Tech Brew Ride Home

Microsoft is revealing what it’s learned from us poking around on the new Bing. It seems that once developers begin using generative AI to code, they DO keep using it. Apple has postponed its headset announce to WWDC. Banks are shying away from crypto exposure. And after 16 years, border control is finally making use of NFC technology in passports. Sponsors: ZocDoc.com/techmeme Links: Microsoft ex...

More signs the chat bots are maybe a little undercooked, and whooo doggy. Wait until you hear what I mean. Some datapoints suggesting the faddish nature of these new tools. And wait until you hear the possible reason you’re seeing Elon’s tweets all of the sudden. This is maybe the pinnacle story of the whole Elon/Twitter saga. Sponsors: Podcast Guru App (Listener Ad!) Links: Microsoft’s new ChatGP...

People are saying Elon is showing you his tweets whether you asked to see them or not. More fodder for the charge that these chat bots are being rolled out quick and dirty. More fodder for the charge that US regulators are fencing in crypto. TikTok is trying to court the olds. And Amazon’s autonomous shuttle service his hit real world roads. Sponsors: RelationshipHero.com/techmeme Links: Twitter i...

Binance’s stablecoin seems to be dead, but with regulatory questions swirling around Paxos, I’m wondering if all stablecoins might about to see a rug pull. Tons of uncertainty swirling around the metaverse all the sudden. Can the metaverse still happen if all of its funding get pulled? And are all of these AI tools being rushed to market in embarrassing ways? Sponsors: MeetFabric.com/ride Relation...

More job cuts at Microsoft make me wonder if the HoloLens is still a thing. But also, we have data to explain why Apple hasn’t done layoffs yet. More AI chatbot announces coming fast and furious. But the other kind of bots, actual mechanical robots had their biggest year ever last year. And of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Sponsors: RelationshipHero.com/techmeme Links: Apple Avoids Jo...

Feel free to tweet your manifestos now as Twitter Blue subscribers can tweet up to 4,000 characters. Is the Fediverse failing or doing just fine, thank you very much? Is the SEC about to put the kibosh on crypto staking? Forget eggs, the real inflation is in triple A video game titles. And if the whole web becomes bot content, what do we train the bots on? Sponsors: Podcast Guru App (Listener Ad!)...

Microsoft unveils a new Bing search that basically moves the yardsticks down the field in terms of what chat can do. But Google continues to drip-feed new tools as well. Also, some more traditional but useful additions to Google Maps. The UK might force the divestiture of Call of Duty to allow Microsoft to buy Activision. And if the Bank of England does a digital pound, it signals it might not do...

Bored of phone and gadget launches, well prepare yourself for AI product launches, cause we’re getting a bunch of them starting now, this week. Meta is trying to revamp Horizon Worlds. Twitter is struggling to get people to pay up. But that doesn’t mean Mastadon is continuing to grow. And can you trick ChatGPT to do things it doesn’t want to do by threatening to kill it? Say hello to AI “jailbreak...

Is Apple considering launching an “Ultra” version of the iPhone as soon as this year? Have the good Twitter bots gotten a reprieve from Elon Musk? Is the Microsoft/Activision merger toast because global regulators are coordinating? And might regulators look askance at all these generative AI investments from the big cloud computing platforms? Sponsors: ZocDoc.com/techmeme Bombas.com/techmeme Links...

Earnings wrapups from Alphabet: investors just want to know when the AI is coming. From Apple: they’re still not planning any layoffs. From Amazon: Look, AWS is still a beast. And in the Weekend Longreads suggestions: the startup that wants to bring back the Dodo, Jurassic Park style. Links: AI will help Google parent Alphabet navigate a challenging macro environment, say analysts (MarketWatch) Go...

Meta singlehandedly bucks the narrative that it’s the sick man of Silicon Valley. Twitter is cutting off free access to its API. ChatGPT launches a product, and is Bing search getting GPT4 in like, a matter of weeks? Discord is coming to Playstation and the wrapup of yesterday’s Samsung event. Sponsors: Upside App promocode ridehome Links: Meta stock perks up as the company promises a ‘year of eff...

You think things are bad in your corner of the tech sector? Wait until I tell you about the memory chip industry. OpenAI releases a tool to let you check if something was created by OpenAI. Netflix might be going a tad overboard on this password sharing crackdown. Meta wins round one against the FTC. And the interesting new app from the founders of Instagram. Sponsors: Portant.co code techmeme (Li...

Today, some weird headlines from the world of gaming. Is VR gaming a big nothingburger for gamers themselves? Is E3 dead as a gaming industry event? Stripe is apparently raising a pretty significant down round. And the first Level 3 autonomous driving platform to receive regulatory approval belongs to Mercedes-Benz. Sponsors: Radial.llc/ride (Listener Ad!) Links: Sony Slashes PlayStation VR2 Heads...

Après ChatGPT, prepare yourself for the generative AI deluge. Amazon says the free lunch for grocery delivery is over. More speculation about foldable iPads. San Francisco wants Waymo and Cruise to pump the breaks on their self-driving car experiments because the actual cars have been literally pumping the breaks too much. And my wager on whether or not 2023 will actually go down as the year that...

What can make Buzzfeed hit our headlines two days in a row? How about jumping on the ChatGPT bandwagon? Amazon is apparently launching a major NFT project, like it’s 2021 or something. Is Stripe going to be our big tech IPO savior? And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: NFTTallinn.com and code RIDE for 10% of all tickets (Listener ad!) Radial.llc/ride (Listener ad!) Links: Buz...

I get all metaphysical about where the tech industry is going right now with a record slowdown in smartphone shipments, Masa Son seemingly misplacing his investing shoes, Meta and Buzzfeed joining forces to stave off irrelevancy, and universities offering degrees in AI for the first time. Oh, and are you SURE you want to spin up that Mastadon server? Sponsors: Instafloss.com (Listener!) RocketMone...

I’m gonna tell you why I think the latest antitrust suit against Google might be the most important one in terms of the overall tech ecosystem. And maybe the biggest threat Google is facing. Twitter reverses another thing they shouldn’t have broken in the first place. Why aren’t folks paying ransomware ransom as much anymore? And why are consumers not keeping their smart clothes dryers connected?...

Alright. It’s on. Mark Gurman has literally all the details on Apple’s forthcoming mixed reality headset. The DOJ might already have sued Google by the time you hear this. Amazon adds subscription prescriptions as a service. And it turns out that AI CNET used was good at… plagiarizing. Sponsors: HopelessMope.com code: ridehome (Listener ad!) The Business Of Tech (Listener ad!) Links: How Apple’s U...

More tech layoffs, and why I’m suggesting we might only be in the early innings of this tech retrenchment. Big Wall Street banks are coming for PayPal and Apple Pay. TikTok might be putting it’s thumb on the scales to favor certain content. Would you pay $42 a month for a ChatGPT Pro plan? And how far has Apple Silicon come, exactly. Sponsors: Radial.llc/ride (Listener!) MeetFabric.com/ride Links:...

Now Alphabet has monster layoffs to announce. How much of it is about getting Google ready to battle OpenAI? More Twitter bans, but this time, the bans are for all 3rd party clients. The big executive shakeup at Netflix. Genesis officially files for bankruptcy, and in the Weekend Longreads Suggestions, the reasons why the humble pizza box is one of the worst designed products in existence. Sponsor...

Is Genesis finally on the verge of bankruptcy? Instagram wants you to take a break… from Instagram… and they’re even giving you tools to do so. Frowny-face for Amazon for shutting down the AmazonSmile program. Wikipedia gets a big redesign. Some numbers on where the investor dollars are going right now, and is San Francisco back, baby? Maybe cause I’m coming to visit. Sponsors: LayerDesks.com/ride...

The original HomePod is basically back, even though it’s not the original cause it’s been updated. Apple’s AR/VR plans continue to be maddeningly confusing, at least to me. Microsoft has announced huge layoffs. Does even the AI revolution require human moderators working in boiler-room like conditions? And I guess we have all the specs for those new Galaxy phones about to be announced. Links: Appl...

New Macs and New M2 chips from Santa Tim this morning. Microsoft has made its Azure OpenAI Service generally available. But will lawsuits slow down the AI revolution? Is Google about to reveal its own AirTag-like product? And the law of if it’s too good to be true, it probably is, continues to hold, at least when it comes to hard drives for sale on Amazon. Sponsors: ZocDoc.com/techmeme Links: Appl...

Our big AI discussion with @ReamBraden and @swyx. Shawn just posted this new essay drawing on what we discussed here: Every Google vs OpenAI Argument, Dissected Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The SEC just officially labeled two crypto lending programs as unregistered securities? Is the regulatory tsunami beginning? Did Tim Cook actually ask Apple to cut his pay? Did the nascent industry of carbon capture just take its first steps? And in the longreads, I go in depth to explain that weird OpenAI/Microsoft deal. It’s complicated. Links: SEC charges Gemini and Genesis with unregistered se...