Welcome to the Tech Meme Right Home for Friday, January 3rd, 2025. I'm Brian McCullough. Today, Apple pays a fine because Siri was listening in on what you said. Strava does a tie-in with Apple Fitness Plus. Net neutrality is dead again. looks like for good this time. The nuclear winter in the VC space. CES is coming for us all. And a weekend long read suggestion. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech.
You know that thing how people have this conspiracy theory that your phone is listening to you, and so when you say something in real life, then you suddenly see ads for that thing you were discussing on your phone? Well, this is kind of like that, though not exactly, though I'm sure this will keep those conspiracy theories going. Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit claiming that it recorded private conversations.
after Siri was unintentionally activated and shared that data with outside parties. Voice assistants typically react when people use hot words such as Hey Siri. Two plaintiffs said that their mentions of Air Jordan sneakers and Olive Garden restaurants triggered ads for those products. Another said he got ads for a brand name surgical treatment. After discussing it, he thought privately with his doctor.
The class period runs from September 17, 2014 to December 31, 2024. It began when Siri incorporated the Hey Siri feature that allegedly led to the unauthorized recordings. Class members estimated in the tens of millions may receive up to $20 per Siri-enabled device, such as iPhones and Apple Watches.
Apple denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle. The Cupertino, California-based company and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday. Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to similar requests. They may seek up to $28.5 million. in fees, plus $1.1 million for expenses from the settlement fund. The $95 million is about nine hours of profit for Apple, whose net income was $93.74 billion in its latest fiscal year. A similar lawsuit on behalf of
of users of Google's voice assistant is pending in the San Jose, California federal court in the same district as the Oakland court. The plaintiffs are represented by the same law firms as in the Apple case, end quote. As the tech privacy activist Parker Higgins said on Blue Sky, I think probably 95% of speculation that your phone is secretly listening to you is overblown, but man. end quote. End quote.
And Mike Masnick of TechDirt wrote, quote, exactly my reaction. Most of the claims about OMG, the phone was listening, are BS. But apparently not all of them, end quote. A much kinder Apple headline here. Starting today, Strava subscribers can redeem two months in addition to the free one-month trial already offered to new Apple Fitness Plus users. So basically, Strava subscribers will now get
three free months of Apple Fitness Plus, while Strava athletes will begin appearing in Fitness Plus programming. Quoting The Verge, Apple Fitness Plus is getting a fresh makeover in the Strava app. The two companies announced they're collaborating to revamp how Fitness Plus integrates with the popular fitness community, which includes more detailed workout summaries, Strava athletes appearing in Fitness Plus content.
and a free three-month trial to the service for Strava subscribers. Starting today, you'll be able to see a thumbnail of the Fitness Plus workout and information like episode number, music genre, trainer, metrics, and achievements. While mostly a design update, this brings Fitness Plus more in line with other Strava integrations from services like Peloton and Ladder.
Technically, Apple Watch users have been able to import their workouts into Strava from the get-go. However, that integration has been limited with bare-bones workout summaries. While you could see the activity type, calories burned, and basic heart rate metrics, wasn't any information about the class or instructor, end quote.
To be clear, this is actually a two-way partnership that breaks new ground for both platforms. For the first time, Strava subscribers can access Fitness Plus for a three-month free trial period without needing an Apple Watch, though they'll still need an iPhone, iPod. or Apple TV. The collaboration also brings fresh faces to Fitness Plus workouts with notable Strava athletes stepping into guest roles. You'll see runner Hela Sidibe leading a strength session on January 13th, while Kayla Jeter
takes charge of a treadmill workout. This marks a shift in Apple's approach, as previously, they'd only offered Fitness Plus trials alongside new hardware purchases. Moreover, while Fitness Plus has featured prominent athletes before, this represents the first time they are tapping into an external fitness community's talent pool. The timing of this partnership makes strategic sense for both sides.
user pushback after modifying their API terms for third-party apps, leading some subscribers to question their membership value. The Fitness Plus trial offers a compelling new benefit that could help smooth over these tensions. Meanwhile, Strava's position as the go-to platform for serious athletes gives Fitness Plus access to a dedicated fitness community exactly the kind of users who tend to stick with their fitness commitments beyond the typical New Year's resolution window.
Like Schrodinger's cat, we open the box this morning and find that net neutrality seems dead once again. Though maybe the blow is permanent and mortal this time. A U.S. appeals court has ruled the Federal Communications Commission did not have legal authority to reinstate net neutrality rules.
which is interesting timing because incoming FCC Chair Brendan Carr opposed the 2024 reinstatement of net neutrality to begin with, so expect net neutrality to remain dead for the foreseeable future, quoting Reuters.
Net neutrality rules require internet service providers to treat internet data and users equally rather than restricting access, slowing speeds, or blocking content for certain users. The rules also forbid special arrangements in which ISPs give improved network speeds or access to favor.
users. The court cited the Supreme Court's June decision in a case known as Loper Bright to overturn a 1984 precedent that had given deference to government agencies in interpreting laws they administer in the latest decision to curb the authority of federal agencies. Applying Loper Bright means we can end the FCC's vacillations, the court ruled.
The decision leaves in place state neutrality rules adopted by California and others, but may end more than 20 years of efforts to give federal regulators sweeping oversight over the internet. Incoming FCC Chair Brendan Carr voted against the reinstatement last year and praised the decision to invalidate what he called President Joe Biden's internet power grab. He vowed to unwind additional regulations.
Current FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel called on Congress to act after the decision. Consumers across the country have told us again and again that they want an internet that is fast, open, and fair. With this decision, it is clear that Congress now needs to heed their call. up the charge for net neutrality, and put open internet principles in federal law, Rosenworcel said in a statement.
The FCC voted in April along party lines to reassume regulatory oversight of broadband internet and reinstate open internet rules. Industry groups filed suit and successfully convinced the court to temporarily block the rules as they considered the case.
US Telecom, an industry group whose members include AT&T and Verizon, said in a joint statement with other groups that... sued that the ruling is, quote, a victory for American consumers that will lead to more investment, innovation, and competition in the dynamic digital marketplace, end quote.
This is a warning to any professionals out there working in a white-collar environment, but especially if you work in corporate America in a management capacity. Experts are warning of a rise in personalized phishing emails targeting corporate... executives with personal details. What is the culprit behind this new wave of scamming? Well, most likely it's AI. Quoting the Financial Times.
Corporate executives are being hit with an influx of hyper-personalized phishing scams generated by artificial intelligence bots as the fast developing technology makes advanced cybercrime easier. Leading companies such as British insurer Beasley and e-commerce group eBay have warned of the rise of fraudulent emails containing personal details probably obtained through AI analysis of online profiles.
This is getting worse, and it's getting very personal, and this is why we suspect AI is behind a lot of it, said Beasley's chief information security officer, Christy Kelly. We're starting to see very targeted attacks that have scraped an immense amount of information about a person.
The availability of generative AI tools lowers the entry threshold for advanced cybercrime, said eBay cybercrime security researcher Nadezda Demidova. We've witnessed a growth in the volume of all kinds of cyberattacks, particularly in polished and closely targeted phishing scams, she added. Kip Menditzer, an executive at security company Checkpoint Software Technologies, told a recent investor conference that AI had given hackers, quote, the ability to write a perfect phishing email, end quote.
AI systems possess remarkable capabilities to analyze and mirror communication patterns, enabling them to craft highly personalized deceptive messages. These AI tools excel at processing vast data sets of writing styles and organizational communication norms. then deploying this knowledge to execute sophisticated impersonation attacks.
By methodically scanning targets' digital footprints across social platforms, AI can identify the hooks most likely to trigger engagement, enabling attackers to automate the creation of tailored phishing campaigns. The stakes are significant. According to the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, phishing emails serve as the entry point for over 90% of successful cyber incidents.
The financial impact continues to grow as well, with IBM reporting that the worldwide average cost of data breaches increased nearly 10% to reach $4.9 million in 2024. And this shows no sign of slowing. Security researchers have identified AI as particularly effective in orchestrating business email compromise attacks, a specialized form of phishing that doesn't rely on malware. Instead, these scams use social engineering to convince
The FBI reports these schemes have extracted more than $50 billion from victims globally since 2013. Traditional security measures seem to be unusually powerless. in the face of these new threats. While standard email filters effectively block conventional mass phishing attempts, they struggle to detect AI-generated campaigns that can produce thousands of unique variations. of malicious messages in seconds.
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Post-pandemic, everything was going public and unicorns were being minted every day. We're gradually coming out of those doldrums following that bubble bursting, but... I've also been telling you about how that has led to an extensive, extreme hangover in the VC world. Basically, a bunch of VC firms popped up around pandemic times and now, well... Get these stats. According to PitchBook, the number of VCs investing in US startups fell from a peak of 8,315.
in the year 2021, to a mere 6,175 in 2024. So that's crazy. Over 2,000 VC firms have stopped operations in the last few years alone. But get this stat as well. Just nine firms were responsible for raising more than 50% of the $71 billion raised in total by VCs in 2024. So this is important if you're in startup land because...
Basically, it's harder to get money. There are less people giving money out, number one. And number two, if you can't get in front of those big nine firms responsible for half of the money out there, you don't have access to fully half of the money. Quoting the Financial Times.
This trend has concentrated power among a small group of mega firms and has left smaller VCs in a fight for survival. It has also skewed the dynamics of the U.S. venture market, enabling startups such as SpaceX, OpenAI, Databricks, and Stripe to stay private for far less.
longer while thinning out funding options for smaller companies. More than half of the $71 billion raised by US VCs in 2024 was pulled in by just nine firms, according to PitchBook, General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz, Iconic Growth, and Thrive Capital. more than $25 billion in 2024.
Many firms threw in the towel in 2024. Countdown Capital, an early-stage tech investor, announced it would wind down and return uninvested capital to its backers in January. Foundry Group, an 18-year-old VC with about $3.5 billion in assets under management. said a $500 million fundraise in 2022 would be its last. There is absolutely a VC consolidation, said John Chambers, former chief executive of Cisco and the founder of startup investment firm.
JC2 Ventures. The big guys like Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, iconic Lightspeed Venture Partners, and NEA will be fine and will continue, he said. But he added that those venture capitalists who failed to secure big returns and a low interest rate environment before 2021, we're going to struggle as quote, this is going to be a tougher market. One factor is a dramatic slowdown in initial public offerings and takeovers.
the typical milestones at which investors cash out of startups. That has staunched the flow of capital from VCs back to their limited partners, investors such as pension funds, foundations, and other institutions. The time to return capital has elongated a lot across the industry over the last 25 years, said an LP in a number of large U.S. venture firms. In the 1990s, it probably took seven years to get your money back. Now it's probably more like 10 years, end quote.
Some LPs have run out of patience. The $71 billion raised by U.S. firms in 2024 is a seven-year low and less than two-fifths the total haul in 2021. Smaller, younger venture firms have felt the squeeze most acutely. LPs chose to allocate to those with a longer record and with whom they have pre-existing relationships, rather than take a risk on new managers or those who have never returned capital to their backers, end quote.
Finally today, get ready, because next week CES is happening. So the headlines will be coming fast and furious. A preview of this comes with word that Asus, Samsung, and MSI have each separately. Unveiled the world's first 27-inch QD OLED gaming monitors offering 4K OLED at 240Hz, though without giving release dates or pricing. Quoting The Verge. 27-inch 4K OLED 240Hz monitors seem to be like buses. You wait ages for one, and then...
three turn up at once. Asus, Samsung, and MSI are all announcing the industry's next-generation QD OLED gaming monitors that offer the benefits of 4K OLED 240Hz panels at the smaller 27-inch size instead of 32 inches. All three appear to be using the same fourth-generation QD OLED panel from Samsung Display, which Asus says offers a longer lifespan over previous-gen OLEDs. both the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27 UCDM and the MSI MPG272URXQD OLED.
Who names these things include DisplayPort 2.1a, which offers 80 Gbps of bandwidth to support 4K at 240 Hz without the need for display stream compression. Samsung's press release about its Odyssey OLED G8 doesn't mention DisplayPort 2.1a compatibility, but it's reasonable to assume it's part of the spec list.
MSI and Asus' models both support DisplayHDR TrueBlack 400, and Asus also supports Dolby Vision HDR. Both MSI and Asus are offering a three-year warranty that includes burn-in protection, but Samsung hasn't confirmed its warranty situation for its latest G8 model. Samsung also hasn't fully detailed the specs of its latest G8 OLED model, but it's reasonable to assume it will support display HDR True Black 400 at the minimum, end quote.
Happy New Year, everybody. Let me squeeze in a quick long read for you, though, as with all of the news being slow this week, there weren't many long reads to pick from, actually. That's why I didn't give this its own segment, but... Last link in the show notes, an in-depth piece from Bloomberg looking at the concerning question of if you live too close to a data center.
Could the electricity in your house be getting pummeled by distortions to the grid caused by those data centers? Distortions of such severity apparently it could blow your home appliances. due to power surges. Scary stuff, since more than half of US households are apparently close enough to data centers to make this possible. Anyway, Happy New Year again. Talk to you on Monday. Gird your loins for CES.