SED News: Meta’s AI Gambit, Windsurf Shake‑Up, and the UK VPN Surge

Podcast Thursday, August 7 2025

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SED News is a monthly podcast from Software Engineering Daily where hosts Gregor Vand and Sean Falconer unpack the biggest stories shaping software engineering, Silicon Valley, and the broader tech industry.

In this episode, they explore Meta’s bold push into AI with the launch of Meta Superintelligence Labs, the dramatic twists in the Windsurf acquisition saga, Lyft’s re-entry into the autonomous vehicle race, and how new UK online safety rules have fueled a surge in VPN use.

They also dive into standout discussions from Hacker News, including students hacking a smart washing machine to send Discord alerts, a fully air‑gapped Jira alternative for regulated industries, and fresh insights on how variable naming impacts AI coding tools like Copilot.

Gregor Vand is a security-focused technologist, and is the founder and CTO of Mailpass. Previously, Gregor was a CTO across cybersecurity, cyber insurance and general software engineering companies. He has been based in Asia Pacific for almost a decade and can be found via his profile at vand.hk.

Sean’s been an academic, startup founder, and Googler. He has published works covering a wide range of topics from AI to quantum computing. Currently, Sean is an AI Entrepreneur in Residence at Confluent where he works on AI strategy and thought leadership. You can connect with Sean on LinkedIn.