Tech Brew Ride Home – "Nobody Cares About AI Ads?"
Host: Brian McCullough
Date: November 4, 2025
Podcast: Tech Brew Ride Home by Morning Brew
Episode Overview
Today's episode delivers a rapid-fire roundup of the latest tech news, from Apple refreshing its App Store web experience, to the ethical dilemmas in cybersecurity, new city expansions for Waymo’s robo-taxis, the business politics surrounding Nvidia's chip sales to China, Coca Cola's surprising findings on consumer attitudes toward AI-generated ads, a deep-dive on Common Crawl’s misunderstood but crucial infrastructure role in AI, and a look at Google Cloud's stunning rise inside Alphabet. The host also closes with a call for recommendations on automated animation tools for pairing with spoken word content.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Apple Launches Revamped App Store on the Web
- [02:11] Apple has updated the web version of the App Store—now at apps.apple.com—offering a user-friendly interface to browse and search apps for all Apple platforms.
- Users can’t download apps directly, but can share apps or open them on their devices.
- Adds features for better recommendation discovery and navigation by category.
- Notably, iOS, iPadOS, and macOS 26.1 released with improved Liquid Glass design options—including a frosted, higher-opacity look for better visibility and accessibility.
- “The aesthetic has been divisive... The tinting... joins a growing roster of accessibility and visibility options.” (06:45)
- iPad’s beloved ‘Slide Over’ multitasking feature also makes its return and is now more versatile.
2. Cybersecurity Professionals Turn Bad Actors
- [09:45] Shocking revelation: Three US cybersecurity professionals allegedly orchestrated ransomware attacks on five companies using ALFV/BlackCat ransomware.
- Defendants: Ryan Clifford Goldberg (ex-Signia manager), Kevin Tyler Martin (ex-Digital Mint negotiator), and an unnamed co-conspirator.
- They received nearly $1.3 million ransom from a single medical company in 2023.
- Both Signia and Digital Mint promptly terminated involved employees. The case highlights risks of insider threats in cybersecurity.
3. Waymo Expands Robo-Taxi Service
- [13:12] Waymo announces plans to launch commercial robo-taxi services in three additional cities: San Diego, Las Vegas, and Detroit.
- Currently active in five cities, with ambitions for further geographic growth despite regulatory and local resistance.
- Still needs specific approvals for full commercial operation in Nevada and Michigan.
- “Waymo says it plans on launching... after the company said it would begin rapidly scaling to bring its fully driverless technology to more people on a faster timeline.” (14:08)
4. Nvidia and US-China AI Chip Politics
- [15:31] President Trump refrains from discussing Nvidia’s AI chip exports to China in his meeting with President Xi Jinping—despite Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s lobbying.
- National security concerns cited by officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
- Exporting Blackwell chips to China could be worth tens of billions, but represents a “seismic policy shift.”
- “Trump’s ultimate decision marked a victory for Rubio and other Trump advisors over Huang, leader of the world’s most valuable public company.” (17:25)
5. Coca Cola Finds Consumers Don’t Care about AI Ads
- [22:48] Coca Cola releases new AI-generated holiday ads, following controversy in 2024 over ‘uncanny valley’ visuals in earlier AI ads.
- Improvements this year: more natural animation, less unsettling human likenesses, and an expanded cast of AI-generated critters.
- Notably, most viewers didn’t notice or care if ads were AI-generated:
- “Coca Cola has released upgraded AI generated ads... after finding people didn’t know or care about the use of AI in making the ads.” (23:02)
- System1 found Coke’s AI ads scored highly with mainstream consumers despite industry criticism.
- 46% of surveyed consumers in four countries “aren’t okay” with AI in ads (down from 49% last year), but this opposition is waning.
- Marketers stress human input remains vital: “A voiceover discusses the team of artists who work frame by frame, often pixel by pixel, to touch up and tweak the festive images generated by the AI.” (27:31)
6. Common Crawl: The “Secret” AI Infrastructure
- [28:48] Profile of Common Crawl, a nonprofit whose vast, petabyte-scale archive of web pages is foundational to today’s major AI models (OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Nvidia, Meta, etc.).
- Issues:
- Despite claims, Common Crawl’s bot often bypasses paywalls and archives millions of paywalled news articles.
- Publishers have requested removals, but content remains, raising ethical and legal concerns.
- Issues:
- Common Crawl’s view: “Models should read anything online. The robots are people too.” – Rich Skrenta, Executive Director (31:45)
- The Atlantic argues that openness here enables free-riding on journalism, pushing publishers toward stricter paywalls.
7. Google Cloud’s Meteoric Rise
- [35:13] Once a money-losing afterthought, Google Cloud is now Alphabet’s fastest-growing business, driven by the AI infrastructure boom.
- Q3 revenue topped $15B (34% YoY growth), now threatening to overtake YouTube as Alphabet’s #2 cash generator.
- Market share doubled to 13% since Thomas Kurian’s 2018 appointment; major AI labs now run on Google Cloud.
- Key to the turnaround: focus on revenue discipline, industry-focused sales, and making in-house TPUs available to outside companies.
- CEO Sundar Pichai: “What Thomas has been a powerful voice for is making sure that when we say we’re focused on the user that we’re focusing on the enterprise customer too.” (38:37)
- CapEx guidance is high, but Google bets its decade-long AI groundwork gives it long-term resilience.
8. Listener Call-out: The Search for Automated Animation Tools
- [40:36] Host Brian McCullough invites listeners to suggest the best tool for automatically generating video or cartoons matched to audio content (for YouTube or podcasting).
- Requests a tool that can take long audio (30–45 minutes), identify narrative segments, and pair with animated or kinetic visualizations—ideally without complex workflow or multiple tools.
- References Steven Bartlett’s animated Steve Jobs video as inspiration.
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On Apple's UI “liquid glass” shift:
“The aesthetic has been divisive... The tinting... joins a growing roster of accessibility and visibility options.” (06:45) -
On security insiders going rogue:
“Three cybersecurity professionals whose job was to help companies respond to ransomware attacks instead carried out their own ransomware schemes…” (10:12) -
On AI in advertising:
“People didn’t know or care about the use of AI in making the ads, despite criticism for its 2024 ads that also experimented with AI.” (23:07)
“A voiceover discusses the team of artists who work frame by frame, often pixel by pixel, to touch up and tweak the festive images generated by the AI.” (27:31) -
On Common Crawl’s philosophy:
“Models should read anything online. The robots are people too, and [Skrenta] dismisses attribution or stricter controls. ‘We can’t police that. We’re just a bunch of dusty bookshelves.’” (31:45) -
On Google Cloud’s transformation:
“What Thomas has been a powerful voice for is making sure that when we say we’re focused on the user that we’re focusing on the enterprise customer too.” – Sundar Pichai (38:37)
Timestamps for Major Segments
| Segment | Timestamp | |---------------------------------------|--------------| | Apple web App Store and OS updates | 02:11–08:08 | | Cybersecurity professionals indicted | 09:45–13:12 | | Waymo’s robo-taxi expansion | 13:12–15:31 | | Nvidia/Trump/Xi Jinping chip politics | 15:31–22:30 | | Coca Cola’s AI ads findings | 22:48–28:48 | | Common Crawl’s AI data influence | 28:48–35:13 | | Google Cloud’s business ascent | 35:13–40:36 | | Listener call-out for animation tools | 40:36–End |
Summary & Takeaways
- Apple's product updates aim for greater usability and accessibility, especially for multitasking and visual clarity across devices.
- Cybersecurity remains vulnerable to insider threats, highlighting an often-overlooked risk.
- Waymo pushes further expansion as autonomous vehicle regulation and local sentiment remain mixed, reflecting the bumpy road ahead for robo-taxis.
- US-China tension over AI chip exports underscores geopolitics trumping (pun intended) corporate lobbying, even for giants like Nvidia.
- Coca Cola’s AI holiday ads and consumer indifference suggest the mainstream public is less concerned about AI in creative output than industry insiders, even as criticism lingers.
- Common Crawl’s role in AI raises deep questions about data ethics, openness, and the impact on journalism.
- Google Cloud’s dramatic growth makes it a new crown jewel within Alphabet, showing how sustained bets on infrastructure and AI have paid off against AWS and Azure.
- Brian’s closing request for automated animation tools is a practical note on the growing intersection of AI video generation and creator workflows.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone tracking the fast-changing dynamics of technology, enterprise, AI, regulation, and creative industries.
