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 opt...
Sep 11, 2024•16 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 tri...
Sep 10, 2024•16 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•19 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) ...
Sep 06, 2024•18 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...
Sep 04, 2024•16 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•17 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 fo...
Aug 30, 2024•17 min
Nvidia’s earnings were huge but because they didn’t manage to beat the biggest expectations out there, it’s kind of a miss? Pavel Durov has been formally charged by France. Does TikTok fall outside of Section 230 protection? And it seems like the effort by the car companies to wean themselves off of smartphone tech is… not going great. Links: Nvidia’s CEO Says New Chip Will Have ‘Lots and Lots’ of Supply (Bloomberg) Telegram CEO Charged in France for Crimes Committed on His App (Bloomberg) TikTo...
Aug 29, 2024•17 min
I explain why everyone has been posting strawberries in AI circles. It’s cause of a potential new breakthrough at OpenAI. Cerebras launches the first new AI chip competition to Nvidia. China has reportedly burrowed into US ISPs. And continuing interesting details pouring out of that Pavel Durov situation. Sponsors: Timeline.com/ride Links: OpenAI Shows ‘Strawberry’ AI to the Feds and Uses It to Develop ‘Orion’ (The Information) OpenAI Races to Launch ‘Strawberry’ Reasoning AI to Boost Chat...
Aug 28, 2024•17 min
As more details come out about the arrest of the founder of Telegram, a deeper look at Pavel Durov himself. We have the date of the iPhone event. We have a new record gaming number from Steam. And are Apple’s experiment with big budget Hollywood movies losing them bucket loads of money? Sponsors: DataTribe.com/challenge Thorne.fit/ridehome Links: Telegram Founder’s Arrest Part of Broad Investigation, French Prosecutors Say (NYTimes) Macron loves Telegram. French judges hate it. (Poli...
Aug 27, 2024•16 min
French authorities have arrested Telegram CEO Pavel Durov. Chinese tech companies are spending like crazy on AI too, btw. What are the smart glasses and VR gear Meta is poised to give us next month? And Nvidia might make you rich, but it still seems like a bear of a place to work at. Sponsors: Lumen.me/ride Links: Telegram CEO Held Over Alleged Child Protection Failures on App (Bloomberg) Telegram messaging app CEO Durov arrested in France (Reuters) Is Telegram really an encrypted me...
Aug 26, 2024•16 min
Breaking down the Crowdstrike outage with Overmind.tech See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
Aug 24, 2024•23 min
Microsoft deprecating a feature that it launched back in 1985. There’s a pretty big loophole that is still letting China use H100 chips. The weird saga evolving over at Bolt. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links: Microsoft finally officially confirms it's killing Windows Control Panel sometime soon (Neowin) Exclusive: Chinese entities turn to Amazon cloud and its rivals to access high-end US chips, AI (Reuters) AI-powered coding pulls in almost $1bn of funding to ...
Aug 23, 2024•19 min
As Mike Lynch’s body is recovered off Sicily, a deeper look at what was a roller coaster of a life. More cross posting for Meta’s apps. We have a date for the re-release of Recall. Interesting executive shuffle at Apple. And more data showing the degree to which free streaming is upending the Streaming Wars. Sponsors: QualiaLife.com/ride Links: Bodies of Mike Lynch and four yacht guests pulled from Bayesian wreck (Financial Times) Mike Lynch’s journey from tech founder to long legal battle...
Aug 22, 2024•16 min
AI news has been a bit quiet for a little while now, but the headlines came roaring back today. More evidence Waymo might be having some sort of tipping point. Can we really get 3D without the need to wear glasses? And the the interesting raise startup that is actually, literally, going to the moon, not in a figurative sense. Sponsors: LinkedIn.com/ride Links: Gemini in Gmail can now help polish up your drafts (The Verge) Microsoft releases powerful new Phi-3.5 models, beating Google, Open...
Aug 21, 2024•17 min
New Raspberry Pi 5. Waymo’s rolling out its new self-driving tech. A major developer draws plaudits for going anti-AI. The tragic and odd story of that tech exec who is missing after his yacht sank. And after six months, how is the Apple Vision Pro evolving? What if it kind of isn’t? Sponsors: TakeThesis.com code RIDE Links: Raspberry Pi 5’s new 2GB model benchmarked: Do you need 2, 4 or 8GB? : We test against the 4 and 8GB versions (Tom's Hardware) Waymo is developing a roomier robo...
Aug 20, 2024•17 min
Is X closing up shop in Brazil? Remember how Apple is trying to make their own modems? How’s that going? Why is the online dating sector suddenly struggling? And could the next big advertising platform actually be Walmart? Sponsors: ArcticWolf.com/techmeme Links: X says it’s closing operations in Brazil (TechCrunch) AMD Buys AI Equipment Maker for Nearly $5 Billion, Escalating Battle With Nvidia (WSJ) Apple Is Playing the Long Game With Switch From Qualcomm Modems (Bloomberg) ‘...
Aug 19, 2024•17 min
The Epic saga has reached a sort of conclusion. Epic saga. See what I did there? That California AI safety bill has been pruned a bit. You can now add you California drivers license to your smartphone wallet. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links: Fortnite Maker Epic Games Challenges Apple’s Dominance With New iOS App Store (Wired) California weakens bill to prevent AI disasters before final vote, taking advice from Anthropic (TechCrunch) Exclusive: Apple, Google w...
Aug 16, 2024•18 min
The new version of Grok will pretty much let you make an AI image of anything or anyone. More rumors of an iPad/robot/smart home hybrid from Apple. Masa Son wanted Intel to spin up a competitor to Nvidia, but Intel reportedly couldn’t hack it. And is Sonos going to just say, heck with it, and re-release their old app that actually worked? Sponsors: Acorns.com/ride Links: X’s new AI image generator will make anything from Taylor Swift in lingerie to Kamala Harris with a gun (The Verge) Appl...
Aug 15, 2024•16 min
All the details from yesterday’s pixel event, but especially the AI features that show how far ahead Google is. At least when it comes to putting AI on phones. We have official post quantum computing cryptography standards. And why they’re using iPhones to make offsides calls in soccer this season. Sponsors: DataTribe.com/challenge Hims.com/ride Links: The Google Pixel 9’s AI Camera Features Let You Reshape Reality (Wired) Google Gemini’s voice chat mode is here (The Verge) Apple rel...
Aug 14, 2024•16 min
Patreon is forced to change how it does things because Apple finally came to claim their vig. Have basically all our social security numbers been leaked? Crowdstrike owns its mistakes in person. And even if you build it, the chip factories might not come if nobody shows up to work. Sponsors: HensonShaving.com/ride and code ride Shopify.com/ride Links: Apple says Patreon must switch to its billing system or risk removal from App Store (TechCrunch) ‘Apple’s Requirements to Hit Creators...
Aug 13, 2024•16 min
Hey, want to know the iPhone product road map for the next year or so? I wonder why that’s coming out today? Instagram is copying something it forgot to copy from Snapchat. Celsius wants a ton of bitcoin back from Tether. Flux continues to wow, and is Iran the biggest cyber threat of this election year. Sponsors: Ramp.com/techmeme WashingtonPost.com/ride Links: Apple’s iPhone 16 Will Keep Sales Stable Until Bigger Changes Arrive (Bloomberg) Instagram is testing its own take on Snap Map &nb...
Aug 12, 2024•17 min
Apple’s new EU rules still aren’t acceptable to Spotify and Epic. Could we be getting a new, smaller Mac Mini this year? Perplexity AI is showing some real numbers in its effort to unseat Google Search. And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Links: Apple announces new fee structure for apps in the EU that link out to the web for purchases (9to5Mac) Spotify and Epic Games call Apple’s revised DMA compliance plan ‘confusing,’ ‘illegal’ and ‘unacceptable’ (TechCrunch) Apple’...
Aug 09, 2024•16 min
TikTok launches Spotlight. Meta’s budget kills a VR studio. Why did everyone think Logitech was going to create a mouse you had to pay a subscription to use? And did you know how big Anime is? I did not. Links: TikTok adds in-app hubs for videos about movies and TV shows (The Verge) Exclusive: Meta is closing a beloved first-party Quest studio (AndroidConnect) UK regulator launches formal probe into Amazon’s $4bn Anthropic deal (Financial Times) Humane’s daily returns are outpa...
Aug 08, 2024•17 min
Google’s new TV streaming appliance, plus lots of lot of Gemini stuff is coming to Google Home and Nest and such. Elon tries to get advertisers to come back to X by… suing them. That time Intel had a chance to invest in OpenAI. And what new products can Airbnb dream up to make more money? Links: The Google TV Streamer might be the Apple TV 4K rival we’ve been waiting for (The Verge) Gemini intelligence is coming to Google Home (The Verge) Scoop: X sues major brands, ad industry group...
Aug 07, 2024•16 min
Three big stories to catch you up on. A federal judge has ruled Google is an illegal monopoly. The Game Of Thrones style drama at OpenAI is just getting weirder. And what if all those weird acquihires in all but name are actually mercy killings? Sponsors: Lumen.me/ride Links: Google Monopolized Search Through Illegal Deals, Judge Rules (Bloomberg) Forget Apple, the biggest loser in the Google search ruling could be Mozilla and its Firefox web browser (Fortune) How the Google Ant...
Aug 06, 2024•17 min
Why is OpenAI sitting on technology that could detect AI cheating? Why is Bitcoin so correlated to the stock market? Why is Elon restarting his lawsuit against OpenAI? Why are the Chinese launching a Starlink competitor? And are the go-go days for music streaming over? Sponsors: Dell.com/deals HelloMood.com code RIDE Links: There’s a Tool to Catch Students Cheating With ChatGPT. OpenAI Hasn’t Released It. (WSJ) Bitcoin tumbles below $50,000 for the first time since February (CN...
Aug 05, 2024•16 min
So, tech earnings continued to be boring. Apple was fine. Amazon was not quite so fine. And then someone we don’t cover closely really messed the bed. I’ll tell you who. Are we starting to see the first next-generation AI startups? I’ll tell you about an interesting new model. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links: Amazon Beats On Earnings, Revenue Comes In Light Despite Strong Cloud Performance (Investor's Business Daily) Intel is laying off over 15,000 employees and wi...
Aug 02, 2024•17 min
So I guess Zuck has convinced Wall Street that all the capex spending on AI is fine. How good a business is Tether? A gooooood business. The first arrival of Apple Intelligence is sort of a ho-hum for now. And how sports is completely transforming the streaming wars battlefield. Links: Meta’s Lesson in Allaying Wall Street’s A.I. Fears (Dealbook/NYT) Meta’s AI Costs Surge as Digital Advertising Revenue Grows (WSJ) Reddit CEO says Microsoft needs to pay to search the site (The V...
Aug 01, 2024•18 min
