Brian McCullough (1:36)

You don't get all the good stuff that makes the Pixel 10 series more compelling.

Megan (1:39)

There's still last year's tensor G4 chip and 8 gigabytes of RAM, which isn't enough to power the more advanced AI features Google launched on the Pixel 10 like Magic Q or Pixel Screenshots, the latter of which debuted on the Pixel 9. Do you care?

Brian McCullough (1:54)

Maybe not.

Megan (1:55)

I like Magic Q though, and my guess is that skywalking RAM prices play a role here. It could explain the lack of additional AI features, but I you can't blame RAM prices for what otherwise feels like a more meh update.

Brian McCullough (2:08)

So what do you get for the Pixel 10a?

Megan (2:11)

You also get the X SOS satellite communications in case you get lost out in the woods and a bear is chasing you and you need to point your phone at the sky and tell someone that a bear is chasing you and that you need help.

Brian McCullough (2:23)

The Pixel 10a also borrows a couple of new AI tricks like auto Best.

Megan (2:27)

Take, not just Best Take, which automatically selects the best picture from a bunch, like the one where everyone in a group shot is facing the camera.

Brian McCullough (2:35)

This worked well during a quick test at Google's office.

Megan (2:38)

Similarly, it offers Google's Camera Coach, which walks you through some ideas on how to take the best picture of a subject. I tested this with a fake orchid and the suggestions on how to frame.

Brian McCullough (2:48)

It were almost certainly better than anything I'd have thought of.

Megan (2:51)

Because I am not a great photographer and usually just pull out my phone for a quick picture of my kids doing something silly.

Brian McCullough (2:57)

You'd be hard pressed to spot the.

Megan (2:58)

Design differences, so I'll lay them out for you Google says it's its most durable Pixel A series phone yet. The display is stronger thanks to the the new Gorilla Glass 7i covering and gets a bit brighter, 11% to 3,000 nits at its peak, like when you're trying to see the screen in the sun. It has the same IP68 waterproofing.

Brian McCullough (3:19)

The bezel around the screen is slightly.

Megan (3:21)

Narrower, 10% narrower to be exact. The cameras are all the same as last year, but the 13 megapixel and 48 megapixel sensors on the back now lie fully flush with the frame instead of sticking just a hair above it.

Brian McCullough (3:33)

Even the colors look similar to last.

Megan (3:35)

Year, but the Berry color is the best. You won't find that shocking bright color on any other phone, and it's the one you should buy. Other colors include lavender Fog, which is gray, and Obsidian, which is black. Google's also launching Fog and Berry Pixel Buds 2a so you can match the.

Brian McCullough (3:53)

Pixel 10a also doesn't have Pixel Snap, Google's version of MagSafe that lets you use any magnetic strap on charger or accessory.

Megan (3:59)

That's a bummer because I love that and I think it should be here.

Brian McCullough (4:03)

Still, you get a wee bit faster wired and wireless charging.

Megan (4:06)

Wired charging jumps from 27 watts to 30 and wireless charges at 10 watts instead of 7.5.

Brian McCullough (4:13)

Pre orders for the 10A begin today and it hits shelves on March 4th.

Megan (4:17)

It will be available with 128 gigabytes.

Brian McCullough (4:19)

Or 256 gigabytes of storage.

Megan (4:21)

A lot of people buy Pixel A series phones for the pure Android experience and frequent updates.

Brian McCullough (4:25)

I don't think they really care about having every last AI or hardware feature.

Megan (4:30)

Google makes, but it just doesn't feel like Google brought enough of the Pixel 10 to the Pixel 10a this year. That's why it's more like a 9a 2.0. Also worth noting though, if you're a Pixel Stan, that Google has expanded Quick.

Brian McCullough (4:45)

Share support with Airdrop to the Pixel.

Megan (4:48)

9, 9 Pro, 9 Pro XL and 9 Pro Fold. After launching it for the Pixel 10 back in November.

Brian McCullough (5:01)

Anthropic yesterday launched Claude Sonnet 4.6 with improvements in coding, computer use, instruction following and more.

Megan (5:07)

It features 1 million token context window it's in beta quoting TechCrunch, Anthropic has.

Brian McCullough (5:14)

Released a new version of its midsize Sonnet model, keeping pace with the company's four month update cycle.

Megan (5:19)

In a post announcing the new model, Anthropic emphasized improvements in coding, instruction following and computer use. Sonnet 4.6 will be the default model.

Brian McCullough (5:28)

For Free and Pro Plan users.

Megan (5:30)

The beta Release of Sonnet 4.6 will.

Brian McCullough (5:32)

Include a context window of 1 million tokens, twice the size of the largest.

Megan (5:36)

Window previously available for Sonnet. Anthropic described the new context window as enough to hold entire code bases, lengthy contracts or dozens of research papers and a single request. Their release comes just two weeks after.

Brian McCullough (5:48)

The launch of Opus 4.6, with an updated haiku model likely to follow in the coming weeks.

Megan (5:54)

The launch comes with a new set.

Brian McCullough (5:56)

Of record benchmark scores, including osworld for computer use and swebench for software engineering, but perhaps the most impressive is its 60.4% score on ARC AGI 2, meant to measure skills specific to human intelligence.

Megan (6:12)

The score puts Sonnet 4.6 above most.

Brian McCullough (6:14)

Comparable models, although it still trails models like Opus 4.6, Gemini 3, DeepThink, and.

Megan (6:19)

One refined version of GPT 5.2.

Brian McCullough (6:31)

Google has rolled out Lyria 3, a generative music model that can make 30 second tracks, with Nano Banana made cover art into beta in the Gemini app in eight languages.

Megan (6:42)

Quoting the Verge, Google has given Gemini.

Brian McCullough (6:44)

The ability to spit out AI generated music courtesy of DeepMind's latest audio model. Beta access to Lyria 3 is rolling.

Megan (6:51)

Out in the Gemini app, enabling users.

Brian McCullough (6:53)

To generate 30 second tracks based on text, images and videos without having to.

Megan (6:57)

Leave the Chatbot window.

Brian McCullough (6:58)

The new music making tool is available globally starting today in English, German, Spanish.

Megan (7:03)

French, Hindi, Japanese, Korean and Portuguese, with plans to expand it in the future. Access is limited to Gemini app users who are 18 years or older.

Brian McCullough (7:12)

Lyria3's text to music capabilities allow Gemini app users to make songs by describing.

Megan (7:17)

Specific genres, moods or memories, such as asking for an Afrobeat track for my mother about the greatest times we had growing up.

Brian McCullough (7:25)

The music generator can make instrumental audio and songs with lyrics composed automatically based on user prompts.

Megan (7:31)

Users can also upload photographs and video references, which Gemiini then uses to generate a track with lyrics that fit the vibe.

Brian McCullough (7:38)

Gemini will add custom cover art generated.

Megan (7:40)

By nanobanana to songs created on the app, which aims to make them easier to share and download. Google is also bringing Lyria 3 to.

Brian McCullough (7:48)

YouTube's DreamTrack tool, which allows creators to.

Megan (7:50)

Make custom AI soundtracks for shorts.

Brian McCullough (7:53)

DreamTrack and Lyria were initially demonstrated with the ability to mimic the style and.

Megan (7:57)

Voice of famous performers.

Brian McCullough (7:58)

Google says it's been very mindful of.

Megan (8:01)

Copyright in the development of Lyria 3 and that the tool is designed for.

Brian McCullough (8:05)

Original expression, not for mimicking existing artists.

Megan (8:08)

While prompted for a specific artist. Gemini will make a track that shares a similar style or mood, according to Google, and uses filters to check outputs against existing content.

Brian McCullough (8:18)

Lyria has been around since 2023, but access to the AI music maker was.

Megan (8:22)

Previously limited to Google Cloud Vertex platform. This expansion to the Gemini app makes.

Brian McCullough (8:28)

Lyria more accessible, but arrives significantly behind platforms like TikTok and Microsoft's Copilot introducing.

Megan (8:34)

Their own AI music makers.

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Brian McCullough (9:14)

Just because your.

Megan (9:15)

Team is small, that doesn't mean that they're not a target for bad actors.

Brian McCullough (9:20)

Cybercriminals know that lean teams often lack.

Megan (9:23)

The resources to prevent or respond to a breach.

Brian McCullough (9:26)

The good news is even the smallest teams can foil cybercrime. 1Password provides simple security to help small teams manage the number one risk that.

Megan (9:36)

Bad actors exploit, which is weak passwords.

Brian McCullough (9:40)

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Brian McCullough (10:17)

For the last couple of days there's been a huge AI impact summit in India that has made a bunch of headlines.

Megan (10:23)

For example, Nvidia says it is working.

Brian McCullough (10:25)

With Peak 15, Z47 and other VC firms in India to fund AI startups. More than 4,000 Indian AI startups have.

Megan (10:34)

Joined its global startup program.

Brian McCullough (10:36)

Top VC firms in India like Khosla and Accel are set to commit investments.

Megan (10:41)

From 300 million to 500 million each.

Brian McCullough (10:44)

Into India's AI ecosystem. Indian IT giant Infosys is partnering with Anthropic to develop AI services for telecom, with plans to expand to finance manufacturing and software development. And Microsoft says it is on pace to invest $50 billion by 2030 to.

Megan (11:00)

Help expand AI across the global south.

Brian McCullough (11:03)

After unveiling $17.5 billion worth of AI investments in India in 2025. But it's not just big US money trying to make AI catch fire in India. Quoting Reuters, Adani Enterprises said on Tuesday that it will invest $100 billion to.

Megan (11:18)

Build renewable powered AI ready data centers by 2035, positioning India as a contender in the global AI race.

Brian McCullough (11:26)

AI ready data centers would be a critical nerve center of the AI driven environment, and it's natural that large groups with deep pockets will get future read.

Megan (11:34)

Setting up such data centers, said Ambarish Baliga, an independent market analyst.

Brian McCullough (11:39)

Top firms including Reliance and Adani Group are moving quickly to capture the vast.

Megan (11:43)

Opportunities as businesses align themselves with what.

Brian McCullough (11:45)

Is seen as a major disruptor ahead, he added. Adani said the investment is expected to trigger an additional $150 billion across related industries, including server, manufacturing and sovereign cloud platforms.

Megan (11:57)

Together, this is projected to create a.

Brian McCullough (11:59)

$250 billion AI infrastructure ecosystem in India.

Megan (12:02)

Over the decade, it added. Having been on the periphery AI boom.

Brian McCullough (12:07)

So far due to the absence of.

Megan (12:08)

Any significant chip manufacturing capability, data centers represent India's best chance of making a mark on the global stage.

Brian McCullough (12:16)

The investment will develop a model linking renewable energy, power grid resilience and AI computing, according to Adani. For decades we imported technology, now we.

Megan (12:25)

Are building the backbone, chairman Gautam Adani said in a post on X. India.

Brian McCullough (12:30)

Will not follow the AI century. India will shape it.

Megan (12:34)

The Ports to power conglomerate will build.

Brian McCullough (12:36)

On its existing 2 GW data center capacity and scale it to 5 GW.

Megan (12:40)

To create the world's largest integrated data.

Brian McCullough (12:42)

Center platform, it said, without providing a timeline. Additionally, Adani will invest $55 billion to expand its renewable energy portfolio, which will.

Megan (12:50)

Include one of the world's largest battery energy storage systems. End quote.

Brian McCullough (13:02)

Meta has committed to buying millions of.

Megan (13:05)

Nvidia, Blackwell and Rubin GPUs in a multi year deal. A source says Meta's in house AI AI chip strategy didn't really get off the ground because of various technical challenges, Quoting the FT Nvidia, which for the.

Brian McCullough (13:17)

Past three years has been the chief.

Megan (13:19)

Beneficiary of the massive global spending spree on AI infrastructure, is facing increasingly forceful.

Brian McCullough (13:24)

Moves by its customers to reduce their.

Megan (13:26)

Dependency on its hardware. Google, Amazon and Microsoft have all announced new in house chips in recent months.

Brian McCullough (13:32)

While OpenAI has co developed a chip.

Megan (13:34)

With Broadcom and struck a significant deal with amd.

Brian McCullough (13:37)

Meta has also invested in developing several.

Megan (13:40)

AI chips in house. Mark Zuckerberg Zuckerberg has outlined plans to achieve a lower cost of computing by deploying its own processors, which are optimized to the company's unique workloads.

Brian McCullough (13:49)

According to him, however, the chip strategy had suffered some technical challenges and rollout delays.

Megan (13:55)

According to one person familiar with the matter. Meta, already a big Nvidia customer, has now committed to buy Nvidia's next generation Vera Rubin chips.

Brian McCullough (14:03)

It is also the first big tech.

Megan (14:05)

Group to say it will buy standalone central processing units from Nvidia to run its AI models.

Brian McCullough (14:10)

The decision by Nvidia chief Jensen Huang.

Megan (14:12)

To offer its CPUs separately rather than as part of a single integrated product, including its graphics processing units, marks a major shift in its sales strategy.

Brian McCullough (14:21)

GPUs are capable of the massive parallel processing required for training the biggest AI.

Megan (14:26)

Models, but tech groups are increasingly shifting toward inference workloads, the process of running AI models. The question of why meta are deploying.

Brian McCullough (14:34)

Nvidia's CPUs at scale is the most.

Megan (14:37)

Interesting thing in this announcement, said one analyst. We are in the training era and now we are moving toward more inference era which demands a completely different approach. End Quote.

Brian McCullough (14:55)

Matthew Ball's State of the Video Game.

Megan (14:58)

Industry 2026 report is out and despite all of the bad headlines I've reported to you on here about the industry of late, among the numbers, Matt reports.

Brian McCullough (15:08)

Global video game content sales grew 5.3%.

Megan (15:12)

Year on year to $195.6 billion in 2025.

Brian McCullough (15:16)

Job losses across the industry actually fell 40% to only 9,200 people.

Megan (15:23)

Quoting Gamesindustry Biz, the report noted that while the industry saw three years of growth and a new revenue high in.

Brian McCullough (15:30)

2025, funding continued to decline.

Megan (15:33)

There were 40 deals in total in the last three months of 2025, with less than $100 million of pre the industry and over $200 million in early stage funding.

Brian McCullough (15:43)

Layoffs continued to affect the industry, with.

Megan (15:46)

9,200 people losing their jobs last year.

Brian McCullough (15:48)

But this was 40% less than 2024, though the four year total of layoffs.

Megan (15:54)

Did reach nearly 44,000 people.

Brian McCullough (15:57)

The report noted an increasing reliance on outside partners for core creative work, including.

Megan (16:01)

Art, game design and engineering.

Brian McCullough (16:03)

Outsourcing companies said that 60 to 95%.

Megan (16:06)

Of work in areas like animation, audio and environmental design could be outsourced. The report also exam worldwide consumer spending on video game content for consoles and PCs.

Brian McCullough (16:16)

Consumer spending on consoles reached $41.6 billion.

Megan (16:19)

2.3% above the 41.1 billion in 2020. The report noted that 119% of net.

Brian McCullough (16:26)

Spending growth since then went to platform.

Megan (16:29)

Services like PlayStation Plus, Xbox, Game Pass and Nintendo Switch Online.

Brian McCullough (16:33)

However, total spending on console game sales and transactions was down nearly 11% year.

Megan (16:38)

On year for PC. Global consumer spending grew 30% since 2020, reaching $40.7 billion in 2025, up from $31.4 billion.

Brian McCullough (16:47)

China accounts for 20% of global player.

Megan (16:49)

Spend, with Epelon CEO Matthew Ball suggesting.

Brian McCullough (16:52)

That if a gamemaker wants to match global growth, they must win China or.

Megan (16:56)

Grow 1.6 times the market elsewhere. Overall, Chinese publishers have captured roughly half.

Brian McCullough (17:01)

Of the global growth in player spending since 2019.

Megan (17:04)

One platform that saw major growth in.

Brian McCullough (17:06)

2025 was Roblox, becoming the singular video.

Megan (17:10)

Game market and capturing 67% of net growth.

Brian McCullough (17:15)

By the end of 2024, Roblox had more daily active users than PlayStation, Switch or Xbox.

Megan (17:21)

In 2025, this was up another 69%. The platform has also reached over 10.

Brian McCullough (17:27)

Billion in terms of monthly engagement hours.

Megan (17:29)

More than Steam, PlayStation and Fortnite combined. Looking ahead, Ball suggests that the five.

Brian McCullough (17:35)

Biggest revenue growth areas for video games.

Megan (17:37)

In 2026 will be non core markets, advertising, direct to consumer and alternative payment channels, external development and Roblox. So of course I couldn't resist prompting the new AI music model to come up with a theme song for this podcast with lyrics.

Theme Song Singer (18:03)

Here you go Long day is over now you're on the ride home Let the traffic fade get lost inside the sound we talk about the headlines and the things that matter yeah we read your stories Help you leave the world behind Unwind your mind Let the chill vibe take control Unwind your mind yeah, we're good for the soul Unwind your mind Let the chill vibe take control.

Theme Song Singer (18:29)

Yeah, we're good for the soul.