Bright Signal - Tech News & Interviews from a European perspective – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Great conversation with Stepan Krivosheev, CEO and co-founder of Wyder, the Leuven-born endurance app betting that training should be social and personal at the same time. 🏃

We dig into the origin story, what makes Wyder the "first social coaching app," and how the three first-time founders went full-time just three months ago. Stepan walks us through the marketplace model for finding training partners at your pace, the new AI coach (€14/month, self-hosted on AWS Bedrock for GDPR reasons), and the brutal reality of integrating with Garmin, Coros, Polar and Suunto. We also get into their city-by-city growth playbook (1,400 users in Leuven, now with the move to Antwerp), why micro-influencers care more about brand alignment than money, the willingness-to-pay puzzle among triathletes, and the structural challenge of raising B2C money from European VCs. Plus a fully bootstrapped status update, fresh VLAIO grant in hand, and what the next twelve months and ~30 target cities look like.

🙋‍♂️ Guest: Stepan Krivosheev, CEO & Co-founder, Wyder (Leuven, Belgium)
🔗 Website: https://wyder.io
📩 Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stepan-krivosheev/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wyder.app/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wyderapp

• (00:00) - Who Wyder is + meet Stepan
• (01:46) - Origin story: from Ironman burnout to a founding team
• (06:50) - What makes Wyder stand out + the ideal athlete
• (10:00) - How it works: the workout marketplace
• (14:18) - Cracking the cold start: 1,400 users, Leuven to Antwerp
• (21:40) - Monetization: the €14 AI coach + the B2B lever
• (25:27) - Wearables, Garmin's gatekeeping & the data battle
• (29:05) - Inside the AI coach: structured vs free-form plans
• (38:04) - GDPR, the AI Act & self-hosting the models
• (40:08) - Bootstrapped, a VLAIO grant & why EU VCs avoid B2C
• (47:45) - The next 12 months + where to find Wyder

In this episode, we sit down with Marco Ramilli, co-founder and CEO of IdentifAI, the Milan-based startup applying a cybersecurity mindset to deepfake detection. Marco, a PhD computer security researcher who worked at NIST and previously founded Yoroi (acquired by Tinexta in 2024), explains how IdentifAI builds "de-generative" AI models that reverse-engineer how generators like Midjourney and Nano Banana work, then catch their outputs in the wild.

We get into the verticals where the threats are real today: KYC checks at banks, fraudulent insurance claims (Marco says ~35% of uploaded damage images are now AI-generated), state-sponsored disinformation, journalist fact-checking, and HR processes where attackers join job interviews as deepfake candidates to social-engineer their way into companies. Marco walks through IdentifAI's three products, an API, a web app, and a live "noteseeker"-style agent that silently sits in on video calls and flags fakes in real time, and shares the model accuracy numbers (~98% on internal benchmarks, ~90–92% in the real world) plus what happens when a new generator like Nano Banana drops.

We also dig into the €5M Series A led by United Ventures, the EMEA-first go-to-market plan, IdentifAI's Deepfake Intelligence Report (the US accounts for almost half of recorded incidents), the European sovereignty angle, and the EU AI Act. We close with Marco showing us a live, real-time deepfake of his own face, built, he says, with "a couple of Python scripts on your laptop."

🙋‍♂️ Guest: Marco Ramilli, co-founder and CEO, IdentifAI
📩 Connect with Marco on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcoramilli
🔗 IdentifAI on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/identifai-labs
🌐 IdentifAI: https://identifai.net

Thanks for listening! ❤️

• (00:33) - Bun acquired by Anthropic
• (14:49) - The junior hiring crisis & early-career developers
• (29:34) - OpenAI’s projected $74B loss by 2028 (Fortune report)
• (31:10) - OpenAI “code red” after Gemini 3 & GPT-5.2 push
• (44:44) - German state saves millions switching to LibreOffice
• (52:14) - IBM to acquire Confluent (Kafka company)
• (57:48) - Is AI changing how humans write and speak?
• (01:03:52) - Pebble creator’s Index 01 smart ring

Bun is joining Anthropic | 2025-12-02
JavaScript runtime Bun has been bought by AI lab Anthropic, which will use it to power Claude Code and other tools while keeping the project open source and led by the same team. The deal swaps startup uncertainty for deep-pocketed backing and raises fresh questions about big labs owning key developer infrastructure.
https://bun.com/blog/bun-joins-anthropic

The Junior Hiring Crisis | 2025-11-29
Annie Hedgpeth warns that as companies lean into artificial intelligence (AI), junior hiring in technical roles is dropping, leaving graduates facing tougher odds for a first job. She links the crisis to eroding apprenticeships and weak mentoring incentives, and argues that early-career people must double down on relationships and “relational intelligence” that AI cannot replace.
https://people-work.io/blog/junior-hiring-crisis/

OpenAI says it plans to report stunning annual losses through 2028—and then turn wildly profitable just two years later | 2025-11-12
Fortune reports that OpenAI expects to burn through billions in cash each year, including an eye-popping projected $74 billion operating loss in 2028, before swinging to big profits around 2030. The bet hinges on locking in up to $1.4 trillion in long-term compute deals, setting up a stark contrast with Anthropic’s more conservative path to break-even.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/openai-says-plans-report-stunning-161814899.html

Next ChatGPT upgrade imminent following ‘code red’ declaration | 2025-12-05
9to5Mac reports that OpenAI declared a internal “code red” after Google’s Gemini 3 launch and is now rushing out a GPT-5.2 update for ChatGPT far sooner than its last major refresh. Rather than flashy new features, the release is expected to focus on speed, reliability, and customization to close the perceived performance gap.
https://9to5mac.com/2025/12/05/next-chatgpt-upgrade-imminent-following-code-red-declaration/

Goodbye, Microsoft: Schleswig-Holstein relies on Open Source and saves millions | 2025-12-07
Germany’s state of Schleswig-Holstein says it will save over €15 million a year by replacing most Microsoft Windows and Office licenses with LibreOffice and other open-source tools. Nearly 80% of workstations have already switched, but opposition politicians warn that migration hiccups and frustrated staff show how hard digital “sovereignty” is in practice.
https://www.heise.de/en/news/Goodbye-Microsoft-Schleswig-Holstein-relies-on-Open-Source-and-saves-millions-11105459.html

IBM to Acquire Confluent | 2025-12-08
Confluent has agreed to be acquired by IBM in an all-cash deal at $31 per share, with the data-streaming company set to operate as a distinct brand inside IBM once regulators sign off. CEO Jay Kreps frames the move as a way to put Kafka-era streaming at the core of IBM’s hybrid-cloud and AI ambitions, while promising continuity for customers and staff.
https://www.confluent.io/blog/ibm-to-acquire-confluent/

Evidence That Humans Now Speak in a Chatbot-Influenced Dialect Is Getting Stronger | 2025-12-07
Gizmodo surveys research and anecdotes suggesting our everyday speech is starting to borrow the vocabulary and rhythms of large language models, from YouTube comments to Reddit confessionals. Moderators and writers describe AI “slop” as so pervasive that even human posts and political speeches can sound synthetic, blurring the line between organic voice and machine-trained style.
https://gizmodo.com/chatbot-dialect-2000696509

Meet Pebble Index 01 - External Memory For Your Brain | 2025-12-09
Pebble’s creator unveils Index 01, a stainless-steel smart ring with a button and microphone that lets you capture quick voice notes and reminders, then process them on your phone with local speech-to-text and AI. With no always-on listening, no subscription, and a battery designed to last years, it reframes “external memory” as a tiny, hackable tool rather than a full-blown wearable computer.
https://repebble.com/blog/meet-pebble-index-01-external-memory-for-your-brain

Thanks a lot for listening ❤️

Links 🔗:
FabCon Atlanta: https://fabriccon.com/
FabCon Barcelona: https://www.sharepointeurope.com/european-microsoft-fabric-community-conference/
Fabric Data Days: https://aka.ms/fabricdatadays
Fabric February: https://www.fabricfebruary.com/
Sam's blog: https://debruyn.dev/

• (00:00) - Introduction to the Podcast and Guests
• (01:50) - Understanding Microsoft Fabric
• (04:26) - Microsoft Fabric for Startups
• (07:04) - Integration and Ease of Use in Microsoft Fabric
• (09:44) - Getting Started with Microsoft Fabric
• (12:22) - AI Capabilities in Microsoft Fabric
• (14:34) - Challenges and Limitations of Microsoft Fabric
• (16:53) - Cost and Pricing Structure of Microsoft Fabric
• (19:22) - Data Storage and Management in Microsoft Fabric
• (21:45) - Machine Learning and AI Integration
• (24:04) - Best Practices for Data Transformation
• (26:37) - The Future of Data Engineering Skills
• (28:38) - Community and Resources for Microsoft Fabric

Thanks for checking in! ❤️

• (00:07) - Intro & weekend catch-up
• (02:22) - Deloitte breaks silence on N.L. healthcare report
• (08:50) - PwC says clients are asking for AI Discount?
• (13:37) - How OpenAI and Google see AI changing go-to-market strategies
• (17:44) - ChatGPT ads are on the way, but iPhone users can avoid them
• (24:30) - Australia’s under-16s social media ban is weeks away. How will it work – and how can I appeal if I’m wrongly banned?
• (34:15) - Are you balding? There’s an AI for that
• (39:24) - Can Dutch universities do without Microsoft?
• (47:10) - iPhone Fold will be ‘first truly crease-free foldable phone’, according to supplier
• (52:30) - New Segment Anything Models Make it Easier to Detect Objects and Create 3D Reconstructions
• (59:01) - Advent of Code changes & AI-assisted puzzling
• (01:02:33) - Upcoming Microsoft Fabric Data Days interview & closing

Deloitte breaks silence on N.L. healthcare report | 2025-11-25
A Deloitte spokesperson says the firm “stands behind” recommendations in a $1.6 million Newfoundland and Labrador health workforce report after errors traced to AI-generated citations came to light. Deloitte says it's revising a small number of citations without changing findings, but hasn't addressed refunds—keeping pressure on the government.
https://theindependent.ca/news/lji/deloitte-breaks-silence-on-n-l-healthcare-report/

PwC says clients are asking for AI Discount? | 2025-07-03
PwC is fielding an awkward ask from some clients: if artificial intelligence (AI) makes work faster, where's our discount? The report says firms are nudging prices down and moving to outcome-based fees, signaling pressure on the Big Four’s billable-hour model as automation spreads.
https://www.thefinancestory.com/pwc-clients-ask-for-discounts-because-of-ai-efficiency

ChatGPT ads are on the way, but iPhone users can avoid them | 2025-12-01
Code in a beta of ChatGPT’s Android app points to ads on the way, echoing recent reporting that OpenAI will test advertising to bolster revenue. The twist: iPhone users may bypass ads by invoking Siri’s ChatGPT fallback, raising messy questions about parity across platforms and plans.
https://9to5mac.com/2025/12/01/chatgpt-ads-are-on-the-way-but-iphone-users-can-avoid-them/

Australia’s under-16s social media ban is weeks away. How will it work – and how can I appeal if I’m wrongly banned? | 2025-11-22
Australia’s world-first under-16 social media ban takes effect on December 10, forcing platforms to deactivate teen accounts or face fines up to A$49.5 million. Appeals will rely on age-assurance checks like video selfies or IDs, stoking debate over errors, privacy and free-speech challenges.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/nov/23/australia-under-16-social-media-ban-how-will-it-work-which-platforms-age-verification

Are you balding? There’s an AI for that | 2025-11-26
MyHair AI promises to spot early hair loss by analyzing uploaded scalp photos and tracking density over time, pitching itself as a clearer path through a murky market. The startup claims 1,000 paying subscribers, 200,000 accounts and 300,000 images analyzed, inviting questions about medical accuracy and regulation.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/26/are-you-balding-theres-an-ai-for-that/

Can Dutch universities do without Microsoft? | 2025-11-24
Following a sanctions scare that briefly locked the International Criminal Court out of Microsoft email, Dutch universities are reassessing big-tech dependence. Trials with open-source suites like Nextcloud and OpenDesk show promise, yet experts warn a full break could stall teaching and research unless institutions run costly parallel systems.
https://dub.uu.nl/en/news/can-dutch-universities-do-without-microsoft

iPhone Fold will be ‘first truly crease-free foldable phone’, according to supplier | 2025-11-26
Apple’s rumored iPhone Fold is said to achieve a crease-free display via a custom panel stack and liquid-metal hinge—at a luxury price. Supply-chain reports point to pre-mass-production testing and a potential 2026 launch, with estimates reaching $2,399, setting up a high-stakes debut against seasoned foldable rivals.
https://www.tomsguide.com/phones/iphones/iphone-fold-will-be-first-truly-crease-free-foldable-phone-according-to-supplier

New Segment Anything Models Make it Easier to Detect Objects and Create 3D Reconstructions | 2025-11-19
Meta unveiled SAM 3 and SAM 3D, models that segment objects from text prompts and reconstruct 3D objects or bodies from a single image. The release includes open-source weights, a playground, and claims of state-of-the-art performance—positioning 3D from 2D as a practical tool for creators, robotics and AR.
https://about.fb.com/news/2025/11/new-sam-models-detect-objects-create-3d-reconstructions/

• (01:29) - Jeff Bezos reportedly launches new AI startup with himself as CEO
• (05:45) - WTFPL – Do What the Fuck You Want to Public License
• (11:31) - Gemini 3: Introducing the latest Gemini AI model from Google
• (26:31) - New EU Chat Control Proposal Moves Forward – Privacy Experts See a Dangerous Backdoor
• (32:09) - Europe is scaling back its landmark privacy and AI laws
• (38:12) - Cloudflare outage on November 18, 2025
• (44:45) - Build with Google Antigravity, our new agentic development platform
• (50:55) - Introducing Claude Opus 4.5
• (01:01:44) - SHA1 Hulud 2.0 npm malware warning
• (01:03:36) - 1000-subscriber milestone & upcoming interviews

Thanks a lot for listening ❤️ We love to hear your feedback!
Subscribe to our newsletter here.

Jeff Bezos reportedly launches new AI startup with himself as CEO | 2025-11-17

Jeff Bezos is stepping back into the CEO chair to co-lead Project Prometheus, a new AI venture reportedly focused on engineering and manufacturing. With $6.2 billion already raised and 100 hires poached from top labs, the big mystery is what the well-funded startup will actually build.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/nov/17/jeff-bezos-ai-startup-project-prometheus

WTFPL – Do What the Fuck You Want to Public License | n.d.

The WTFPL is an ultra-permissive software license often invoked in debates about openness and attribution. Its Version 2 famously fits into two short paragraphs, effectively granting do-anything rights that resemble the public domain in many jurisdictions.
https://www.wtfpl.net/

Gemini 3: Introducing the latest Gemini AI model from Google | 2025-11-18

Google’s Gemini 3 aims to push reasoning and multimodal performance while rolling out broadly across the Gemini app, Search’s AI Mode, AI Studio, and Vertex AI. A new “Deep Think” mode and a million-token context window set the stage, alongside the agentic Antigravity developer platform.
https://blog.google/products/gemini/gemini-3/

New EU Chat Control Proposal Moves Forward – Privacy Experts See a Dangerous Backdoor | 2025-11-17

EU lawmakers advanced a revised Child Sexual Abuse Regulation that drops mandatory scanning yet adds “risk mitigation” powers critics say could still pressure encrypted services to scan messages. Privacy advocates also warn age-verification rules would erode anonymity for 450 million EU residents.
https://techreport.com/news/new-eu-chat-control-proposal-privacy-experts-see-dangerous-backdoor/

Europe is scaling back its landmark privacy and AI laws | 2025-11-19

The European Commission proposed easing parts of the GDPR and delaying or relaxing elements of the AI Act to cut red tape and boost growth. Changes include fewer cookie pop-ups and broader data-sharing for anonymized sets, with the plan now heading to Parliament and member states.

https://www.theverge.com/news/823750/european-union-ai-act-gdpr-changes

Cloudflare outage on November 18, 2025 | 2025-11-18
Cloudflare detailed a major incident traced to an oversized Bot Management feature file after a ClickHouse permissions change, triggering widespread 5xx errors. Core traffic largely recovered by 14:30 UTC and fully stabilized by 17:06, raising questions about safeguards for critical configuration rollouts.
https://blog.cloudflare.com/18-november-2025-outage/

Build with Google Antigravity, our new agentic development platform | 2025-11-20
Google introduced Antigravity, an agent-first developer platform that lets AI agents plan, execute, and verify tasks across editor, terminal, and browser. Available free in public preview, it supports Gemini 3 Pro (with “Artifacts” for auditability) and even third-party models like Claude Sonnet 4.5.
https://developers.googleblog.com/en/build-with-google-antigravity-our-new-agentic-development-platform/

Introducing Claude Opus 4.5 | 2025-11-24
Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.5 targets long-horizon reasoning, software engineering, and agentic workflows, and is available across apps, API, and major clouds. The company highlights better benchmark performance and new pricing at $5 input/$25 output per million tokens, aiming to broaden everyday use.
https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-opus-4-5

• (00:43) - An AI-Generated Country Song Is Topping A Billboard Chart, And That Should Infuriate Us All
• (07:51) - Using Generative AI in Content Production
• (13:37) - LLMs Can Get “Brain Rot”!
• (21:30) - GPT-5.1: A smarter, more conversational ChatGPT
• (28:42) - GitHub - toon-format/toon: Token-Oriented Object Notation (TOON) – Compact, human-readable, schema-aware JSON for LLM prompts. Spec, benchmarks, TypeScript SDK.
• (36:33) - Introducing Scribe v2 Realtime
• (41:06) - ByteDance unveils China’s most affordable AI coding agent at just US$1.30 a month
• (47:23) - TypeScript, Python, and the AI feedback loop changing software development
• (01:06:09) - Introducing iPhone Pocket: a beautiful way to wear and carry iPhone
• (01:08:35) - Nexperia update

Thanks for listening ❤️ Sign up to our newspaper at newspaper.monkeypatching.io.

An AI-Generated Country Song Is Topping A Billboard Chart, And That Should Infuriate Us All | 2025-11-08
An AI-generated country song is topping a Billboard chart, stoking a fresh debate over authenticity and how charts treat synthetic artists. “Walk My Walk” by Breaking Rust hit No. 1 on Country Digital Song Sales, raising questions about disclosure, bot-inflated metrics, and where Billboard draws the line. https://www.whiskeyriff.com/2025/11/08/an-ai-generated-country-song-is-topping-a-billboard-chart-and-that-should-infuriate-us-all/

Using Generative AI in Content Production | n.d.
Netflix outlines when productions can use generative AI and what must be cleared before anything hits the screen. Ideation is generally low-risk, but final deliverables, digital replicas of talent, personal data, or third-party IP require written approval and enterprise-grade safeguards, backed by a handy use-case matrix. https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/43393929218323-Using-Generative-AI-in-Content-Production

LLMs Can Get “Brain Rot”! | 2025-10-15
The paper “LLMs Can Get "Brain Rot!” dials down on the risk that large language models degrade when trained on their own outputs instead of diverse human data. It collects early research and symptoms—like blandness, repetition, and drifting facts—framing the problem in plain language for non-specialists and policymakers.
https://llm-brain-rot.github.io

GPT-5.1: A smarter, more conversational ChatGPT | 2025-11-12
OpenAI announced GPT-5.1, aiming for a smarter, more conversational ChatGPT rolling out to paid users first. Two flavors—Instant and Thinking—promise better instruction following, clearer reasoning that adapts to task difficulty, and new controls to shape tone so responses feel warmer or more precise. 
https://openai.com/index/gpt-5-1/

GitHub - toon-format/toon: Token-Oriented Object Notation (TOON) – Compact, human-readable, schema-aware JSON for LLM prompts. Spec, benchmarks, TypeScript SDK. | 2025-11-10
Token-Oriented Object Notation (TOON) pitches a compact, schema-aware alternative to JSON for LLM prompts. With a v1.0 release on November 10 and a TypeScript SDK, TOON targets uniform arrays for major token savings while keeping lossless structure—positioning it as a pragmatic bridge between JSON and model-friendly text. https://github.com/toon-format/toon

Introducing Scribe v2 Realtime | 2025-11-11
ElevenLabs introduced Scribe v2 Realtime, a streaming speech-to-text model built for agents, meetings, and live captions. It promises sub-150 ms latency, automatic language detection, and enterprise options—claiming 93.5% accuracy across 30 languages—with API access and direct integration into ElevenLabs Agents
https://elevenlabs.io/blog/introducing-scribe-v2-realtime

ByteDance unveils China’s most affordable AI coding agent at just US$1.30 a month | 2025-11-12
ByteDance’s Volcano Engine launched a low-cost coding agent priced at 9.9 yuan (US$1.30) for the first month, escalating China’s AI coding price war. The Doubao-Seed-Code model later costs 40 yuan monthly and touts SWE-Bench Verified results on par with leading systems.
https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3332365/bytedance-unveils-chinas-most-affordable-ai-coding-agent-just-us130-month

TypeScript, Python, and the AI feedback loop changing software development | 2025-11-13
GitHub’s Octoverse interview explores how AI tools are reshaping language choices and developer workflows, with TypeScript rising alongside Python’s AI strength. In conversation with GitHub Next’s Idan Gazit, the piece frames an AI feedback loop where typed languages help agents refactor reliably across tasks.
https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/typescript-python-and-the-ai-feedback-loop-changing-software-development/?utm_source=twitter-idan-octoverse&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=universe25post

Hi everyone, welcome to the Monkey Patching Podcast, where we go bananas about all things lazy imports, physical AI, and more!

Interested to follow? Subscribe where ever you get your podcast and check out our newsletter at newsletter.monkeypatching.io.

• (00:35) - Continuity camera on Chrome flakiness
• (01:56) - XPENG Shares Achievements in Physical AI Emergence: Unveils XPENG VLA 2.0, Robotaxi, Next-Gen IRON, and Flying Car
• (05:44) - Vision vs sensors (Tesla painted-tunnel demo)
• (07:59) - Humanoid vs task-specific robots debate
• (09:21) - GitHub - topoteretes/cognee: Memory for AI Agents in 6 lines of code
• (18:11) - PEP 810 – Explicit lazy imports
• (25:01) - ICC to replace Microsoft Office with European open-source platform
• (30:47) - moonshotai/Kimi-K2-Thinking · Hugging Face
• (41:42) - OpenAI finances & “AI bubble” (20B ARR vs $1.5T compute)
• (43:18) - Archive.today: FBI Demands Data from Provider Tucows
• (52:02) - The Smol Training Playbook: The Secrets to Building World-Class LLMs
• (56:29) - Karpathy’s NanoChat shout-out
• (01:02:13) - Former Meta employees launch Stream, a smart ring that takes voice notes and controls music
• (01:07:57) - Whisperflow.ai smart dictation app

XPENG Shares Achievements in Physical AI Emergence: Unveils XPENG VLA 2.0, Robotaxi, Next-Gen IRON, and Flying Car | 2025-11-05
XPENG used its 2025 AI Day to pitch a pivot to “Physical AI,” unveiling VLA 2.0, a Robotaxi program, the next-gen IRON humanoid, and a flying car—signaling ambitions beyond EVs. The company touts concrete mass-production timelines and even named Volkswagen the launch customer for VLA 2.0.
 https://www.xpeng.com/news/019a56f54fe99a2a0a8d8a0282e402b7

GitHub - topoteretes/cognee: Memory for AI Agents in 6 lines of code | n.d.
Cognee is an open-source “memory layer” for AI agents, combining vector search with a graph database to keep knowledge both searchable and linked. It swaps classic RAG for modular ECL pipelines and self-hosting, aiming for durable context with minimal code—hence the “6 lines” promise.
 https://github.com/topoteretes/cognee

PEP 810 – Explicit lazy imports | 2025-11-03
Python is set to add explicit lazy imports, letting developers defer module loading until first use to speed startup and cut memory. The accepted proposal targets Python 3.15 and cites potential 50–70% startup gains, while keeping normal imports unchanged for backward compatibility.
 https://peps.python.org/pep-0810/

ICC to replace Microsoft Office with European open-source platform | 2025-11-06
The International Criminal Court will migrate from Microsoft Office to Open Desk, an EU-backed open-source suite—an emblem of Europe’s push for digital sovereignty. Open Desk is built by Germany’s Zendis and tied to a new EU-level initiative, amid lingering tensions over dependence on US tech.
 https://dig.watch/updates/icc-to-replace-microsoft-office-with-european-open-source-platform

moonshotai/Kimi-K2-Thinking · Hugging Face | n.d.
Moonshot AI’s Kimi K2 Thinking is an open-source “thinking” model that interleaves reasoning with tool calls across long sequences, built on a trillion-parameter MoE with a 256k-token context. It emphasizes native INT4 inference and claims stable behavior over 200–300 consecutive tool invocations.
 https://huggingface.co/moonshotai/Kimi-K2-Thinking

Archive.today: FBI Demands Data from Provider Tucows | 2025-11-05
The FBI obtained a court order compelling registrar Tucows to hand over customer data tied to Archive.today, the web-archiving site often used to bypass paywalls. Heise says the document’s authenticity isn’t verified, spotlighting murky jurisdiction, the operator’s identity, and possible chilling effects on archiving.
 https://www.heise.de/en/news/Archive-today-FBI-Demands-Data-from-Provider-Tucows-11066346.html

The Smol Training Playbook: The Secrets to Building World-Class LLMs | n.d.
Hugging Face’s Smol team published a hands-on playbook distilling what actually worked in training small yet competitive LLMs—from data curation and loss curves to post-training and reliability. It reads like field notes for practitioners, with checklists, pitfalls, and system lessons that invite debate about trade-offs.
 https://huggingface.co/spaces/HuggingFaceTB/smol-training-playbook

Former Meta employees launch Stream, a smart ring that takes voice notes and controls music | 2025-11-05
A pair of ex-Meta designers launched Sandbar’s Stream, a voice-note smart ring positioned as a “mouse for voice,” with an AI companion app and discreet gesture controls. Preorders start at $249–$299 with shipping planned for next summer, and the startup has raised $13 million from True Ventures, Upfront, and Betaworks.
 https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/05/former-meta-employees-launch-stream-a-smart-ring-that-takes-voice-notes-and-controls-music/

• (01:50) - Create on-brand marketing content for your business with Pomelli
• (09:18) - OpenAI’s Less-Flashy Rival Might Have a Better Business Model
• (17:47) - Microsoft, OpenAI reach deal removing fundraising constraints for ChatGPT maker
• (25:56) - AOL to be sold to Bending Spoons for roughly $1.5B
• (36:40) - Accountable Acceleration: Gen AI Fast-Tracks Into the Enterprise
• (44:53) - I analyzed 180M jobs to see what jobs AI is actually replacing today

Create on-brand marketing content for your business with Pomelli | 2025-10-28
Google Labs and DeepMind launched Pomelli, an AI tool that builds a “Business DNA” from a company’s website to auto-generate on-brand social campaigns. It’s rolling out as a public beta in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—promising speed, but raising questions about originality and disclosure.
 https://blog.google/technology/google-labs/pomelli/

OpenAI’s Less-Flashy Rival Might Have a Better Business Model | 2025-10-26
WSJ argues Anthropic’s enterprise-first focus is paying off as corporate customers drive the bulk of its revenue and adoption. A reported multibillion run-rate and strong coding share sharpen the contrast with OpenAI’s mass-market push, setting up a strategic showdown over who monetizes AI best.
 https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anthropic-business-model-ai-9e26b4ef

Microsoft, OpenAI reach deal removing fundraising constraints for ChatGPT maker | 2025-10-28
OpenAI is restructuring into a public benefit corporation with Microsoft retaining a 27% stake, clearing the way for bigger capital raises and potential IPO plans. The pact resets rights and revenue-sharing through 2032, signaling massive data-center ambitions—and tighter alignment—amid escalating AI costs.
 https://www.reuters.com/business/microsoft-openai-reach-new-deal-allow-openai-restructure-2025-10-28/

AOL to be sold to Bending Spoons for roughly $1.5B | 2025-10-29
AOL is changing hands again, with Bending Spoons agreeing to buy it for about $1.5 billion as the Italian firm keeps scooping up legacy internet properties. The deal comes with $2.8 billion in new debt financing and claims of ~30 million monthly active users—big numbers for a storied brand.
 https://www.axios.com/2025/10/29/aol-bending-spoons-deal

Accountable Acceleration: Gen AI Fast-Tracks Into the Enterprise | n.d.
Wharton’s latest adoption study says generative AI has moved from pilots to measured ROI, with usage now weekly for most leaders and daily for many. Standout stats—like 72% tracking ROI and three-quarters seeing positive returns—set the stage for 2026’s push from experimentation to performance at scale.
 https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/special-report/2025-ai-adoption-report/

I analyzed 180M jobs to see what jobs AI is actually replacing today | 2025-11-03
A massive scrape of job postings finds steep drops in creative execution roles like computer graphic artists and writers, while machine-learning engineers surged 40% year over year. Watchlist: medical scribes fell 20%, hinting at AI note-taking tools biting into entry-level healthcare admin work.
 https://bloomberry.com/blog/i-analyzed-180m-jobs-to-see-what-jobs-ai-is-actually-replacing-today/

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• (01:59) - dbt Labs + Fivetran: Open data infrastructure for analytics and AI
• (10:35) - Introducing ChatGPT Atlas
• (10:40) - Microsoft Edge’s new Copilot Mode turns on more AI features
• (21:47) - Anthropic to use Google’s AI chips worth tens of billions to train Claude chatbot
• (32:34) - Living dangerously with Claude
• (51:09) - Agent2Agent (A2A) Protocol
• (59:44) - Announcing Cloudflare Email Service’s private beta
• (01:04:44) - Meet the real screen addicts: the elderly

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dbt Labs + Fivetran: Open data infrastructure for analytics and AI | 2025-10-13
dbt Labs is merging with Fivetran to create a unified, open data foundation spanning ingestion to transformation—positioning the pair to simplify enterprise analytics and AI pipelines. Together they claim roughly $600 million in ARR and well over 10,000 customers, with both product names staying put to avoid disruption.
https://www.getdbt.com/blog/dbt-labs-and-fivetran-merge-announcement

Introducing ChatGPT Atlas | 2025-10-21
OpenAI launched ChatGPT Atlas, a macOS browser with ChatGPT built in, reframing browsing around an AI assistant that understands context across tabs. Agent mode—available in preview—can open pages and complete tasks like booking appointments, while optional browser memories and parental controls aim to balance convenience with privacy.
https://openai.com/index/introducing-chatgpt-atlas/

Microsoft Edge’s new Copilot Mode turns on more AI features | 2025-10-24
Just days after OpenAI’s Atlas debut, Microsoft rolled out Copilot Mode in Edge, pitching the browser itself as an AI companion. It can summarize across tabs and take “Actions”—like unsubscribing from emails or making reservations—though early tests found the automation patchy and sometimes misleading.
https://www.theverge.com/news/805833/microsoft-edge-copilot-mode-ai-launch

Anthropic to use Google's AI chips worth tens of billions to train Claude chatbot | 2025-10-24
Anthropic struck a multiyear deal to tap up to one million of Google’s Tensor Processing Units, dramatically expanding compute for future Claude models. The agreement—valued in the tens of billions—targets more than one gigawatt of capacity coming online in 2026, underscoring the shift toward TPUs as Nvidia alternatives.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/anthropic-expand-use-google-clouds-tpu-chips-2025-10-23/

Living dangerously with Claude | 2025-10-22
Simon Willison describes the appeal of running Claude Code in “YOLO mode”—letting agents work with minimal prompts and permissions to ship real projects fast. He then flips the coin, warning that prompt injection and data exfiltration risks demand strong sandboxing if you’re granting agents broad access.
https://simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/22/living-dangerously-with-claude/

Agent2Agent (A2A) Protocol | n.d.
Pydantic AI adds first-class support for Google’s Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol, an open standard for inter-agent messaging and task handoff. The new FastA2A library and a convenience to_a2a() wrapper expose Python agents as A2A servers, handling task storage, context threads, and artifacts out of the box.
https://ai.pydantic.dev/a2a/

Announcing Cloudflare Email Service’s private beta | 2025-09-25
Cloudflare introduced Email Service, letting developers send and receive email directly from Workers without juggling third-party APIs. It auto-configures SPF, DKIM and DMARC for deliverability and runs on Cloudflare’s global network, with “Email Sending” in private beta ahead of pricing details.
https://blog.cloudflare.com/email-service/

Meet the real screen addicts: the elderly | 2025-10-23
The Economist argues that older adults, not teens, now dominate screen time—and that their usage is only set to grow. With pensioners spending more than half their waking hours on devices, the piece probes whether screens are worsening isolation and health or offering connection and care.
https://www.economist.com/international/2025/10/23/meet-the-real-screen-addicts-the-elderly