Google has unveiled a new set of tools for retailers to help them roll
out AI agents. The agents can help shoppers find their desired items
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TLDR
TOGETHER WITH [You.com] [4]
TLDR 2026-01-12
THE 5-STEP PLAYBOOK FOR UNLOCKING THE VALUE OF AI (SPONSOR) [4]
AI is all the rage, but are you really using it to your advantage?
This practical guide [4] from You.com [4] guides you through the
process of identifying and prioritizing opportunities where AI can
best serve your org. Explore where AI can drive the most impact in
your organization, both internally and externally.
Learn more with this AI Use Case Discovery Guide. [4]
📱
BIG TECH & STARTUPS
GOOGLE BETS ON AI-BASED SHOPPING WITH NEW AI AGENTS FOR RETAILERS (6
MINUTE READ) [5]
Google has unveiled a new set of tools for retailers to help them
roll out AI agents. The new retail AI agents can help shoppers find
their desired items and provide customer support. They are designed to
address the challenges retailers face in building their own AI agents.
Major retailers, including Lowe's and Kroger, are already using
Google's tools.
NETFLIX BEGINS ITS GRAND PODCAST EXPERIMENT (12 MINUTE READ) [6]
Sportscaster Bill Simmons will go live on Netflix on Sunday night,
marking the unofficial beginning of Netflix's move into podcasting.
Netflix plans to offer dozens of podcasts over the next few months. It
is a big moment for the podcasting industry, which is praying that
Netflix will turn into a major new buyer.
🚀
SCIENCE & FUTURISTIC TECHNOLOGY
BIG WIN FOR SPACEX AS FCC CLEARS IT TO UPGRADE STARLINK WITH GIGABIT
SPEEDS (10 MINUTE READ) [7]
SpaceX's plan to upgrade Starlink with gigabit internet speeds has
received partial approval from the US FCC. The company can now launch
7,500 more satellites, operate its constellation at lower orbits, and
use a larger swath of radio frequencies. SpaceX has received a
time-limited waiver to operate the Starlink network at higher power
levels to improve speeds. The waiver is confined to Starlink
operations in the US.
WHEN GOOGLE LOCKED THE DOOR, THREE MIT STUDENTS PICKED THE LOCK (11
MINUTE READ) [8]
DeepMind shipped AlphaFold 3 last spring, but its code was locked,
weights were restricted, and commercial applications were forbidden.
By December, three MIT PhD students had reverse-engineered the
architecture and released their own version. Boltz is available on
GitHub under Apache 2.0 for anyone to download. The Boltz team now has
$28 million in funding and a Pfizer partnership, showing how the
industry is willing to reject Google's closed approach and instead
build around it.
💻
PROGRAMMING, DESIGN & DATA SCIENCE
ADD API KEY MANAGEMENT TO YOUR SAAS IN MINUTES (SPONSOR) [9]
API keys remain the most common way developers integrate with your
product programmatically. We cover when to offer API access, security
best practices for key generation and storage, and how Clerk's new API
Keys [10] feature handles the heavy lifting — plus a walkthrough
showing key creation, rotation, and revocation in action.
AGENT-NATIVE ARCHITECTURES (52 MINUTE READ) [11]
Claude Code demonstrated that large language models with access to
bash and file tools can accomplish complex multi-step tasks
autonomously by operating in a loop until an objective is achieved.
Good coding agents are really good general-purpose agents. The Claude
Code software development kit makes this accessible. It allows
developers to build applications where features are achieved by agents
with tools. This opens up a new field of software that works the way
Claude Code works, but in categories far beyond coding.
DON'T FALL INTO THE ANTI-AI HYPE (8 MINUTE READ) [12]
Whatever you may feel about AI, skipping it will not help you or your
career. Test these new tools with weeks of work, and find a way to
multiply yourself. If it doesn't work out, try again every few months.
AI allows you to build more and better. While you might not be writing
the code yourself, the fun of creating is still there, untouched.
🎁
MISCELLANEOUS
THE "AI-GENERATED HIT MOVIE" HORROR STORY (9 MINUTE READ) [13]
Roku's CEO predicts that the first 100% AI-generated hit movie will
be released in the next three years. AI-generated video is already
flooding social media, so it is not unreasonable to believe that fully AI-generated movies will be possible in three years. The bigger
question is whether there will be an audience for that content. It is
likely that AI-generated content will raise the demand for
human-generated content. There may be a market for hybrid content, but
a purely AI-generated movie topping the box office by 2029 is
unlikely.
A16Z: THE POWER BROKERS (98 MINUTE READ) [14]
a16z has just announced $15 billion in fresh funds. The firm is the best-marketed firm in venture capital. The story that it tells about
itself is consistent with its actions. a16z is doing something
different: it wants to build the future and eat the world.
⚡
QUICK LINKS
NVIDIA'S NEW RUBIN ARCHITECTURE THRIVES ON NETWORKING (4 MINUTE READ)
[15]
The six new chips in Nvidia's Vera Rubin-based computers work
together in concert to achieve performance advantages.
CLOUDSPECS: CLOUD HARDWARE EVOLUTION THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (5
MINUTE READ) [16]
While network bandwidth per dollar improved by one order of
magnitude, CPU and DRAM gains have been much more modest.
ELON MUSK SAYS X TO MAKE ALGORITHM OPEN SOURCE IN SEVEN DAYS (3
MINUTE READ) [17]
X will update its release every 4 weeks with comprehensive developer
notes to help the public understand what has changed.
THE SIGNAL CHAT WHERE SILICON VALLEY IS PLOTTING AGAINST CALIFORNIA'S BILLIONAIRE TAX (6 MINUTE READ) [18]
Silicon Valley titans are airing their grievances in an active Signal
chat called 'Save California', sounding off against the tax,
suggesting alternatives, and in some cases sharing efforts to weaken
their ties to the state.
INSIDERS SAY DEEPSEEK V4 WILL BEAT CLAUDE AND CHATGPT AT CODING,
LAUNCH WITHIN WEEKS (4 MINUTE READ) [19]
DeepSeek is reportedly planning to release its V4 model around
mid-February.
HOW MARKDOWN TOOK OVER THE WORLD (26 MINUTE READ) [20]
Markdown is used in nearly every bit of the high-tech world, from the
most cutting-edge AI systems to grocery lists in Apple Notes.
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