Tue. 8/7 - Voting Via App

Elon makes good on his promise to rebrand Twitter as… X. Moar price hikes in streaming! Worldcoin has officially rolled out its token, so long as you’ve scanned your eyeball. Let me introduce you to the Flipper Zero. And should it be titled: Hollywood Strike: Rise Of The TikTok Stars? Sponsors: Collective.com/ride startups.tech/techmeme Links: Twitter is being rebranded as X (The Verge) Twitter has officially changed its logo to ‘X’ (TechCrunch) It’s Spotify’s turn to increase prices (The Verge) Peer-to-Peer Crypto Exchanges Lose Ground in Shrunken Market (Bloomberg) Sam Altman’s Worldcoin crypto project begins international rollout (FT) The Flipper Zero is a Swiss Army knife of antennas (The Verge) The Flipper Zero has an app store now (The Verge) The creator economy was already exploding. Then Hollywood went on strike. (Washington Post) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

24 Juli 202319min

Reddit is choosing violence with their biggest holdouts. More data on the ebbing of Threads usage. AI seems to be bringing Sergey Brin back into the office. Why you should be getting your paycheck quicker. And an Oppenheimer-themed Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Sponsors: ZBiotics.com/ride and code ride for 15% off Links: Reddit takes over one of the biggest protesting subreddits (The Verge) Threads Is Already Losing Its Allure for Users, Adding Urgency for New Features (WSJ) Meta, Google, and OpenAI promise the White House they’ll develop AI responsibly (The Verge) The Federal Reserve’s 24/7 payment system could deposit your paycheck instantly (The Verge) Sergey Brin Is Back in the Trenches at Google (WSJ) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: A $25,000 Prize Still Sits in the Maine Woods. Meteorite Hunters Aren’t Giving Up. (WSJ) Fable unveils Showrunner AI to create South Park-like TV shows with you as the star (VentureBeat) The Airstocracy: Six things to know about flying with the superrich. (NYMag) THE REAL LESSON FROM THE MAKING OF THE ATOMIC BOMB (The Atlantic) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

21 Juli 202318min

Rumors that Apple already has an LLM framework and their own generative chatbot. Google is shopping an AI bot that can write news stories to various journalism outlets. Has GPT-4 actually gotten dumber of late? More streaming price raises. And it’s the last chance saloon for Microsoft’s AR headset for the US Military. Sponsors: BirdDogs.com/ride notion.com/ride Links: Apple Tests ‘Apple GPT,’ Develops Generative AI Tools to Catch OpenAI (Bloomberg) Google Tests A.I. Tool That Is Able to Write News Articles (NYTimes) Study claims ChatGPT is losing capability, but some experts aren’t convinced (ArsTechnica) Meta open-sources Llama 2, but with strings attached (MoneyControl) Apple slams UK surveillance-bill proposals (BBC News) Google raising price of YouTube Premium to $13.99 per month (9to5Google) Microsoft Poised to Deliver Improved Combat Goggles, US Army Says (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

20 Juli 202316min

Microsoft announced aggressive pricing for their AI products and got rewarded with an all-time high stock market valuation. More price aggression in the streaming wars. Meta released Llama 2. Google is asking for employees to voluntarily work on air gapped machines. And let me introduce you to the concept of “synthetic data” for LLMs. Links: Microsoft and Activision Blizzard extend merger agreement to October (The Verge) Microsoft will charge businesses $30 per user for its 365 AI Copilot (Engadget) Microsoft closes at record after revealing pricing for new A.I. subscription (CNBC) Netflix Shakes Up Pricing: ‘Basic’ Tier Axed in UK, US (Cord Busters) Meta launches Llama 2, an open source AI model that allows commercial applications (Ars Technica) Google restricting internet access to some employees to reduce cyberattack risk (CNBC) Why computer-made data is being used to train AI models (FT) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

19 Juli 202317min

It’s been… two weeks. Let’s check in on how Threads is doing. Streaming players continue to raise prices. Microsoft still plans on fighting for its prize. Are the incumbents winning the AI race? And the interesting startup that wants to use light instead of electricity in computer chips. Sponsors: Notion.com/ride Links: The spam bots have now found Threads, as company announces its own ‘rate limits’ (TechCrunch) Five reasons Threads could still go the distance (Platformer) Peacock to raise its subscription prices on August 17 (TechCrunch) Microsoft-Activision Deal Poised to Close Later Than Planned (Bloomberg) Wix’s new tool can create entire websites from prompts (TechCrunch) UK chip designer raises millions from Agnelli fund (FT) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

18 Juli 202317min

Sony and Microsoft have made nice. Bitcoin ETFs continue to look like a possibility. How the Vision Pro is shaking up Apple’s org structure in a meaningful way for the first time since the Steve Jobs Era. And why Netflix’s recent turnaround have rekindled those perpetual rumors that Apple is gonna end up buying Disney some day. Sponsors: CalderaLab.com code RIDE for 20% off Hillsdale.edu/ride Links: Sony agrees to 10-year Call of Duty deal with Microsoft (The Verge) SEC accepts BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF application, signaling regulatory review (CoinTelegraph) The shady world of Brave selling copyrighted data for AI training (StackDiary) Hacker News Thread On The Brave Thing Typo leaks millions of US military emails to Mali web operator (Financial Times) Apple’s New Vision Group Reflects Shift Away From Steve Jobs Approach (Bloomberg) Bob Iger Shifts From Building an Empire to a Disney Yard Sale (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

17 Juli 202317min

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