Tech Pulse Daily - December 17, 2025
Dillip Chowdary
Tech Entrepreneur & Innovator
December 17, 2025 | 7 min read
Today's Top Highlights
- LAUNCH: Google releases Gemini 3 Flash globally - now default model in Gemini app
- FUNDING: Cyera raises $400M Series E at $9B valuation for AI-driven cybersecurity
- TALKS: OpenAI in discussions with Amazon for $10B+ investment and AI chip partnership
- Apple confirms AI delays will push Siri upgrades into 2026
- Node.js security releases scheduled for tomorrow (Dec 18)
Google Launches Gemini 3 Flash Globally
Google has released Gemini 3 Flash, making it the default model in the Gemini app globally. The new model delivers frontier intelligence at Flash-level speed, outperforming Gemini 2.5 Pro while being 3x faster.
- Performance: 90.4% on GPQA Diamond, 81.2% on MMMU-Pro (best in class)
- Speed: 3x faster than Gemini 2.5 Pro at a fraction of the cost
- Pricing: $0.50/1M input tokens, $3.00/1M output tokens
- Context Window: 1M token input, 65K token output
Cyera Raises $400M at $9 Billion Valuation
Israeli cybersecurity startup Cyera has raised a massive $400 million Series E round led by Blackstone, valuing the AI-driven data security platform at $9 billion.
- Funding: $400 million Series E led by Blackstone
- Valuation: $9 billion post-money
- Total Raised: ~$1.7 billion (including $540M in June, $300M in late 2024)
- Product: AI-driven platform for unified cloud data security and vulnerability detection
OpenAI in Talks with Amazon for $10B+ Investment
OpenAI is reportedly in discussions with Amazon for a potential investment exceeding $10 billion, which would include an AI chip partnership and could value OpenAI at more than $500 billion.
- Investment Size: Potentially exceeding $10 billion
- Valuation Target: Could push OpenAI above $500 billion
- Partnership Scope: AI chip development and cloud infrastructure
- Strategic Significance: Would strengthen OpenAI's position against Google
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Apple Confirms AI Delays Push Siri to 2026
Apple has confirmed that its AI assistant upgrade originally planned for 2025 will be delayed into 2026, marking another setback in the company's AI strategy amid aggressive competition.
- Delay Announced: In March 2025, after running ads for the feature
- New Timeline: AI assistant upgrade pushed to "the coming year" (2026)
- Industry Context: Apple largely absent from 2025's AI race
- iPhone Impact: iPhone 17 still projecting 10% revenue growth despite AI delays
Tomorrow: Node.js Security Releases
Node.js has announced security releases for Thursday, December 18, 2025, addressing multiple vulnerabilities across all active release lines.
- Affected Versions: Node.js 25.x, 24.x, 22.x, and 20.x
- Severity: Multiple high and medium severity issues
- Release Time: Postponed from Dec 15 due to challenging patch
- Action Required: Plan to update immediately when patches are available