Episode #13: Tech Earthquake 2025: Apple’s Redesigns, Meta’s AI Billions, Japan’s Plastic Breakthrough, and the Cloud Meltdown
Scientists in Japan develop plastic that dissolves in seawater within hours
Researchers in Japan have developed a groundbreaking plastic material that can dissolve in seawater within hours. This innovative solution offers a promising answer to the growing global crisis of plastic pollution in our oceans. The new plastic is as strong as traditional petroleum-based plastics but disintegrates into its original components when exposed to salt, which can then be further processed by naturally occurring bacteria. This avoids the harmful microplastics that often contaminate marine ecosystems. With plastic pollution predicted to triple by 2040, this development could have significant implications for the packaging industry and environmental efforts to protect our oceans. As one researcher noted, “Children cannot choose the planet they will live on. It is our duty as scientists to ensure that we leave them with best possible environment.”
Is this tax code a reason for current mass layoffs?
A little-known change to the U.S. tax code has quietly reshaped the financial logic of how tech companies invest in research and development. This provision, buried in the 2017 tax law, has contributed to the loss of hundreds of thousands of high-paying tech jobs. This shift has made R&D more expensive, forcing tech giants like Meta, Microsoft, and Google to slash headcount, especially in product and engineering roles. Smaller tech firms have been hit even harder, as the tax change undermined their growth models. What does this mean for the future of tech innovation in America? With a bipartisan effort to repeal the change underway, lawmakers must grapple with the real-world impact of obscure tax policies on the country’s economic engine.
Chatgpt to embed in every colleges: The AI Takeover of College Campuses
As the AI revolution sweeps through higher education, OpenAI is making a bold move to embed its ChatGPT technology into every aspect of college life. From personalized AI tutors to chatbots for job interviews, the company envisions a future where AI becomes the “core infrastructure” of universities. But is this AI-native vision a blessing or a curse? While some universities are racing to provide these tools to prepare students for an “AI-driven economy,” others warn of the potential pitfalls, including diminished critical thinking skills and the risk of AI-fueled misinformation. As the debate rages on, one thing is clear: the days of the traditional college experience are numbered, and the future belongs to the machines.
Meta’s Billion-Dollar Bet on Scale AI
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is reportedly in talks to invest billions of dollars in Scale AI, a leading data labeling company. This potential deal could exceed $10 billion, making it Meta’s largest external AI investment and one of the biggest funding events for a private company. So what’s driving this massive investment? Is Meta looking to gain a competitive edge in the rapidly evolving AI landscape, or is there something more strategic at play? As the tech industry continues to grapple with the implications of AI, this deal could have far-reaching consequences for the future of the field.
Apple’s WWDC 2025: Redesigns and AI Upgrades, but Lacking Innovation
Apple held its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June 2025, where it focused on design overhauls and productivity enhancements across its operating systems, including a brand-new interface inspired by the Vision Pro headset. The event showcased the introduction of the “Liquid Glass” design language, bringing semi-translucent, dynamic UI elements to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS, marking the most significant visual refresh in a decade. However, the AI-related updates revealed at WWDC 2025 were relatively modest. While Apple expanded its Apple Intelligence features—such as Live Translation, enhanced visual intelligence, and improved tools for developers to integrate on-device AI into their apps—these enhancements were generally seen as incremental rather than groundbreaking. Many industry watchers noted that Apple’s AI announcements did not match the rapid innovation pace of competitors like Google, Meta, and OpenAI, and the company continued to lag behind in the AI race after previous delays in launching its own AI platform and revamping the Siri assistant
Interested in nine-figure pay push? Meta’s Supersized AI Ambitions
In a bold move, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is personally spearheading the creation of a new “superintelligence” team dedicated to building the world’s most advanced AI platform. The tech giant is offering nine-figure compensation packages to lure top AI talent from competitors, signaling its determination to dominate the race for AI supremacy. But what’s driving Zuckerberg’s supersized AI ambitions? Is it simply a matter of cost not mattering in the pursuit of AI dominance, or is there more to the story? The article suggests that Zuckerberg has been frustrated with the pace of Meta’s AI development and public stumbles, prompting him to take a more hands-on approach to accelerate progress. With competitors like Anthropic and OpenAI also making strides in AI, the stakes have never been higher for Meta to regain its footing in this critical technology. The implications of this AI arms race could be far-reaching, not just for Meta but for the entire tech industry and the future of artificial intelligence.
Supabase Multigres: Vitess Comes to Postgres to Scale Your Database
Supabase is welcoming Sugu, the co-creator of the popular database clustering system Vitess, to build Multigres: Vitess for Postgres. Vitess has long been used to scale MySQL, but now Postgres users will get their own sharding, connection pooling, and cloud-native orchestration solution. What’s driving this move? As Postgres continues its meteoric rise, users are hitting the limits of even the biggest machines. Multigres aims to provide a gradual on-ramp to scale, from simple connection pooling to a fully sharded solution. And with Supabase’s open-source mindset, Multigres will be available to the entire Postgres community. Developers looking to future-proof their Postgres deployments should keep a close eye on this project.
Widespread Google Cloud Outage Hits Major Tech Services
When a Google Cloud outage struck on Thursday, it had a ripple effect across the internet, bringing down a range of popular services like Spotify, Discord, and Snapchat. The outage appears to have been centered on Google Cloud, with the company acknowledging service issues and working to restore its services. But the impact was felt far beyond just Google’s own offerings, as many other tech platforms rely on the cloud giant’s infrastructure. What does this incident say about the fragility of our increasingly interconnected digital world? And how can tech companies and cloud providers work to build more resilient systems that can withstand these types of widespread disruptions?
Siri’s Long-Awaited Upgrade Delayed Yet Again
Apple’s highly anticipated upgrade to its Siri voice assistant has hit another snag, with the company now targeting a spring 2026 release. The revamped Siri was originally slated to debut alongside the iPhone 16 last year, but technical challenges and internal disagreements have pushed the launch back multiple times. What’s causing the delays? Apparently, Apple’s AI and marketing teams have been pointing fingers at each other, with the engineering side blaming marketing for overhyping features that weren’t ready. There have also been debates over how much AI functionality Apple should build in-house versus relying on partners like OpenAI. And the company has had to completely rebuild Siri’s underlying architecture to address bugs. Will the wait be worth it? Apple is promising that the upgraded Siri will be able to tap into users’ personal data and on-screen activities to better fulfill queries. But the repeated delays have already forced the company to postpone a planned smart home hub product. And there are concerns that the Siri struggles could impact future AI-powered hardware categories like smart glasses. Apple will need to get this right if it hopes to catch up to rivals in the AI race.