The hosts of Get the Check kick off another episode by talking about a weekend run, which is misleading, since they’ve only run twice. They debrief the Bay to Breakers run where half the crowd is in costume and the other is naked. This week they talk about three major product launches: OpenAI’s Codex, Airbnb’s experiences and services features, and Uber’s route share.The hosts discuss a trio of recent tech launches, starting with OpenAI’s Codex, which is a model fine tuned for software engineering use cases. They compare it to tools like Cursor, Windsurf, and even Devin, and explain why Codex’s “one-shot” approach might work better for fast bug fixes or product tweaks, but not for collaborative workflows. Next, they pivot to Airbnb’s mid-life identity crisis, where Brian Chesky wants the app to evolve from vacation rentals to your next plumber and maybe even boyfriend being from Airbnb. Finally, they discuss Uber’s route share program, which users on X are calling “a bus” lol.Finally the hosts dive into Trump’s trip to the Middle East. Trump brought an ensemble of tech moguls like Sam Altman and Jensen Huang. The hosts break down Saudi Arabia’s $600 billion pledge toward data centers, defense, and AI, the UAE’s $1.4 trillion investment plan. Of course there’s no such thing as a free lunch (or datacenter), so they also talk about what the US is doing in return including giving gulf states access to the newest Nvidia chips. They briefly discuss why they agree with Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on Syria post the end of the Assad regime. Finally, the hosts zoom out and have a conversation about Trump’s overall Middle East strategy.We are almost at 10K on TikTok :) follow us if you haven’t already @getthecheckpod.00:00 Intro02:58 This week’s launches: Codex, Airbnb’s rebrand, Uber route share33:37 Trump’s Middle East trip: AI investments and lifting sanctions on Syria