Good Morning from San Francisco,
Google just turned Search into your personal AI assistant 🤖. The company's new AI Mode, powered by Gemini 2.5, helps you book tickets, snag dinner reservations, and even try on clothes virtually - all from the search bar 🎟️.
This isn't just another chatbot. AI Mode taps into your Gmail and search history (with permission) to make smarter suggestions 🔍. It scours hundreds of ticket sites to find the best deals and handles reservations through services like Resy 🍽️.
Meanwhile, Nvidia's chip restrictions in China backfired 📉. CEO Jensen Huang reports their market share dropped from 95% to 50% as Chinese firms built their own AI chips. The restrictions didn't slow China down - they sparked a $50 billion local AI chip industry 🇨🇳.
Stay curious,
Marcus Schuler
Google just transformed Search from a question-answering tool into a task-completing assistant. The company is rolling out AI Mode to all US users, marking a dramatic shift in how we'll interact with the world's most-used search engine.
The upgrade brings Gemini 2.5, Google's latest AI model, directly into the search bar. But this isn't just another chatbot. AI Mode can now book your concert tickets, find you a dinner reservation, and even help you try on clothes virtually - tasks that previously required jumping between multiple websites and apps.
The shift shows in the details. Instead of just telling you about ticket prices, AI Mode will compare hundreds of options across sites like Ticketmaster and StubHub to find the best deals. Rather than simply listing restaurants, it can make reservations through services like Resy. It's the difference between getting information and getting things done.
Google's playing a careful balancing act with privacy. The new features can tap into your Gmail and search history to make smarter suggestions - but only if you explicitly allow it. Want restaurant recommendations that match your usual dining spots? AI Mode can do that, but won't peek at your data without permission.
For power users, there's Deep Search - an enhanced research mode that digs deeper than standard queries. It can generate detailed reports by analyzing hundreds of sources simultaneously, a task that would take hours to do manually.
The rollout starts with basic features available to everyone, while more advanced tools will first appear in Google Labs for testing. This cautious approach lets Google iron out any wrinkles before wider releases.
Why this matters:
Read on, my dear:
Prompt:
the style of old, drawn Disney fairy tales, Snow White leans over a silver tray held from below by dwarves and sniffs white powder through a small tube, the tube is held by the nose with the hand
Google just added sound to its AI videos. The company's new Veo 3 model can create traffic noise, birdsong, and even dialogue between characters – a feature its rival OpenAI's Sora lacks.
The tool comes wrapped in Flow, Google's new AI filmmaking suite. Flow lets creators control camera angles, build scenes, and manage their digital assets. Think of it as Final Cut Pro meets DALL-E, with a dash of natural language processing thrown in.
Google's timing isn't random. OpenAI's Sora video generator made waves last month, reportedly pushing the company's servers to their limits. Google's answer? A $250 monthly Ultra subscription that includes Veo 3, targeting serious AI enthusiasts and creators.
The company also rolled out Imagen 4, its sharpest image generator yet. It excels at tricky details like water droplets and animal fur. More impressively, it finally nails text in images – no more garbled signs or wonky logos.
For filmmakers, the real prize is Flow's camera controls. Users can now specify exact movements – dollies, zooms, rotations – using plain English. The tool also lets them expand shots from portrait to landscape, filling in the edges with AI-generated content.
Why this matters:
Read on, my dear:
Assume the role of a medical advisor who creates treatment plans for various conditions. Combine conventional medicine with evidence-based alternative approaches, considering the patient's age, lifestyle factors, and relevant medical history.
For each case, provide:
First case: "Design a holistic treatment plan for arthritis management in a 78-year-old with hypertension who enjoys gardening."
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivered a blunt verdict on U.S. export controls: they backfired.
Speaking at Computex in Taipei, Huang revealed his company's market share in China dropped from 95% to 50% in just four years. The reason? U.S. restrictions pushed Chinese firms to develop their own AI chips faster.
The numbers tell a stark story. China will represent a $50 billion AI market next year. Chinese companies now control half that market – territory they gained after U.S. policies blocked them from buying American chips. Huang pointed out that China houses 50% of the world's AI researchers, who simply switched to local alternatives when cut off from U.S. technology.
Recent policy shifts have only complicated matters. Trump plans to modify Biden-era restrictions, but damage is already done. Nvidia just wrote off $5.5 billion in H20 chips specifically designed for China after new restrictions banned their sale. Meanwhile, Chinese tech giant Huawei stepped in to fill the gap.
The dispute keeps escalating. China threatened legal action against anyone enforcing U.S. restrictions on Huawei's chips. This comes right after both countries agreed to pause some trade tariffs – showing how tech remains a flashpoint even as other tensions ease.
Why this matters:
• The attempt to contain China's AI development had the opposite effect: it turbocharged Chinese innovation
• U.S. companies lost billions in sales while failing to slow China's technological rise – making everyone wonder if export controls are shooting America in the foot
Read on, my dear:
After a five-year banishment, Fortnite snuck back onto iPhones just one day before Apple's app chief faced a court grilling. Apple finally caved on letting Epic Games return, though neither company is talking about why. The timing suggests Apple preferred letting Fortnite return over explaining itself to an annoyed judge.
Power use from AI is surging beyond early estimates. Data centers now gulp 4.4% of US electricity, double what they used in 2017. And it's about to get worse. By 2028, AI could need enough juice to power 22% of US homes.
Volvo jumped to snag Google's Gemini AI before other carmakers could. The Swedish company wants drivers asking their cars about everything from directions to what that mysterious dashboard light means. No more thumbing through the manual while pretending to understand Swedish.
Google launched a beefed-up EU cloud service that keeps European data local. The move follows whispers that Trump might weaponize US tech dominance in trade talks. Google exec Hayete Galott dodged naming Trump directly, but noted that "suddenly everyone" worries about data sovereignty - not just spies and soldiers anymore.
AMD's latest Threadripper chips pack up to 96 cores - trouncing Intel's 60-core max. The new processors hit 5.4GHz and ship in July. AMD didn't reveal prices, but with no real competition, they can charge what they want. The chips mark AMD's first desktop processors using its speedy Zen 5 design.
China threatened legal action against companies following US rules on Huawei chips, just days after agreeing to pause some trade tariffs. The warning landed as Chinese officials met with US Ambassador David Perdue, making awkward small talk about "concrete outcomes" while lawyers drafted threats in the next room.
A drab office tower in Shenzhen has become the final stop for phones snatched on London streets. Tech entrepreneur Sam Amrani tracked his stolen iPhone there - watching it ping from a repair shop behind Marylebone station to Hong Kong to China in just days. The building's fourth floor buzzes with traders buying locked phones at steep discounts, stripping them for parts when they can't crack the passwords.
A protest at Microsoft Build led to an accidental reveal. Security chief Neta Haiby flashed confidential Teams messages about Walmart's AI plans after protesters interrupted her talk. The messages showed Walmart picking Microsoft over Google for AI security tools. Two fired Microsoft employees staged the protest over the company's contracts with Israel.
Airwallex snagged new funding from Square Peg and Visa Ventures to expand across Europe and North America. The payment company processes $130 billion annually but won't touch stablecoins yet - unlike rival Stripe, which just dove into crypto. CEO Zhang prefers waiting for clearer regulations before joining the digital currency party.
Firecrawl.dev turns messy websites into clean, structured data for AI applications. Founded in 2022 by three college friends who pivoted from an education startup, it's now the go-to solution for developers needing reliable web data for AI systems.
Founded 2022 in San Francisco by Caleb Peffer, Eric Ciarla, and Nicolas Silberstein Camara, University of New Hampshire CS grads. Started with ~15 employees. The trio built Firecrawl after discovering the need for quality web data while working on their previous startup Mendable.
An API that extracts structured data from any website using natural language prompts. Simply input URLs and describe what you want - Firecrawl handles the messy web scraping work. Features include broad site compatibility, intelligent crawling, and outputs clean JSON/Markdown. Their proprietary "Fire Engine" crawler is 40% more reliable and 33% faster than competitors.
Main rivals include Apify (established player now adding AI features), ScrapeGraphAI (direct competitor with similar capabilities), and open-source alternatives like Crawl4AI. Firecrawl leads the pack with 38.6k GitHub stars and ~15,000 developers using their platform, establishing first-mover advantage in AI-first web scraping.
Raised $1.7M total - initial Y Combinator funding plus a $500K seed round in 2024. Running lean with paying customers since launch. Multiple VC firms circling, with rumors suggesting nine-figure valuation potential in future rounds. Current approach prioritizes sustainable growth over flashy fundraising.
Firecrawl sits at the intersection of AI growth and real-time data needs. Their experimental "Web Action Agent" tackles dynamic content, while their viral hiring stunt for AI agents shows their innovative spirit. 🔥 They could become the Stripe of web data for AI, if they maintain their technical edge against growing competition.
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