Fri. 03/17 – Midjourney 5 Is Amazing

Meta released Llama 3 yesterday, and some of the moves they made have made be consider if Zuck could win these first AI wars. Is Zuck also getting aggressive in VR? Why Apple had to take down the WhatsApp and Threads apps in China. And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.Links:Meta’s battle with ChatGPT begins now (The Verge)Meta, in Its Biggest A.I. Push, Places Smart Assistants Across Its Apps (NYTimes)Meta gives the Quest 2 its second permanent price cut in four months (Engadget)Cool or creepy? Microsoft's VASA-1 is a new AI model that turns photos into 'talking faces' (Tom's Guide)China Orders Apple to Remove Popular Messaging Apps (WSJ)Weekend Longreads Suggestions:How Perfectly Can Reality Be Simulated? (The New Yorker)The Life and Death of Hollywood (Harper's Magazine)How Neopets’ nostalgic revival tripled users in six months (The Guardian)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Google has fired 28 employees for political protests yesterday. A well-known coding school has been fined by the CFPB. Game emulators come to the iPhone. TikTok’s Instagram clone is rolling out. Has Sony perfecting Mini LED TVs? And the Atlas robot has been reborn in a new body!Links:Google fires 28 employees after sit-in protest over Israel cloud contract (The Verge)Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fines BloomTech for false claims (TechCrunch)Third-party iPhone app store AltStore PAL is now live in Europe (The Verge)TikTok Notes starts rolling out as a new rival to Instagram (The Verge)US Air Force confirms first successful AI dogfight (The Verge)Sony might have perfected Mini LED TVs with its new 2024 lineup (The Verge)Boston Dynamics’ Atlas humanoid robot goes electric (TechCrunch)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

T-Mobile and Verizon employees are being offered bribes for SIM swaps. How much coding copilots have taken over. How much would you value Mistral or Cohere in the LLM race? How popular has Airchat gotten? How big has Amazon Prime gotten? And one of the original modern robots is being retired.Links:T-Mobile, Verizon workers get texts offering $300 for SIM swaps (BleepingComputer)Microsoft’s AI Copilot Is Starting to Automate the Coding Industry (Bloomberg)Mistral, an OpenAI Rival in Europe, in Talks to Raise Capital at a $5 Billion Valuation (The Information)Invitation-Only Audio Social Network Is the Hot New App in Tech Circles (Bloomberg)Musk’s Starlink Cracks Down on Growing Black Market (WSJ)Amazon Prime Memberships in US Gain 8% to New High After Lull (Bloomberg)Atlas shrugged: Boston Dynamics retires its hydraulic humanoid robot (TechCrunch)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Microsoft continues to spread its AI bets. Disney wants to bring back tv channels. YouTube is not gonna let you block ads. What did Humane get wrong with the AI Pin? And can Limitless do any better with its AI Pendant?Sponsors:MackWeldon.com, promocode rideYahooFinance.comLinks:Microsoft to invest $1.5bn in Abu Dhabi AI group G42 (Financial Times)To Keep Viewers, Disney Plans a New Streaming Concept: Old-Style TV Channels (The Information)YouTube cracking down on third-party apps that block ads (9to5Google)YouTube Accounted for Nearly 10% of All TV Viewing in March, Nielsen Says (TheWrap)Oh the Humanity (Sandofsky.com)Limitless is a new AI tool for your meetings — and an all-hearing wearable gadget (The Verge)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Really looks like high-end re-shoring of chip tech is happening, and happening soon. What if satellite telephony becomes a table-stakes smartphone feature? Get ready for the bitcoin halving. Does anyone have invites to Airchat? And get ready for 4TB, yes, TB, SD cards.Sponsors:Shopify.com/rideArcticWolf.com/techmemeLinks:Samsung boosts Joe Biden’s chipmaking ambitions with Texas plant upgrade (Financial Times)Exclusive: Google Pixel 9 series to get emergency satellite connectivity, new modem (Android Authority)Bitcoin ‘Halving’ Will Deal a $10 Billion Blow to Crypto Miners (Bloomberg)ChatGPT essay cheats are a menace to us all (Financial Times)Naval Ravikant’s Airchat is a social app built around talk, not text (TechCrunch)4TB SD cards are arriving in 2025 for your cameras and laptops (The Verge)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Now a big business intelligence company has been breached. Do you get the sense that people are laying the groundwork for something? Google discontinues a product, but this time, its probably our fault. M4 chips are coming from Apple. OpenAI continues to be the drama queen of Silicon Valley. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions.Links:US government urges Sisense customers to reset credentials after hack (TechCrunch)Google One VPN will be discontinued, Pixel VPN remains with upgrade coming (9to5Google)X’s Premium users can no longer hide their blue checks (The Verge)Apple Plans to Overhaul Entire Mac Line With AI-Focused M4 Chips (Bloomberg)OpenAI Researchers, Including Ally of Sutskever, Fired for Alleged Leaking (The Information)Is Google's AI Actually Discovering 'Millions of New Materials?' (404 Media)Weekend Longreads Suggestions:AI-Music Arms Race: Meet Udio, the Other ChatGPT for Music (RollingStone)How Bluey Became a $2 Billion Smash Hit—With an Uncertain Future (Bloomberg)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Apple is notifying people their iPhones may have been compromised. Spotify wants you to mix up your music. Adobe is paying handsomely for videos. And the biggest new gadget review event in a long time.Link:Apple alerts users in 92 nations to mercenary spyware attacks (TechCrunch)Spotify Plans New Remixing Tools for the TikTok Generation (WSJ)Adobe Is Buying Videos for $3 Per Minute to Build AI Model (Bloomberg)Humane AI Pin review: not even close (The Verge)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

More AI announces from Google. More hints on how Apple will bring AI to iPhones. And a bunch of interesting datapoints: how much Apple has moved away from manufacturing in China, how much money TikTok’s parent company is making, are kids warming up to VR and are alternative browsers benefitting from the DMA?Links:Google Launches Coding AIs That Could Rival Microsoft's Github Copilot (PCMag)Apple's new AI model could help Siri see how iOS apps work (AppleInsider)Apple’s India iPhone Output Hits $14 Billion in China Shift (Bloomberg)ByteDance Profit Jumps 60%, Taking It Past Archrival Tencent (Bloomberg)Exclusive: EU's new tech laws are working; small browsers gain market share (Reuters)Survey shows that teenagers are using more VR devices in the US (9to5Mac)Kobo announces its first color e-readers (The Verge)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Google has a ton of AI announces, including new Arm-based AI chips, utilizing Google search in Gemini, and more. They also released their own Find My network. Microsoft is confident they can release chips that can best Apple Silicon. And maybe OpenAI DID train on YouTube videos after all. Everybody is desperate for data right now.Sponsors:1Password.com/rideLinks:Google Expands In-House Chip Efforts in Costly AI Battle (WSJ)Google Shows AI Model Is Enterprise-Ready After Gemini Mishaps (Bloomberg)Gmail adding voice input, Gemini for Google Chat, Meet ‘Translate for me,’ & more (9to5Google)Google rolling out Find My Device network for Android (9to5Google)Microsoft is confident Windows on Arm could finally beat Apple (The Verge)Spotify launches personalized AI playlists that you can build using prompts (TechCrunch)How Tech Giants Cut Corners to Harvest Data for A.I. (NYTimes)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

David Marcus comes on the pod to discuss what he's been working on since leaving Meta. Specificially: Lightspark, and efforts to expand the Lighting Network and bitcoin.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.