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Connecting the Dots - 3-20-2025 · Connecting the Dots

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  Today's tech news moves fast, but understanding
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  it shouldn't be hard. That's why Snarfl Solutions
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  Group brings you Connecting the Dots, where we
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  break down what's happening in tech and why it
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  matters to you. Now, let's dive in with your
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  hosts. All right. So welcome to Connecting the
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  Dots, brought to you by Snarfl Solutions Group.
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  It's March 20th, 2025. And we're going to break
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  down the top tech news, but in a way that really
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  matters to you, right? Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
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  No jargon, no, like, crazy tech terms. Just real
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  talk about how all this stuff is gonna actually
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  impact your daily life. It's not just about,
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  you know, the headlines. We're gonna sort of
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  like... Dive deeper. Get past the surface, find
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  the real gems, and the things that are actually
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  gonna ripple out and touch all the stuff we do
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  every day, right? Yeah, exactly. So I thought
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  we could start with this Sam Altman interview
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  that's been kind of making the rounds, right?
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  Huge, yeah. Huge. So this is... He's the head
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  of OpenAI, and Strataturi sat down with him for
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  a really, really deep dive. A ton of ground was
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  covered, why OpenAI even started, his vision
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  for the future of AI, competition, the role of
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  ads even. Right, it's fascinating. I mean, what
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  I found really interesting is his take on the
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  whole sort of evolution of OpenAI, right? They
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  started with this super research heavy focus,
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  but now they're like, you know, in the trenches.
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  building a consumer tech company, right? That
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  change, that shift, it has massive implications
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  for how AI is actually gonna be developed and
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  put into all the tools that we're probably gonna
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  be using, right? And think about, even just,
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  he talked about AI hallucination. Oh yeah, that's
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  a big one. Which is like those times when AI
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  confidently gets stuff wrong. Right, totally.
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  And that really shows you how hard it is to actually
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  make AI reliable enough for us to use every day,
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  right? For those simple tasks. Like think about
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  it this way, if you're asking a virtual assistant
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  to set a reminder for you or you're using some
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  tool that helps you write a blog post or whatever,
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  you need to be able to trust that it's actually
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  getting it right. Exactly. And those hallucinations,
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  those moments where it goes off the rails. That's
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  like a core challenge in making AI truly dependable
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  for those everyday things. Right. And I thought
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  it was really interesting that he also talked
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  about Regulation for AI. Oh, yeah. That sounds
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  like a boring topic, right? Kind of dry. But,
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  like, the rules that are put in place could determine
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  what AI tools you even have access to in the
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  future. Exactly, and how much you can actually
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  trust them, right? And how much you can trust
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  them, right? It's not just about the tech itself.
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  It's, like, the whole ecosystem that's being
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  built around it. Exactly. And, you know, I think...
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  his overall outlook, it really, it paints this
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  picture where AI is just gonna become even more
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  a part of our lives. Oh, absolutely. So, you
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  know, like all those times when you've used AI,
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  whether it's asking Siri or Alexa a question
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  or using Grammarly or whatever, that's just the
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  beginning. It's the tip of the iceberg, right?
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  Exactly. And the decisions that we make about
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  AI now, they're gonna determine... how helpful
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  and how accurate it is in the future. Huge implications.
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  Yeah. So now let's move on to something I think
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  potentially really impactful for Internet freedom,
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  right? Oh yeah, this is a big one. So the Washington
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  Post is reporting on cuts to USAGM funding. Yeah.
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  And this has led to the support being eliminated
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  for the Open Technology Fund. OTF. Yeah. The
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  OTF, you know, I hadn't even heard of this before,
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  but since 2012, they've been instrumental in
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  helping over 24 million people. Wow. In countries
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  with like. really restrictive governments get
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  onto the internet without censorship. That's
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  incredible, 24 million people. What's really
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  important about OTF is that they're not just
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  talking about internet freedom in this abstract
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  way. They're actually giving people the tools,
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  funding, development, maintenance of technologies,
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  but they actually allow people to like... bypass
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  state -controlled information. So think like
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  secure messaging apps or tools that help users
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  avoid being tracked. Right, and this is where
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  it hits home, right? Because this budget cut,
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  it could leave. those millions of people vulnerable,
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  right? Way more vulnerable. Without the support
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  for these technologies, it's going to be so much
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  easier to track them. Exactly. Right. And it's
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  just they face increased risks just for trying
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  to communicate or get information. Imagine you
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  live in a country where the government like controls
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  all the news. Right, they're watching everything
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  you do online. These tools that OTF supports
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  could be the only way you can access independent
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  journalism or connect with people outside that
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  bubble, right? Exactly. So for them, this is
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  not theoretical. It's not theoretical, right?
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  This is like their daily life. It's their ability
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  to stay informed and to actually exercise. Basic
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  freedoms. Basic freedoms. And I think it really
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  just brings it home that Free internet access
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  is not a guarantee for everybody. Right. It's
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  easy to take that for granted. Right. But this
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  news really highlights how fragile it is for
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  some people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I think we
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  can, you know, switch gears now, talk about something
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  a little bit more on the consumer side. A little
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  lighter. A little lighter. Yeah. Online shopping.
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  Yeah, yeah. Well, Bloomberg has a report on Tmoo.
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  I've heard of them. Yeah. And the company that
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  owns Tmoo, PDD... their latest financial results.
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  And it gives us kind of a glimpse into what's
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  happening with online retail. So PDD's revenue
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  grew by a big 24%. Compared to last year, which
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  is huge. That's a lot. Reaching about $15 .3
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  billion. But analysts were actually expecting
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  it to be. Even more. Even higher, okay. But their
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  net income, which is their profit, saw an even
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  bigger jump of 18%. So they're making more money,
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  hitting around $3 .8 billion. OK, so that's interesting
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  because their revenue growth is slowing down.
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  But they're actually making more profit, so there's
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  something going on there. What does Bloomberg
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  say about that? Bloomberg highlights a few factors,
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  right? Increased competition within China, which
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  is their biggest market as a key factor. And
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  then also, the terrorists that the US has imposed
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  are also playing a role. Oh, right, those trade
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  wars. Yeah, those can definitely have an impact.
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  Yeah, right. So how does this impact your daily
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  life as a consumer? More competition in online
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  shopping means companies are working harder to
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  get you to buy from them. Right. Right. So that
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  means more sales, maybe lower prices, you know,
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  on some items, right? More choices. Yeah. Wider
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  array of choices. Yeah. But those tariffs, those
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  can lead to higher prices. Right. Especially
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  on imported goods. Yeah. Right. Right. So it's
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  like a little bit of a push and pull. The balancing
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  act. Right. Yeah. And then like online stores
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  like Tmoo, they're always trying to figure out
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  the best strategies, right? shipping, discounts,
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  the products they offer to get you to keep coming
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  back. Keep those customers coming back. Yeah.
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  So while you might not see like the prices change
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  on everything immediately. Right. All of this
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  stuff that's happening behind the scenes is impacting
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  your online shopping experience. And, you know,
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  one thing to think about too is that These financial
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  reports they they influence these companies long
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  -term decisions, right? So like if their growth
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  Slows down or their costs to go up. Yeah, they
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  might have to come up with totally new strategies,
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  right? Which could affect everything right the
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  types of products they sell customer service.
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  They provide right exactly. Okay, so now Let's
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  talk about something you can actually hold, right?
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  Something tangible. Something tangible. Bloomberg
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  is covering the launch of Huawei's new foldable
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  phone. Oh, cool. The Pura X. I love foldable
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  phones. They're so cool. Right. And this is not
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  your typical smartphone. OK. It's 6 .3 inches.
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  Wow, that's big. That folds into a score. Oh,
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  like the old flip phones? Yeah, like an old flip
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  phone. That's awesome. And then it has a 3 .5
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  inch. Wait, so it's got another screen? It's
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  got another screen. on the outside for quick
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  glances and actions. That's so smart. So what's
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  also really interesting is that this is Huawei's
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  first flagship phone running, Harmony US 5. Oh,
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  I didn't know that. Yeah. Launching in China
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  with a price around $1 ,036. OK, so they're going
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  all in on their own operating system now. Yeah.
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  That's a big deal. It is. So like for people
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  who haven't really been keeping up with foldable
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  phones. This represents like a really interesting
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  new direction in mobile tech, right? Exactly.
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  Because we're seeing all these different approaches
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  to design. Yeah. And this clamshell format like
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  the Pura X, it gives you this like best of both
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  worlds thing. You've got a big screen when you
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  want it. Yeah. But then it folds up super small.
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  Yeah. And that little external display, that's
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  like extra convenient, right? You can check stuff
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  without even opening it up. Exactly. That's pretty
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  slick. So I think for your everyday life, this
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  just shows you how much things are going to change,
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  right? Yeah. Phones are going to get weird. Yeah,
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  exactly. In a good way. In a good way. Yeah.
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  Right. So imagine having this big screen to read
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  or watch videos that still fits in your pocket.
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  Right. That's the dream. That's the dream. Right.
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  Now, obviously, you got to think about durability
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  of the folding mechanism. Right. Right? And how
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  useful that little screen actually is. Yeah.
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  Is that actually useful? But, uh, but, uh, Running
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  Harmony OS 5, that's also significant. Oh, yeah,
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  for sure. It gives you an alternative. Right.
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  It's not just Apple and Google anymore. Exactly.
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  So that could lead to more competition, different
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  kinds of user experiences. Who knows? Exactly.
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  Exciting. Yeah. So it's only launching in China
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  right now, but it gives you a glimpse into the
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  future of smartphones. Yeah. It's a peek behind
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  the curtain. Yeah. OK. So our last story takes
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  us behind the scenes. of the AI boom, okay? All
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  right, yeah. So Bloomberg has a report detailing
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  how just four companies are dominating the AI
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  supply chain. Oh, wow. Okay. So you've got NVIDIA,
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  SK Hynix, TSMC, and ASML. Those are some big
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  names, especially from people in the industry,
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  yeah. Yeah, exactly. And they're the ones behind,
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  the chips that make all this modern AI. possible
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  right like chat GPT so they were the ones actually
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  making it happen yeah and together these four
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  companies have a market value of over four trillion
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  dollars that's insane that's a huge number like
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  that's more than most countries GDP yeah It's
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  insane. It is. So what's crazy is that they practically
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  have a monopoly, right, in their areas. That's
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  a lot of power concentrated in just a few hands.
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  Exactly. Bloomberg reports they control anywhere
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  from 80 % to 100 % of the market. Wow. For, like,
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  the key parts of AI chip development. So NVIDIA,
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  they design the processors. Yeah. SK Hynix makes
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  the memory. TSMC manufactures the chips. Yep.
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  And... ASML makes the machines that actually
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  make the chips. Yeah, the machines that make
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  the chips. Wow. So, like, why should you care
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  about this? Yeah, that's a good question, right?
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  Right, because these companies, they control
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  the tech. That powers the AI. That's in all the
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  stuff you use every day. Right, like our phones,
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  our computers. Right, so think about it, like,
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  AI in your voice assistant, the recommendations
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  you see, the stuff you use for work. for fun.
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  Yeah, it all comes back to those chips. Yeah,
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  so this dominance that they have, it could affect...
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  The price we pay for stuff. How quickly things
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  advance. How quickly new stuff comes out. How
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  much it costs to develop. Yeah, and whether it's
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  even available to everyone. Yeah, and the article
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  brings up this really big question of like, will
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  this dominance continue, right? Yeah, because
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  that's a huge... If they stay on top, they're
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  gonna have a lot of influence over... the future
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  of AI. Yeah, and everyone in the tech world is
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  watching this really closely. Yeah, it's a big
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  deal. Yeah. So let's just quickly recap what
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  we've talked about today on this deep dive. Yeah,
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  good idea. Right. So it's March 20th, 2025. We
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  explored Sam Altman's insights on open AI and
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  the evolution of AI, the impact of those funding
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  cuts on internet freedom and OTF. Tmoo's financial
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  performance, PDD's financial performance. The
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  world of online shopping. Right. Huawei. That
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  cool foldable phone. Foldable phone, that was
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  awesome. Yeah. And the dominance of those four
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  companies in the AI supply chain. Right. And
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  I think it's important to remember these aren't
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  just, you know, tech things, right? They all
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  have real world consequences. Exactly. For all
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  of us. Right. So everything from the AI tools
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  that we use to the freedom of information, the
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  way we shop online, the devices we use. The stuff
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  that powers all of it. Yeah. Right. And it really
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  just shows you how interconnected everything
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  is. Absolutely. It's all connected. Right. So
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  it's worth taking a moment to think about how
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  all this stuff is contributing to our increasingly
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  digital lives. Right. Where are we headed? Yeah.
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  And yeah. So just keep that in mind. We are here
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  to help here at Snarfle. So reach out on our
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  website if you have any more questions. That's
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  a wrap on today's top stories. Remember, tech
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  doesn't have to be complicated, and we're here
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  to help connect the dots. If you've got questions
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  or want to learn more, visit us at snarful .com.
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  Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you next
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  time.