Data Centers are the New Railroads - DTNS 5137

Tech Earnings hit the clouds but Apple’s closer to the ground.

Starring Tom Merritt, Jenn Cutter, and Andy Beach.

TOM: This is the Daily Tech News for Friday, October 31st, 2025. We tell you what you need to know, give you the important context, and help each other understand.

JENN: Today, Andy Beach tells us why AI has folks running for the shelter of TextEdit, and in part two of our discussion of tech earnings, we realize why everybody’s head is in the clouds. [23:20]

I’m Tom Merritt,

I’m Jenn Cutter

TOM: Let’s start with what you need to know with the big story.

[[BIG STORY]]
[[SOLO story of the day. Basic details, monitor commentary and sound when possible.]]

"Amazon (AMZN) Q3 earnings report 2025"
"AWS Q3 2025 earnings report Amazon cloud"
"'It's culture': Amazon CEO says massive corporate layoffs were about agility — not AI or cost-cutting – GeekWire"
"Amazon Ad Revenue Rises 24% to $17.7 Billion in Q3"
"AI turned Google Cloud from also-ran into Alphabet’s growth driver | Reuters"

TOM: Cloud is now king, as we saw in the earnings reports earlier this week from Microsoft and Alphabet, and further bolstered by Thursday's Amazon earnings.

Amazon reported that AWS revenue was up 20% on the year, driving the overall 13% rise in revenue for all of Amazon. That's only behind advertising in growth, which rose 24%.

[["AWS is growing at a pace we haven't seen since 2022, reacelerating to 20.2% year-over-year, our largest growth rate in 11 quarters."]]

CEO Andy Jassy. Google's cloud revenue grew 24% last quarter, and Microsoft Azure grew 40%.

Amazon also raised its capital expenditures forecast for the rest of this year and expects to have an even bigger number in 2026. And Amazon also says its cost-cutting and layoffs of 14,000 HQ staff are not what you think.

[["The announcement that we made a few days ago was not really financially driven, and it's not even really AI-driven. Um, not right now, at least. It's it it really it's culture and if you grow uh as fast as we did for several years, you know, the size of businesses, the number of people, the number of locations, the types of businesses you're in, you end up with a lot more people than what you had before and you end up with a lot more layers."]]

But it's spending most of its money on AWS infrastructure, and building out capacity for AI demand, which is driving cloud revenue. At Google, cloud is its fastest-growing segment, finally challenging YouTube as the number 2 cash maker behind advertising. And as Jason and Sarah talked about yesterday, Google is also spending a lot on infrastructure, as is Microsoft.

Jenn, Amazon has been a cloud company for years as has Microsoft. It looks like Google is too.

[[DISCUSS]]

JENN: DTNS is made possible by you the listener. Thanks to
Jeff Wilkes
Tim Deputy
Brandon Brooks
And Luke Holbrook

[[BREAK]]
[[PAUSE]]

TOM: There’s more we need to know today, let’s get to the briefs.

[[BRIEFS]]
[[3-5 more solo reads with sound to complete the day in tech news. These are informational with minor commentary.]]

"Tim Cook says Apple is open to M&A on the AI front | TechCrunch"
"Apple Services Revenue Increases 15% to Hit New Record in September 2025 Quarter"
"Apple Predicts Return to Growth After Surprise China Sales Drop - Bloomberg"
"Apple (AAPL) earnings report Q4 2025"

JENN: Apple announced its earnings on Thursday, and among the highlights were a 15% rise in services, its highest growth rate this year. Apple also believes holiday sales of the iPhone will propel it to its biggest December quarter ever, projecting 10-12% revenue growth. Sales of the iPhone this past quarter were up 6% on the year, the biggest ever. The company will need sales to bounce back in China, where iPhone sales fell 4% unexpectedly. Apple CEO Tim Cook attributed the drop to temporary supply constraints and believes sales in China will recover quickly.

Cook also told investors the company is "making good progress" on a better Siri for launch next year, which is what he said last quarter. He also told analysts that Apple is open to acquiring companies to "advance our roadmap." And Cook told CNBC that Apple is preparing to announce partnerships with more AI companies, like the one Apple has with OpenAI.

"Nvidia expands AI ties with Hyundai, Samsung, SK, Naver | TechCrunch"
"Blackwell GPU's exclusion from high-level trade talks highlights deepening AI ecosystem rift between nations — China aims to build sovereign hardware and software systems without Nvidia | Tom's Hardware"
"Samsung is using NVIDIA chips to build its new AI chip factory"
"Samsung and Nvidia to build an AI Megafactory to transform semiconductor manufacturing - SiliconANGLE"

[[AUDIO: Tonight we have a great performance from Le Sserahim. translation.. Le Sserafim! Jensen Huang!!"]]

TOM: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is making the most of his visit to South Korea, introducing pop stars Le Sserafim at the GeForce Gamer Festival and having Chicken and Beer with the leaders of Samsung and Hyundai, and meeting with top execs from SK and Naver as well. All told, Nvidia will sell 260,000 GPUs to Korean organizations to build up data centers, including 50,000 for public programs to develop domestic foundation models and a national data center. Samsung will build a factory in partnership with Nvidia that uses Nvidia tech for automation, optimization, and analysis. Samsung and Nvidia will also develop next-gen memory called HBM4. And Nvidia will work with SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus to codevelop AI-RAN, a mobile base station tech that hopes to improve performance and decrease battery use. Meanwhile, there is no word on easing restrictions on selling GPUs to China, though Huang said he is still hopeful.

"OpenAI now sells extra Sora credits for $4, plans to reduce free gens in the future"

JENN: OpenAI has started selling credits for its Sora video generation tool when people reach their regular limit. Free users can generate 30 videos a day, but can now pay $4 to get 10 more. Paid subscribers have higher limits, but can buy more generations if they max out as well. OpenAI is also exploring deals with rightsholders to let them sell the ability to include their intellectual property in video generations.

"Linux vendors are getting into Ubuntu – and Snap • The Register"

TOM: The Register reports that many companies presenting at the Ubuntu summit announced support for Canonical's Snap packages for app distribution. Dreamworks Pictures will distribute its free and open source Moonray MCRT ray-tracing software using Snap, as will Proton. Still, the package format is missing the big names like Chrome or VS Code. And while there is an unofficial Snap of Steam, the Valve package reportedly works better. 20% of Steam users are on some form of Ubuntu.

TOM: And finally, some quick headlines that are just good to know if you want to understand the news in the future.

"Google Maps is working on an extremely minimalist power saving mode"

JENN: Android Authority found code that indicates that known battery-hog Google Maps, is testing a power-saving mode that would remove extraneous UI elements and labels and make the screen monochrome. No indication of when this might ship.

"Danish Presidency backs away from 'chat control' | Euractiv"

TOM: The Danish Council presidency of the EU will no longer propose mandatory scanning for CSAM by online platforms, aka “chat control,” but will encourage scanning.

"China's Pony.ai gets the first permit for robotaxis in all of Shenzhen"

JENN: Pony.ai has received the first permit to operate autonomous taxis throughout the entire city of Shenzhen, China.

"Getty Images stock pops 19% on deal with Perplexity AI"

TOM: Getty Images reached a licensing deal with Perplexity Friday to display the vast collection of images and content in Perplexity's generative search results.

"Google brings free Gemini access to India's largest carrier"

JENN: Google reached an agreement with Reliance Jio, India's largest mobile carrier, to offer Gemini AI Pro at no additional cost for 18 months to subscribers of Jio's 5G unlimited plan.

"WhatsApp Testing Apple Watch App - MacRumors"

TOM: WhatsApp began offering an Apple Watch app on TestFlight that lets you reply, send reactions, and share voice messages, along with a few other features.

"YouTuber Who Trolled Nintendo Now Owes $17,500 In Switch Piracy Lawsuit"

JENN: Jesse Keighin (KAY-in), who once taunted Nintendo while streaming pirated versions of its software on YouTube, now owes the company $17,500 after losing a lawsuit over the unauthorized streaming.

"Coinbase Stock (COIN) Rises After Revenue Climbs More Than Estimates - Bloomberg"

TOM: An interesting indication of the state of cryptocurrency, if you're interested. Coinbase reported revenue increased 55% to $1.9 billion last quarter. It has scheduled a product showcase for December 17th.

"Netflix Weighs Bid for Warner Studio, Streaming Units: Reuters - Bloomberg"

JENN: Reuters' sources say Netflix has hired a financial adviser to prepare a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. Comcast is also said to be investigating making a bid and Paramount has reportedly made a bid and been rejected.

[[PROMO]]

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[[BREAK]]
[[PAUSE]]

[[HELPING EACH OTHER UNDERSTAND]]
[[Short missives from people with experience. Could be written email or pre-recorded from the person.]]

JENN: We end every episode of DTNS with some shared wisdom. Today Kevin has some thoughts on the ongoing topic of whether you should or should not use AI to create expense receipts.

TOM:
On DTNS Live Thursday, they read an email from Tony who says he has used LLMs to make receipts for actual expenses where the vendor didn’t provide a receipt. That was in response to our story here on Monday, regarding AppZen’s reported increase in the number of generated receipts in expense reports

Kevin writes:
I am a tax preparer and also help run a different finance department for a company with a lot of travel. The topic of fake receipts crosses both of my roles. My first thought is to the validity of the receipts made by AI on legit expenses for tax documentation purposes. Estimates can be accepted in tax examinations, but would be subject to higher scrutiny. Proven, fake expenses submitted by employees not only should result in termination to the employee, but also could put the employer's business at risk for stiff fraud penalties and criminal prosecution by the IRS. It will be interesting to see how this develops in the coming years in tax court and other places.

[[DISCUSS]]

JENN: What are you thinking about? Got some insight into a story? Share it with us feedback@dailytechnewsshow.com

TOM: Thanks to Andy Beach and Kevin for contributing to today’s show. And thank YOU for being along for Daily Tech News Show. You can keep us in business by becoming a patron, at Patreon.com/dtns