Tue. 04/23 – Microsoft’s Own LLMs and Perplexity’s Big Raise

Microsoft deprecating a feature that it launched back in 1985. There’s a pretty big loophole that is still letting China use H100 chips. The weird saga evolving over at Bolt. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links: Microsoft finally officially confirms it's killing Windows Control Panel sometime soon (Neowin) Exclusive: Chinese entities turn to Amazon cloud and its rivals to access high-end US chips, AI (Reuters) AI-powered coding pulls in almost $1bn of funding to claim ‘killer app’ status (Financial Times) Bolt investors baffled by massive new deal proposal (Axios) Ryan Breslow’s ‘Lead Investor’ Blindsided By $450 Million Bolt Fundraise: ‘We Were Never In This Deal’ (Forbes) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: New Breed of EV Promises 700 Miles per Charge (Just Add Gas) (Bloomberg) Popping the Bubble of Noise-Cancelling Headphones (The New Yorker) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

23 Aug 202419min

As Mike Lynch’s body is recovered off Sicily, a deeper look at what was a roller coaster of a life. More cross posting for Meta’s apps. We have a date for the re-release of Recall. Interesting executive shuffle at Apple. And more data showing the degree to which free streaming is upending the Streaming Wars. Sponsors: QualiaLife.com/ride Links: Bodies of Mike Lynch and four yacht guests pulled from Bayesian wreck (Financial Times) Mike Lynch’s journey from tech founder to long legal battle (Financial Times) Meta lets you cross-post from Instagram and Facebook to Threads. Here’s how to do it. (TechCrunch) Microsoft’s Recall AI feature won’t be available for Windows testers until October (The Verge) Neuralink Says Second Brain Device Implant ‘Went Well’ (Bloomberg) Apple’s App Store Head to Leave in Reorganization Amid Global Scrutiny (Bloomberg) Report: “FAST correcting issues that VoD created” (Advanced Television) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

22 Aug 202416min

AI news has been a bit quiet for a little while now, but the headlines came roaring back today. More evidence Waymo might be having some sort of tipping point. Can we really get 3D without the need to wear glasses? And the the interesting raise startup that is actually, literally, going to the moon, not in a figurative sense. Sponsors: LinkedIn.com/ride Links: Gemini in Gmail can now help polish up your drafts (The Verge) Microsoft releases powerful new Phi-3.5 models, beating Google, OpenAI and more (VentureBeat) OpenAI makes fine-tuning for GPT-4o customization generally available (SiliconAngle) Waymo says it has doubled its weekly paid robotaxi trips to 100,000 since May (CNBC) Samsung’s new Odyssey monitor lets you play games in glasses-free 3D (The Verge) Microsoft Teams’ new single app for personal and work is now available (The Verge) Big Tech’s bid to rewrite the rules on net zero (Financial Times) Starpath accelerates moon water mining plans with $12M in funding (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

21 Aug 202417min

New Raspberry Pi 5. Waymo’s rolling out its new self-driving tech. A major developer draws plaudits for going anti-AI. The tragic and odd story of that tech exec who is missing after his yacht sank. And after six months, how is the Apple Vision Pro evolving? What if it kind of isn’t? Sponsors: TakeThesis.com code RIDE Links: Raspberry Pi 5’s new 2GB model benchmarked: Do you need 2, 4 or 8GB? : We test against the 4 and 8GB versions (Tom's Hardware) Waymo is developing a roomier robotaxi with less-expensive tech (CNBC) Procreate’s anti-AI pledge attracts praise from digital creatives (The Verge) Search continues for British tech magnate and 5 others after luxury superyacht sinks off Sicily (AP) Apple Vision Pro review: six month stasis (Apple Insider) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

20 Aug 202417min

Is X closing up shop in Brazil? Remember how Apple is trying to make their own modems? How’s that going? Why is the online dating sector suddenly struggling? And could the next big advertising platform actually be Walmart? Sponsors: ArcticWolf.com/techmeme Links: X says it’s closing operations in Brazil (TechCrunch) AMD Buys AI Equipment Maker for Nearly $5 Billion, Escalating Battle With Nvidia (WSJ) Apple Is Playing the Long Game With Switch From Qualcomm Modems (Bloomberg) ‘Bumble fumble’: online dating apps struggle as people swear off swiping (The Guardian) How Walmart became a force in a $54bn retail advertising industry (Financial Times) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

19 Aug 202417min

The Epic saga has reached a sort of conclusion. Epic saga. See what I did there? That California AI safety bill has been pruned a bit. You can now add you California drivers license to your smartphone wallet. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links: Fortnite Maker Epic Games Challenges Apple’s Dominance With New iOS App Store (Wired) California weakens bill to prevent AI disasters before final vote, taking advice from Anthropic (TechCrunch) Exclusive: Apple, Google wallets to carry California driver's licenses (Axios) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Inside the Snowflake-Databricks Rivalry, and Why Both Fear Microsoft (Bloomberg) The Little Streamer That Could (NYTimes) Your Air Conditioner Is Lying to You (The Atlantic) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

16 Aug 202418min

The new version of Grok will pretty much let you make an AI image of anything or anyone. More rumors of an iPad/robot/smart home hybrid from Apple. Masa Son wanted Intel to spin up a competitor to Nvidia, but Intel reportedly couldn’t hack it. And is Sonos going to just say, heck with it, and re-release their old app that actually worked? Sponsors: Acorns.com/ride Links: X’s new AI image generator will make anything from Taylor Swift in lingerie to Kamala Harris with a gun (The Verge) Apple Pushes Ahead With Tabletop Robot in Search of New Revenue (Bloomberg) Apple is finally going to open up iPhone tap-to-pay (The Verge) The FTC finalizes its rules clamping down on fake online reviews (Engadget) SoftBank discussed AI chips tie-up with Intel to rival Nvidia (Financial Times) Sonos considers relaunching its old app (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

15 Aug 202416min

All the details from yesterday’s pixel event, but especially the AI features that show how far ahead Google is. At least when it comes to putting AI on phones. We have official post quantum computing cryptography standards. And why they’re using iPhones to make offsides calls in soccer this season. Sponsors: DataTribe.com/challenge Hims.com/ride Links: The Google Pixel 9’s AI Camera Features Let You Reshape Reality (Wired) Google Gemini’s voice chat mode is here (The Verge) Apple relents and approves Spotify app with EU pricing (The Verge) The first post-quantum cryptography standards are here (TechCrunch) The English Premier League Will Ditch Its Hated VAR Offside Tech for a Fleet of iPhones (Wired) Fantasy League Links: https://fantasy.premierleague.com/leagues/auto-join/s5r9c8  Code: s5r9c8 https://fplchallenge.premierleague.com/leagues/auto-join/8znkcc  Code: 8znkcc Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

14 Aug 202416min