sales to hit $697B in 2025.

Chip sales rose 19.1% in 2024.

SoftBank could buy Ampere for ~$6.5B.

Ampere designs ARM chips for the data center.

Apple begins M5 chip production.

Robotics

Meta is studying home robots.

New PARTNR program will explore human-robot collaboration at home.
“Our benchmark consists of 100,000 tasks, including household chores such as cleaning up dishes and toys”

Ecommerce

Amazon is struggling with physical retail.

Closed 50% of Go stores.

Now focusing on licencing 'Just Walk Out' technology.

“It was an investment well spent in developing technology. But the growth plans that they had for that brand are over.”
“Running warehouses and shipping stuff efficiently is not the same as greeting a customer and saying, ‘May I help you?’”

Amazon pays $4M for tip theft.

Social Media

WhatsApp introduces event creation.

LinkedIn improves video features. Uploads jumped 36%.

Snapchat adds AI-generated stickers.

Reddit accidentally banned 90+ subreddits.

X faces criminal probe in France.

Musk not interested in acquiring TikTok.

Tinder plans AI-powered matching.

Content / Entertainment

Spotify signed new Warner Music deal.

App / Platform

Apple reluctantly allowed its first porn app.

EU forces Apple to allow porn app distributed via third-party store.

"Contrary to the false statements made by the marketplace developer, we certainly do not approve of this app and would never offer it in our App Store. "
The truth is that we are required by the European Commission to allow it to be distributed by marketplace operators like AltStore and Epic who may not share our concerns for user safety.
"We are deeply concerned about the safety risks that hardcore porn apps of this type create for EU users, especially kids."

Google Messages adds unsend feature.

Google Maps changes pin design.

Apple debuts event planning app, Invites.

Device / Hardware

Meta's VR investment to reach $100B.

Meta plans six AI wearables in '25.

Apple got a new tax break to produce more iPhones in India.

Apple dropped lawsuit against Vision Pro leaker.

The former engineer apologized.

Apple now sells M4 Mac repair parts.

EV / Autonomous

Tesla sales plummet across Europe in backlash against Musk's political moves.

FR -63%, GER -59%, UK -12%, SWE -44%, NOR -38%, NED -42%.

Tesla sales in China also fell 11.5%.

Uber opened Waymo waitlist in Austin.

Lyft plan robotaxis in Dallas by 2026.

Trump halts EV charger funding.

Cruise cut 1000 jobs, 50% of workforce.

Space

Blue Origin's latest mission simulated lunar gravity.

"New Shepard's ability to provide a lunar gravity environment is an extremely unique and valuable capability as researchers set their sights on a return to the moon. This enables researchers to test lunar technologies at a fraction of the cost, rapidly iterate, and test again in a significantly compressed timeframe"

NASA plans Twitch stream from ISS.

“This Twitch event from space is the first of many”

Crypto

Stripe acquired Bridge for $1.1B.

El Salvador is backing away from Bitcoin.

Stablecoin is finding real use in emerging economies.

US Senate pushes Stablecoin bill.

This time it has real backing.
“Something we could do in the next six months” — David Sacks, White House Crypto Czar

MicroStrategy rebrands as Strategy.

Adds letter "B" to logo.

Policy / Regulation

Robinhood forced to cancel Super Bowl betting.

China targets Google/Nvidia in tariff response.

US Congress moves to ban DeepSeek.

US Senate advances social media age ban.

“When you’ve got Ted Cruz and myself in agreement on something, you’ve pretty much captured the ideological spectrum of the whole Congress” — Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii)
Read the bill.

NASA removes diversity terms from website.

Management / Governance

Amazon removed DEI mentions in annual report.

Google also ended DEI.

Chief Diversity Officer → VP, People Operations

Meta fights internal leaks.

OpenAI unveils brand redesign.

OpenAI opens Munich office.

Salesforce cut 1000 roles.

Workday laid off 1750 employees.

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