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Hackers are using AI to break into old network gear, Klarna is racing toward a billion-dollar quarter thanks to fast US growth and its popular card, and robot couriers are about to start delivering food in the UK. Curastory’s CEO stepped down as the SEC started asking tough questions, EQT Ventures raised a huge fund to use AI for spotting new startups, and Android users can finally share files with iPhones.
Video pick: The REAL cost of letting ChatGPT think
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🎙 Catch the punchline hidden in this week’s headlines 🎙
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Eight bullets of updates
🦺 Generative AI is helping hackers exploit old network gear, with 52% of connected devices now at end-of-life.
💰 Klarna is on track for its first billion-dollar quarter in Q4 2025, boosted by rapid US growth, strong Klarna Card adoption, and AI.
🤖 Robot couriers will hit UK streets as part of a 2024 food delivery pilot, with expansion to Europe and the US slated for 2026-27.
🚨 Curastory CEO Tiffany Kelly steps down as SEC investigation prompts leadership shakeup, bringing in Tagger's ex-CEO Dave Dickman.
🤖 With €2.6B raised, EQT Ventures is using AI to map emerging startup trends across Europe.
📲 Android users can now swap files with iPhones via Quick Share, starting with the Pixel 10, ending years of device barriers.
🤖 You can spot most LLM-written content using Wikipedia’s guide, which helped tag over 2,000 AI-generated edits last year.
💻 Developers can now ship code 30% faster using OpenAI’s new Codex-Max model, built to boost speed and lower costs.
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Turning junk into jackpot
AI and advanced sensors are starting to crack one of recycling’s toughest problems: mixed auto scrap. Instead of shipping out a low-value jumble of metals, recyclers can now sort it into high-purity alloys with 95%+ accuracy—essentially upgrading waste into a predictable, premium feedstock.
One startup already has an Indiana facility running 24/7, moving millions of pounds a month and operating cash-flow positive. Backed by $20M in equity and $25M in debt, it’s now replicating the line in Tennessee, targeting an April–May startup near Nashville.
Why it matters: cleaner alloys mean fatter margins and make true closed-loop supply chains viable for automakers chasing weight reduction and decarbonization. If accuracy pushes toward 98%+, the economics tilt even further—though commodity swings, feedstock contracts, and entrenched recyclers still pose risks. And if the same approach works for copper or titanium, the model scales from a single plant to a full materials-sorting platform.
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The REAL Cost of Letting ChatGPT Think
Is ChatGPT quietly rewiring your brain? 🧠 MIT researchers found that relying on AI can shrink critical thinking, memory, and even your ability to recall your own ideas. In this video, we break down the science, show what’s happening inside your head, and share how to use AI as a tool—without outsourcing your brain.
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AI Broke Outreach. Humans Can Fix It.
Everyone’s using the same AI tools and scraping the same public data.
Redrob’s Human Intelligence Lab adds real human research back into the process—so your outreach feels authentic, not automated.
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🧩 AI platforms work best when you ditch 'gateway solves all' thinking with 6 pillars for API strategy.
📈 Treat branding like a compounding investment — reinvest 5–10% of revenue to build trust and pricing power.
🧘 Peak performance hinges on recovery—leaders can recover like athletes as HBOT devices head for $4.9B by 2030.
SaaS Growth Calculator
A growth calculator that lets you forecast the impact of your ARPU (average revenue per user) and Churn Rate on the long-term potential of your subscription business.
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Google advances generative AI with new image model release
Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash
Nano Banana Pro has a silly name but it’s a real upgrade: Google’s new image model lets you adjust angles, lighting, and depth, make 2K/4K images, write text more accurately, and even search the web. It costs more and runs slower—about $0.14 for 1080p/2K and $0.24 for 4K. Because the text looks better, designers can work faster, but the higher prices mean you have to choose when you really need top quality. It will show up across Gemini, Slides, Vids, NotebookLM, and the Gemini API with almost no setup. Google is also adding safety tools like SynthID now and C2PA soon.
New features—like using six reference photos, mixing up to 14 objects, and keeping the look of up to five people consistent—are great for brand work but mean teams need to be careful about rights and compliance.
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