Thu. 10/10 - Apple Removed the App Again...

People are saying Elon is showing you his tweets whether you asked to see them or not. More fodder for the charge that these chat bots are being rolled out quick and dirty. More fodder for the charge that US regulators are fencing in crypto. TikTok is trying to court the olds. And Amazon’s autonomous shuttle service his hit real world roads. Sponsors: RelationshipHero.com/techmeme Links: Twitter is just showing everyone all of Elon Musk’s tweets now (The Verge) Twitter delays new paid API launch by 'a few more days' (AppleInsider) Microsoft’s Bing AI, like Google’s, also made dumb mistakes during first demo (The Verge) US Crackdown Seeks to Push Crypto Back to the Fringes of Finance (Bloomberg) TikTok Turns to New Tactics to Spur Growth as Boom Times End (The Information) Amazon chief vows to ‘go big’ on physical stores (FT) TikTok’s Parent Takes On Meta in Battle for Virtual-Reality Market (WSJ) Amazon’s Self-Driving Car Shuttles People on Public Roads for the First Time (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

14 Feb 202315min

Binance’s stablecoin seems to be dead, but with regulatory questions swirling around Paxos, I’m wondering if all stablecoins might about to see a rug pull. Tons of uncertainty swirling around the metaverse all the sudden. Can the metaverse still happen if all of its funding get pulled? And are all of these AI tools being rushed to market in embarrassing ways? Sponsors: MeetFabric.com/ride RelationshipHero.com/techmeme Links: Regulator Orders Crypto Firm Paxos to Stop Issuing Binance Stablecoin (WSJ) PayPal Pauses Stablecoin Work Amid Regulatory Scrutiny of Crypto (Bloomberg) Meta delays setting team budgets as it plans fresh round of job cuts (FT) Microsoft Kills Its Industrial Metaverse Team After 4 Months (The Information) AI-powered Bing Chat spills its secrets via prompt injection attack (ArsTechnica) Apple Reportedly Planning to Limit iPhone 15's USB-C Port in the Same Way as Lightning (MacRumors) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

13 Feb 202315min

More job cuts at Microsoft make me wonder if the HoloLens is still a thing. But also, we have data to explain why Apple hasn’t done layoffs yet. More AI chatbot announces coming fast and furious. But the other kind of bots, actual mechanical robots had their biggest year ever last year. And of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Sponsors: RelationshipHero.com/techmeme Links: Apple Avoids Job Cuts Because It Didn’t Overhire Like Google and Amazon (Bloomberg) Microsoft to demo its new ChatGPT-like AI in Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook soon (The Verge) Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com to launch ChatGPT-style product (CNBC) North American companies notch another record year for robot orders (Reuters) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: ‘Disrespectful to the Craft:’ Actors Say They’re Being Asked to Sign Away Their Voice to AI (Motherboard) ChatGPT Can Be Broken by Entering These Strange Words, And Nobody Is Sure Why (Motherboard) ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web (The New Yorker) The Inference Cost Of Search Disruption – Large Language Model Cost Analysis (SemiAnalysis) Stripe Can’t Lose (Every) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

10 Feb 202319min

Feel free to tweet your manifestos now as Twitter Blue subscribers can tweet up to 4,000 characters. Is the Fediverse failing or doing just fine, thank you very much? Is the SEC about to put the kibosh on crypto staking? Forget eggs, the real inflation is in triple A video game titles. And if the whole web becomes bot content, what do we train the bots on? Sponsors: Podcast Guru App (Listener Ad!) Links: Now Twitter Blue subscribers can write 4,000-character tweets (The Verge) Watch out, TweetDeck users—Elon Musk is about to ruin your Twitter experience (TechRadar) Lazy Reporters Claiming Fediverse Is ‘Slumping,’ Despite Massive Increase In Usage (TechDirt) Coinbase CEO Armstrong Decries Rumors of Possible US SEC Ban on Crypto Staking (Bloomberg) Meta Completes Acquisition of VR Fitness Company Within (CNET) Nintendo’s Zelda Price Hike Opens Door for More Expensive Games (Bloomberg) Google Stadia had less than 10% market share among cloud gaming services (9to5Google) Google confirms AI-generated content isn’t against Search guidelines (9to5Google) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

9 Feb 202318min

Microsoft unveils a new Bing search that basically moves the yardsticks down the field in terms of what chat can do. But Google continues to drip-feed new tools as well. Also, some more traditional but useful additions to Google Maps. The UK might force the divestiture of Call of Duty to allow Microsoft to buy Activision. And if the Bank of England does a digital pound, it signals it might not do it on the blockchain. Sponsors: The Business of Tech (Listener ad!) Links: Microsoft announces new Bing and Edge browser powered by upgraded ChatGPT AI (The Verge) I Tried Microsoft’s New AI-Powered Bing. Search Will Never Be the Same. (WSJ) Google is still drip-feeding AI into search, Maps, and Translate (The Verge) Google Maps launches Immersive View in five cities, will roll out ‘glanceable directions’ soon (TechCrunch) Microsoft’s $69 Billion Activision Deal Could Harm UK Gamers, Watchdog Finds (Bloomberg) Digital Pound Holdings Could Be Limited to 10K, Central Bank Says (CoinDesk) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

8 Feb 202317min

Bored of phone and gadget launches, well prepare yourself for AI product launches, cause we’re getting a bunch of them starting now, this week. Meta is trying to revamp Horizon Worlds. Twitter is struggling to get people to pay up. But that doesn’t mean Mastadon is continuing to grow. And can you trick ChatGPT to do things it doesn’t want to do by threatening to kill it? Say hello to AI “jailbreaking.” Sponsors: RefundsPro.com Links: Google announces ChatGPT rival Bard, with wider availability in ‘coming weeks’ (The Verge) Baidu Surges as Hope Mounts over Chinese Answer to ChatGPT (Bloomberg) Getty Images sues AI art generator Stable Diffusion in the US for copyright infringement (The Verge) Meta Targets Teen Users in Broader Horizon Metaverse App Revamp (WSJ) Musk’s Twitter Has Just 180,000 U.S. Subscribers, Two Months After Launch (The Information) The Mastodon Bump Is Now a Slump (Wired) ChatGPT’s ‘jailbreak’ tries to make the A.I. break its own rules, or die (CNBC) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

7 Feb 202319min

Is Apple considering launching an “Ultra” version of the iPhone as soon as this year? Have the good Twitter bots gotten a reprieve from Elon Musk? Is the Microsoft/Activision merger toast because global regulators are coordinating? And might regulators look askance at all these generative AI investments from the big cloud computing platforms? Sponsors: ZocDoc.com/techmeme Bombas.com/techmeme Links: Apple Talks Up High-End iPhones in Sign Ultra Model May Be Coming (Bloomberg) Elon Musk says Twitter will provide a free write-only API to bots providing ‘good’ content (TechCrunch) Microsoft’s Activision Deal Tests a New Global Alignment on Antitrust (NYTimes) Big Tech companies use cloud computing arms to pursue alliances with AI groups (FT) A16z votes against proposal to deploy latest Uniswap iteration on BNB Chain (The Block) Pre-order Brady Dale's SBF Book! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

6 Feb 202318min

Earnings wrapups from Alphabet: investors just want to know when the AI is coming. From Apple: they’re still not planning any layoffs. From Amazon: Look, AWS is still a beast. And in the Weekend Longreads suggestions: the startup that wants to bring back the Dodo, Jurassic Park style. Links: AI will help Google parent Alphabet navigate a challenging macro environment, say analysts (MarketWatch) Google Shares Slip after Sales Miss as Advertising Demand Slows (Bloomberg) Apple Sales Shrink as Pandemic Rally Ends for iPhone Maker, Other Tech Giants (WSJ) Amazon stock falls as least profitable holiday quarter since 2014 leads to its worst annual loss on record (MarketWatch) Google invests $300mn in artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic (Financial Times) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: The generative AI revolution has begun—how did we get here? (ArsTechnica) Who will compete with ChatGPT? Meet the contenders | The AI Beat (VentureBeat) The Difference Between Speaking and Thinking (The Atlantic) A de-extinction company is trying to resurrect the dodo (MIT Technology Review) A Calculated Move: Calculators Now Emulated at Internet Archive (Internet Archive Blogs) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3 Feb 202319min