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Google’s answer to the AI arms race — promote the guy behind its data center tech | TechCrunch

Google’s answer to the AI arms race — promote the guy behind its data center tech | TechCrunch

Google just made a major move in the AI infrastructure arms race, elevating Amin Vahdat to chief technologist for AI infrastructure, a newly created position reporting directly to CEO Sundar Pichai, according to an internal memo first reported by Semafor. It’s a signal of just how critical this work has become as Google pours up to $93 billion into capital expenditures by the end of 2025 — a number that parent company Alphabet expects will be a whole lot bigger next year.

Vahdat isn’t new to the game. The computer scientist, who holds a PhD from UC Berkeley and started as a research intern at Xerox PARC back in the early ’90s, has been quietly building Google’s AI backbone for the past 15 years. Before joining Google in 2010 as an engineering fellow and VP, he was an associate professor at Duke University and later a professor and SAIC Chair at UC San Diego. His academic credentials are formidable — with what appears to be around 395 published papers — and his research has always focused on making computers work more efficiently at massive scale.

Vahdat already maintains a high profile with Google. Just eight months ago, at Google Cloud Next, he unveiled the company’s seventh-generation TPU, called Ironwood, in his role as VP & GM of ML, Systems, and Cloud AI. The specs he rattled off at the event were staggering, too: over 9,000 chips per pod delivering 42.5 exaflops of compute — more than 24 times the power of the world’s number one supercomputer at the time, he said at the time. “Demand for AI compute has increased by a factor of 100 million in just eight years,” he told the audience.

Behind the scenes, as noted by Semafor, Vahdat has been orchestrating the unglamorous and essential work that keeps Google competitive, including those custom TPU chips for AI training and inference that give Google an edge over rivals like OpenAI as well as the Jupiter network, the super-fast internal network that allows all its servers to talk to each other and move massive amounts of data around. (In a blog post late last year Vahdat said that Jupiter now scales to 13 petabits per second, explaining that’s enough bandwidth to theoretically support a video call for all 8 billion people on Earth simultaneously.) It’s the invisible plumbing connecting everything from YouTube and Search to Google’s massive AI training operations across hundreds of data center fabrics worldwide.

Vahat has also been deeply involved in the ongoing development of the Borg software system, Google’s cluster management system that acts as the brain coordinating all the work happening across its data centers and whose job is to figure out which servers should run which tasks, when, and for how long. And he has said he oversaw the development of Axion, Google’s first custom Arm-based general-purpose CPUs designed for data centers, which the company unveiled last year and continues to build.

In short, Vahat is central to Google’s AI story.

Indeed, in a market where top AI talent commands astronomical compensation and constant recruitment, Google’s decision to elevate Vahdat to the C-suite may also be about retention. When you’ve spent 15 years building someone into a linchpin of your AI strategy, you make sure they stay.

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Mere moments after Argentina lost to France in a Round of 16 match during the 2018 World Cup in Russia, commentators were already predicting it would be his final time on a World Cup pitch. “This was Lionel Messi’s final World Cup match, surely,” one stated, “and maybe his final game for his country.” Messi was 31 at the time, and many assumed they had just watched his last appearance on soccer’s biggest stage.

They were wrong.

Instead, Messi came back four years later to lift the trophy in Qatar. Then he came back again this year at 39. However, Messi is not the exception any more.

Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, has said that this World Cup will be his last after Portugal’s Round of 16 exit following the team’s loss to Spain. Brazil’s Neymar, 34, too, announced his retirement from international football, as did Germany’s Manuel Neuer, 40. Meanwhile, Guillermo Ochoa, who turned 41 this month, is stepping away from professional football after becoming the first goalkeeper to make six World Cup squads.

Even as this World Cup has felt like one long farewell tour, for many of these players, the goodbye came years later than anyone expected.

While there isn’t a definitive global dataset comparing retirement ages across generations, the evidence points in one direction: football’s elite has been getting older for decades. A 2019 peer-reviewed study published in Frontiers of Psychology tracking nearly 30 seasons of UEFA Champions League football found the average age of players rose from 24.9 years in 1992-93 to 26.5 years by 2017-18. That trend is now on full display at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which had eight players in their forties—more than every previous edition combined—including Cape Verde’s 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha, one of the tournament’s breakout stars.

What’s striking is that this celebration of more veteran players on the pitch is happening during an era of football that has produced teenage stars like Lamine Yamal, Endrick, and Bara Sapoko Ndiaye. Soccer isn’t necessarily getting older because young players have disappeared; it’s getting older because veterans are leaving later.

Research suggests professional footballers still reach their physical peak in their mid-to-late twenties, though the exact age depends on position. And while aging is gradual, players in their thirties begin to lose their explosive speed and the stamina to maintain the high-intensity running that modern soccer demands most.

A long-term study of Spain’s top players found these reported losses in endurance were most notable among external defenders, external midfielders, and forwards, whose roles rely on explosive acceleration to either score a goal or shield their keeper’s box. Central defenders and central midfielders, meanwhile, became more accurate passers with age, suggesting that positioning, anticipation, and decisionmaking increasingly compensate for fading speed.

Messi may be the best example of how elite players adapt with age. Rather than constantly chasing the ball, he often spends long stretches walking, reading the game before deciding exactly when to get involved. According to The Athletic, FIFA tracking data shows Messi has spent 63 percent of his movement at this World Cup walking, conserving energy for the moments that matter most.

This just goes to prove that sports science hasn’t changed the biology of aging—it changed how soccer clubs respond to it. A 2024 review of athletes with extended careers found a correlation between professionals staying at the top of their game and increasingly individualized training.

Instead of prescribing the same program to an entire squad, coaches now tailor workloads around a player’s injury history, recovery, training response, and physical capacity.

However, as players get older, experience becomes a competitive advantage. Veteran footballers increasingly compensate for declining physicality with sharper decisionmaking, game intelligence, and a better understanding of their own limits.

#Lionel #Messis #Final #World #Cupand #Death #Early #Retirementworld cup 2026,sports,soccer,health,longevity">Lionel Messi’s Final World Cup—and the Death of Early RetirementMere moments after Argentina lost to France in a Round of 16 match during the 2018 World Cup in Russia, commentators were already predicting it would be his final time on a World Cup pitch. “This was Lionel Messi’s final World Cup match, surely,” one stated, “and maybe his final game for his country.” Messi was 31 at the time, and many assumed they had just watched his last appearance on soccer’s biggest stage.They were wrong.Instead, Messi came back four years later to lift the trophy in Qatar. Then he came back again this year at 39. However, Messi is not the exception any more.Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, has said that this World Cup will be his last after Portugal’s Round of 16 exit following the team’s loss to Spain. Brazil’s Neymar, 34, too, announced his retirement from international football, as did Germany’s Manuel Neuer, 40. Meanwhile, Guillermo Ochoa, who turned 41 this month, is stepping away from professional football after becoming the first goalkeeper to make six World Cup squads.Even as this World Cup has felt like one long farewell tour, for many of these players, the goodbye came years later than anyone expected.While there isn’t a definitive global dataset comparing retirement ages across generations, the evidence points in one direction: football’s elite has been getting older for decades. A 2019 peer-reviewed study published in Frontiers of Psychology tracking nearly 30 seasons of UEFA Champions League football found the average age of players rose from 24.9 years in 1992-93 to 26.5 years by 2017-18. That trend is now on full display at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which had eight players in their forties—more than every previous edition combined—including Cape Verde’s 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha, one of the tournament’s breakout stars.What’s striking is that this celebration of more veteran players on the pitch is happening during an era of football that has produced teenage stars like Lamine Yamal, Endrick, and Bara Sapoko Ndiaye. Soccer isn’t necessarily getting older because young players have disappeared; it’s getting older because veterans are leaving later.Research suggests professional footballers still reach their physical peak in their mid-to-late twenties, though the exact age depends on position. And while aging is gradual, players in their thirties begin to lose their explosive speed and the stamina to maintain the high-intensity running that modern soccer demands most.A long-term study of Spain’s top players found these reported losses in endurance were most notable among external defenders, external midfielders, and forwards, whose roles rely on explosive acceleration to either score a goal or shield their keeper’s box. Central defenders and central midfielders, meanwhile, became more accurate passers with age, suggesting that positioning, anticipation, and decisionmaking increasingly compensate for fading speed.Messi may be the best example of how elite players adapt with age. Rather than constantly chasing the ball, he often spends long stretches walking, reading the game before deciding exactly when to get involved. According to The Athletic, FIFA tracking data shows Messi has spent 63 percent of his movement at this World Cup walking, conserving energy for the moments that matter most.This just goes to prove that sports science hasn’t changed the biology of aging—it changed how soccer clubs respond to it. A 2024 review of athletes with extended careers found a correlation between professionals staying at the top of their game and increasingly individualized training.Instead of prescribing the same program to an entire squad, coaches now tailor workloads around a player’s injury history, recovery, training response, and physical capacity.However, as players get older, experience becomes a competitive advantage. Veteran footballers increasingly compensate for declining physicality with sharper decisionmaking, game intelligence, and a better understanding of their own limits.#Lionel #Messis #Final #World #Cupand #Death #Early #Retirementworld cup 2026,sports,soccer,health,longevity

World Cup pitch. “This was Lionel Messi’s final World Cup match, surely,” one stated, “and maybe his final game for his country.” Messi was 31 at the time, and many assumed they had just watched his last appearance on soccer’s biggest stage.

They were wrong.

Instead, Messi came back four years later to lift the trophy in Qatar. Then he came back again this year at 39. However, Messi is not the exception any more.

Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, has said that this World Cup will be his last after Portugal’s Round of 16 exit following the team’s loss to Spain. Brazil’s Neymar, 34, too, announced his retirement from international football, as did Germany’s Manuel Neuer, 40. Meanwhile, Guillermo Ochoa, who turned 41 this month, is stepping away from professional football after becoming the first goalkeeper to make six World Cup squads.

Even as this World Cup has felt like one long farewell tour, for many of these players, the goodbye came years later than anyone expected.

While there isn’t a definitive global dataset comparing retirement ages across generations, the evidence points in one direction: football’s elite has been getting older for decades. A 2019 peer-reviewed study published in Frontiers of Psychology tracking nearly 30 seasons of UEFA Champions League football found the average age of players rose from 24.9 years in 1992-93 to 26.5 years by 2017-18. That trend is now on full display at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which had eight players in their forties—more than every previous edition combined—including Cape Verde’s 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha, one of the tournament’s breakout stars.

What’s striking is that this celebration of more veteran players on the pitch is happening during an era of football that has produced teenage stars like Lamine Yamal, Endrick, and Bara Sapoko Ndiaye. Soccer isn’t necessarily getting older because young players have disappeared; it’s getting older because veterans are leaving later.

Research suggests professional footballers still reach their physical peak in their mid-to-late twenties, though the exact age depends on position. And while aging is gradual, players in their thirties begin to lose their explosive speed and the stamina to maintain the high-intensity running that modern soccer demands most.

A long-term study of Spain’s top players found these reported losses in endurance were most notable among external defenders, external midfielders, and forwards, whose roles rely on explosive acceleration to either score a goal or shield their keeper’s box. Central defenders and central midfielders, meanwhile, became more accurate passers with age, suggesting that positioning, anticipation, and decisionmaking increasingly compensate for fading speed.

Messi may be the best example of how elite players adapt with age. Rather than constantly chasing the ball, he often spends long stretches walking, reading the game before deciding exactly when to get involved. According to The Athletic, FIFA tracking data shows Messi has spent 63 percent of his movement at this World Cup walking, conserving energy for the moments that matter most.

This just goes to prove that sports science hasn’t changed the biology of aging—it changed how soccer clubs respond to it. A 2024 review of athletes with extended careers found a correlation between professionals staying at the top of their game and increasingly individualized training.

Instead of prescribing the same program to an entire squad, coaches now tailor workloads around a player’s injury history, recovery, training response, and physical capacity.

However, as players get older, experience becomes a competitive advantage. Veteran footballers increasingly compensate for declining physicality with sharper decisionmaking, game intelligence, and a better understanding of their own limits.

#Lionel #Messis #Final #World #Cupand #Death #Early #Retirementworld cup 2026,sports,soccer,health,longevity">Lionel Messi’s Final World Cup—and the Death of Early Retirement

Mere moments after Argentina lost to France in a Round of 16 match during the 2018 World Cup in Russia, commentators were already predicting it would be his final time on a World Cup pitch. “This was Lionel Messi’s final World Cup match, surely,” one stated, “and maybe his final game for his country.” Messi was 31 at the time, and many assumed they had just watched his last appearance on soccer’s biggest stage.

They were wrong.

Instead, Messi came back four years later to lift the trophy in Qatar. Then he came back again this year at 39. However, Messi is not the exception any more.

Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, has said that this World Cup will be his last after Portugal’s Round of 16 exit following the team’s loss to Spain. Brazil’s Neymar, 34, too, announced his retirement from international football, as did Germany’s Manuel Neuer, 40. Meanwhile, Guillermo Ochoa, who turned 41 this month, is stepping away from professional football after becoming the first goalkeeper to make six World Cup squads.

Even as this World Cup has felt like one long farewell tour, for many of these players, the goodbye came years later than anyone expected.

While there isn’t a definitive global dataset comparing retirement ages across generations, the evidence points in one direction: football’s elite has been getting older for decades. A 2019 peer-reviewed study published in Frontiers of Psychology tracking nearly 30 seasons of UEFA Champions League football found the average age of players rose from 24.9 years in 1992-93 to 26.5 years by 2017-18. That trend is now on full display at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which had eight players in their forties—more than every previous edition combined—including Cape Verde’s 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha, one of the tournament’s breakout stars.

What’s striking is that this celebration of more veteran players on the pitch is happening during an era of football that has produced teenage stars like Lamine Yamal, Endrick, and Bara Sapoko Ndiaye. Soccer isn’t necessarily getting older because young players have disappeared; it’s getting older because veterans are leaving later.

Research suggests professional footballers still reach their physical peak in their mid-to-late twenties, though the exact age depends on position. And while aging is gradual, players in their thirties begin to lose their explosive speed and the stamina to maintain the high-intensity running that modern soccer demands most.

A long-term study of Spain’s top players found these reported losses in endurance were most notable among external defenders, external midfielders, and forwards, whose roles rely on explosive acceleration to either score a goal or shield their keeper’s box. Central defenders and central midfielders, meanwhile, became more accurate passers with age, suggesting that positioning, anticipation, and decisionmaking increasingly compensate for fading speed.

Messi may be the best example of how elite players adapt with age. Rather than constantly chasing the ball, he often spends long stretches walking, reading the game before deciding exactly when to get involved. According to The Athletic, FIFA tracking data shows Messi has spent 63 percent of his movement at this World Cup walking, conserving energy for the moments that matter most.

This just goes to prove that sports science hasn’t changed the biology of aging—it changed how soccer clubs respond to it. A 2024 review of athletes with extended careers found a correlation between professionals staying at the top of their game and increasingly individualized training.

Instead of prescribing the same program to an entire squad, coaches now tailor workloads around a player’s injury history, recovery, training response, and physical capacity.

However, as players get older, experience becomes a competitive advantage. Veteran footballers increasingly compensate for declining physicality with sharper decisionmaking, game intelligence, and a better understanding of their own limits.

#Lionel #Messis #Final #World #Cupand #Death #Early #Retirementworld cup 2026,sports,soccer,health,longevity

SAVE $400: The 27-inch OLED LG Ultragear gaming monitor is on sale for $499.99 at Amazon, down from the standard price of $899.99. That’s a 44% discount that matches the best price we’ve seen at Amazon.


$499.99 at Amazon
$899.99 Save $400

 

Summer is the perfect season to make home gaming upgrades. Even if you love the summer heat, gaming provides an occasional indoor reprieve. If you’ve been getting by with a less-than-ideal gaming setup, check out this gaming monitor deal.

As of July 15, the 27-inch OLED LG Ultragear gaming monitor is on sale for $499.99 at Amazon, down from the standard price of $899.99. That’s a 44% discount that matches the best price we’ve seen at Amazon.

Once you go OLED, you won’t go back. The 27-inch LG Ultragear is perfect for smooth gameplay, getting a 240Hz refresh rate and a 0.03 millisecond response time. Your days of dealing with lag and ghosting will be long gone with this fresh upgrade. Plus, it comes with VESA DisplayHDR True Back 400 certification.

LG equipped the monitor with an anti-glare screen that helps minimize bothersome reflections that could spell a distraction. The 27-inch display means it’ll fit well on most desks without taking over the space.

The included stand can tilt and pivot to your desired position, and you can adjust the height. In addition, the monitor has a borderless design. Since not everyday can be filled with gaming, the monitor will also be great for work tasks or streaming a movie.

While it’s sitting at the record-low price from Amazon, make the upgrade to the 27-inch OLED LG Ultragear gaming monitor. It’s currently under $500 which is close to a 50% discount.

#monitor #deal #Ultragear #OLED #gaming #monitor">Best monitor deal: Take 44% off the LG Ultragear OLED gaming monitor
                                                            SAVE 0: The 27-inch OLED LG Ultragear gaming monitor is on sale for 9.99 at Amazon, down from the standard price of 9.99. That’s a 44% discount that matches the best price we’ve seen at Amazon.
    
    
    
        
                                        
                                        
                    
                                                    9.99
                                                             at Amazon
                                                        9.99
                                                                                         Save 0
                                                                        
                
                                         
                    
        
    

Summer is the perfect season to make home gaming upgrades. Even if you love the summer heat, gaming provides an occasional indoor reprieve. If you’ve been getting by with a less-than-ideal gaming setup, check out this gaming monitor deal.As of July 15, the 27-inch OLED LG Ultragear gaming monitor is on sale for 9.99 at Amazon, down from the standard price of 9.99. That’s a 44% discount that matches the best price we’ve seen at Amazon.Once you go OLED, you won’t go back. The 27-inch LG Ultragear is perfect for smooth gameplay, getting a 240Hz refresh rate and a 0.03 millisecond response time. Your days of dealing with lag and ghosting will be long gone with this fresh upgrade. Plus, it comes with VESA DisplayHDR True Back 400 certification.
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            Grab this OLED Samsung Odyssey G5 gaming monitor for 0 on Amazon — save over 0
            
        
    
LG equipped the monitor with an anti-glare screen that helps minimize bothersome reflections that could spell a distraction. The 27-inch display means it’ll fit well on most desks without taking over the space. 

        
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The included stand can tilt and pivot to your desired position, and you can adjust the height. In addition, the monitor has a borderless design. Since not everyday can be filled with gaming, the monitor will also be great for work tasks or streaming a movie.While it’s sitting at the record-low price from Amazon, make the upgrade to the 27-inch OLED LG Ultragear gaming monitor. It’s currently under 0 which is close to a 50% discount.

                    
                                            
                            
    
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                                    #monitor #deal #Ultragear #OLED #gaming #monitor

27-inch OLED LG Ultragear gaming monitor is on sale for $499.99 at Amazon, down from the standard price of $899.99. That’s a 44% discount that matches the best price we’ve seen at Amazon.


$499.99 at Amazon
$899.99 Save $400

 

Summer is the perfect season to make home gaming upgrades. Even if you love the summer heat, gaming provides an occasional indoor reprieve. If you’ve been getting by with a less-than-ideal gaming setup, check out this gaming monitor deal.

As of July 15, the 27-inch OLED LG Ultragear gaming monitor is on sale for $499.99 at Amazon, down from the standard price of $899.99. That’s a 44% discount that matches the best price we’ve seen at Amazon.

Once you go OLED, you won’t go back. The 27-inch LG Ultragear is perfect for smooth gameplay, getting a 240Hz refresh rate and a 0.03 millisecond response time. Your days of dealing with lag and ghosting will be long gone with this fresh upgrade. Plus, it comes with VESA DisplayHDR True Back 400 certification.

LG equipped the monitor with an anti-glare screen that helps minimize bothersome reflections that could spell a distraction. The 27-inch display means it’ll fit well on most desks without taking over the space.

The included stand can tilt and pivot to your desired position, and you can adjust the height. In addition, the monitor has a borderless design. Since not everyday can be filled with gaming, the monitor will also be great for work tasks or streaming a movie.

While it’s sitting at the record-low price from Amazon, make the upgrade to the 27-inch OLED LG Ultragear gaming monitor. It’s currently under $500 which is close to a 50% discount.

#monitor #deal #Ultragear #OLED #gaming #monitor">Best monitor deal: Take 44% off the LG Ultragear OLED gaming monitor

SAVE $400: The 27-inch OLED LG Ultragear gaming monitor is on sale for $499.99 at Amazon, down from the standard price of $899.99. That’s a 44% discount that matches the best price we’ve seen at Amazon.


$499.99 at Amazon
$899.99 Save $400

 

Summer is the perfect season to make home gaming upgrades. Even if you love the summer heat, gaming provides an occasional indoor reprieve. If you’ve been getting by with a less-than-ideal gaming setup, check out this gaming monitor deal.

As of July 15, the 27-inch OLED LG Ultragear gaming monitor is on sale for $499.99 at Amazon, down from the standard price of $899.99. That’s a 44% discount that matches the best price we’ve seen at Amazon.

Once you go OLED, you won’t go back. The 27-inch LG Ultragear is perfect for smooth gameplay, getting a 240Hz refresh rate and a 0.03 millisecond response time. Your days of dealing with lag and ghosting will be long gone with this fresh upgrade. Plus, it comes with VESA DisplayHDR True Back 400 certification.

LG equipped the monitor with an anti-glare screen that helps minimize bothersome reflections that could spell a distraction. The 27-inch display means it’ll fit well on most desks without taking over the space.

The included stand can tilt and pivot to your desired position, and you can adjust the height. In addition, the monitor has a borderless design. Since not everyday can be filled with gaming, the monitor will also be great for work tasks or streaming a movie.

While it’s sitting at the record-low price from Amazon, make the upgrade to the 27-inch OLED LG Ultragear gaming monitor. It’s currently under $500 which is close to a 50% discount.

#monitor #deal #Ultragear #OLED #gaming #monitor

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