Techmeme
September 27, 2025, 4:25 PM

Top News

Brian Merchant / Blood in the Machine:
A look at some California tech regulation bills, including one banning AI use in firing or disciplining workers, that await Gov. Newsom's signature or his veto  —  A guide to the AI and tech bills that have passed the California legislature, and await the governor's signature — or veto.
Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
Trishla Ostwal / Adweek:
Friend, which launched a $129 AI-powered, always-listening necklace, plasters NYC subway with ads in $1M+ campaign that includes over 1,000 platform posters  —  The OOH ads blanketing all five boroughs deliberately court controversy  —  The founder of Friend is betting on making enemies.
Arasu Kannagi Basil / Reuters:
Fermi, a data center real estate investment trust co-founded by former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, aims to raise $550M in a US IPO at a $13.16B valuation  —  Fermi, co-founded by former U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, is targeting a valuation of up to $13.16 billion in its U.S. initial public offering …
Bloomberg:
Google agrees to guarantee $1.4B of AI computing startup Fluidstack's $3B, 10-year agreement with Cipher Mining and gets the right to buy a 5.4% stake in Cipher  —  Alphabet Inc.'s Google has agreed to anchor a $3 billion data center contract with Cipher Mining Inc. in the latest tie up between …
Eric Newcomer / Newcomer:
Leaked a16z decks: $25B in net returns since its 2009 founding, including $11.2B in 2021, and 56 unicorn investments in the past 10 years, the most of any firm  —  The firm has held its $900 million 2012 Fund III at 9.4x net TVPI.  —  ∙ Paid  —  Andreessen Horowitz is perhaps …
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Why YouTube is key to Google's success in AI, with YouTube's AI enhancements making video content more monetizable than text-based content in Search  —  Action is happening up-and-down the LLM stack: Nvidia is making deals with Intel, OpenAI is making deals with Oracle, and Nvidia and OpenAI are making deals with each other.
New York Times:
International Federation of Robotics: Chinese factories installed ~300K new robots in 2024, more than the rest of the world combined; US factories installed 34K  —  China has embarked on a campaign to use more robots in its factories, transforming its manufacturing industries and becoming the dominant maker.
Ben Berkowitz / Axios:
Trump says Microsoft should fire its global affairs head Lisa Monaco over her work in the Biden administration, calling her a “menace to US National Security”  —  President Trump late Friday demanded Microsoft fire its head of global affairs, Lisa Monaco, over her work in the Biden administration.
Brody Ford / Bloomberg:
Oracle, whose expenses are rising as it begins to fulfill massive cloud infrastructure deals, turned cash flow negative this year for the first time since 1992  —  Welcome to Tech In Depth, our daily newsletter about the business of tech from Bloomberg's journalists around the world.

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Cloudflare:
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Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
SAP CEO: AI Won't Kill Software, But It Will Change Your Job — With Christian Klein
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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Channels with Peter Kafka:
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Sources:
Factory CEO on why AGI is already here
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
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Invest Like the Best:
Noah Shinn - Building Instinct: The Personal Agent
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
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Lenny's Podcast:
The grief, loneliness, and burnout sweeping through the tech industry right now | Molly Graham
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Doomers at Dreamforce
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
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More News

Reuters:

Earlier Picks

Dwarkesh Patel / Dwarkesh Podcast:
Alex Heath / Sources:
More: TechCrunch, PCMag, PhoneArena, Engadget, and CNET on YouTube
X: @alexeheath.  Bluesky: @glynmoody, @lorak, and @mikell.  Forums: Slashdot
Alexandra Alper / Reuters:
Kate Whannel / BBC:
Bloomberg: