Tuesday, October 28, 2025
In today’s digest, marathon weekend, improvements across the city, and the AI browser wars heat up. 🔥
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This weekend is packed in NYC: Halloween on Friday, Daylight Saving Time ending on early Sunday, and, of course, the NYC Marathon on Sunday morning, with more than 55,000 racers expected to run! Here are the best places to watch (and the road closures to expect). 🏃(Yahoo)
The tech angle: You can enhance your race-watching day by downloading the NYRR app here.
The best five words for a project: “On time and under budget.” That’s what MTA officials are calling the latest upgrades to the Grand Central Terminal subway station, completed today after five years of renovation. 👷 (amNY)
Improvements include the replacement of escalators and elevators, painting 80,000 square feet of 7-line tunnel walls, new grouting to stop water infiltration, and more security cameras.
Speaking of improvements: Prometheus is getting a glow-up for the holidays. And we mean glow 👏 up 👏 — to the tune of nearly 24 karat gold. The iconic 18-foot-tall Rockefeller Center statue behind the famous ice rink is being regilded with 20,000 sheets of gold. (New York Times)
The work costs more than $60K in gold alone and will be unveiled just in time for the Dec. 3 Christmas tree lighting.
➕ One more thing: Tech:NYC’s Decoded Futures team just dropped their latest Substack post, detailing the four ways AI leadership is emerging in the social sector. Check it out (and subscribe!) here.
In other reading:
AI startup Sierra opens first New York office with SoHo lease (Crain’s New York)
What to do in New York City in November 2025 (Center Magazine)
Whatever happened to $1 oysters? (New York Groove)
The AI Browser Wars
The AI browser wars have begun. ChatGPT just launched Atlas last week, and others in the space, like Perplexity’s Comet, are blurring the line between search engine and assistant. 💻
Here’s what you need to know:
The big shift: AI browsers can see your tabs, summarize pages, and even click around for you — turning your browser into a personal assistant.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT Atlas, Perplexity’s Comet, Google’s Gemini, and The Browser Company’s Dia are leading the charge.
They can explain web content, find the best prices, or auto-fill forms while you multitask.
☕ Assistants vs. agents:
Assistants (like Gemini and Dia) save time by answering questions and finding deals.
Agents (like Atlas and Comet) go further — booking travel or filling your shopping cart.
Yes, but: The tech is new, and privacy and performance remain hurdles.
These browsers send snippets of what you’re viewing to company servers, raising security risks.
Experts advise using incognito mode for sensitive tasks and limiting which sites the AI can “see.”
As one reviewer noted, “It was like watching my toddler feed himself — inefficient but ultimately successful.”
💡 Who are these for, anyway? Tech insiders say the “agentic web” could change how we browse. But everyday users aren’t sold yet.
On TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts wondered if there’s a demand for watching bots “click around on a website” for you.
Still, these tools could shape the future of the open web whether or not users want them.
🧑⚖️ The verdict: We won’t give you our favorite (sorry), but with new features rolling out weekly, this race is far from over.
In other reading:
AI users see brighter job futures, study says (Axios)
What can your toilet tell about you? (Wall Street Journal)
Want to be a better leader? Master these skills (Fast Company)
November 1: The Lady Liberty Ride with DearSarah, a free NYC harbor ferry ride celebrating Lady Liberty, entrepreneurship, and tech for good, honoring the spirit of liberty and equality ahead of the DearSarah app pre-launch. Register here.
November 3: AI in Real Estate: A Conversation, unpacking the state of play for AI in real estate, including where it’s delivering value now and which parts of the stack are ripest for disruption. Register here.
November 4-5: SmartCon’s Finance, Reimagined conference, bringing together governments, financial institutions, and top Web3 projects in New York to shape how blockchain is transforming finance, markets, and public services worldwide. Register here.
November 6: AI Made Simple: From Curiosity to Confidence, a hands-on evening where you'll turn real work challenges into practical AI solutions — no tech background required, just curiosity and a laptop. Register here.
November 7: AcceleratorCon, for top early-stage founders connect directly with investors, accelerators, and ecosystem partners. Register with promo code NYCDIGEST for a 30% discount here.
November 10: NYU Tandon Future Labs x Morrison Foerster Catalyst SS25 AI Startup Showcase: The Elevator Pitch, an evening of AI innovation and networking where NYC’s VCs, angels, and founders gather to watch nine pre-seed AI startup demos perform live elevator pitches (yes, in an actual elevator) and a competition to crown the Top New AI Startup of the Night. Register here.
November 11-12: Urban Tech Summit, offering insights and examples of how researchers, companies, governments, and communities can continue to drive innovation, and how urban tech can help cities do more with less as they prepare for the future. Register here.
November 17-18: Momentum AI Finance 2025, bringing together 300+ senior financial leaders to share real-world strategies for scaling intelligent automation, building trusted AI stacks, and driving responsible innovation across the industry. Register here.
November 19: Decoded Futures Build Day, a day of collaboration between technologists and nonprofit organizations to explore practical, hands-on ways to apply AI to real challenges. Register here. Want to volunteer? Apply here.
December 10-11: The AI Summit New York, a platform for enterprise leaders and tech innovators to explore and apply commercial AI, featuring Flybidge’s Jesse Middleton, NYCEDC’s Jonathan Schulhof, and Tech:NYC’s Julie Samuels discussing NYC’s startup ecosystem. Register here.
December 10: The AI Summit NY Healthcare Happy Hour, a mixer for healthcare and pharma professionals after day one of the AI Summit in New York. Register here.
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