What responsibility do you have to speak up about bad things happening in the world? Does that responsibility change when speaking up might affect your business? What about if you're a sports creator, or the moderator of a deeply NSFW subreddit? What about if you're just a little ol' phone website? Ultimately, everyone has to make those decisions for themselves. But decisions have consequences.

On this episode of The Vergecast, David and Nilay start by talking about The Verge's …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Zillow Group let go of about 200 employees recently as part of performance-related role reductions, the Seattle-based real estate company confirmed to GeekWire on Friday.

“After thoughtful consideration, we made the decision to separate a small number of employees whose performance did not meet expectations,” a Zillow spokesperson said. “This decision is not connected to market conditions or recent business developments. We will continue to invest in the teams and roles needed to effectively deliver on our strategy.”

The company said the cuts — which represent about 2% of Zillow’s overall headcount — were part of the annual review process.

“We recognize the impact of these decisions and appreciate the contributions of each person, and we are committed to supporting those affected with respect and care,” the spokesperson added.

The reductions at Zillow come amid a period of significant layoffs at Seattle-area tech companies, including 16,000 additional corporate cuts at Amazon this week. Meta and Expedia Group also trimmed their workforces in the region.

Zillow is led by CEO Jeremy Wacksman who took over the role in August 2024 from co-founder and two-time CEO Rich Barton.

Founded in Seattle in 2005, Zillow moved to a remote-first workforce during the pandemic. The company still maintains a large footprint in downtown Seattle.

Zillow reported revenue of $676 million in the third quarter, up 16% year-over-year. Traffic to its mobile apps and sites was up 7% to 250 million average monthly unique users.

Gemini Drops is our regular monthly update on how to get the most out of the Gemini app.

In this post (split into 7 parts for readability), I explore ways to use AI to improve the quality of expressive writing without resulting in AI slop, and without robbing writers of the value of the writing process itself. I use Bakhtin and heteroglossia to argue that incorporating diverse voices into writing (with research help from AI) can help give writing a sense of liveliness and human soul.

Download audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/audioboom.com/posts/8854862.mp3?modified=1769792516&sid=5141110&source=rss

The SQL community is leveling up! 

We’re launching a lightweight, beginner friendly SQL + AI contest designed to spark awareness of SQL Server 2025’s new AI capabilities—from connecting to an AI model, to generating embeddings, to exploring what’s possible when natural language intelligence meets your database. 

Building on the momentum, each week in February unlocks a new chapter of the story - from your first steps connecting SQL to AI, to exploring embeddings, to experimenting with lightweight RAG patterns, and finally orchestrating full end-to-end workflows. This will be hands-on, guided, and fun! 

You don’t need to be an AI expert to participate. Each challenge builds on the last, helping you discover what’s possible when SQL’s new capabilities meet real world scenarios — all in a fun, approachable format designed to spark curiosity and get people talking. 

Join us for some SQL fun starting next week, February 5th! Stay tuned to this post for more details! 

Get ready to build, discover, and play. SQL + AI is here.