Tuesday, Mar. 20, 2018 - Google Wants to Save Journalism

TikTok launches Spotlight. Meta’s budget kills a VR studio. Why did everyone think Logitech was going to create a mouse you had to pay a subscription to use? And did you know how big Anime is? I did not. Links: TikTok adds in-app hubs for videos about movies and TV shows (The Verge) Exclusive: Meta is closing a beloved first-party Quest studio (AndroidConnect) UK regulator launches formal probe into Amazon’s $4bn Anthropic deal (Financial Times) Humane’s daily returns are outpacing sales (The Verge) Logitech Insists It’s Not Making a Mouse With a Subscription Fee (Gizmodo) Anduril now valued at $14 billion, set to build autonomous weapons factories (Axios) Crunchyroll Passes 15 Million Monthly Paid Subscribers (The Wrap) Crunchyroll Is Thriving Thanks to Gen Z and Appointment Anime Viewing, COO Says (The Wrap) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

8 Aug 202416min

Google’s new TV streaming appliance, plus lots of lot of Gemini stuff is coming to Google Home and Nest and such. Elon tries to get advertisers to come back to X by… suing them. That time Intel had a chance to invest in OpenAI. And what new products can Airbnb dream up to make more money? Links: The Google TV Streamer might be the Apple TV 4K rival we’ve been waiting for (The Verge) Gemini intelligence is coming to Google Home (The Verge) Scoop: X sues major brands, ad industry group for antitrust (Axios) ‘There’s no price’ Microsoft could pay Apple to use Bing: all the spiciest parts of the Google antitrust ruling (The Verge) How chip giant Intel spurned OpenAI and fell behind the times (Reuters) The limited edition OnePlus Open is the most striking foldable phone yet (The Verge) Airbnb details plans to expand beyond short-term rentals, including co-hosting and relaunching ‘experiences’ (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

7 Aug 202415min

Three big stories to catch you up on. A federal judge has ruled Google is an illegal monopoly. The Game Of Thrones style drama at OpenAI is just getting weirder. And what if all those weird acquihires in all but name are actually mercy killings? Sponsors: Lumen.me/ride Links: Google Monopolized Search Through Illegal Deals, Judge Rules (Bloomberg) Forget Apple, the biggest loser in the Google search ruling could be Mozilla and its Firefox web browser (Fortune) How the Google Antitrust Ruling May Influence Tech Competition (NYTimes) OpenAI co-founder Schulman leaves for Anthropic, Brockman takes extended leave (TechCrunch) Struggling AI Startups Look for a Bailout from Big Tech (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

6 Aug 202417min

Why is OpenAI sitting on technology that could detect AI cheating? Why is Bitcoin so correlated to the stock market? Why is Elon restarting his lawsuit against OpenAI? Why are the Chinese launching a Starlink competitor? And are the go-go days for music streaming over? Sponsors: Dell.com/deals HelloMood.com code RIDE Links: There’s a Tool to Catch Students Cheating With ChatGPT. OpenAI Hasn’t Released It. (WSJ) Bitcoin tumbles below $50,000 for the first time since February (CNBC) Elon Musk Revives Lawsuit Against OpenAI and Sam Altman (NYTimes) China launches first satellites of constellation to rival Starlink, newspaper reports (Reuters) AI Chip Startup Groq Gets $2.8 Billion Valuation in New Funding Round (Bloomberg) Is the Music Industry Slowdown a Crisis or a Blip? (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5 Aug 202415min

So, tech earnings continued to be boring. Apple was fine. Amazon was not quite so fine. And then someone we don’t cover closely really messed the bed. I’ll tell you who. Are we starting to see the first next-generation AI startups? I’ll tell you about an interesting new model. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links: Amazon Beats On Earnings, Revenue Comes In Light Despite Strong Cloud Performance (Investor's Business Daily) Intel is laying off over 15,000 employees and will stop ‘non-essential work’ (The Verge) 23andMe Board Committee ‘Disappointed’ in CEO Anne Wojcicki’s Take-Private Proposal (Bloomberg) Stable Diffusion creators launch Black Forest Labs, secure $31M for FLUX.1 AI image generator (VentureBeat) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: A $500 Open Source Tool Lets Anyone Hack Computer Chips With Lasers (Wired) The AI Keeps Score (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2 Aug 202417min

So I guess Zuck has convinced Wall Street that all the capex spending on AI is fine. How good a business is Tether? A gooooood business. The first arrival of Apple Intelligence is sort of a ho-hum for now. And how sports is completely transforming the streaming wars battlefield. Links: Meta’s Lesson in Allaying Wall Street’s A.I. Fears (Dealbook/NYT) Meta’s AI Costs Surge as Digital Advertising Revenue Grows (WSJ) Reddit CEO says Microsoft needs to pay to search the site (The Verge) Tether Nets $5B Profits This Year, Says Its US Debt Holdings Surpassed Germany's (CoinDesk) A first look at Apple Intelligence and its (slightly) smarter Siri (The Verge) Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery’s Sports Streamer Venu to Launch at $42.99 per Month (Variety) How the NBA’s Slam-Dunk Deals Will Reshape TV (The Hollywood Reporter) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1 Aug 202417min

Another big pullback of a major AI tool. Microsoft earnings. How CapCut is taking over the creator tools space. Amazon speedy delivery is rolling out to the nooks and crannies of North America. And the startup taking a new run at AI wearable hardware. Links: Meta Scraps Celebrity AI Chatbots That Fell Flat With Users (The Information) The Rise of ByteDance’s CapCut Threatens Adobe and Canva (Bloomberg) Amazon Pushes Fast Delivery Into Rural Areas in Challenge to Post Office (WSJ) Wear This AI Friend Around Your Neck (Wired) Video Announcing the Friend AI device Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

31 Jul 202416min

Perplexity wants to share ad revenue with publishers. But lots of AI companies are continuing to gamble with scraping. Meta’s new Segment Anything 2 model. AI influencers on Instagram. Canva makes an AI acquisition. And in non-AI news, Meta makes a huge settlement with Texas. Links: Perplexity is cutting checks to publishers following plagiarism accusations (The Verge) Websites are Blocking the Wrong AI Scrapers (Because AI Companies Keep Making New Ones) (404Media) Zuckerberg touts Meta’s latest video vision AI with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (TechCrunch) Instagram creators can now make AI doppelgangers to chat with their followers (Engadget) Canva acquires Leonardo.ai to boost its generative AI efforts (TechCrunch) Meta to pay $1.4 billion to settle Texas facial recognition data lawsuit (Reuters) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

30 Jul 202415min