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Wed. 01/24 – Netflix’s Cheapest Ad-Free Plan Is Going Away Jan 24, 2024

Show notes

Netflix kicks off Tech Earnings Season, and suggests it’s taking it’s cheapest ad-free plan away. The one chart that shows why Netflix is winning the streaming wars. Spotify demos how it plans to break out of Apple’s App Store. Renders of the Pixel 9 have already leaked. Apple scales back its EV car plans. And an interesting raise to help you pay your rent.

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Netflix is going to take away its cheapest ad-free plan (The Verge)
The secret to Netflix's total dominance (Business Insider)
Spotify plans to launch in-app purchases, if Apple gets out of the way (The Verge)
[Exclusive] Pixel 9 Pro 5K Renders and 360 Degree Video Provide First Look At Google’s Flagship Ahead of Launch (MySmartPrice)
EBay to eliminate about 1,000 jobs, or 9% of full-time workforce (CNBC)
Apple Dials Back Car’s Self-Driving Features and Delays Launch to 2028 (Bloomberg)
Apple boosts plans to bring generative AI to iPhones (FT)
Bilt Nabs $3.1 Billion Valuation, Ken Chenault Joins as Chairman (Bloomberg)

Tue. 01/23 – Netflix Buys Rights To Raw And WWE Shows Jan 23, 2024

Show notes

Netflix is getting into the live event business in a big way by buying the rights to WWE wrestling. We have the first political ad incident of the AI era. Who’s really doing all the buying on apps like Shein and Temu? OpenAI struggles to fend of an army of girlfriend bots. And let me introduce you to Palworld.

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Netflix Pays $5 Billion for ‘Raw’ in Bet on Live Events (Bloomberg)
Fake Joe Biden robocall tells New Hampshire Democrats not to vote Tuesday (NBCNews)
iOS 17.3 is out, adding Stolen Device Protection for your iPhone (The Verge)
Temu’s Most Loyal Shoppers Are Actually Boomers and Gen Xers (Bloomberg)
OPENAI STRUGGLING TO DESTROY ONSLAUGHT OF AI GIRLFRIENDS (The Byte)
AI girlfriend bots are already flooding OpenAI’s GPT store (QZ)
The Rise of Palworld: How ‘Pokémon With Guns’ Became an Overnight Hit (Wired)
Palworld is a hit, and it’s easy to see why (The Verge)

Video of me flirting with an AI "girlfriend" bot

YouTube of Saturday's Bonus Episode with Baratunde Thurston

Mon. 01/22 – How Many Vision Pros Did Apple Sell This Weekend? Jan 22, 2024

Show notes

Just what the title says. How many Vision Pros do we think Apple sold this weekend? And Mark Gurman has some ideas for why developers are so lukewarm on the product. Eleven Labs is an interesting raise. Sam Altman seems serious about making his own AI chips. And the breakthrough in VR from Disney Imagineers that would allow you to literally walk through the Metaverse.

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Vision Pro sales estimated at 160k to 180k over first three days (9to5Mac)
Apple’s Testy Developer Relationships Threaten to Hamper Vision Pro (Bloomberg)
Meta will let EU users unlink their Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger info ahead of DMA (The Verge)
Voice cloning startup ElevenLabs lands $80M, achieves unicorn status (TechCrunch)
Altman Seeks to Raise Billions for Network of AI Chip Factories (Bloomberg)
Nightshade, the free tool that ‘poisons’ AI models, is now available for artists to use (VentureBeat)

YouTube Video Of The Holotiles From Disney Imagineering

Fri. 01/19 – Vision Pro Pre-Order Begin With New Questions Jan 19, 2024

Show notes

Preorders for the Vision Pro begin, but huge new questions about partner support have arisen. Zuckerberg says he wants to open source AGI. You’re going to have to pay for those Galaxy AI features. Perplexity will power the rabbit r1. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions.

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YouTube and Spotify Won’t Launch Apple Vision Pro Apps, Joining Netflix (Bloomberg)
A Survey of Popular Apps Currently Compatible With Apple Vision Pro (MacStories)
Mark Zuckerberg’s new goal is creating artificial general intelligence (The Verge)
EU Commission Intends to Block Amazon’s iRobot Acquisition (WSJ)
Samsung says Galaxy AI features will only be free ‘until the end of 2025’ (9to5Google)
The rabbit r1 will use Perplexity AI’s tech to answer your queries (TechCrunch)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

How Twitch lost its way (Fast Company)
Astronomers spotted something perplexing near the beginning of time (Vox)

Thu. 01/18 – Google: The Layoffs Will Continue Until Strategy Improves Jan 18, 2024

Show notes

Google signals more layoffs are in the mail, but what’s interesting is what that says about Google specifically. Reddit is probably going to IPO in a few months. How did tying itself to ChatGPT work out for Bing? Why is Netflix not on the Vision Pro? And the fun parlor game that suggests AI spam is a human centipede situation.

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Google CEO tells employees to expect more job cuts this year (The Verge)
YouTube is restructuring creator management teams (TubeFilter)
Exclusive: Reddit seeks to launch IPO in March (Reuters)
Microsoft’s Bing Market Share Barely Budged With ChatGPT Add-On (Bloomberg)
Apple's Vision Pro Won't Launch With Netflix App (Bloomberg)
Startup Investors Have Fled The Metaverse (CrunchBaseNews)
I’m sorry, but I cannot fulfill this request as it goes against OpenAI use policy (The Verge)

Wed. 01/17 – The Galaxy Unpacked Event. Galaxy AI Is Here. Jan 17, 2024

Show notes

All the headlines from the Galaxy Unpacked event earlier today. Apple revises its App Store rules but in a way that seems to a lot of people to be in “bad faith.” The big, and big-money talent war going on between Google and OpenAI. And Tesla and Uber are working together to make Uber completely emissions-free.

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The Galaxy S24 Ultra is smarter, pricier, and just as big as ever (The Verge)
Apple revises US App Store rules to let developers link to outside payment methods, but it will still charge a commission (9to5Mac)
Apple allows devs to promote subscriptions on the web with a 27% cut (TechCrunch)
Google updates Chrome Incognito disclaimer amid $5 billion lawsuit settlement (MSPowerUser)
Google’s Defense Against OpenAI Talent Grab: Special Stock (The Information)
Exclusive: Uber steps up efforts to get drivers into Teslas (Axios)

Tue. 01/16 – Apple Tops Global Smartphones Sales For The First Time Ever Jan 16, 2024

Show notes

The app that was supposed to be TikTok but for news is shutting down. Apple tops global smartphone sales for the first time ever. Microsoft debuts Copilot Pro. How the Apple Vision Pro demos are actually going to work. And about that weekend streaming NFL playoff game.

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(Bonus) Brian's Favorites From CES 2024 Jan 15, 2024

Show notes

Just what the title says. All my faves from CES this year. If you want to SEE what I'm talking about, here's the YouTube playlist.

(Bonus) John Gruber Talks Apple And AI Jan 13, 2024

Show notes

John Gruber joins Chris and I to talk about AI Hardware, Apple's AI strategy and Apple's Vision Pro launch.

Fri. 01/12 – Perplexity, The AI Challenger To Google Search Jan 12, 2024

Show notes

How did bitcoin do on its first day of ETF trading? Where are all these tech layoffs coming from? The weird case of eBay executives allegedly harassing people. A look at the AI company taking direct aim at Google Search. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions.

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