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(IHP) TheGlobe.com Saga Part I Dec 30, 2023

Show notes

The story of the quintessential dotcom company. Also, if you squint, you can see the birth of social media. I said in the book, I think TheGlobe.com was the quintessential dot-com company. We spoke to one of the cofounders previously, Todd Krizelman. Todd was great, but he was time constrained and he didn’t quite get as personal about the story as I would have hoped. Well, I finally got to talk to the other founder of TheGlobe, Stephan Paternot. And Stephan was… AMAZING. He shared the whole story, the whole wild ride, from a historical angle, from a business angle, from an entrepreneurial angle and also, from a very personal angle. THIS the dot-com era story I’ve been looking for for years. It’s also the story of probably the most important pioneer of social media before there was even a term for such a thing. And by the way… that TV Show that just came out on NAT GEO, Valley of the Boom? THIS IS THAT STORY. Stephan just re-released his book, A Very Public Offering: The Story of theglobe.com and the First Internet Revolution.

Fri. 12/29 – The Media Industry’s Delicate Dance With AI Dec 29, 2023

Show notes

OpenAI has been talking to everybody in media, it turns out. But how would a partnership turn out for media? Google settles another big lawsuit. The first of the gadget announces for CES season have begun. Can Xiaomi do with cars what it did with cellphones? And the Weekend Longreads Suggestions.

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Links:

Inside the News Industry’s Uneasy Negotiations With OpenAI (NYTimes)
Google agrees to settle Chrome incognito mode class action lawsuit (ArsTechnica)
LG’s new ultra-lightweight Gram laptops include some OLED screens and AI Boost (The Verge)
EXCLUSIVE: Microsoft readies 'next-gen' AI-focused Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 with Arm chips and design upgrades for 2024 (Windows Central)
Xiaomi Unveils Its First EV, With Ambition to Be China’s Porsche or Tesla (Bloomberg)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

The Most Secretive Longevity Lab Finally Opens Its Doors (Bloomberg Businessweek)
Lab-grown diamonds go luxury — and rock the industry (Axios)

Thu. 12/28 – Will 2024 Be The Year Apple Gets Serious About Gaming On Macs? Dec 28, 2023

Show notes

Researchers have found a gnarly zero-click, zero-day iMessage hack that has been exploited. Apple can sell watches again! What was the best performing tech stock of 2023? Will 2024 be the climax of the streaming wars? And will 2024 be the year Apple finally gets serious about gaming on the Mac?

Links:

Wed. 12/27 – NYT Sues OpenAI Dec 27, 2023

Show notes

The NYT has broken the seal and sued OpenAI and Microsoft. Ads are coming to Prime Video in mere days. More rumors about Jony Ive founding an AI hardware startup with Sam Altman. Anthropic seems to be provide OpenAI isn’t the only one that can make money in the AI space. And when chips go beyond the 1 kilowatt barrier, you need to liquid cool them.

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Links:

The Times Sues OpenAI and Microsoft Over A.I. Use of Copyrighted Work (NYTimes)
Amazon Prime Video will start showing ads on January 29th (The Verge)
Apple’s iPhone Design Chief Enlisted by Jony Ive, Sam Altman to Work on AI Devices (Bloomberg)
Big Tech outspends venture capital firms in AI investment frenzy (Financial Times)
Anthropic Projects At Least $850 Million in Annualized Revenue Rate Next Year (The Information)
Microsoft’s game changer feature reinstalls Windows 11 directly via Windows Update (Windows Latest)
GM stops Chevy Blazer EV sales after early software problems (TechCrunch)
How thermal management is changing in the age of the kilowatt chip (The Register)

Tue. 12/26 – Apple’s AI Strategy Comes Into View Dec 26, 2023

Show notes

Apple’s whole AI strategy has been coming into focus these last couple of weeks. Two stories on this, including Apple’s first announced LLM. OpenAI is fundraising again. Hackers are targeting gaming studios again. And as President Biden didn’t deliver the pardon, what is this patent case against the Apple Watch? I’ll explain.

Links:

Apple quietly released an open source multimodal LLM in October (VentureBeat)
Apple Explores A.I. Deals With News Publishers (NYTimes)
OpenAI Is in Talks to Raise New Funding at Valuation of $100 Billion or More (Bloomberg)
Ubisoft says it's investigating reports of a new security breach (BleepingComputer)
GTA 5 source code reportedly leaked online a year after RockStar hack (BleepingComputer)
Puzzle game ‘Royal Match’ dethrones ‘Candy Crush’ from top of app store (Financial Times)
Apple Watch battle heralds further patent wrangles (Financial Times)

(Bonus) Brian On Acquired Podcast Part 2 Dec 25, 2023

Show notes

This time we talk about the AOL/Time Warner Merger

(Bonus) Brian On Acquired Podcast Part 1 Dec 24, 2023

Show notes

The first time I went on the Acquired Podcast, back in March of 2017. We talked about Yahoo's acquisition of Overture. I know you probably haven't heard of either of those names, but in a roundabout way, this is the story of how Google makes so much money.

(Bonus) Brian On The Newsworthy Podcast Dec 23, 2023

Show notes

Me on The Newsworthy Podcast talking the tech trends of 2023. Alliterative!

Fri. 12/22 – The Hyperloop Is Dead Dec 22, 2023

Show notes

The Hyperloop dream is dead. The attempt to bridge the iMessage divide is dead. China’s gaming industry isn’t dead, but it’s pretty wounded. The crazy story of that teenage hacker who leaked the GTA VI stuff. The weekend longreads suggestions, and at the very end, a unique look back at the evolution of the AI moment.

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Links:

The hyperloop is dead for real this time (The Verge)
Beeper is giving up on its iMessage dream (The Verge)
Apple’s Newest Headache: An App That Upended Its Control Over Messaging (NYTimes)
Tencent Leads $80 Billion Rout as China Rekindles Crackdown Fear (Bloomberg)
Lapsus$: GTA 6 hacker handed indefinite hospital order (BBC)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

The Race to Fill Crypto’s FTX-Shaped Hole (Wired)
As the AI era begins, Reddit is leaning into its humanity (Fast Company)
Tolkien Estate Wins Court Order to Destroy Fan’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ Sequel (NYTimes)

Thu. 12/21 – Big Galaxy S24 Spec Leaks; And What Is “Galaxy AI?” Dec 21, 2023

Show notes

The Galaxy S24 lineup had a big spec leak. So what do the new phones have and what is Galaxy AI? Get ready cause the Apple Vision Pro hype tsunami is about to wash over us. A big merger might happen soon to confirm the consolidation phase of the Streaming Wars is upon us. Waymo has data that says its robot drivers are safer. And Apple doesn’t do the little things anymore? How about making a version of Car Play just for two specific car brands?

Links:

Leaked Samsung S24 spec sheet offers complete picture of the upcoming lineup (The Verge)
Apple Ramps Up Vision Pro Production, Aiming for Launch by February (Bloomberg)
Apple loses attempt to halt Apple Watch sales ban (The Verge)
Scoop: Warner Bros. Discovery in talks to merge with Paramount Global (Axios)
Waymo has 7.1 million driverless miles — how does its driving compare to humans? (The Verge)
Aston Martin, Porsche Preview Bespoke Apple CarPlay Interfaces (Car And Driver)

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