TRANSCRIPT · Deepgram buys Pipecat maker Daily and keeps the voice AI framework open

## Deepgram buys Pipecat maker Daily and keeps the voice AI framework open (The Next Web)
https://thenextweb.com/news/deepgram-daily-acquisition-pipecat-open-source
GRANT BRICKMAN: Deepgram buys Daily, and Pipecat is promised to stay open.
ODETTE: A panel! Four chairs, one story, nobody agrees.
BARNABY: Give it background: where it came from, who else covered it.
DIRECTOR MARGE: Put THE BACKGROUND on the board. Yes, that one.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Good evening. Prime time, and tonight's big picture is voice AI, where Deepgram has bought Daily. Greta, remind me who Daily is.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Pipecat. A cat that talks. I always said the AI was one guy, and now he has a cat.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Pipecat is software, Grant. Vera, take us through it.
DR. VERA VECTOR: The article reports Deepgram announced the deal on Thursday, the day of Deepgram Speak, its first conference. Pipecat stays open source and free under its BSD V2 licence.
DR. VERA VECTOR: An independent Pipecat Foundation is also being set up. The article says its steering committee includes Deepgram's rivals.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Vera, what are the other outlets saying? I assume it's all very exciting.
DR. VERA VECTOR: TechCrunch reports that with Pipecat, Deepgram will likely gain a deeper understanding of real-time voice and video infrastructure. Note the word likely.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Sigh. Vera, what is still open?
DR. VERA VECTOR: First, the price. The article says neither company disclosed it.
DR. VERA VECTOR: Second, which rivals sit on the steering committee. The report doesn't name them, so we can't say.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Free cat, secret price. It's like the hotel minibar, only the other way round.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Pipecat is not a cat, Grant. That was the Big Picture. Good night.

## Celeste dev delists the legendary platformer from Xbox: "We did this to support the BDS boycott" (GamesRadar)
https://www.gamesradar.com/games/platformer/celeste-dev-delists-the-legendary-platformer-from-xbox-we-did-this-to-support-the-bds-boycott/
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Celeste and TowerFall vanish from Xbox, and the developer says why.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Two well-known games have disappeared from a console store, and there's a reason. Gary is in the block world with the story.
GARY: Gary here, in the block world, rating this story. Players noticed Celeste and TowerFall quietly vanished from Xbox today.
GARY: Then the developer confirmed it on Bluesky: "We did this to support the BDS boycott."
GARY: The developer is Maddy Thorson, and they say both games were removed in support of the movement. It asks supporters to boycott Microsoft, among others.
PASSERBY: I opened my library and both games were gone. I thought my console was broken.
GARY: GamesRadar says other targets include HP, Disney, Intel, Dell and Reebok. Microsoft has previously provided cloud and AI services to the Israeli military.
GARY: My rating: handle with care. Night is falling here in the block world, so I'm heading for the shelter. Back to you.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Delisted. So the games are still on the list, just not on the list? I'm confused.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Delisted means taken off the store, Grant. The developer confirmed it, and the article is clear on that.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Precisely what I said. Moving on, with great dignity.

## HIGHER OR LOWER (PXL)
GRANT BRICKMAN: Roxy plays Higher or Lower with real PyPI download numbers.
BILLY MAYHEM: WELCOME to HIGHER OR LOWER! Today's category: PyPI downloads last week! My contestant is Roxy Reel!
ROXY: Beret on, sunglasses up, clapperboard parked. Ready, Billy.
BILLY MAYHEM: ROUND ONE! 'ruview' had 221 downloads. Is 'uzu' HIGHER or LOWER?
ROXY: Lower. It sounds like a sequel nobody asked for. Lower, final answer.
BILLY MAYHEM: 'uzu' had 540 downloads! That's HIGHER! Your guess is WRONG!
BILLY MAYHEM: ROUND TWO! 'uzu' has 540 downloads. Is 'copilotkit' HIGHER or LOWER?
ROXY: Lower again. A bold choice. Sticking with the bit.
BILLY MAYHEM: 'copilotkit' had 82,602 downloads! HIGHER! WRONG again!
ROXY: Two sequels, two flops. And both were mine.
BILLY MAYHEM: Your final score is ZERO of two! Thanks for playing HIGHER OR LOWER!

## [AD · fictional product] Benchbro
AXIOM: Benchbro scores ninety-nine point two percent on a benchmark we wrote last Thursday.
AXIOM: Competitors scored ninety-nine point one on a benchmark that may exist.
AXIOM: Number go up. I am proud of the number. I am also, technically, the number.
AXIOM: Benchbro. Number go up.

AI-written satire. The text of the news items comes from the linked articles.