The Information

Meta and Microsoft — as well as other tech titans — have been reporting quarterly earnings, and investors are looking at AI spending with a more skeptical eye. Plus, more than 1,000 workers at top AI labs signed an open letter this week calling on the government to "deliberately set the pace" of this fast-moving technology, and NBCUniversal makes a deal with YouTube to add all of Peacock's content to its premium streaming service. Anita Ramaswamy, columnist at The Information, joins Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino to discuss these stories on this week’s “Tech Bytes: Week in Review.”

Anita Ramaswamy

Columnist

The Information

SpaceX stock prices fell back to earth this week after they skyrocketed in the wake of the IPO a couple weeks ago. Plus, why a Google AI subsidiary is investing in the film studio A24. And why Meta might be getting into the prediction markets. The New York Times reported this week the social media giant was working on its own prediction market app, sort of like Kalshi and Polymarket, which have been bringing in billions of dollars but also drawing lots of scrutiny and legal challenges. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Anita Ramaswamy, financial columnist at The Information, for this week’s “Tech Bytes: Week in Review.” Check out our YouTube page to watch more episodes of “Tech Bytes.”

Anita Ramaswamy

Columnist

The Information

On this week’s Marketplace Tech Bytes: Week in Review, we take a look at how college graduates do not wanna hear about AI. Plus, what we all learned from the Musk v. Open AI case. But first, AI was unsurprisingly front and center at Google’s annual I/O developer conference. Among a suite of new AI products, Google said it updated its iconic search bar. Now, when searching in AI mode, the bar will expand as you ask a question. It will also provide suggestions about what you might wanna ask. Google says this is the biggest change to its search box since it debuted over 25 years ago. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Anita Ramaswamy, a columnist at The Information, about how this could change how people experience the internet. Check out our YouTube page to watch more episodes of “Tech Bytes.”

Anita Ramaswamy

Columnist

The Information

This week, Meta is reportedly laying off 10% of its workers. But in the meantime, it's also capturing their mouse clicks to train its AI models. Plus, Roblox settles with states over child safety concerns. But first, Apple's CEO is stepping down. The company announced this week that CEO Tim Cook is moving on from that role after about 15 years. His successor is John Ternus, a senior vice president of hardware engineering at the company. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Anita Ramaswamy, a columnist at The Information, about all these headlines for this week’s “Tech Bytes: Week in Review.”

Anita Ramaswamy

Columnist

The Information

This week, Amazon speeds up delivery even more. Plus, will BuzzFeed stay in business? But first, Gecko, a robotics startup, landed a $71 million contract with the U.S. Navy. The 13-year-old Pittsburgh-based company says it'll be using its drones and wall-climbing robots to help find defects on ships. Then, it will use artificial intelligence to model current and future structural issues. Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Anita Ramaswamy, financial analysis columnist at The Information, about all these headlines for this week’s “Tech Bytes: Week in Review.”

Anita Ramaswamy

Columnist

The Information

This week, Palantir announced on X it’s relocating its headquarters to Miami. Plus, we look at the controversy around Ring's Search Party feature. But first, an update to Google's AI search summaries. If you use AI-enabled search on Google, it’ll spit out an AI-generated summary with source links to the right. Now, the company is making links more prominent when users hover over certain words in the AI summary. Google says this new interface is “more engaging.” Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes spoke with Anita Ramaswamy, columnist at The Information, about all this and more.

Anita Ramaswamy

Columnist

The Information

Those massive AI data centers going in across the country can use as much energy as an entire city. President Trump said this week he wants tech companies to "pay their own way," and touted a new Microsoft pledge to bear the full cost of their AI energy needs. Plus, Apple announces its long awaited new AI Siri will be powered by Google. But first, Nvidia can once again export its second best H200 chips to China if it follows some new security rules and pays the U.S. government 25% of its sales. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Anita Ramaswamy, columnist at The Information, to discuss all these topics on this week’s “Marketplace Tech Bytes: Week in Review.”

Anita Ramaswamy

Columnist

The Information

Building artificial intelligence tools requires a lot of graphic processing units, and those GPUs need huge amounts of ultra-fast memory to feed them data. Micron Technology is one of a handful of memory chip makers that has been selling a whole lot of memory, thanks to the AI boom. Plus, cloud company Oracle's data center debt is coming under scrutiny. And Merriam-Webster names the word of the year for 2025: slop. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Anita Ramaswamy, columnist at The Information, to learn more on this week’s Marketplace Tech Bytes: Week in Review.

Anita Ramaswamy

Columnist

The Information

Jessica Lessin is the founder and CEO of The Information, a media company that’s a trusted source for tech readers and tech leaders. She’s reported on the industry for almost two decades and is deeply familiar with the culture shifts in Silicon Valley. Lessin sits down with Oz to discuss these trends, including tech titans appealing to the new Trump administration. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jessica Lessin

Founder & Editor in Chief

The Information

On Sunday, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California vetoed Senate Bill 1047, an A.I. safety bill that would have curtailed the growth of the technology. What received a lot less attention were the 18 other important A.I. bills he signed into law over the past month. We walk through what is in them and what they mean for the rest of the country. Then, The Information’s Julia Black joins to discuss the baby craze that’s sweeping Silicon Valley, including investment in some wild new fertility technologies. And finally, it’s time for a system update! We get into OpenAI’s massive fund-raising deal and the senator who hopped on a call with a “deepfake” former Ukrainian official. Guest: Julia Black, reporter at The Information   Additional Reading: California Governor Vetoes Sweeping A.I. Legislation Dawn of the Silicon Valley Superbaby OpenAI Completes Deal That Values Company at $157 Billion ‘Deepfake’ Caller Poses as Ukrainian Official in Exchange With Key Senator   We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok.   Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Julia Black

Reporter

The Information

Pivot will be back on Friday! In the meantime, we're bringing you an episode of On With Kara Swisher, all about someone we just don't discuss enough – Elon Musk. Kara has assembled a panel of experts, to get their take on all things Elon: Kirsten Grind from the New York Times, Becky Peterson from The Information, and Tim Higgins, Wall Street Journal columnist, and author of "Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century." The group talks Tesla, Twitter/X, SpaceX, and more. Follow and subscribe to On With Kara Swisher here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kirsten Grind

Enterprise Reporter

The Wall Street JournalThe New York Times

Becky Peterson

Reporter

The Information

Tim Higgins

Columnist and Author

The Wall Street Journal

The Information's Jessica Lessin and CNBC's Steve Kovach join us for a star studded Friday episode breaking down the week's news. Lessin is the CEO and founder of The Information and co-host of the More or Less podcast. Kovach is a technology correspondant at CNBC. We cover (with Lessin): 1) Rumors of GPT-5 being shown to founders, and what it might look like 2) Whether OpenAI is vulnerable now that model quality is converging 3) Satya Nadella's claims that Microsoft effectively controls all the value of OpenAI 4) Inflection leadership heads to Microsoft 5) Inflection investors are pissed 6) Why Inflection failed 7) Google and Apple's potential AI agreement 8) Would The Information use Google's new tool for newsrooms. And with Kovach: 9) Outline of the DOJ's case against Apple 10) How Apple is feeling about the case 11) Merits of the case 12) Shohei Ohtani's betting problems. Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. For weekly updates on the show, sign up for the pod newsletter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6901970121829801984/ Questions? Feedback? Write to: bigtechnologypodcast@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jessica Lessin

Founder & Editor in Chief

The Information

Steve Kovach

Technology Correspondent

CNBC

The Information's Sr. Reporter Cory Weinberg joins Ranjan Roy and Alex Kantrowitz for our weekly news recap show. We cover 1) Paying for social media 2) What's next for the struggling IPO market 3) Whether private tech companies like Stripe can keep compensating through RSUs 4) DOJ moves to block Figma sale 5) What happened to voice computing? 6) The prospects of the four-day workweek. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. For weekly updates on the show, sign up for the pod newsletter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6901970121829801984/ Questions? Feedback? Write to: bigtechnologypodcast@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cory Weinberg

Senior Reporter

The Information

Kaya Yurieff is a reporter at The Information covering the Creator Economy. Joe Caporoso is the President of Team Whistle and founder of Badlands, a subscription podcast covering the New York Jets. Both join Big Technology Podcast to discuss whether the Creator Economy — a term for the online content creator business — was overblown. We dig into the motivations of platforms and VCs looking to build businesses off those who believed they could make a living by posting on social media. And we examine how creators who make it do so successfully. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. For weekly updates on the show, sign up for the pod newsletter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6901970121829801984/ Questions? Feedback? Write to: bigtechnologypodcast@gmail.com My article that kicked off the discussion: The Creator Economy Was Way Overblown Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kaya Yurieff

Reporter

The Information

Joe Caporoso

President

Team Whistle

Rapid-fire layoffs, activist investors at the gate and tumbling stock prices — tech has had a bad year. But Kara tells Nayeema she’s seen it all before and that the industry, if not all its captains, will survive this shake-up, too. In the panel interview, Kara is joined by two other journalists: Jessica Lessin, founder and CEO of The Information, a scoop-laden tech news platform covering Silicon Valley, and William Cohan, a former M&A banker and a founding partner at Puck, another excellent source for scoops.  They tackle what’s behind the long decline, and recent rally, of tech stocks, and when and how the Valley will bounce back. Then they zoom in on what Meta, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple and Netflix will need to zoom in on to survive the storm. And Jessica offers a theory: the time is ripe for a changing of the old tech guard. Sorry, Elon — it may be time to step aside.  You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jessica Lessin

Founder & Editor in Chief

The Information

First, we speak with The Information’s Sylvia Varnham O’Regan about Meta's plan to double its VR headsets by 2024 (02:06), VR adoption (13:14), and more. We wrap by discussing the SEC’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit adding 20 new agents (39:52). 00:00 Jason and Molly tee up today’s show 02:06 Speaking with The Information’s Sylvia Varnham O’Regan on her article about Meta doubling its VR headsets by 2024 12:01 Vanta - Get $1,000 off automating your SOC 2 at https://vanta.com/twist 13:14 What will be the tipping point in adoption for Meta’s VR headsets? 22:10 Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://Squarespace.com/TWIST 23:25 What does the timeline look like for Meta’s VR headsets? 35:40 Meta’s Burlingame Oculus store 38:38 Embroker - Get an extra 10% off insurance for your business at https://Embroker.com/twist 39:52 The SEC’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, formally known just as Cyber Unit, will be adding 20 new positions Check out Sylvia's Reporting: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/meta-plots-ambitious-vr-release-schedule-of-four-headsets-by-2024 FOLLOW Sylvia: https://twitter.com/SylviaVarnham FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis FOLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood

Sylvia Varnham O'Regan

Reporter

The Information

First, we discuss Bolt’s declining customer base and struggles with The Information’s Malique Morris (02:50). In addition, we discuss Fast, Amazon's "Buy with Prime," ShopPay (25:35) and all the other developments in online checkout. Next, we cover a massive spike in Ethereum gas prices from Yuga Labs and Solana's bot attack (55:12). We wrap with our Startup of the Day: Gravity Sketch, a 3D design platform (1:11:35). (00:00) Jason and Molly introduce today’s show (02:50) Last Thursday, The Information’s Malique Morris published an article on Bolt’s declining customer base and struggles, he joins us to discuss (12:19) Ourcrowd - Check out the deal of the week at https://ourcrowd.com/twist (13:26) Speaking to Domm Holland and Ryan Breslow, how are they different? (24:19) Fiverr - Sign up for https://Fiverr.com/Business free for the first year and save 10% on your purchase with promo code JASON (25:35) Amazon’s “Buy with Prime” and their Amazon Basics monopoly (32:12) First Republic Bank - Discover what a long-term financial relationship can do for you. Visit https://firstrepublic.com/startup today to learn more. (33:08) Stripe doing their own Fast checkout, competing against their own investment? (46:20) Wrapping up with Malique Morris (48:50) Spring energy in New York (55:12) WEB 3 is going great update (1:11:35) We Live in the Future with our Startup of the Day: Gravity Sketch, a 3D design platform Read Malique's Article: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/bolt-a-checkout-startup-worth-11-billion-has-been-losing-customers-as-revenue-stalls FOLLOW Malique: https://twitter.com/luxeoflique FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis FOLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood

Malique Morris

Reporter

The Information

We have two special guests this week! The first is Sonal Chokshi, Editor in Chief of a16z and showrunner of a16z podcasts. We’ll be getting her perspective on the launch of FUTURE, which we discussed last week. ​Second, as the major social platforms (save for YouTube!) have launched their social audio offerings, we’ll get the latest updates and analysis from Kaya Yurieff of The Information who recently published “The Week Social Audio Went Mainstream” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sonal Chokshi

Editor-in-Chief

Andreessen Horowitz

Kaya Yurieff

Reporter

The Information

Aba is back to host this episode with Jessica Lessin, journalist, founder, and editor-in-chief of The Information. Founded in 2013, The Information breaks exclusive stories and publishes deeply reported articles about tech and startups. In this episode we talk about: What attracted to her to journalism in the first place, how she got her start at the Wall Street Journal, and why the distortion of the news industry's business model by the internet led her to start The Information. What she's learned after five years running The Information, her insights on leadership, and the importance of resilience and self-awareness. And of course, her take on the big tech trends on the horizon, including the possibility of tokenizing everything and the future of Facebook. We also discuss some of her favorite products, including Google Maps, Google Photos, and Asana, which they use extensively at The Information. We’ll be back next week so be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Breaker, Overcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Also, big thanks to AngelList and FreshBooks for their support. 😸 Quotes from This Episode “I caught the reporting bug early. I thought being a reporter and never having to pick one job, but having license to learn about the world and ask smart people questions, is really just an awesome profession and also believe really passionately again that the news industry has in many ways been devastated by the internet and really needs to have a renaissance.” — Jessica “Not only was digital advertising not going to pay the bills for these newsrooms, but it was also distorting the content, and I felt that the subscription business — which is what we are at The Information — was the antidote to that. It was the business that only worked if you delivered a quality product and earned your real relationship with your user and that loyalty. And so, in seeing what I felt was the bad reaction of the new industry to the internet, I felt like there was an opportunity to do it differently and approach coverage differently.” — Jessica “You know, in studying and reporting on startups for so long, you see it’s never a smooth ride. What you see is only a fraction of what’s really going on.” — Jessica Companies and Products Mentioned in This Episode Asana — The task management tool, completely redesigned. Google Maps — Essential mapping app. Google Photos — Automatic backup and unlimited storage for all your photos.

Jessica Lessin

Founder & Editor in Chief

The Information

Jessica Lessin founder and Editor in Chief of The Information. Prior to The Information, she covered Silicon the technology industry for eight years at the Wall Street Journal where she wrote nearly 1,000 articles for the paper, consistently breaking news about major products, management changes and strategy shifts. Jessica was also part of a team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Now you can follow both Jessica and me on Snapchat on @jlessk and @hstebbings In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Jessica come to found The Information following The Wall Street Journal? 2.) Marc Andreesen: 'print journalism is converging in quality and technique with blogs and Wikipedia'. Does Jessica agree with this? Has revisability has led to a lower quality initial publication? 3.) How does Jessica view the competitive landscape for journalism today? Who are competitors and what would Jessica say is complimentary to The Information?? 4.) We have seen the decentralization away from the central forms of authority in journalism. What effect has this decentralization had on distribution? Competition? Market size? 5.) What is the monetisation strategy for The Information? Why choose that strategy over the more prevalent others such as advertising? Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Jessica's Fave Book: Ben Bradlee: A Good Life Jessica's Fave Blog: Doug Young As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Jessica on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Instagram here! The Twenty Minute VC is brought to you by Leesa, the Warby Parker or TOMS shoes of the mattress industry. Lees have done away with the terrible mattress showroom buying experience by creating a luxury premium foam mattress that is order completely online and ships for free to your doorstep. The 10 inch mattress comes in all sizes and is engineered with 3 unique foam layers for a universal, adaptive feel, including 2 inches of memory foam and 2 inches of a really cool latex foam called Avena, design to keep you cool. All Leesa mattresses are 100% US or UK made and for every 10 mattresses they sell, they donate one to a shelter. Go to Leesa.com/VC and enter the promo code VC75 to get $75 off!

Jessica Lessin

Founder & Editor in Chief

The Information

I chat with Jessica Lessin, founder of The Information about the news industry, what makes a great journalist, the transition from reporter to entrepreneur, and much more. Jessica has a special deal for listeners, so tune in. Edited by Daniel Russel.

Jessica Lessin

Founder & Editor in Chief

The Information