Mon. 03/20 – Robots All The Way Down

The music is back on TikTok with a new deal struck. Maybe a third of Americans were affected by that Change Healthcare hack. Why are companies suddenly cutting teams you’d think would be sacred cows? Airbnb wants you to stay in the house from the movie Up. And we finally know just how much Google pays Apple for the search default in iOS.Sponsors:Kolide.com/rideLinks:TikTok and Universal Music Group Settle Royalty Dispute With New Licensing Agreement (Variety)UnitedHealthcare CEO says ‘maybe a third’ of US citizens were affected by recent hack (TechCrunch)UnitedHealth CEO tells lawmakers the company paid hackers a $22 million ransom (CNBC)Google lays off hundreds of ‘Core’ employees, moves some positions to India and Mexico (CNBC)Amazon-backed Anthropic launches iPhone app and business tier to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT (CNBC)In Latest Stunt, Airbnb Lists the ‘Up’ House. It Floats. (NYTimes)Google’s Payments to Apple Reached $20 Billion in 2022, Antitrust Court Documents Show (Bloomberg)Microsoft Concern Over Google’s Lead Drove OpenAI Investment (Bloomberg)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Binance founder CZ looks like he’s heading to jail too, but for way less time than SBF. Is the Rabbit R1 just a fancy device for a glorified Android app? Has OpenAI floated a secret pre-release of GPT5? And finally, so much has happened, I decided we had to do an omnibus catch up with what’s going on in the world of Elon.Links:Binance founder Changpeng Zhao sentenced to four months in prison (The Verge)Rabbit R1, a thing that should just be an app, actually is just an Android app (Updated) (Android Authority)Powerful New Chatbot Disappears as Mysteriously as It Arrived (Gizmodo)Tesla conducting more layoffs, including entire Supercharger team (Electrek)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The FCC has fined all the major telecom companies. You’ll never guess why. Why the DMA actions from the EU might be a constant thing. Devs, how about an AI-powered IDE? You’ll never guess why Peacock thinks it can raise prices again. And is Marquess Brownlee right about underbaked hardware releases?Sponsors:ZocDoc.com/techmemeConstantContact.comLinks:FCC fines AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon nearly $200 million for illegally sharing location data (The Verge)Meta Risks EU Fines Over Kremlin Lies on Facebook, Instagram (Bloomberg)How an empty S3 bucket can make your AWS bill explode (Maciej Pocwierz)Copilot Workspace is GitHub’s take on AI-powered software engineering (TechCrunch)Peacock Hikes Subscription Prices Ahead of 2024 Paris Olympics (The Hollywood Reporter)Rabbit R1 Review (MKBHD)Marques Brownlee slams another AI product as “barely reviewable” after Humane AI Pin controversy (Dexerto)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Apple continues discussions with folks to partner for AI product. Will the upcoming iPad event kick off Apple’s AI strategy? Why does spending on AI seem to work for Google and Microsoft but not for Meta? Why were a bunch of Apple users signed out of their accounts this weekend? And has AI already ruined Meta’s family of apps?Sponsors:CutsClothing.com/RIDE, promocode RIDE for 20% offYahooFinance.comLinks:Apple Intensifies Talks With OpenAI for iPhone Generative AI Features (Bloomberg)Apple Rivals Retool to Challenge the iPhone and Vision Pro (Bloomberg)Investors Cheer AI Spending Boom in Big Tech—Just Not at Meta (WSJ)The Financial Times and OpenAI strike content licensing deal (Financial Times)Apple users are being locked out of their Apple IDs with no explanation (9to5Mac)AI is making Meta's apps basically unusable (Fast Company)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Net Neutrality has been voted back into existence. Earnings from Microsoft and Google, but it’s the YouTube numbers that continue to impress me. ByteDance claims it would rather be banned than sell US TikTok. The Onion finds a benevolent billionaire. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions.Links:F.C.C. Votes to Restore Net Neutrality Rules (NYTimes)Google parent announces first-ever dividend; beats on sales, profit; shares soar (Reuters)OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Other Tech Leaders to Serve on AI Safety Board (WSJ)Exclusive: ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say (Reuters)The Onion Is Sold by G/O Media (NYTimes)Weekend Longreads Suggestions:The Chips Act has been surprisingly successful so far (Financial Times)Why You Can’t Get a Restaurant Reservation (The New Yorker)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Meta’s earnings were fine, but it’s what Zuck warned about spending that has Wall Street nervous. Sub 2nm chips are on their way. An AI startup has a big new raise after its big raise just a month ago. Google Meet lets you jump devices. And the first reviews of the Rabbit R1 are out.Links:Zuckerberg Asks for Patience as Meta’s AI Push Spooks Market (Bloomberg)Zuckerberg says it will take Meta years to make money from generative AI (The Verge)TSMC aims to produce ultra-advanced 1.6-nm chips by 2026 (NikkeiAsia)Six-Month-Old AI Coding Startup Valued at $2 Billion by Founders Fund (The Information)Google Meet will let you transfer calls between web and phone with ‘Switch here’ (9to5Google)A morning with the Rabbit R1: a fun, funky, unfinished AI gadget (The Verge)Rabbit R1 hands-on: Already more fun and accessible than the Humane AI Pin (Engadget)Rabbit’s R1 is a little AI gadget that grows on you (TechCrunch)First Ones videos on YouTubeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The TikTok divestment bill has probably already been signed into law. What happens now? What are the legal arguments that this thing can stick? What about things like, you know, the First Amendment? Also, ads in Windows? Time to take Meta’s RayBan smartglasses seriously? And what it’s like to use AI inside of Instagram.Links:Senate passes TikTok ban bill, sending it to President Biden’s desk (The Verge)TikTok Ban Looms With Biden Poised to Start 270-Day Countdown (Bloomberg)How the TikTok ban could survive a court challenge (Platformer)Windows 11 Start menu ads are now rolling out to everyone (The Verge)The Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses get video calling, Apple Music, and a new style (The Verge)Meta’s A.I. Assistant Is Fun to Use, but It Can’t Be Trusted (NYTimes)"First Ones" YouTube VideosSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Microsoft has launched new lightweight AI models. Perplexity has a big new raise. Meta wants other people to build Quest headsets. Another reason Apple needs to find new revenue. And if Congress really is going to ban TikTok, are they ever going to tell us exactly why?Links:Microsoft launches Phi-3, its smallest AI model yet (The Verge)Meta Expands Its Mixed Reality Beyond the Quest Headsets (CNET)Meta wants to be the Microsoft of headsets (The Verge)China Smartphone Sales Remain in Black on Huawei, HONOR, Xiaomi Outperformance (Counterpoint)AI Search Startup Perplexity Valued at $1 Billion in Funding Round (Bloomberg)Adobe’s new Firefly model makes it easier to use Photoshop’s AI tools (The Verge)If TikTok Is Such a Threat, Show Us the Receipts (Bloomberg)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I know we’ve said this before, but TikTok really seems on the brink this time. What the heck is going on with Tesla? Tinder wants you to share your date. Streamers want you to stop dating around and playing the field. An open-source smarthome standard. And again, do we really need standalone AI devices when we already have smartphones?Links:TikTok ‘ban’ passes in the House again, moving to the Senate in foreign aid package (The Verge)Tesla lowers price of ‘Full Self-Driving’ to $8,000, down from $12,000 (Electrek)Tinder gets a ‘Share My Date’ feature for users to send date plans to their curious friends (TechCrunch)Americans’ New TV Habit: Subscribe. Watch. Cancel. Repeat. (NYTimes)The little smart home platform that could (The Verge)The future of AI gadgets is just phones (The Verge)Space Ghost Coast To Coast MarathonSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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.