Mon. 06/02 – How DoorDash Has Quietly Been Killing It

Shenanigans from some Elon companies. Twitter looks like it’s blocking Substack. Not just links to Substack but even mentioning the name, the word Substack, in some cases. Oh, and Tesla employees apparently liked to view videos from your car and share them with each other internally. Last quarter was epically bad when it came to venture investing. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links: Twitter now disables likes, replies, and retweets if a tweet has Substack links (The Verge) Special Report: Tesla workers shared sensitive images recorded by customer cars (Reuters) A third of organizations admit to covering up data breaches (VentureBeat) Global VC Funding Falls Dramatically Across All Stages In Rocky Q1, Despite Massive OpenAI And Stripe Deals (CrunchBase News) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Behind the curtain: what it feels like to work in AI right now (Democratizing Automation) Think of language models like ChatGPT as a “calculator for words” (Simon Willison's Blog) Anthropic’s $5B, 4-year plan to take on OpenAI (TechCrunch) Blockbuster pushed HBO to start investing in original content, cable giant’s ex-chief says (CNBC) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

7 Apr 202318min

More examples of chatbots hallucinating might lead to the first lawsuits. Did you know that you have a copy of the bitcoin white paper on your Mac right now? You don’t know it, but you do. I’ll tell you why. Substack is the latest to launch a Twitter clone. And why E3 had to die. It’s called direct to consumer, or, I guess, gamer. Sponsors: Mimecast.com OregonState.edu Links: ChatGPT invented a sexual harassment scandal and named a real law prof as the accused (Washington Post) The Bitcoin Whitepaper Is Hidden in Every Modern Copy of macOS (Waxy.org) Google CEO Sundar Pichai Says Search to Include Chat AI (WSJ) Google to prohibit personal loan apps from accessing user photos, contacts (TechCrunch) Substack’s new short-form ‘Notes’ feed looks a lot like Twitter (TechCrunch) Streaming Killed E3 (Wired) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

6 Apr 202315min

Sony might be developing a sort of PS Vita mark 2. Sad news of the death of a well-known silicon valley luminary. Meta says its not going to be left behind in the AI race. What happens if the kids aren’t keen on the Metaverse. And I sketch out an example of our grand theory of AI varietals. Sponsors: Bloomberg.com/careers Links: EXCLUSIVE – SONY’S NEXT PLAYSTATION HANDHELD (Insider Gaming) Bob Lee, creator of Cash App and former CTO of Square, stabbed to death (TechCrunch) Google says its AI supercomputer is faster, greener than Nvidia A100 chip (Reuters) Meta to debut ad-creating generative AI this year, CTO says (NikkeiAsia) American teens aren’t excited about virtual reality, with only 4% using it daily (CNBC) What if ChatGPT was trained on decades of financial news and data? BloombergGPT aims to be a domain-specific AI for business news (NeimanLab) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5 Apr 202319min

We’ve said before that Elon owns Twitter, so if he decides to change the logo to a Shiba Inu, you know, why not? Apple kinda sorta bites the bullet on layoffs. What’s going on with the Apple Weather app? Do we want universities to call the use of ChatGPT plagiarism? And data on the corporate takeover of AI development. Sponsors: OregonState.edu ZocDoc.com/techmeme Links: Twitter’s new dog icon is sending dogecoin — sigh — to the moon (TechCrunch) Spotify shuts down its Clubhouse-style audio app Spotify Live (Musically) Google to cut down on employee laptops, services and staplers for ‘multi-year’ savings (CNBC) Apple to Cut Jobs in Some Corporate Retail Teams in First Known Layoffs (Bloomberg) Apple Weather forecasts suffer rare outage (AppleInsider) Universities express doubt over tool to detect AI-powered plagiarism (Financial Times) AI is entering an era of corporate control (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4 Apr 202317min

The blue checks went away on Twitter over the weekend. Or did they? More interesting details on those Pinduoduo app allegations. In a headline from 2019, Paris says no to e-scooters. And what does the recent move by GM say about the relationship between the car companies and the tech platforms? Sponsors: Ramp.com/techmeme This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/techmeme and get on your way to being your best self.” Links: Twitter had a very messy weekend (The Verge) Twitter’s blue check mark was loved and loathed. Now it’s pay for play. (Washington Post) ‘I’ve never seen anything like this:’ One of China’s most popular apps has the ability to spy on its users, say experts (CNN Business) Paris votes overwhelmingly to ban shared e-scooters (TechCrunch) GM is cutting off access to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for its future EVs (The Verge) The rest of the auto industry still loves CarPlay and Android Auto (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3 Apr 202317min

I can tell you E3 is officially cancelled this year, but I’m kinda thinking it might be dead for good. Bunch of stuff about Twitter and checkmarks. Italy has temporarily banned ChatGPT. Some of the signatories of that AI letter are having second thoughts. And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Miro.com/podcast LInks: E3 Has Been Canceled (IGN) Elon Musk Tried to Meet With F.T.C. Chair About Twitter but Was Rebuffed (NYTimes) Japan restricts chipmaking equipment exports as it aligns with US China curbs (Reuters) Italian privacy regulator bans ChatGPT (Politico) The Open Letter to Stop 'Dangerous' AI Race Is a Huge Mess (Motherboard) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Fitbit’s attempt to disappear the button proved why they matter (The Verge) The influencers getting rich by teaching you how to get rich (Vox) “I’LL WALK AWAY FROM ANYTHING”: KARA SWISHER CALLS THE SHOTS (Vanity Fair) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

31 Mars 202317min

Wait, are we NOT going to see the new Apple headset at WWDC? Twitter’s new API tiers? Ads are coming to Bing Chat. Is Elon Musk guilty of laundering his grudge against OpenAI through AI concern trolling? And is TikTok creating more one hit wonders? Sponsors: Shopify.com/ride Miro.com/podcast Links: Kuo: Apple Mixed-Reality Headset May Not Appear at WWDC as Mass Production Pushed Back Yet Again (MacRumors) Twitter announces new API pricing, including a limited free tier for bots (Engadget) Microsoft’s Bing chatbot is getting more ads (The Verge) Alphabet’s Google and DeepMind Pause Grudges, Join Forces to Chase OpenAI (The Information) Elon Musk's AI History May Be Behind His Call To Pause Development (Forbes) Is TikTok Actually Creating More One-Hit Wonders? (Billboard) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

30 Mars 202316min

Over 1,000 big names sign a petition urging a pause on AI development. What analysts think AI could to for or to the economy. North Korean hackers allegedly have a new trick. And did you know ByteDance has an Instagram rival? Well, it looks like they’re putting the pedal to the metal on that. Sponsors: Miro.com/podcast go.tech/tm Links: Elon Musk and top AI researchers call for pause on ‘giant AI experiments’ (The Verge) Generative AI set to affect 300mn jobs across major economies (Financial Times) North Korea Is Now Mining Crypto to Launder Its Stolen Loot (Wired) Google Search is adding new ‘Perspectives’ and ‘About this author’ features to help users verify info (TechCrunch) TikTok ban backup plan? ByteDance-owned Instagram rival Lemon8 hits the US App Store’s Top 10 (TechCrunch) Cerebras releases seven large language models for generative AI, trained on its specialized hardware (SiliconAngle) Google Partners with AI Startup Replit to Take on Microsoft’s GitHub (Bloomberg) Microsoft Security Copilot is a new GPT-4 AI assistant for cybersecurity (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

29 Mars 202316min