TNW 373: AI Wins a Grammy - Uber Rides With Waymo, Sonos Streaming Box, Meta's VR Devs Struggle
Tech News Weekly (Audio)
Leo Laporte
4.1 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 6 February 2025
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of Tech News Weekly, Mikah Sargent and CNET's Abrar Al-Heeti talk the latest developments in self-driving tech, Sonos' work on a new streaming box, an AI-assisted Beatles song winning a Grammy, and the current state of Meta's Quest platform according to developers.
- Uber is expanding its partnership with Waymo, allowing people in Austin to summon a Waymo robo-taxi through the Uber app. Abrar shares her experiences with self-driving cars and discusses the evolving relationship between Uber and Waymo.
- Sonos is reportedly working on a new streaming box codenamed "Pinewood," which includes an HDMI switch to address inconsistencies in smart TV firmware and software. The device is expected to cost between $200 and $400, and it aims to provide a full-featured streaming sound setup.
- An AI-assisted Beatles track, "Now and Then," won the Grammy for Best Rock Performance, sparking conversations about the role of AI in music and art. The US Copyright Office has stated that AI tools used to assist in the creative process don't undermine the copyright of the work.
- Developers are struggling with declining sales and visibility on the Meta Quest app store, despite record revenue for Meta Reality Labs. Meta's focus on its own Horizon Worlds app seems to be at the expense of traditional VR games. Some developers find it more profitable to sell on other platforms like Steam and PlayStation VR.
Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Abrar Al-Heeti
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Coming up on Tech News Weekly, Abraar Al-Hiti joins me for the full show. |
| 0:03.8 | We start out by talking about where self-driving is taking us. |
| 0:08.2 | Then we talk about Sonos and its work on a set-top box before we discuss the Beatles winning a Grammy for their AI-assisted song and how things are going for developers |
| 0:24.2 | of VR games. |
| 0:27.6 | All of that coming up next on Tech News Weekly. |
| 0:32.5 | Podcasts you love. |
| 0:34.3 | From people you trust. |
| 0:36.8 | This is Twitter. The you love from people you trust this is twit this is tech news weekly episode |
| 0:43.8 | three hundred seventy three with a brar alhiti and me micha sergeant recorded thursday |
| 0:49.5 | thursday february 6th 2025 a i wins a grammy hello welcome to Tech News Weekly, the show where every week we talk to and about the people making and breaking the tech news. |
| 1:01.0 | I am your host, Micah Sargent, and I am joined today because it is the first Thursday of the month by CNET's own Abra Arr Al-Hiti. |
| 1:12.0 | Welcome back Abra. |
| 1:13.1 | Thank you so much for having me. |
| 1:14.2 | Good to be back, month two. |
| 1:15.5 | Here we go. |
| 1:16.5 | Yes, we love it. |
| 1:18.1 | We love it. |
| 1:18.6 | We are in February. |
| 1:19.8 | I like the, I don't know if you did it on purpose, but the delightful pinks that you're |
| 1:24.0 | wearing. |
| 1:24.2 | I didn't do it on purpose, but I love that you made that connection. I never would have. |
| 1:27.9 | So let's pretend that yes, that's exactly my intention. |
... |
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