In the monthly podcast SED News from Software Engineering Daily, hosts Gregor Vand and Sean Falconer delve into significant stories impacting software engineering, Silicon Valley, and the tech industry at large.
This episode discusses the $1.7 billion acquisition of Security AI, LangChain’s impressive valuation, and the unexpected $300 million funding for Periodic Labs. They also analyze the extensive AWS outage, Apple’s uncommon reverse on its glass UI design, and the formation of trillion-dollar AI infrastructure deals surrounding OpenAI.
Gregor and Sean then explore the chipmaker landscape, discussing Intel’s survival efforts, AMD’s new alliance and 10% investment from OpenAI, Apple’s dedication to on-device AI through its M5 chips, and NVIDIA’s efforts to maintain its leading position amidst increasing custom-chip rivalry.
The episode concludes by spotlighting engaging threads from Hacker News, like developers rekindling their interest in curl, a hacker ingeniously dismantling Kindle’s DRM, and other topics.
Gregor Vand is a security-oriented technologist and former CTO in cybersecurity, cyber insurance, and software engineering fields. Based in Singapore, he can be reached through his profile on vand.hk or LinkedIn.
Sean has been an academic, startup founder, and worked at Google. His published works span AI to quantum computing. Currently serving as an AI Entrepreneur in Residence at Confluent, he focuses on AI strategy and thought leadership. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
Visit the podcast’s transcript [here](http://softwareengineeringdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/SED1881-Gregor-Vand-and-Sean-Falconer.txt).
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