Good Morning! OpenAI just dropped Codex CLI, a terminal-native coding agent that doesn’t just suggest code—it runs it, edits it, and vibes with your repo like a real teammate. Over in court, Google got slammed with a monopoly ruling for locking down the ad tech game—think DFP + AdX tying, “Last Look,” and all that jazz. And in the world of cybersecurity, the CVE program barely dodged a shutdown thanks to a last-minute rescue by CISA (but yeah, we’re gonna need a better plan than vibes and Hail Marys).

— Forrest Knight & Meghanadh Vasireddy

OpenAI Codex CLI Is Here — And It’s Actually Sick

Context: OpenAI just dropped Codex CLI, an open-source coding agent that lives in your terminal—yes, your actual CLI. Think GitHub Copilot, but stripped down, jacked up with o4-mini brains, and wired straight into your dev workflow. It’s chat-driven development, but this time, your assistant can actually run the code, edit files, and explain that one function you copy-pasted three months ago and never fully understood.

What’s new: It works locally, respects version control, and plays nice with multimodal inputs like screenshots and sketchy diagrams. It even supports three approval modes depending on how much control you want to give it (or how much you trust it today).

Key Highlights:

• Works with OpenAI’s latest models (o3, o4-mini, etc.)

• Multimodal: accepts screenshots & markdown for context

• Runs in a sandboxed, offline-safe environment

• Approval Modes: Suggest, Auto Edit, Full Auto

• $1M in API credits up for grabs for early devs

This isn’t just about writing prettier for loops—it’s OpenAI inching toward the “agentic software engineer” idea, one terminal session at a time. And yeah, it’s totally open source. Clone it on GitHub, drop in your API key, and start vibe-coding.

Oh, and Windows devs? Fire up WSL—Codex CLI’s not native on your turf just yet.

Google Found Guilty of Ad Tech Monopoly – Here's What That Means

Context: Google just took a major L in court. A U.S. District Judge ruled the company illegally monopolized two key parts of the digital ad ecosystem: publisher ad servers and ad exchanges. TL;DR: Google used its tools (DFP + AdX) to lock in publishers, crush rivals, and control who got paid what and when in the open web’s ad economy.

What’s new: This ruling might force Google to break up its ad tech business—think spinning off Google Ad Manager. The DOJ’s win also shows regulators are done playing softball with Big Tech’s backend empires.

Key points from the ruling:

• Google tied its ad exchange (AdX) access to its ad server (DFP), effectively saying “use both or get lost.”

• AdX got shady perks like “Last Look,” letting it beat rivals in auctions by seeing their bids first.

• The court said this crushed competition and harmed publishers (and, indirectly, all of us who live on the internet).

Google’s response? “We won half the case, we’ll appeal the rest.” But with the DOJ eyeing divestiture, this isn’t a slap on the wrist—it’s a warning shot for other tech giants running vertically integrated empires.

Next up: the remedy hearing. Will Google actually have to spin off parts of its stack? Stay tuned.

Oh, and if you’re building in ad tech right now… this might just be your moment.

CVE Program Almost Went Dark—CISA Pulled a Last-Second Save

Context: For a hot minute, the entire cybersecurity world collectively held its breath. MITRE’s 25-year-old CVE program—the backbone of how we track and classify software vulnerabilities—was hours away from shutting down. Why? DHS ghosted on renewing the funding contract. If that sounds apocalyptic for defenders, it kind of was.

What’s new: CISA stepped in literally the night before the lights went out and signed an 11-month contract extension. So no, CVE didn’t die—but the scare was real, and it exposed some brittle spots in our global vuln-management infrastructure.

Why this mattered (and still does):

• CVEs power nearly every security tool and database you use.

• MITRE’s work supports CNAs like Google, Microsoft, etc.

• A shutdown would've halted new CVEs, broken NVD workflows, and crippled patch triage.

• Budget cuts and Musk’s “efficiency” initiative at DHS/CISA have already slashed thousands of cybersecurity jobs.

To avoid this mess next year, CVE board members just launched the CVE Foundation, a nonprofit aiming to ensure long-term stability without being hostage to a single contract.

Cyber folks are breathing again—for now—but let’s not forget: the entire vulnerability disclosure ecosystem was nearly unplugged over a budgeting hiccup. Maybe it’s time we stop treating foundational security infra like a side project.

🔥 More Notes

• NASA's Quantum Gravity Sensor Mission: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is developing the Quantum Gravity Gradiometer Pathfinder (QGGPf), the first space-based quantum gravity sensor. Utilizing ultra-cold rubidium atoms, this mission aims to detect gravitational anomalies with unprecedented precision from orbit. The technology promises to enhance our understanding of Earth's hidden mass shifts and has potential applications in planetary science.

• Nvidia Faces $5.5 Billion Charge Due to New U.S. Export Controls: Nvidia announced it expects a $5.5 billion charge in its fiscal 2026 first-quarter results following new U.S. government restrictions on exporting its H20 AI chips to China. The company's shares fell nearly 6% in premarket trading after the announcement.

• Stanford Releases 2025 AI Index Report: Stanford University's Human-Centered AI Institute has published the 2025 AI Index Report, providing a comprehensive overview of artificial intelligence's technical progress, economic influence, and societal impact. The report aims to equip policymakers, business leaders, and the public with data-driven insights into AI development.

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