Copilot Slowdown, AI Taxes, OpenAI Images, ty/Toad, ALPR Watch, and the 300TB Spotify Mirror

Enjoy the holidays everyone! 🧑‍🎄 🎆This episode we have:(00:00) - Intro (02:25) - Microsoft denies lowering targets for AI software sales growth (Copilot) (09:26) - If AI replaces workers, should it also pay taxes? (robot tax) (18:00) - The internet just made a 300TB copy of Spotify (Anna’s Archive) (26:06) - The new ChatGPT Images is here (GPT Image 1.5) (32:33) - Announcing the Beta release of ty (Rust Python type checker) (43:17) - alpr.watch — Track Surveillance Tech in Local Government Meetings (48:10) - Developers can now submit apps to ChatGPT (56:30) - Toad is a unified experience for AI in the terminal (01:04:48) - Tidbits (01:05:00) - Anthropic “Skills” goes public + MCP comparisons (01:07:11) - Claude for Chrome released (01:09:03) - Lovable raises $330M at a $6.6B valuation (01:10:28) - Alphabet/Google chips vs Nvidia (TPU support for PyTorch w/ Meta) (01:12:59) - McKinsey eyes thousands of job cuts (01:14:48) - Wrap-up (last episode of 2025) (01:18:42) - Outro / Merry Christmas & Happy New Year Microsoft denies report of lowering targets for AI software sales growth | 2025-12-03A Reuters piece says Microsoft denied a report that it lowered sales growth targets for AI tools like Copilot Studio, even as some customers resist new agent-building products. Shares dipped nearly 3% before paring losses, and the company emphasized quotas remain intact while adoption and ROI pressures intensify.https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-lowers-ai-software-sales-quota-customers-resist-new-products-2025-12-03/If AI replaces workers, should it also pay taxes? | 2025-11-30EL PAÍS revisits the ‘robot tax’ debate as AI investment soars and layoffs mount, asking whether automation should help replace lost labor taxes. Economists warn design is tricky; one expert notes labor provides about 85% of U.S. federal revenue, while the IMF favors adjusting capital taxes instead.https://english.elpais.com/technology/2025-11-30/if-ai-replaces-workers-should-it-also-pay-taxes.htmlThe internet just made a 300TB copy of Spotify! | 2025-12-22A pirate preservation group, Anna’s Archive, says it scraped nearly all of Spotify—publishing metadata for 256 million tracks and starting to release 86 million audio files via torrents, about 300TB. Organized by Spotify “popularity,” the dump claims to cover ~99.6% of listens and will roll out in stages—setting up legal fights over mass scraping.https://www.androidauthority.com/spotify-annas-archive-3627023/The new ChatGPT Images is here | 2025-12-16OpenAI introduced a new ChatGPT Images experience powered by GPT Image 1.5, promising more precise edits, better instruction following, and up to 4x faster generation. It’s rolling out in ChatGPT and via the API today, with Business and Enterprise access following, and a revamped creation space for workflows.https://openai.com/index/new-chatgpt-images-is-here/Announcing the Beta release of ty | 2025-12-16Charlie Marsh announced the beta of ty, an extremely fast Python type checker and language server written in Rust, aiming to speed up feedback for large codebases. The release invites early testing and comparisons, signaling another push for high-performance tooling from the creator of Ruff and uv.https://x.com/charliermarsh/status/2001038023434047623alpr.watch — Track Surveillance Tech in Local Government Meetings | n.d.alpr.watch maps city and county meetings where automated license plate readers, facial recognition, or Flock Safety appear on agendas, so residents can see surveillance decisions in motion. It scans public documents for keywords and pins them on a live map, with options to report cameras or get local alerts.https://alpr.watch/Developers can now submit apps to ChatGPT | 2025-12-17OpenAI opened app submissions for ChatGPT and launched an in-product app directory, putting third-party tools a click away in conversations. Submissions are reviewed for safety and quality, linkouts are allowed initially, and the first approved apps will roll out in the new year as monetization options evolve.https://openai.com/index/developers-can-now-submit-apps-to-chatgpt/Toad is a unified experience for AI in the terminal | 2025-12-18Will McGugan unveiled Toad, a terminal app that unifies AI coding agents under a single UI using the Agent Client Protocol, aiming to make agentic workflows feel native to the shell. At launch it supports 12 agent CLIs and adds niceties like Markdown streaming and fuzzy file inserts.https://willmcgugan.github.io/toad-released/