Mon. 02/26 – Mobile World Congress Is All About AI This Year (Corrected)

Elon has made good on his promise to share ad revenue with some big Tweeters. The fact that you can’t use Threads in Europe continues to be weird. Meta unveils a new AI image generator that they say is significantly smaller and better. Why AI is at the center of the Hollywood strike part eleven. And one choice Weekend Longreads Suggestion. Links: Twitter starts sharing ad revenue with verified creators (TechCrunch) Musk's Twitter sues four Texas entities for data scraping, seeks damages (Reuters) Meta confirms it is blocking EU-based users from accessing Threads via VPN (TechCrunch) Meta claims its new art-generating model is best-in-class (TechCrunch) Exclusive: AP strikes news-sharing and tech deal with OpenAI (Axios) Actors say Hollywood studios want their AI replicas — for free, forever (The Verge) Here’s the new default font for Microsoft Outlook and Word: Aptos (CNBC) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Apple, Lionel Messi and the $2.5bn question: What’s next? (The Athletic) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

14 Juli 202317min

Elon has launched his own AI company with some pretty big names involved. The FTC will appeal! Roblox is coming to Zuckerberg’s metaverse. Meta does plan to commercialize LLaMA. And a cool new “do a napkin sketch and have AI turn it into an actual work of art” tool. Links: Musk Unveils xAI in New Bid to Rival Startup OpenAI (Bloomberg) FTC appeals its loss to Microsoft in Activision Blizzard case (The Verge) Ex-Celsius CEO Mashinsky Charged in Latest DOJ Crypto Case (Bloomberg) Roblox is coming to Meta’s Quest VR headsets (The Verge) macOS Sonoma Brings Apple Password Manager to Third-Party Browsers (MacRumors) Meta to release commercial AI model in effort to catch rivals (FT) Stability AI releases Stable Doodle, a sketch-to-image tool (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

13 Juli 202317min

A big win for Microsoft leads critics of FTC chair Lina Khan to come out of the woodwork. Anthropic has released its Claude 2 chatbot. Say hello to the Nothing Phone (2). And while the market caps of the big players might have been boosted by AI, might the need for on premises AI lead to a unique opening for the likes of Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprise? Links: Microsoft-Activision deal moves closer as judge denies FTC injunction request (CNBC) Microsoft and UK regulators agree to pause their Activision battle to negotiate (The Verge) FTC would face tough appeal of Microsoft-Activision order, experts say (Reuters) F.T.C.’s Court Loss Raises Fresh Questions About Its Chair’s Strategy (NYTimes) AI Startup Anthropic Releases a New Version of Its ChatGPT Rival, Claude (Bloomberg) Why SUSE is forking Red Hat Enterprise Linux (TechCrunch) Bigger, Brighter, More Expensive: Nothing Reveals the Phone (2) (Gizmodo) The AI Boom Is Here. The Cloud May Not Be Ready. (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

12 Juli 202315min

Could Massachusetts pass the first meaningful anti-tracking law in the country? With social media in transition, what’s the lane for someone like Tumblr? Instagram is going after Twitter, but is someone coming for Instagram at the exact same time? And the sad state of affairs for video game history. Sponsors: https://www.birddogs.com/RIDE SwissAmerica.com/ride Links: Selling Your Cellphone Location Data Might Soon Be Banned in U.S. for First Time (WSJ) Tumblr says it’s going to ‘fix’ its ‘core experience’ to appeal to new users (The Verge) HCA Healthcare patient data stolen and for sale by hackers (CNBC) A New VC-Beloved Startup Rips a Page From Meta’s Playbook (The Information) THE GAME AVAILABILITY STUDY, EXPLAINED (Video Game History Foundation) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

11 Juli 202316min

Time to get worried about your Evernote files. Looks like Meta won’t have to leave the EU. OpenAI has a new product that people are raving about. More analysis of if AI can be useful to doctors. And I’ll tell you the one simple reason Threads has hit 100 million users so fast. The answer is right in front of us. Sponsors: startups.tech/techmeme ZocDoc.com/techmeme Links: Bay Area tech company Evernote lays off most staff, relocating to Europe (SFGate) EU Seals New Transatlantic Data-Transfer Pact With US in Third Attempt (Bloomberg) Code Interpreter comes to all ChatGPT Plus users — ‘anyone can be a data analyst now’ (VentureBeat) Sarah Silverman is suing OpenAI and Meta for copyright infringement (The Verge) In Battle With Microsoft, Google Bets on Medical AI Program to Crack Healthcare Industry (WSJ) Snap’s Push to Tempt Creators Seems to Be Working (WSJ) Instagram’s Threads app reaches 100 million users within just five days (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

10 Juli 202317min

It’s been my job for over a decade now to analyze the competitive landscape of the tech industry, and I’ve simply never seen anything like what Threads has achieved in less than 48 hours. Though, Elon is threatening to sue. Uber, DoorDash and GrubHub are suing NYC. Volkswagen is rolling out its self-driving cars. And, of course, The Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Sponsors: Earnin App (type in Techmeme under PODCAST when you sign up) Links: Threads Becomes Most Rapidly Downloaded App, Raising Twitter’s Ire (NYTimes) Zuck's Threads halo (Axios) Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over Threads (Semafor) OpenAI makes GPT-4 generally available (TechCrunch) Food-Delivery Companies Sue New York City Over Minimum Pay Law (NYTimes) Volkswagen's Self-Driving Cars Begin Testing In Texas (Jalopnik) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: What Did People Do Before Smartphones? (The Atlantic) The Man Who Broke Bowling (GQ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

7 Juli 202318min

There’s only one story today. Threads. Threads. Threads. Has Threads already won? Links: Meta launches Instagram Threads in a direct challenge to Twitter (CNBC) Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting Instagram account, Meta says (TechCrunch) Instagram Threads works, but it’s sterile, dull and worst of all – it’s still run by Mark Zuckerberg (iNews) Meta unspools Threads (Platformer) So where are we all supposed to go now? (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

6 Juli 202315min

Chaos at Twitter emphatically did NOT take the 4th of July weekend off. Instagram’s Twitter clone looks like it’s going to take advantage of this chaos to launch now. The Reddit app apocalypse has happened. Oh, and the mods for Reddit AMA’s have downed tools. And how drone technology is disrupting the traditional Fireworks industry. Sponsors: Kolide.com/ride Notion.com/ride Links: Instagram’s Twitter competitor, Threads, briefly went live on the web (The Verge) The Reddit app-pocalyse is here: Apollo, Sync, and BaconReader go dark (The Verge) The Reddit moderators who coordinate many celebrity AMAs will no longer do so (The Verge) Fireworks Have a New Competitor: Drones (NYTimes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5 Juli 202317min