Tue. 09/24 - Adam Neumann Out of (We)Work

Après ChatGPT, prepare yourself for the generative AI deluge. Amazon says the free lunch for grocery delivery is over. More speculation about foldable iPads. San Francisco wants Waymo and Cruise to pump the breaks on their self-driving car experiments because the actual cars have been literally pumping the breaks too much. And my wager on whether or not 2023 will actually go down as the year that AI breaks through. Sponsors: The Business of Tech (Listener ad!) RelationshipHero.com/techmeme (Listener ad!) Links: Chinese Search Giant Baidu to Launch ChatGPT-Style Bot (Bloomberg) Amazon adding new fees for grocery delivery (GeekWire) Apple Supplier in India Begins Making Components for AirPods (Bloomberg) Foldable iPad could arrive as early as next year, claims noted Apple analyst (The Verge) Two companies race to deploy robotaxis in San Francisco. The city wants them to hit the brakes. (NBCNews) Scientists at Salesforce develop proteins with AI that can eat trash (NeoWin) AI has designed bacteria-killing proteins from scratch – and they work (New Scientist) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

30 Jan 202320min

What can make Buzzfeed hit our headlines two days in a row? How about jumping on the ChatGPT bandwagon? Amazon is apparently launching a major NFT project, like it’s 2021 or something. Is Stripe going to be our big tech IPO savior? And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: NFTTallinn.com and code RIDE for 10% of all tickets (Listener ad!) Radial.llc/ride (Listener ad!) Links: BuzzFeed to Use ChatGPT Creator OpenAI to Help Create Quizzes and Other Content (WSJ) Amazon NFT Initiative Coming Soon: Exclusive (Blockworks) Stripe Sets One-Year Timetable to Decide on Going Public (WSJ) Longreads The ‘Enshittification’ of TikTok (Wired) The Chess World’s New Villain: A Cat Named Mittens (WSJ) Welcome to the Shoppy Shop (Grub Street) The Disappearance of the Ashtray (Clive Thompson) Why Not Mars (Idle Words) RSVP For The Listener Meetup Tickets For The Comedy Show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

27 Jan 202318min

I get all metaphysical about where the tech industry is going right now with a record slowdown in smartphone shipments, Masa Son seemingly misplacing his investing shoes, Meta and Buzzfeed joining forces to stave off irrelevancy, and universities offering degrees in AI for the first time. Oh, and are you SURE you want to spin up that Mastadon server? Sponsors: Instafloss.com (Listener!) RocketMoney.com/ride Links: Smartphone Shipments Suffer the Largest-Ever Decline with 18.3% Drop in the Holiday Quarter and a 11.3% Decline in 2022, According to IDC Tracker (IDC) SoftBank Deals Hit Record Low, Sapping Funding for Startups (Bloomberg) Meta Pays BuzzFeed Millions to Generate Creator Content for Facebook and Instagram (WSJ) University of Texas Will Offer Large-Scale Online Master’s Degree in A.I. (NYTimes) We tried to run a social media site and it was awful (Financial Times) RSVP For The Listener Meetup! Buy Tickets for the Comedy Show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

26 Jan 202317min

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