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Greetings! Your latest quick tech update is here:
☀️ On this day: On February 27, 1996, Pokémon Red and Green were released in Japan for the Game Boy. Developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo, the games introduced players to 151 collectible creatures and innovative link-cable trading between devices. Their massive success launched the global Pokémon franchise spanning games, trading cards, television, and films and became one of the best-selling and most influential video game series of all time.
What’s happening:
💰 OpenAI secures $110B in historic funding round
🍌 Google releases faster and cheaper Nano Banana 2
📱 Instagram to alert parents about repeated self-harm searches
🍔 Burger King uses AI headset to track employee “friendliness”
🎬 Netflix walks away from Warner Bros., Paramount poised to win
+ 📊 Daily poll and results
+ 📈 Trending tools and resources
AI Guide
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Hand-picked news:
💰 OpenAI secures $110B in historic funding round ↗️LINK
OpenAI raised $110 billion in one of the largest private funding rounds ever, including $50 billion from Amazon and $30 billion each from Nvidia and SoftBank, at a $730 billion pre-money valuation.
The funding includes major infrastructure partnerships, with expanded AWS commitments and large-scale Nvidia training and inference capacity tied to next-generation systems.
The round remains open to additional investors, signaling OpenAI’s push to rapidly scale infrastructure and transition frontier AI from research into global, everyday use.
🍌 Google releases faster and cheaper Nano Banana 2 ↗️LINK
Google released Nano Banana 2, an upgraded image model that claims the No. 1 spot on major text-to-image leaderboards, outperforming its predecessor and competing models in both quality and editing tasks.
The model supports up to 4K resolution across aspect ratios, maintains consistency for up to five characters and 14 objects, and improves text rendering and generation speed.
Priced at about 7 cents per image, roughly half the cost of Nano Banana Pro, it is now the default image generator across Gemini and Google’s tools, narrowing the gap between top-tier quality and affordability.
📱 Instagram to alert parents about repeated self-harm searches ↗️LINK
Instagram is rolling out alerts that notify parents if their teen repeatedly searches for suicide or self-harm-related content within a short time frame.
Parents can receive notifications via email, text, or WhatsApp, and Meta plans to expand the feature to cover teens attempting to discuss self-harm topics with the app’s AI tools.
The update comes as Meta faces ongoing lawsuits over teen safety, with critics arguing the protections should have been implemented earlier.
🍔 Burger King uses AI headset to track employee “friendliness” ↗️LINK
Burger King is piloting an AI assistant called “Patty” in 500 restaurants, embedding it in employee headsets to assist with meal prep and monitor customer interactions.
The OpenAI-powered system can detect phrases like “please” and “thank you,” allowing managers to review performance metrics related to friendliness and use them for coaching.
The broader BK Assistant platform is planned for rollout across all U.S. locations by the end of 2026, while AI drive-thru ordering remains limited to under 100 stores.
🎬 Netflix walks away from Warner Bros. deal ↗️LINK
Netflix has officially declined to raise its bid for Warner Bros., saying the deal is “no longer financially attractive” at the price needed to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer.
Co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters emphasized the studio was a “nice to have” at the right valuation — not a “must have” — signaling Netflix’s disciplined approach to major acquisitions.
With Netflix stepping aside, Paramount’s bid is now expected to be accepted by Warner Bros. Discovery’s board, marking a major shift in the battle over one of Hollywood’s most iconic studios.
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Today’s Poll:
How do you feel about Burger King using AI to monitor employee “friendliness”?
Vote and find out about the result tomorrow.
Yesterday’s Poll Result:
Do you think AI chat logs should be treated as legal evidence in criminal cases?
A) Yes, they can show intent - 57% 🏆
B) No, they don’t prove real-world actions - 43%
Reader’s opinions:
“Should be similarly treated to other web searches. Not much difference really.”
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