Thu. 02/13 – Do We Maybe Have A Roadmap For GPT-5?

I’m gonna tell you why I think the latest antitrust suit against Google might be the most important one in terms of the overall tech ecosystem. And maybe the biggest threat Google is facing. Twitter reverses another thing they shouldn’t have broken in the first place. Why aren’t folks paying ransomware ransom as much anymore? And why are consumers not keeping their smart clothes dryers connected? Sponsors: Upside App and use promocode ridehome How To Fix The Internet podcast eff.org/podcast Links: US Sues Google to Break Up Ad Unit in Heated Antitrust Fight (Bloomberg) DOJ's new suit puts Google's ad business at risk (Axios) Google's most serious antitrust challenge to date (Platformer) Microsoft Cloud Strength Drives Second Quarter Results (Microsoft Investor Relations) Twitter for web will now stay on your preferred timeline (The Verge) Riot Games receives ‘ransom email’ for stolen source code following social engineering attack (The Record) Ransomware Revenue Down As More Victims Refuse to Pay (Chainalysis) LG, Whirlpool Target Customers Disconnected From ‘Smart’ Appliances (WSJ) After inking its OpenAI deal, Shutterstock rolls out a generative AI toolkit to create images based on text prompts (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

25 Jan 202317min

Alright. It’s on. Mark Gurman has literally all the details on Apple’s forthcoming mixed reality headset. The DOJ might already have sued Google by the time you hear this. Amazon adds subscription prescriptions as a service. And it turns out that AI CNET used was good at… plagiarizing. Sponsors: HopelessMope.com code: ridehome (Listener ad!) The Business Of Tech (Listener ad!) Links: How Apple’s Upcoming Mixed-Reality Headset Will Work (Bloomberg) DOJ Poised to Sue Google Over Digital Ad Market Dominance (Bloomberg) Amazon launches RxPass, a $5/month Prime add-on for all-you-need generic drugs covering 80 conditions (TechCrunch) CNET's AI Journalist Appears to Have Committed Extensive Plagiarism (Futurism.com) RSVP For The Listener Meetup This Saturday: https://lu.ma/tx4vez9x Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

24 Jan 202316min

More tech layoffs, and why I’m suggesting we might only be in the early innings of this tech retrenchment. Big Wall Street banks are coming for PayPal and Apple Pay. TikTok might be putting it’s thumb on the scales to favor certain content. Would you pay $42 a month for a ChatGPT Pro plan? And how far has Apple Silicon come, exactly. Sponsors: Radial.llc/ride (Listener!) MeetFabric.com/ride Links: Spotify to trim 6% of workforce in latest tech layoffs (Reuters) Elliott Management Takes Big Stake in Salesforce (WSJ) Banks Plan Payment Wallet to Compete With PayPal, Apple Pay (WSJ) TikTok’s Secret ‘Heating’ Button Can Make Anyone Go Viral (Forbes) ChatGPT users report $42 a month pricing for ‘pro’ access but no official announcement yet (The Verge) Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) review: the core count grows (The Verge) Buy tickets for the comedy show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

23 Jan 202318min

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

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

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

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

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