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August 4, 2025, 5:45 AM
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Mediagazer
memeorandum
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| Noah Smith / Noahpinion: |
A look at why the AI data center building boom could spark a financial crisis akin to 2008, including the rising use of debt financing via private credit funds — This time let's think about a financial crisis before it happens. — The U.S. economic data for the last few months is looking decidedly meh.
More: Blood in the Machine, The Economist, Wall Street Journal, Wall Street Journal, Gizmodo, and Wall Street Journal
Bluesky: @stellarwork.com, @kosso.co.uk, @edfinnerty, @mel.bzky.team, @lastnametbd, @edzitron.com, @andrewfacini.com, @4til7, @nicholasgrossman, @cfaller96, @akfullerton, @jessefelder, and @globalecoguy
X: @noahpinion, @da_stockman, @sdamico, @zoomyzoomm, @zoomyzoomm, @emollick, @ej_sanmartin, @daniellefong, @noahpinion, and @noahpinion. Forums: r/neoliberal
| Paul Kedrosky: |
As a percentage of US GDP, AI datacenter capex is already larger than peak telecom spending during the dot-com era and is approaching the railroad spending boom — AI capex is so big that it's affecting economic statistics, boosting the economy, and beginning to approach the railroad boom
More: Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Cautious Optimism, and A Wealth of Common Sense
X: @mims, @partners_road, @bopanc, @bearlyai, @clairlemon, @josephpolitano, @dkthomp, @birdyword, @lhamtil, and @mims
Forums: Hacker News and r/Economics
| Drew Harwell / Washington Post: |
Families and funeral directors are using AI obituary generators to memorialize the dead, as critics worry about AI's impact on how people remember one another — Families and funeral directors are using AI obituary generators to more efficiently memorialize the dead. What happens when they get it wrong?| Dan Milmo / The Guardian: |
The UK Online Safety Act's approach to keeping children safe online has become a rallying point for the right in the UK and the US over alleged censorship — Farage accuses government of being ‘so below the belt’ as right wing doubles down on censorship claims — The UK's Online Safety Act has been greatly anticipated.| Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: |
Sources: Apple formed an Answers, Knowledge, and Information team to work on ChatGPT-like search experiences; iPhone 17 Pro may have been seen in live testing — Apple has a new “Answers” team developing a stripped-down rival to ChatGPT to help users access world knowledge.
More: TechCrunch, Thurrott, The Hans India, The Economic Times, MacRumors, Financial Express, TechIssuesToday.com, WinBuzzer, The Mac Observer, PYMNTS.com, The Indian Express, Livemint, iThinkDifferent, Moneycontrol, iPhone in Canada, PhoneArena, KnowTechie, Benzinga, Mashable, Neowin, Appuals, Digital Trends, Engadget, AppleInsider, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, Cult of Mac, and 9to5Mac
Threads: @atcalexj. X: @markgurman, @samsolid57, @rustybrick, @firstadopter, @markgurman, and @maxwinebach. Forums: r/apple
| Lu Wang / Bloomberg: |
A study finds that AI trading bots can collude and fix prices in simulated markets without explicit instruction, posing challenges to regulators — It's a regulator's nightmare: Hedge funds unleash AI bots on stock and bond exchanges — but they don't just compete, they collude.
More: Fortune, Bloomberg Law, NBER, Tom's Hardware, The Post Millennial, and Mashable
| Jordan Novet / CNBC: |
A profile of Figma CEO Dylan Field, a former Thiel fellow whose Figma stake is worth ~$6.6B after the company ended its NYSE debut week with a $71B+ market cap — Mark Zuckerberg may be the most famous college-dropout-turned-tech- billionaire. Dylan Field is the latest … | Renee Dudley / ProPublica: |
Microsoft relied on China-based engineers to maintain SharePoint “OnPrem”, which was recently exploited by Chinese hackers to breach US government systems — Microsoft announced that Chinese state-sponsored hackers had exploited vulnerabilities in its popular SharePoint software … | Sheera Frenkel / New York Times: |
Google, OpenAI, Meta, and VCs are increasingly embracing the US military industrial complex, a major Silicon Valley cultural shift supported by President Trump — In a major shift, Google, OpenAI, Meta and venture capitalists — many of whom had once forsworn involvement in war — have embraced the military industrial complex.| Yuan Gao / Bloomberg: |
Xiaomi releases MiDashengLM-7B, an AI voice model under an Apache 2.0 license based on its foundational voice model, deployed in cars and smart home devices — Xiaomi Corp. on Monday released an open-source voice model to complement its automotive and home appliance technologies …
More: WinBuzzer and XiaomiTime
| Wall Street Journal: |
How Disney is grappling with integrating AI into its filmmaking process while safeguarding IP and addressing legal uncertainty, fan backlash, and union concerns — The stakes are especially high for the studio, caught between how to use artificial intelligence in the filmmaking process … | Angel Au-Yeung / Wall Street Journal: |
Young Americans are increasingly turning to BNPL loans from Affirm and others, as getting approved for credit cards becomes harder in today's economic climate — Young Americans are turning to easy, high-interest loan products; research shows some are spending more
Bluesky: @hypervisible
| Wen-Yee Lee / Reuters: |
Taiwan's chip sector is cultivating overseas talent with summer camps and university courses to address a shortage of skilled professionals and production staff — Dressed in a white protective suit and face mask, Nicolas Chueh listened intently as a guide introduced a series of silver machines used … | Haley Zimmerman / Wall Street Journal: |
An interview with Strava CEO Michael Martin on Athlete Intelligence, the premium AI “coach” introduced in 2024 that has alienated experienced users, and more — Over 150 million people use the fitness app. Michael Martin is hoping its new ‘Athlete Intelligence’ will convince more of them to pay for it.
Bluesky: @sidneysk, @jimmytwohands, and @hazardfromharvard
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Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
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Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's 2026 Priority, Disney's AI Play, Datacenter Buildout Trouble
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
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Hard Fork:
Australia Kicks Kids Off Social Media + Is the A.I. Water Issue Fake? + Hard Fork Wrapped
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
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Access:
Why the next AI frontier is phone calls, with Beside CEO Maxime Germain
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
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Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Lachlan Cartwright Started in Tabloids. Now He's a Must-Read Media Gossip.
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
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