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Business Insider
a day ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Granola is yummy. This AI version is pretty good, too.
Each week in Business Insider's Tech Memo newsletter, I try an AI tool. What do you think of this one? What should I do, or use, next week? Let me know. This week, I tested Granola, an AI notetaking assistant. I fired it up for an interview with Raj Sharma, a bigwig at consulting giant EY. Coincidentally, he said his wife uses Granola to transcribe her interactions with patients. Installing it on my MacBook was easy. It synced with my Google work calendar, launched a Microsoft Teams video call, and prompted me to start recording — all smooth and fast. My prepared questions were saved in the app, but I couldn't easily access them during the call. I defaulted to a Google Doc, wishing the notes had appeared more intuitively as the interview began. Granola's post-interview features impressed me. It provided a thematic summary with expandable sections and action items, based partly on my prepared questions and any notes I jotted down while Raj was speaking. I asked it to find a quote from Raj about AI being a "welcome relief," and it delivered. I made sure to go back and check the exact phrasing. For that, I needed the full transcript. This was pretty good, although Raj's comments and my questions were sometimes misattributed to the wrong speaker. What shocked me: Granola doesn't record audio of meetings. This is a dealbreaker for journalists who need to verify quotes precisely. I used Apple's Voice Memos app alongside Granola for the essential raw audio backup. Granola is sleek, smart, and promising. But for now, it's missing one essential thing for me: the truth in someone's own voice. Postscript After sending out the Tech Memo newsletter this morning, I tracked down emails from Vicky Firth, who leads customer experience at Granola. She kindly answered my annoying questions! Here's what she said on the lack of I asked why Granola doesn't provide audio recordings. "We never store the audio recordings and that's a deliberate decision for a few reasons. Firstly, we're aware that whatever platform you're on for your call already does this, and we don't feel the need to duplicate this functionality — we've optimised Granola to be able to make great summaries of meetings, so that's what we're laser-focused on, and the transcripts are enough to allow it to do that well. We want to make sure Granola can stay simple and great at what it does best." "Another set of reasons is around data security: we want to make sure we're only capturing what's necessary to make those great notes, such that we're not holding on to more sensitive information than is necessary. We hear feedback on both sides — some users would love us to store the recordings, but others email us wanting to make sure we don't! The transcripts again feel like enough here." I suggested that this is kind of a dealkiller for those who need to verify exactly what people say. I also asked why Granola doesn't just offer this as a default feature but add a clear button to switch audio recording off when users want that? Firth's reply makes good sense, and it's a real window into how startups operate and the hard product decisions they must make while building efficiently. "It's probably not the best solution if you're someone who needs very specific quotes on a regular basis, and another product is probably more suited if that's what you're after as your primary output. We do get requests for it, but at the moment (especially while we're such a small team and have to be ruthless with prioritising!) we're trying to focus on functionality that helps make great summarised notes, helps you share those notes with your team, and help you all get insights to do your work better on a higher level. It means we sadly have a long, long list of things that we have to park for now!"
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Inside Amazon's radical redo of the 'Everything Store'
This post originally appeared in the BI Tech Memo newsletter. Sign up for the weekly BI Tech Memo newsletter here. Hello, and welcome to your weekly dose of Big Tech news and insights. I'm your host, Alistair Barr. My dog Maisie came through her surgery. That cost thousands of dollars. How much would you pay to keep your furry friend alive? We reveal a radical overhaul of Amazon's online marketplace that's been hotly debated inside the tech giant. An exclusive look at one of Microsoft's top cloud customers, sharing big numbers you've never seen before. New data suggests Big Tech stock-based compensation could be under pressure. In 2013, my old boss Brad Stone published "The Everything Store." It's the defining book about Amazon's giant e-commerce business. The key idea in the book was infinite product selection. This strategy propelled the company to become the Western world's largest retailer. Based on quarterly sales, it overtook Walmart earlier this year. Having endless inventory means shoppers are more likely to find what they're looking for on Amazon, increasing the chances they buy something, and return again. That's been a powerful advantage over physical retail stores, which can only stock so much. However, in recent years, some of Amazon's digital aisles have become cluttered and outdated, which could confuse or frustrate shoppers. So, under CEO Andy Jassy, the company has been purging billions of product listings via a secret project known as "Bend the Curve." Business Insider's star tech reporter Eugene Kim has the scoop with all the juicy details. Does this spell the end of The Everything Store? Nope. There's no way Amazon would give up this hard-won advantage. Instead, it's mostly about cleaning up this giant online marketplace. Product listings get old. Sellers can chuck thousands of listings on there, and some are inaccurate or worse. There are also millions of dollars in cloud savings from not having to host billions of unproductive listings. Still, this big move has been debated inside Amazon, according to Kim's report. And surveys by Evercore ISI found that fewer shoppers think Amazon's product selection is the best. READ MORE Other BI tech stories that caught my eye lately: Exclusive: New numbers show just how big a customer Walmart is for Microsoft's cloud business. This venture capital firm bought a hospital chain. Why? Exclusive: Meta's big bet on virtual reality isn't stopping it from opening retail stores. I thought everyone knew not to speak their minds in work surveys? Apparently not. The life of the digital nomad is getting harder. My take on who's up and down in the tech industry right now, including updates on Big Tech employee pay. UP: Tesla surged this week after Elon Musk said he's getting back to work. DOWN: In late February, investor Ross Gerber predicted a 50% drop in Tesla's share price. The stock is up roughly 20% since then. Ouch! COMP UPDATE: Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald looked at restricted stock units issued recently by tech companies including Meta, Google, and Uber. RSUs are the main way tech employees get paid. The latest numbers show these equity awards are slowing down or even falling at some companies. The chart below shows changes in RSU grant value per employee. Other Big Tech stories I found on the interwebs: Making a video with fancy new AI tools is harder than you might think. (WSJ) Satellite smackdown: Apple versus SpaceX. (The Information) A self-driving truck startup siphoned trade secrets to Chinese companies. (WSJ) You can't develop chips without software from Cadence and Synopsys. The US is trying to limit China's access to this tech. (FT) This week, I'm telling you about an AI tool that may not be immediately obvious as AI. But it most certainly is. Tesla uses thousands of chips in massive data centers to train AI models that understand video collected from millions of the company's vehicles. This is used to develop FSD software for near-autonomous driving. I've been using FSD a lot this year in my Tesla Model 3 Performance. Here are the highs and lows. Is this a fair assessment? Tesla plans to roll out a full robotaxi service in Austin in June. This will be fully autonomous, with no human supervision. It's a huge leap. My FSD software still requires me to be responsible and alert. But this FSD diary gives some pretty solid clues to how capable Tesla's current software is. What AI tool should I use next week? Let me know. I would love to hear from anyone who reads this newsletter. What am I doing wrong? What do you want to see more of? Specifically, though: I want to know about your recent experiences with Amazon's online marketplace. Have you noticed an improvement in the quality of listings lately? Or have you sensed any change in product selection? Let Eugene Kim know at ekim@ Read the original article on Business Insider Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Insider
19-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Big Tech's great flattening is happening because it's out of options
Welcome back! In case you missed it, our new newsletter, Tech Memo, written by the great Alistair Barr, launched on Friday. Check out the first edition here. And if you aren't already, subscribe here. In today's big story, we're looking at Big Tech's obsession with cutting out middle managers and flattening their orgs. What's on deck But first, no longer stuck in the middle. If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. The big story Flat techies Getty images; Tyler Le/BI Technology can quickly become outdated, but it's a job title in tech that's an endangered species: the middle manager. Big Tech is flattening its ranks to thin out layers of management in a bid to reduce bureaucracy, writes Emma Cosgrove, Tim Paradis, Eugene Kim, and Ashley Stewart. Middle managers have had to keep their heads on a swivel for a while. At the end of last year, BI's workplace expert Aki Ito detailed Corporate America falling out of love with the role. But the tech industry has taken the trend into overdrive, as is often the case. From Microsoft to Intel and Amazon, companies are shedding managers to make themselves as quick and lean as possible. The biggest immediate impact of flattening orgs is managers overseeing more workers. Some argue that will limit micromanagement. Others say you'll burn out the managers who are left behind. Big Tech is willing to take its chances, though. As Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said last fall: " I hate bureaucracy." "The goal again is to allow us to have higher ownership and to move more quickly," Jassy added. Big Tech's middle-management purge speaks to a larger trend: Let the stars shine and get rid of anyone else. Part of tech companies' efficiency push is to identify top performers and weed out underachievers. With that approach, you could argue there is less of a need for managers. No weak links in the chain means managers don't have to do as much hand-holding. Get out of the way and let your top performers do what they do best. This isn't a foolproof strategy, though. Someone being extremely capable at their job doesn't always correlate with them being an easy employee to manage. In fact, sometimes the opposite can be true. But what other options do these tech giants have? The pressure from startups like OpenAI and Anthropic is undeniable. Their smaller size also gives them a massive leg up to move quickly. And when it comes to AI, speed is the name of the game. Meanwhile, middle managers seem to only be slowing companies down. 3 things in markets 1. Trump's "Big, beautiful bill" could cause some big chaos. Market pros say the president's tax bill would add $4 trillion to the US deficit, stoking mayhem in the bond market. That means another Trump vs. bond market showdown could be headed our way. 2. Bankers tell startups wanting to go public: "Go, go, go." Startups like Hinge Health put their IPO plans on hold when Trump introduced sweeping tariffs. Now that the stock market has recovered, bankers are telling companies to go public while they still can. 3. This "hick from Ohio" is a big deal for IPOs. Pat Healy could be the forefather of getting stock exchanges to compete for the right to get a company to list with them. From free Davos advertising to NFL star appearances, here's how Healy lands companies major marketing perks. 3 things in tech 1. "Appstinence" is a virtue. Raised in the age of the smartphone, a growing cohort of people, mostly millennials and Gen Zers, are opting for dumb tech instead. As the evidence of our collective phone addiction adds up, even tech lovers are embracing the digital detox movement. 2. How Silicon Valley's favorite startup came back from the edge of disaster. StackBlitz was at death's door when Anthropic released its AI model Sonnet 3.5 in 2024. That led StackBlitz to create a product that could write code based on prompts written in English — and the company's gold mine. BI's Alistair Barr has the full story. 3. Is AI coming for teachers? Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn thinks so. On a recent podcast appearance, he told venture capitalist Sarah Guo that schools will still be necessary in an AI-driven future — but mostly just for childcare. He thinks AI will do the actual teaching. 3 things in business 1. Gen Z is dyeing white collars blue. The cost of college is skyrocketing, and the white-collar job market is unstable. That's led many young people to turn to trades instead, which can offer six-figure salaries and have a high demand for workers. 2. Selling a merger to Trump? MAGA-ify it. Cable giant Charter is merging with Cox, posing a bigger rival for Comcast. The merger still needs the green light from the Trump administration, and it seems like Charter is leaning into pro-American rhetoric to get it, BI's Peter Kafka writes. 3. LA investor Jessica Mah is in a legal battle with DGV investor Justin Caldbeck and two ex-employees. In a lawsuit, Mah has accused Caldbeck of sexually harassing her, which he denies. The lawsuits against Mah, meanwhile, accuse her of misusing company funds, harassment, and age discrimination, BI's Rob Price reports. In other news No one seems to know if AI will take our jobs or make us productive superstars. Joe Biden was diagnosed with an 'aggressive form' of prostate cancer. Boeing was the real winner of Donald Trump's trip to the Middle East. I was an HR manager at Meta who helped guide the layoff process. Then they cut my role too — here's what being laid off taught me. We put Tesla's FSD and Waymo's robotaxi to the test. One shocking mistake made the winner clear. Trump's EPA is trying to reverse a Biden climate initiative that would have provided financing for new housing projects. Dairy Queen CEO explains what a job interview with Warren Buffett is like. What's happening today WNBA season begins. The Business Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Ella Hopkins, associate editor, in London. Elizabeth Casolo, fellow, in Chicago.
Business Insider
16-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Business Insider launches Tech Memo newsletter — where Big Tech secrets go public
Business Insider is launching Tech Memo, a must-read newsletter from Business Insider's veteran tech journalist, Alistair Barr. Delivered every Friday, Tech Memo is where Big Tech secrets go public — and where insiders turn to stay ahead in a rapidly changing tech world. From the inner workings of Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, to VC deals and pitch decks making the rounds, Tech Memo surfaces what really matters in Silicon Valley and beyond. Each edition will deliver fresh reporting, career insights, and smart takes on money, work, and life inside the tech community. Barr brings decades of experience to Tech Memo, having broken major stories and built deep sourcing across tech's biggest players. "I've spent years reporting on the tech industry, from the rise of Apple and Amazon to the internal tensions at OpenAI," Barr said. "I've talked with executives, investors, and engineers behind closed doors, broken major stories, and built a network of trusted sources across the industry. Now, I want to bring that perspective directly to the reader — sharp, exclusive reporting, and an honest take."
Business Insider
11-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Big Tech's AI-powered message to staff: Do more with less
Welcome back to our Sunday edition, where we round up some of our top stories and take you inside our newsroom. Happy Mother's Day to anyone celebrating today. I'm Alistair Barr. I'm subbing in this week to get some practice ahead of Tech Memo, a BI newsletter launching very soon. It's a weekly inside look at Big Tech — what you need to know, what it's like to work in Silicon Valley, and how to get ahead. I'm paying for two kids in college right now, so do me a solid and sign up here! The ugly truth about America's homebuying outlook. Tesla's robotaxi will compete with Waymo in Austin. Here's how the two companies compare. Rich Americans are keeping the country from sliding into a recession. Berkshire Hathaway shareholders told BI what they thought of a future without Warren Buffett. But first: Working in Big Tech is changing radically. If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Business Insider's app here. This week's dispatch Wanted: Fewer, better employees doing more with less For decades, Silicon Valley has suffered from a shortage of technical talent. This place is a software-production engine, and smart, young, hungry engineers have been its main fuel source. They work night and day, churning out code for websites, apps, search engines, social networks, and more. The companies that won recruited and retained the best talent. The result was a race to lavish employees with juicy salaries and huge stock awards. Perks were plenty: free massages, laundry service, and delicious food served on cushy campuses. Like all powerful trends, though, this is ending. Don't get me wrong. Tech companies are still hiring a lot of software engineers, and compensation is holding up so far. But the intensity, borne out of this talent supply-demand mismatch, is waning. The COVID-era tech hiring boom is partially to blame. Companies want fewer, better employees now. Generative AI is another big factor. Turns out, AI models are really good at writing and checking software code, changing the power dynamic between Big Tech and employees. It's the topic of a story by BI reporters Eugene Kim and Hugh Langley. David Sacks, a venture capitalist who advises the White House on AI, puts it well. "The ramifications of moving from a world of code scarcity to code abundance are profound," he wrote on X recently. There'll be A LOT more code, and way more software products that are updated and improved quicker, changing how developers work. Eugene's exclusive on Amazon's secret AI coding project, called Kiro, is a good example. "With Kiro, developers read less but comprehend more, code less but build more, and review less but release more," the company wrote in an internal document. Here's another, more disruptive, potential outcome: Everyone can become a developer. In the past, if you wanted something technical done, you had to ask your well-paid, overworked engineering colleagues for help. Now, with AI tools, maybe you can do some of this yourself. Cursor, Vercel, Replit, and are just a few of the new low- or zero-code AI-powered services that help users solve problems with plain English instructions. All of that means the pool of available developers is likely to grow massively, and Big Tech companies will have to do a lot less talent-chasing. Is now a good time to buy a house? It's not a simple "yes" or "no." Recent economic uncertainty and steep prices have tainted the housing market for buyers. But they also have more options — and bargaining power. In BI's second installment of its six-part series on making major life decisions, senior real estate reporter James Rodriguez broke it all down. You're in for a reality check if you want to job-hop right now It's a chaotic world right now. Here's why that makes it the ideal time to start a business. The battle of the robotaxis Tesla plans to launch its robotaxi service in Austin this June, stepping on Waymo's turf. But the two companies' approaches to driverless vehicles are pretty different. BI compared their tech and business strategies to understand how each will gain ground. One company stands out as more autonomous. Taking it to the streets. Also read: Texas is on the verge of handing Tesla and other big businesses a major win Uber CEO says the Waymo robotaxis on its app in Austin are busier than 99% of human drivers Rich to the rescue Getty Images; Tyler Le/BI Lower- and middle-income people have scaled back spending, but the wealthy haven't. Love 'em or hate 'em, rich people are propping up the US economy right now. However, there are risks to having the economy depend on a small group of people. If things go south for the wealthy, they'll take everyone else with them. It's time to start rooting for the rich. A Buffett-less future Warren Buffett shocked investors at Berkshire Hathaway's "Woodstock for Capitalists" last weekend by announcing his retirement from the company. A BI reporter asked Buffett fans what they thought of the news. There were some tears, and plenty of anxiety about Berkshire's future. " Still processing." I spent 8 hours in the cold to see Warren Buffett speak. I witnessed his retirement bombshell — and met Tim Cook and Hillary Clinton. Warren Buffett delivered a masterclass in succession planning — and a lesson in high drama This week's quote: "People are increasingly grumpy because they can't change jobs." — Guy Berger, the director of economic research at the Burning Glass Institute, on Americans feeling stuck at the jobs they want to leave. More of this week's top reads: We went to Milken, where the rich were worrying in public — and partying in private. Apple's comments on Search gave investors one reason to worry about Google's future. Here's another. For Instagram creators, getting likes is no longer enough. A once-niche market for secondhand stakes in private funds is booming. What it's like to work in secondaries. The freeloader era of streaming is over. Epic Games' CEO says fighting Apple cost his company more than $1 billion. He says it was worth it. A Tesla worker knew his anti-Elon Musk website was a risk. He did it anyway. Hollywood's biggest winners and losers from Trump's potential movie tariffs. The BI Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Elizabeth Casolo, fellow, in Chicago.
