Fri. 01/20 – Alphabet’s Monster Layoffs
Now Alphabet has monster layoffs to announce. How much of it is about getting Google ready to battle OpenAI? More Twitter bans, but this time, the bans are for all 3rd party clients. The big executive shakeup at Netflix. Genesis officially files for bankruptcy, and in the Weekend Longreads Suggestions, the reasons why the humble pizza box is one of the worst designed products in existence. Sponsors: The Pegasus Investment Round! Email sam@thepegasus.app (Listener ad!) NFTTallinn.com and code RIDE for 10% of all tickets! (Listener ad!) Links: Google to Cut 12,000 Jobs in 6% Reduction of Global Workforce (Bloomberg) Twitter’s new developer terms ban third-party clients (Engadget) Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings to step down as chief executive (FT) Crypto Lender Genesis Files for Bankruptcy as Crisis Spreads (Bloomberg) Google Calls In Help From Larry Page and Sergey Brin for A.I. Fight (NYTimes) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: How Amazon Became Ordinary (Ritholtz.com) Who Owns the Generative AI Platform? (a16z) The Steam Deck wasn’t born ready, but it’s ready now (The Verge) A WIRED compendium (The Future, Now and Then) You Don’t Know How Bad the Pizza Box Is (The Atlantic) Brian's Episode on the Metacast podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
20 Jan 202317min
Thu. 01/19 – Instagram Wants You To Take A Break
Is Genesis finally on the verge of bankruptcy? Instagram wants you to take a break… from Instagram… and they’re even giving you tools to do so. Frowny-face for Amazon for shutting down the AmazonSmile program. Wikipedia gets a big redesign. Some numbers on where the investor dollars are going right now, and is San Francisco back, baby? Maybe cause I’m coming to visit. Sponsors: LayerDesks.com/ride, code ride for 10% off (listener sponsor!) Links: Genesis creditors negotiating prepackaged bankruptcy: Sources (The Block) Crypto Media Outlet CoinDesk Taps Bankers for Potential Sale (WSJ) Instagram’s new ‘Quiet Mode’ helps you take a break from the app (TechCrunch) Amazon to close charitable program AmazonSmile (The Hill) Wikipedia gets its first makeover in over a decade… and it’s fairly subtle (TechCrunch) Apple to Expand Smart-Home Lineup, Taking On Amazon and Google (Bloomberg) Web 3 Startup Funding Q4 Drop (Crunchbase) New AngelList Data Shows Startup Fundraising Pain in Second Half of 2022 (Newcomer) It looks like people are actually moving back to San Francisco (really) (Vox) Tweet on LA startup investment numbers (@emollick) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
19 Jan 202317min
Wed. 01/18 – The HomePod Is Back
The original HomePod is basically back, even though it’s not the original cause it’s been updated. Apple’s AR/VR plans continue to be maddeningly confusing, at least to me. Microsoft has announced huge layoffs. Does even the AI revolution require human moderators working in boiler-room like conditions? And I guess we have all the specs for those new Galaxy phones about to be announced. Links: Apple announces revamped full-size HomePod two years after discontinuing original (The Verge) Apple Delays AR Glasses, Plans Cheaper Mixed-Reality Headset (Bloomberg) Full memo: Microsoft to cut 10k jobs, about 5% of workforce, and take $1.2B restructuring charge (GeekWire) Exclusive: OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 Per Hour to Make ChatGPT Less Toxic (Time) Galaxy S23 spec leak leaves few surprises ahead of February launch (The Verge) Twitter Manager: Daily Revenue Has Dropped 40%, 500 Top Advertisers Have Left (The Information) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
18 Jan 202317min
Tue. 01/17 – New Mac Tuesday
New Macs and New M2 chips from Santa Tim this morning. Microsoft has made its Azure OpenAI Service generally available. But will lawsuits slow down the AI revolution? Is Google about to reveal its own AirTag-like product? And the law of if it’s too good to be true, it probably is, continues to hold, at least when it comes to hard drives for sale on Amazon. Sponsors: ZocDoc.com/techmeme Links: Apple Announces New MacBook Pros With M2 Pro and M2 Max Chips, Up to 96GB RAM, 8K HDMI, Wi-Fi 6E, and More (MacRumors) Apple Unveils M2 Pro and M2 Max Chips With 20% Faster CPU and More (MacRumors) Microsoft to Add ChatGPT to Azure Cloud Services ‘Soon’ (Bloomberg) Microsoft Plans to Build OpenAI Capabilities Into All Products (WSJ) Getty Images is suing the creators of AI art tool Stable Diffusion for scraping its content (The Verge) AI art tools Stable Diffusion and Midjourney targeted with copyright lawsuit (The Verge) Google reportedly working on AirTag-like location trackers (The Verge) Why the Heck Is Amazon Selling These Fake 16 Terabyte Portable SSD Drives? (ReviewGeek) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
17 Jan 202319min
(TWTR SPC) The Big AI Discussion
Our big AI discussion with @ReamBraden and @swyx. Shawn just posted this new essay drawing on what we discussed here: Every Google vs OpenAI Argument, Dissected Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
16 Jan 20231h 15min
Fri. 01/13 – Is The Government Crackdown On Crypto Starting?
The SEC just officially labeled two crypto lending programs as unregistered securities? Is the regulatory tsunami beginning? Did Tim Cook actually ask Apple to cut his pay? Did the nascent industry of carbon capture just take its first steps? And in the longreads, I go in depth to explain that weird OpenAI/Microsoft deal. It’s complicated. Links: SEC charges Gemini and Genesis with unregistered securities offering (The Block) Apple’s Tim Cook Takes Rare CEO Pay Cut After Pushback (Bloomberg) Climate Startup Removes Carbon From Open Air in Industry First (WSJ) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Microsoft + OpenAI: Inside Tech’s Hottest Romance (The Information) Is Microsoft about to get the deal of the century? Or is Sam Altman unloading OpenAI at just the right time? (Gary Marcus) Robert Tinney’s Visions Of The Future (DocPop) Dungeons & Dragons content creators are fighting to protect their livelihoods (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
13 Jan 202321min
Thu. 01/12 – Touchscreen Macs?
Is Apple finally ready to bring touchscreens to Macs? Sam Bankman Fried has a Substack. Apple Maps courts businesses. Is Twitter going to auction off user handles? And what tech publication that I quote from all the time has been using AI to write entire articles for months now? Links: Apple Is Working on Adding Touch Screens to Macs in Major Turnabout (Bloomberg) Sam Bankman-Fried sticks to his script (Axios) Apple Maps’ business listings are about to get more detailed with launch of ‘Apple Business Connect’ (TechCrunch) Twitter Said to Consider Selling User Names to Boost Revenue (NYTimes) Carta lays off 10% as CTO lawsuit looms (TechCrunch) CNET IS QUIETLY PUBLISHING ENTIRE ARTICLES GENERATED BY AI (The Byte/Futurism) OpenAI begins piloting ChatGPT Professional, a premium version of its viral chatbot (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
12 Jan 202318min
Wed. 01/11 – Maybe Software Needs To Eat The Airline Industry
Yet another software snafu with the airlines this morning. Apple’s about to do its own screens, its own modems, what is left? Twitter makes a change that they’ve tried to make several times before. Why all the interesting raises are in AI right now. And what to expect from the Surface Duo 3. Sponsors: Zocdoc.com/techmeme Links: U.S. air travel rumbles back to life after FAA computer outage (Reuters) Apple to Begin Making In-House Screens in 2024 in Shift Away From Samsung (Bloomberg) Twitter defaults to a For You page now, just like TikTok (The Verge) DeepL, the AI-based language translator, raises over $100M at a $1B+ valuation (TechCrunch) Microsoft scraps plans for dual-screen Surface Duo 3, pivots to new foldable screen design (Windows Central) Samsung confirms February 1st Unpacked, its first in-person event in three years (The Verge) Tickets to the comedy show at SF Sketchfest Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
11 Jan 202316min
