Fri. 10/11 - Gruber Says Tim Cook's Email "Doesn't Add Up"

AT&T and Verizon say they’ve rooted out Salt Typhoon. Trump asks the Supreme Court to intervene in the TikTok situation. All the banks want to be like Tether. And as we slide into this new year, it’s a USB-C world now, we’re just living in it. Links: AT&T, Verizon Say Networks Now Clear After Salt Typhoon Hack (Bloomberg) Trump Asks Supreme Court to Pause Law Threatening TikTok Ban (Bloomberg) Biden administration proposes new cybersecurity rules to limit impact of healthcare data leaks (Reuters) Banks Want In on Tether’s Billions in Stablecoin Profits (Bloomberg) ‘Grand Theft Auto VI’ set to break records despite gaming slowdown (FT) The USB-C charging mandate arrives in the EU — here’s what that means (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

30 Dec 202418min

Microsoft and OpenAI are reportedly having problems deciding how make this whole, reclassifying as for-profit thing work. Oh, also, they secretly decided on a new definition of artificial general intelligence that is tied to tangible dollar value. At the tail end of the year, the most interesting new AI model of the year. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links: Microsoft and OpenAI Wrangle Over Terms of Their Blockbuster Partnership (The Information) Microsoft and OpenAI’s Secret AGI Definition (The Information) DeepSeek-V3, ultra-large open-source AI, outperforms Llama and Qwen on launch (VentureBeat) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Video Games Can’t Afford to Look This Good (NYTimes) Hawk Tuah Wasn’t What It Seemed (The Atlantic) The Paper Passport Is Dying (Wired) You Need to Create a Secret Password With Your Family (Wired) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

27 Dec 202419min

Was Calvin And Hobbes the greatest comic strip ever? Or maybe a great work of art of the 20th Century? Why did Bill Watterson disappear? Was Calvin "good" (morally)? Was Hobbes "real"? Why were there never any toys? Would we ever really want Calvin and Hobbes to come back? With special guest @kibblesmith! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

25 Dec 20241h 33min

How about a Ring Doorbell, but from Apple? How about Meta Ray Ban’s but crossed with Google Glass? How everybody is combining forces to bid for defense contracts. How Tether won the crypto profitability wars. And how Britannica has not only survived the Internet era, but is actually thriving? Sponsors: 1Password.com/ride Links: Apple Explores a Face ID Doorbell and Lock Device in Smart Home Push (Bloomberg) Meta to add display to Ray-Bans as race over smart glasses intensifies (FT) Palantir and Anduril join forces with tech groups to bid for Pentagon contracts (FT) Tether Sees $10 Billion in Net Profits for 2024 (Bloomberg) Britannica Didn’t Just Survive. It’s an A.I. Company Now. (NYTimes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

23 Dec 202416min

Gemini Flash Thinking a model making a serious run at “reasoning.” The FAA has had to ban drones in New Jersey cause of all those weird drone sightings. Self Driving technology continues to prove it is safer. An open source generative physics engine for robots. Sponsors: WashingtonPost.com/ride Links: Google reveals AI ‘reasoning’ model that ‘explicitly shows its thoughts’ (The Verge) FAA Bans Drone Flights in Parts of New Jersey (Bloomberg) Instagram teases AI editing tools that will completely reimagine your videos (The Verge) Waymo still doing better than humans at preventing injuries and property damage (The Verge) New physics sim trains robots 430,000 times faster than reality (ArsTechnica) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

20 Dec 202416min

Apple says Meta is getting annoying. You can now call 1800CHATGPT to, you know, talk to ChatGPT. Apple scraps plans for a hardware subscription package. Oura’s big new raise also indicates how well its smart-ring business is going. And has Bengaluru grown to quickly for its own good? Links: Apple hits out at Meta's numerous interoperability requests (Reuters) OpenAI makes ChatGPT available for phone calls and texts (CNBC) Apple Halts Effort to Build iPhone Hardware Subscription Service (Bloomberg) Smart ring start-up Ōura raises $200mn as valuation leaps to $5.2bn (Financial Times) Oura closes $200M round, bringing its valuation to $5.2B (TechCrunch) 3 Changes That Would Make Samsung's Galaxy Ring So Much Better (CNET) PS5 Pro deep dive reaction: GPU and RT improvements, PSSR and Sony's new AMD Amethyst partnership (EuroGamer) Inside India's 'Silicon Valley' (BusinessInsider) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

19 Dec 202417min

Is your home internet router about to be banned? The US has a new Chinese tech target. An AI dev kit from Nvidia. Who actually buys the most chips from Nvidia? Hollywood has flip-flopped on the whole theatrical release strategy. And why Instagram is officially king of the hill at Meta. Sponsors: Lumen.me/ride Links: U.S. Weighs Ban on Chinese-Made Router in Millions of American Homes (WSJ) Nvidia's new $249 AI development board promises 67 TOPS at half the price of the previous 40 TOPS model (TomsHardware) Nvidia’s $249 dev kit promises cheap, small AI power (The Verge) Microsoft acquires twice as many Nvidia AI chips as tech rivals (Financial Times) Grubhub to pay $25 million for misleading customers, restaurants, drivers (Reuters) ‘Red One’ Becomes Most-Watched Prime Video Film Debut Ever With 50 Million Viewers After Modest Theatrical Run (Variety) Here’s a Hollywood Twist: Streaming Success Runs Through Theaters (NYTimes) Instagram Expected to Generate 50% of Meta’s US Ad Sales in 2025 (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

18 Dec 202417min

On the same day that ByteDance asks the US Supreme Court to intervene, the TikTok CEO meets with Donald Trump. DeepMind’s big new competitor to Sora called Veo 2. The FTC comes down against so called “junk fees.” And on their historic raise, a deep dive look at Databricks, one of the biggest private companies in the world. Sponsors: Miro.com Links: Trump meets with TikTok CEO as video app challenges potential ban (NBCNews) TikTok Asks Supreme Court to Block Law Banning Its U.S. Operations (NYTimes) Google DeepMind unveils a new video model to rival Sora (TechCrunch) FTC issues rules requiring hotels, ticket sellers to reveal ‘junk fees’ (WashingtonPost) Waymo to begin testing in Tokyo, its first international destination (CNBC) His Startup Is Now Worth $62 Billion. It Gave Away Its First Product Free. (WSJ) Google’s Whisk AI generator will ‘remix’ the pictures you plug in (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

17 Dec 202417min