Techmeme
July 9, 2024, 5:05 PM

Top News

Kate Clark / The Information:
Source: a16z has secured thousands of AI chips, including Nvidia H100 GPUs, and is renting them to portfolio companies, with the aim of expanding to 20K+ GPUs  —  Andreessen Horowitz, one of the most active venture capital investors in generative artificial intelligence …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Spotify adds the ability for users to leave comments on podcasts, expanding on polls and Q&As; comments will be private by default, and creators can opt out  —  The company already lets Spotify podcasters offer polls and Q&As, so this new feature could give creators new ways to interact with their audiences.
TIME:
Sam Altman and Arianna Huffington announce Thrive AI Health, a new startup backed by OpenAI and Thrive Global to build a “hyper-personalized AI health coach”  —  A staggering 129 million Americans have at least one major chronic disease—and 90% of our $4.1 trillion …
Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:
Google begins rolling out speedometers in Google Maps for iOS and CarPlay globally, more than five years after adding the features to the Android app  —  Google Maps has introduced speedometer and speed limits on iOS and CarPlay — more than five years after their debut on Android …
Rashi Shrivastava / Forbes:
Skild AI, which is developing a foundational model for robotics, raised a $300M Series A at a $1.5B valuation led by Lightspeed, SoftBank, Coatue, Jeff Bezos  —  Skild AI has raised $300 million to continue building its plug-and-play robotic intelligence with the hope of enabling companies to integrate it into robots of all kinds.
Grace Kay / Business Insider:
Current and former Tesla staff: self-driving data annotation staff were told to prioritize analyzing car data of VIP drivers, like Elon Musk and YouTube stars  —  An curved arrow pointing right.  — Tesla gives special treatment to data from VIPs, including Elon Musk, when training its self-driving AI.
Cristiano Lima-Strong / Washington Post:
The FTC bans teen messaging app NGL from serving users under 18, a first; NGL agreed to pay $5M and stop marketing to kids and teens to settle the FTC's lawsuit  —  The groundbreaking FTC settlement stems from claims popular app NGL overhyped its anti-bullying efforts and engaged in aggressive marketing to kids and teens.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Etsy CEO Josh Silverman says Etsy is positioning itself “to answer the call for original goods and real people” by overhauling its policies and adding labels  —  When Etsy launched almost two decades ago, the site attracted artisans and craft makers, who finally had a place online …
Anissa Gardizy / The Information:
Sources: xAI ends talks with Oracle to expand an existing arrangement to rent Nvidia chips; source: Oracle is not part of xAI's supercomputer project in Memphis  —  Larry Ellison may be a friend and backer of Elon Musk, but even the Oracle executive chair isn't immune from Musk's impatience.
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify's new AI commerce stack  —  Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Zoho:
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control  —  Picture this: It's Monday morning.  You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
IDrive:
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.

Featured Podcasts

Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Saam Motamedi from Greylock Partners
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Invest Like the Best:
Henry Ellenbogen - Man Versus Machine
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Grit:
How Evan Spiegel Is Building the Future of Computing
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Acquired:
10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis)
Learn the playbooks that built the world's greatest companies - and how you can apply them as a founder, operator, or investor.
Subscribe to Acquired.
Lenny's Podcast:
Why humans are AI's biggest bottleneck (and what's coming in 2026) | Alexander Embiricos (OpenAI Codex Product Lead)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:05 PM ET, July 9, 2024.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Rachel Metz / Bloomberg:

Earlier Picks

Financial Times:
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Julian Chokkattu / Wired: