All the headlines from Tesla’s robotaxi event. AMD unveils the chip it wants to use to go toe to toe with Nvidia. Are people actually making money building GPTs or not so much? And in the longreads, rebuilding Notre Dame as period accurately as possible. Sponsors: Go to Hensonshaving.com/ride and enter RIDE at checkout to get 100 free blades with your purchase. (Note: you must add both the 100-blade pack and the razor for the discount to apply.) Links: Tesla reveals 20 Cybercabs at We, Robot eve...
Oct 11, 2024•17 min
Apple TV+ finally comes to Prime Video Channels. OpenAI says they’ve been disrupting AI election influence campaigns. But they won’t be profitable until when? How Google plans to beat the regulation rap. And a review of basically the highest end smartwatch you can buy. Sponsors: Notion.com/ride Links: Amazon Adds Apple TV+ to Its Channels Store for Streaming (Bloomberg) OpenAI says bad actors are using its platform to disrupt elections, but with little ‘viral engagement’ (CNBC) OpenAI Projection...
Oct 10, 2024•18 min
Subscribe to RAD! 80s90s History in your podcast app! Apple Podcasts Spotify Overcast The government says it does, in fact, want to break up Google. The Nobel Prize sure does love AI this year. Could Substack win by becoming the default way for creators to monetize? And listen to the end of the show today for a big announcement from me. Links: US Weighs Google Breakup in Historic Big Tech Antitrust Case (Bloomberg) Unmasking Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto—Again (Wired) Google DeepMind Scientis...
Oct 09, 2024•21 min
Crack… at least for the Google Play store. Two AI scientists have won the Nobel Prize for physics?! Samsung is in a similar boat to Intel, just not quite as severely. And an unfortunate reminder that government mandated back doors are bad doors. Sponsors: Dell.com/deals Links: Google must crack open Android for third-party stores, rules Epic judge (The Verge) Apple Potentially Facing Worst Leak Since iPhone 4 Was Left in a Bar (MacRumors) ‘Godfather of AI’ Geoffrey Hinton Among Nobel Prize Winne...
Oct 08, 2024•17 min
We finally have a date for Apple Intelligence. Meta has a new text to video AI model. Google could soon drop under 50% in the search ads market. More hope for level three automated driving. And how AI bots could revolutionize online dating. Sponsors: Miro.com Links: Apple Slowly Moves Away From Its Annual Product Release Strategy (Bloomberg) Meta Unveils AI Video Generator, Taking On OpenAI and Google (Bloomberg) Google’s Grip on Search Slips as TikTok and AI Startup Mount Challenge (WSJ) GM is ...
Oct 07, 2024•16 min
Google has updated Lens and is taking a page out of Perplexity’s book. OpenAI’s new canvas workspace. Why an upcoming iPhone SE might have some interesting internals. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links: Google Lens now lets you search with video (The Verge) Google brings ads to AI Overviews as it expands AI’s role in search (TechCrunch) OpenAI launches new ‘Canvas’ ChatGPT interface tailored to writing and coding projects (TechCrunch) iPhone SE 4 to feature Apple’s first 5G...
Oct 04, 2024•17 min
OpenAI raised their round, and it basically broke all the records. The whole Wordpress mess has gotten so crazy that WPEngine is suing. Using Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses to dox people in real time. And you’ll never guess the reason why you’re about to see more ads on streaming video. Hint: you’ll endure it. Sponsors: Lumen.me/ride Links: OpenAI raises $6.6 billion in largest VC round ever (Axios) OpenAI asks investors not to back rival start-ups such as Elon Musk’s xAI (Financial Times) OpenAI fe...
Oct 03, 2024•16 min
Catching you up on a bunch of other Microsoft announcements we missed yesterday. Is Nvidia trying to break open the black box of AI? It’s absolutely wild that there’s still no viable YouTube app for the Vision Pro. And we were worried about disruption to the semiconductor industry if a typhoon hit Taiwan, but it turns out, a hurricane hitting North Carolina can be bad too. Links: Microsoft is using AI to improve Windows search (The Verge) Microsoft starts paying publishers for content surfaced b...
Oct 02, 2024•30 min
Do we have the first IPO of the AI era? Do we have the first AI model beyond the transformer architecture? Microsoft has a bunch of new AI tools inside Windows. We try to explain that whole controversy around PearAI. And what about that NotebookLM feature that lets you create a two-hander podcast out of any text. Links: AI chipmaker Cerebras files for IPO to take on Nvidia (CNBC) MIT spinoff Liquid debuts non-transformer AI models and they’re already state-of-the-art (VentureBeat) Microsoft Copi...
Oct 01, 2024•33 min
That controversial AI bill in California has been vetoed by Governor Newsom. Is even Apple now thinking that its Vision Pro strategy might need a rethink? What really is OpenAI’s situation right now, and this time I’m talking money-wise? And the strange resurrection of the point and shoot camera. Links: California’s Gavin Newsom Vetoes Controversial AI Safety Bill (WSJ) California Passes Law Protecting Consumer Brain Data (NYTimes) Meta’s New Headsets Show Apple Has Lost Its Way With the Vision ...
Sep 30, 2024•17 min
Founder Mode? Not for me, says Sam Altman, but we will see. A few new gadgets from Samsung. Maybe ARM should buy Intel. Are AI startups hitting revenue traction faster than SaaS startups did? And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links: Sam Altman tells OpenAI staff there’s no plan for him to receive a ‘giant equity stake’ in company (CNBC) Samsung Galaxy S24 FE goes official starting at $649 – is it still a ‘Fan Edition?’ (9to5Google) Arm Is Rebuffed by Intel After Inquiring About ...
Sep 27, 2024•17 min
There’s only two stories really. If you can believe it, more executive departures at OpenAI, as it looks like they’re serious about going for profit. And yes, Meta announced a new Quest headset, but the real headlines are the Orion smartglasses, which you can’t actually buy. What? I’ll explain. Sponsors: Thorne.fit/ridehome Links: OpenAI considering restructuring to for-profit, CTO Mira Murati and two top research execs depart (CNBC) Exclusive: OpenAI to remove non-profit control and give Sam Al...
Sep 26, 2024•17 min
Caroline Ellison benefits from being cooperative. Has your company unknowingly hired remote workers from North Korea? What is going on with this WordPress back and forth? Why OpenAI has to let people look at their training data. And why is everyone upset at Marquess Brownlee? Sponsors: Hims.com/ride Links: Caroline Ellison sentenced to two years in prison for her role in FTX scandal (Axios) Dozens of Fortune 100 companies have unwittingly hired North Korean IT workers, according to report (The R...
Sep 25, 2024•17 min
Sam Altman has a manifesto. Kinda. Telegram is beginning to walk things back a bit. Cloudflare wants to help you block the AI bots. New streaming device from Roku. And I guess TikTok can’t win at everything. Sponsors: Lumen.me/ride Links: The Intelligence Age (Sam Altman) Sam Altman catapults past founder mode into ‘god mode’ with latest AI post (TechCrunch) OpenAI CEO: We may have AI superintelligence in “a few thousand days” (ArsTechnica) Some Kaspersky customers receive surprise forced-update...
Sep 24, 2024•16 min
Qualcomm as a white knight to save Intel? A huge bitcoin heist gets busted for the usual reasons. What if the US bans imports of all cars from China? And why can’t US car makers keep up when it comes, simply, to software? Sponsors: Timeline.com/ride Links: Qualcomm Approached Intel About a Takeover in Recent Days (WSJ) Intel Gets Multibillion-Dollar Apollo Offer as Qualcomm Circles (Bloomberg) Chip Giants TSMC and Samsung Discuss Building Middle Eastern Megafactories (WSJ) Suspects behind $230 m...
Sep 23, 2024•17 min
You might want to hold off on updating to macOS 15 Sequoia. What, exactly, is Europe trying to get Apple to do? The AI energy crunch means they’re turning Three Mile Island back on. Could AI usage mean we use up all our 5G capacity? And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Sponsors: 1password.com/ride QualiaLife.com/ride and code ride Links: Apple’s new macOS Sequoia update is breaking some cybersecurity tools (TechCrunch) EU to tell Apple how to do interoperability, DMA style (TechCru...
Sep 20, 2024•18 min
Looks like they finally got around to suing that Palworld game. Google volunteered to break up some of its businesses but the EU said no. AI is coming to YouTube in a big way. A new social media platform that is ENTIRELY AI. And Amazon wants to get into the Shark Tank business. Sponsors: LinkedIn.com/ride Links: Nintendo and Pokémon are suing Palworld maker Pocketpair (The Verge) Exclusive: Google offered to sell part of ad tech business, not enough for EU publishers (Reuters) YouTube will use A...
Sep 19, 2024•17 min
Messages between Android and iOS are about to be encrypted. A new XR headset from HTC and new Spectacles from Snap. A big movie studio has signed up to use AI. Neuralink has implants for blindness. And why I’m kinda NOT gonna do a review roundup of the new iPhones. Sponsors: Ramp.com/techmeme Links: RCS texts on the iPhone aren’t encrypted now, but that could change (The Verge) Here’s how green bubbles are getting upgraded in iOS (The Verge) HTC Vive's Focus Vision is a $999 stab at high-end VR ...
Sep 18, 2024•17 min
Intel announces a bunch of ways its hoping to turn its business around sooner rather than later. Is OpenAI about to have its chat bots query you? The whole TikTok divestment case is coming to a head right now. And speaking of turn arounds, darn if Netflix didn’t pull ITS turnaround off perfectly. Hollywood, not so much. Sponsors: Shopify.com/ride Links: Intel stock jumps on plan to turn foundry business into subsidiary and allow for outside funding (CNBC) Intel to Make Custom AI Chip for Amazon,...
Sep 17, 2024•17 min
A bunch of Apple stories today. FDA approval for sleep apnea detection for the watch. Signs of poor pre-order sales for the phone. And a quick review of the new Airpods. Also, how did Intel lose out on making the chips for the next gen Playstation. And are dating apps responsible for income inequality? Sponsors: ArcticWolf.com/register Links: Apple Watch sleep apnea detection gets FDA approval (TechCrunch) iPhone 16 first weekend pre-order analysis: estimated total sales of about 37 million unit...
Sep 16, 2024•17 min
The first of the Strawberry models is here. YC plans to have four cohorts a year, but each one is getting smaller. Waymo is already ready to expand to more pretty big markets. And in the long reads, a deep dive look into the options Intel has at this point in time. Sponsors: HensonShaving.com/ride code ride Links: OpenAI releases o1, its first model with ‘reasoning’ abilities (The Verge) Notes on OpenAI’s new o1 chain-of-thought models (Simon Willison's Weblog) OpenAI's new models 'instrumentall...
Sep 13, 2024•19 min
As expected, OpenAI is in talks for a new capital raise at a $150B valuation. More layoffs in Microsoft’s gaming division. More holes poked in our creaking internet infrastructure. The tiny SpaceX competitor who’s stock has been soaring lately. And a look at what Apple’s recent AirPods announcement could do to the hearing aid industry. Links: OpenAI Fundraising Set to Vault Startup’s Valuation to $150 Billion (Bloomberg) The AI Spending Spree, in Charts (WSJ) Microsoft Lays Off Another 650 Staff...
Sep 12, 2024•17 min
Mistral goes multimodal for the first time. Meta admits to scraping the data of every adult Australian. The details on the new PS5 Pro. Wouldn’t it be wild if, through stablecoins, crypto BECOMES the banking system instead of replacing it. And a weird mystery in AI land. Sponsors: Promevo.com/techmeme Links: Mistral releases Pixtral 12B, its first multimodal model (TechCrunch) Facebook admits to scraping every Australian adult user's public photos and posts to train AI, with no opt-out option (A...
Sep 11, 2024•17 min
Apple loses its longest standing regulatory battle in the EU. Some drips and drabs from yesterday’s iPhone event. Would a phone you can fold three times be more enticing than a phone that folds two times? And are we about to see that new Strawberry AI model from OpenAI by the end of the month? Sponsors: Timeline.com/ride Links: Apple must pay 13 billion euros in back taxes, EU’s top court rules (CNBC) iPhone 16 battery life: How much better is it? (9to5Mac) Huawei launches $2,800 trifold phone h...
Sep 10, 2024•17 min
All the headlines from today’s iPhone event. It IS interesting the degree to which Elon’s various businesses have potential synergy. The Times digs into the content on Telegram and says, it ain’t pretty. And e-bikes seem to be back. In London, at least, anyway. Links: Apple Announces iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max with Larger Displays, New Camera Control, and More (MacRumors) Apple announces iPhone 16: camera button, new colors, AI features (9to5Mac) AirPods Pro 2 adds ‘clinical grade’ hear...
Sep 09, 2024•20 min
Pavel Durov speaks, and Telegram blinks, both for the first time since the French arrest. Are XR glasses tethered to smartphones the next big product category? What if your smartphone could cure your vision problems? And in the longreads, if Waymo is about to scale, what, exactly, is the business model, long-term? Links: Pavel Durov: Telegram founder says France arrest is ‘misguided’ (The Guardian) Exclusive: Qualcomm explores acquiring pieces of Intel chip-design business (Reuters) Qualcomm say...
Sep 06, 2024•19 min
The DOJ says it has taken down a big election influence campaign allegedly directed by Russia. The Internet Archive loses a big case. Android 15 is here. And two really interesting new gadgets, one I probably need to buy and one I want to buy but probably won’t. Sponsors: LinkedIn.com/ride Links: Biden administration announces major actions to tackle Russian efforts to influence 2024 election (CNN) The Internet Archive Loses Its Appeal of a Major Copyright Case (Wired) Android 15 will be availab...
Sep 05, 2024•16 min
SpaceX has agreed to block access to X, in Brazil, on Starlink. Looks like YubiKeys are hackable. Who is the mystery platform looking to expand AI datacenters at an historic scale? And the Catch 22 that Intel is in. They need CHIPS Act money, but can their troubles mean the CHIPS Act money shouldn’t be spent on them? Sponsors: Ramp.com/techmeme Lumen.me/ride Links: Starlink backtracks, complies with order blocking X in Brazil, says regulator (Reuters) No X in Brazil? No problem, Brazilians say. ...
Sep 04, 2024•17 min
We missed a pretty big story this weekend. X getting banned in Brazil. I’ll try to catch you up on all the contours of this. Canva’s raising prices and it’s pissing people off because, I mean, they are REALLY raising prices. And the two pretty big success stories in crypto this year that we haven’t spoken about yet. Sponsors: DataTribe.com/challenge Hims.com/ride Links: Brazil’s Most Powerful Judge Is in the Spotlight—Again (Americas Quarterly) How Brazil’s Experiment Fighting Fake News Led to a...
Sep 03, 2024•18 min
At this point it would be quicker to name the big tech company that’s NOT investing in OpenAI’s latest round. Amazon’s new Alexa service is just going to be Anthropic’s Claude in drag disguise I guess. I’m starting to get really worried about Intel y’all. And, of course, The Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links: OpenAI Funding Round Tempts Nvidia as Big Tech Leans on ChatGPT (Bloomberg) Apple, Nvidia Are in Talks to Invest in OpenAI (WSJ) Ask Claude: Amazon turns to Anthropic's AI for Alexa reva...
Aug 30, 2024•18 min
